Tia Sagapolutele, Community Weaver 26.09.25

Talofa lava, my name is Ufitia Sagapolutele — but most people call me Tia. I’m a Samoan creative and community weaver from South Auckland. If I’m being honest, it’s always been hard for me to sum up exactly what I do. Perhaps it’s the ka’a (spontaneous) girl in me — because one thing about me, is I like to do it all.

My creative journey began in high school, when I watched ReQuest Dance Crew compete at the Hip Hop International Dance Championship. Seeing Pasifika women shine so powerfully on that stage changed everything for me. At 18, I chased that dream and joined the same company (The Royal Family) under award-winning choreographer Parris Goebel, performing internationally and bringing home medals. It felt like everything I had hoped for was coming true.

But, life has a way of redirecting us. When my mum passed away, I realised I needed to step back and ask myself what my purpose was. I left the competition stage behind and went on to complete my Masters in Dance at the University of Auckland. That time was both healing and grounding. My research explored cultural identity and hybridity in choreography — but really, it was about reconnecting to my roots, my culture and to my mum.

Through this journey, I found other Pasifika women who were asking the same questions about identity and belonging. Together, we began creating through dance, weaving our stories and our healing into movement. One of the most special experiences I had was travelling to Germany with my brother, photographer Raymond Sagapolutele, to honour our late mum through his photography and my siva (dance). Standing in that space, dedicating something to her on the other side of the world, was a moment that will always stay with me.

From there, I co-founded the Pacific-contemporary dance collective TULOU with my dance sisters. We poured ourselves into it — I ended up producing, directing, performing, styling and even finding funding for us to do what we loved. It was empowering but also exhausting. After ten years of professional dancing, I realised I needed to pause, rest, and ask myself: what do I actually want to do?

I ended up moving to Australia for a year, to give me space to breathe. I lived with family, focused on my mental health and explored new passions. One of them was social media — something I’d loved since my Bebo days, designing skins, filming and editing my friends and me. With no formal experience, I was fortunate enough to step into a full-time content creator role at a beauty brand, where I learned how to shoot, edit, and run creative campaigns.

When I moved back to Aotearoa, I reconnected with friends and creatives Geoffery Matautia and Bryson Naik. Like me, they wanted to make art accessible for young creatives in South Auckland. Together, we created Period7, a community that hosted free workshops and programmes in photography, lino-printing, screen-printing and more. It was a way of showing that creativity can take many different shapes and it reminded me how much I value supporting others. These experiences opened the door to my role today as Engagement Manager at Britomart.

This role has given me a new sense of purpose. My passion has always been people, community, and connection — and I get to live that every day. When I look around Britomart now, I see a space that reflects a wider range of cultures and identities through performances, exhibitions and events with different communities. To know I’ve played a part in creating space for that representation makes me proud and grateful.

The phrase I live by is “rejection is redirection.” Over time, I’ve learned that closed doors aren’t failures, but instead, they are pathways toward something better-suited for me. Looking back, every pivot — from dance to study, from Aotearoa to Australia, from performing to marketing — has led me exactly where I need to be.

When I think about “the best is yet to come,” I don’t see it as one destination. For me, it’s about the ongoing journey: learning, growing and continuing to serve my community in meaningful ways. I once thought my biggest dream was to dance on the world stage — and I did that. But now I see that the work I’m doing off-stage, weaving connections and creating opportunities for others, might just be my most important role yet.

The story is still unfolding. And I know the best is still to come.