Hon. Carmel Sepuloni Talks Celebrity Treasure Island And Imposter Syndrome On Return To University Of Auckland

New Zealand’s first Pacific Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Carmel Sepuloni returned to the place that became the catalyst for her political career, Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland.

Accompanied by fellow alumnus Labour MP Hon. Shanan Halbert, she spoke with a cohort of Māori and Pacific school leavers on 10 February as a guest of Unibound, the summer academic enrichment programme designed to ease students into university life.
 
Despite having risen to the highest ranks of political life the Deputy Leader of the Opposition says she much prefers talking policy rather than sharing her own story.

“It's probably one of the most uncomfortable things to do. I'd much rather talk about policy and politics than my personal backstory. But I think it’s really important to come back here and talk to the students.”

As a highly experienced politician Sepuloni (Samoa, Tonga and Pākehā) is used to Question Time. However it was likely her first Q&A session including questions about her time on Celebrity Treasure Island. In particular the challenge with media personality Gabby Solomona where both held a block together using only their feet.
 
“Of course I got asked some questions about Celebrity Treasure Island and the challenge with Gabby and what that meant, and I could speak to the importance of that ‘duty of care’ we have to each other as part of being Pacific people, and how sometimes we will actually achieve more out of working with a sense of obligation to someone else, as opposed to just our own individual pursuits.”
 
Sepuloni studied at the Auckland College of Education and later gained a Bachelor of Education and Diploma of Primary School Teaching with the University of Auckland. She also ran the University’s Tuakana programme as Equity Manager with the Faculty of Arts for five years, working predominantly with Māori and Pacific undergraduate students.
 
“This was so very close to my own heart and also a catalyst for what got me into politics in the first place,” she says of her passion that also extended to working with youth who had fallen out of the schooling system.
 
“It was my passion for education, for our Pacific community. My first hand witness to the inequities that exist for us as Pacific people in the education system.  And so I will always take up the opportunity to come back to the University of Auckland, particularly to see our Pacific students.”
 
As well as the numerous questions about politics, the discussion turned to Imposter syndrome and Sepuloni was able to cast back to more than three decades ago when she was an undergraduate student at the University and the first in her family to venture into the tertiary space.
 
“We talked about imposter syndrome and I mentioned that I actually had it as an undergrad student, because I was the first in my family, like many of them, to come to university.
 
“So the space and the environment was quite unfamiliar and scary for me to start with. We talked about imposter syndrome in that setting, but I said that for many of us that are brown and women, that it's something that that we may carry for life, but it isn't necessarily to the same extent.”
 
Speaking with the young audience, Sepuloni realised there were many shared similarities but was aware that time and progress had a made a difference.
 
“I guess the thing that I'm cognizant of is these kids are so much younger than me.
I'm standing there talking to them, and I realize that I could be their mother, reflecting and realizing it's nearly been 30 years since I was a first-year university student. So I'm really mindful that despite the fact we'll have some similarities and experience, and that some things haven't changed that much, there is still, you know, a huge amount of difference between us.”
 
Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific Professor Jemaima Tiatia-Siau says having the Leader of the Opposition and the country’s first former Pacific female Deputy Prime Minister was an invaluable experience for the Unibound school leavers to realise what the future could hold in store for them.
 
“This was an invaluable experience for our young people to be in the same room as the Hon. Carmel Sepuloni; the opportunity to ask her about her journey and the steps she took toward her accomplishments, it has made a great impression and given them motivation as they set out on the start of their tertiary journey.”
 
Professor Tiatia-Siau also acknowledged ethnomusicologist and lecturer Sharon Televave along with UniBound acting manager Sara Toleafoa for bringing Sepuloni back to the University.
 
“Vā Fealoa’i is a Samoan concept, which is about relationality. Similarly, Tauhi Vā is a Tongan concept about relationality. Nurturing vā or relationships, is essential in Pacific cultures, this made it seamless for us to contact the Hon Carmel Sepuloni, says Sharon Televave.
 
As an alumni and former staff member of the University, Televave was hopeful the visit would plant seeds to empower our Pacific students about to embark on their academic journeys.

© Scoop Media