For Miss Samoa New South Wales, Moemoana Safaatoa Schwenke, participating in this year's pageant is about following in the legacy set by her mother and creating her own.

She is the daughter of Mary-Jane Mckibbin Schwenke who was Miss Samoa in 1997 and won the Miss South Pacific title in 1998. She knows she has a tough act to follow but is confident that she can do it.

Moemoana Safaatoa Schwenke, 23, hails from the villages of Auala, Asau, Matavai-Savaii, Taufusi, Vaimea, Matautu-Lefaga and proudly represents the Samoan community of New South Wales, Australia in the 2023 Miss Samoa Pageant. 

“My main motivation running in the pageant was to directly serve Samoan communities here in Samoa,” said Ms. Schwenke. “My family and I run a Pacific cultural centre in Sydney where we teach seven Pacific cultures with a team of tutors and the Samoan culture is one of our classes.

“We spend a lot of time with the diaspora communities but I wanted to be here on the land, on the soil, and near the ocean in Samoa with our people to serve them. There needs to be a vessel and a pathway to assist in any way I can.”

She said her mother’s passion back in the day was the environment and that this is an issue that she is advocating for today.

“I am using what she has taught me, the lesson my family have taught me and building upon that to honour my family and my villages for this pageant,” she said. “My current work at the moment which is also my hobby is at the Australian Museum. I am a Pacific research and consultation officer with a collection of over 60,000 Pacific treasures and 500 of those are Samoan measina.” 

“I spend a lot of time with old treasures trying to learn the cultural significance and the history behind them retracing how those objects got to Australia through colonialism and Imperialism.

“My other hobby is dancing. Dancing is a central hobby of mine and kind of my life’s purpose is to tell my story through dance specifically through siva Samoa and siva afi. 

“I have been practising since I was 13 years old and it has been quite a renowned thing because I was one of the few girls that really took on siva afi and promoted it to other younger women.”

Other than the strong women in her own life, Ms. Schwenke said she really looks up to the heroines in Samoa’s ancient history and mythology like Nafanua, Sina and Queen Salamasina. 

Her modern-day heroes include Samoa's Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa who continues to show that there is no one way to be a Samoan woman, and that as leaders women have the right to lead the country just like men.