Jasmine Leota says storytelling is not about content creation but responsibility and upholding her Samoan traditions.
Jasmine Leota co-director of Lemau Creative of Samoan descent is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural practitioner whose career embodies the vibrant intersection of education, creativity, identity, and advocacy.
For Pacific interdisciplinary artist and cultural practitioner Jasmine Leota, storytelling is not about content creation, but about responsibility and upholding her Samoan traditions while remaining accountable to her ancestors.
“I work from a place where our narratives are held with care, consent, and context, and where Pacific ways of knowing lead the form rather than being adapted to fit external frameworks,” Jasmine says.
Born and raised in Aotearoa, New Zealand, Jasmine is a co-director of Lemau Creative Ltd, together with Isitolo Alesana.
She says her creative practice sits between ceremony, community, academic and experimentation, grounded in AP (ancestral poto, knowledge), while moving fluidly across sound, moving image, performance, stationery and digital space.
Jasmine is one of 30 Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) from 20 Pacific nations recently selected to embark on a journey, highlighting the power of Pacific storytelling through digital media.
From March 10-13, 2026, the United States Department of State and Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL) will co-host the YPL Navigating the digital landscape workshop, with a focus on truth, transparency, and technology in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand.
At the workshop, Jasmine says she is interested in learning how digital tools can be indigenised, to carry Pacific values of relationality, genealogy, and time.
“The digital landscape is both a vaka and a current, allowing my work to travel across Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the world and reach our people and others wherever they are, especially our diasporic communities,” Jasmine explains.
“At the same time, it keeps me on my toes, keeping me vigilant to ensure my work isn’t flattened, extracted, or consumed without understanding or permission.”
Benefits of using technology include accessibility and collaborative possibilities, while challenges are speed and ownership, Jasmine says.
“Digital spaces often prioritise immediacy over depth, and visibility over accountability.
“For me, the work is about slowing the process down, embedding cultural protocols, and protecting the mana of the story while still engaging contemporary platforms.”
The workshop in March is an opportunity to deepen Jasmine’s digital practice alongside other Pacific creatives, while learning new skills and sharing knowledge in a way that feels reciprocal, she says.
“I’m excited about conversations that center Pacific futures, how we can use technology not just to tell stories, but to build systems, archives, and pathways which serve our people long-term.”
Jasmine adds attending the workshop at home is set to be a grounding experience.
“Being on whenua, in language, in shared cultural reference, changes how we create and how we listen.
“I’m most looking forward to that collective energy, the laughter, the depth, the unspoken understanding and the chance to imagine together what Pacific storytelling can become when we are resourced, connected, and leading our own narratives.”
Storytelling can take many forms, and the high caliber of successful applicants selected from over 200 candidates for the workshop, have a variety of backgrounds, from media and communications specialists to educators, researchers, health practitioners, digital entrepreneurs and visual artists.
Cohort to attend the March workshop:
- Wallace Aroita (Cook Islands)
- Julie Cooper (Niue)
- Aritika Burennara (Kiribati)
- Asia Camacho Hilario (CNMI)
- Camo Diaz Egurrola (Guåhan)
- Absalom Edwards (Marshall Islands)
- Clarriann Futai (Solomon Islands)
- Gina Ishmael (Vanuatu)
- Kreetika Kumar (Fiji)
- Gabby Langkilde (American Samoa)
- Jasmine Leota (Aotearoa New Zealand)
- Tony Leota (Samoa)
- Pita Loloma (Fiji)
- Magic Lus (Australia)
- Don Maifala (American Samoa)
- Lincy Marino (Palau)
- Michaela Montoya Gatdula (CNMI)
- Ondine Moyatea-Ferdnandez (New Caledonia)
- Dr Lavau Nalu (PNG)
- Jay Nasilasila (Fiji)
- Chelsea Pedro (Palau)
- Rain Sancher (FSM)
- Antonnia Singut (PNG)
- Penina Sua-loa (Samoa)
- Maria Tanner (Cook Islands)
- Tahnee Tchen (French Polynesia
- Esther Tetava (Cook Islands
- Pohaikealoha Worley (Hawai’i)
- Gitty Yee (Tuvalu)
- Kanoelani Toshida (Hawai’i)
Visit the Young Pacific Leaders website for more information about the US Department of State program.