Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh is an Auckland-based Pacific poet and scholar of Samoan, Tuvaluan, English, Scottish and French descent. She was was the first Pacific Islander to gain a PhD in English from the University of Auckland. She has been the recipient of several major achievements and awards for her services to poetry, literature and the Pacific community, including representing Tuvalu in the Poetry Olympics in London 2012, becoming the official Commonwealth poet in 2016, and being named New Zealand Poet Laureate 2017 – 2019. She has published three award-winning poetry books and two award-winning graphic memoirs, Mophead and Mophead Tu: A Queen's Poem. See her website (www.selinatusitalamarsh.com) for her publications, inspirational keynotes, and creativity and innovation workshops for education, government and corporate sectors.