March is Womens History Month and the many vital contributions made by Pacific Women still remain unknown to so many and that is why I think it is paramount that their voices, their stories must be shared. Aumua Amata Radewagen continued to be an advocate for the Samoan people. Some of her biography tidbits provided by: International Leadership Foundation: Amata Coleman Radewagen served as a Commissioner for Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Amata Coleman Radewagen is a community activist from American Samoa who volunteers with the hospital Womens Auxiliary, is a member of Business and Professional Women and is on the board of Goodwill Industries. A 15-year cancer survivor, Amata has served as spokesperson for the Samoan Womens Health Project to promote cancer awareness and bring mammography to the territory and has been liaison to the National Breast Cancer Coalition since 1993. Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001 as a White House Commissioner for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), where she chaired the Community Security Committee, Amata was the only Pacific Islander on the 15-member commission, which advised the President on AAPI issues and issued a landmark report on the health care needs of Americas AAPI communities. Amata also has been very involved in helping build democratic institutions abroad. As a trainer since 1992, she has participated in missions to Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan and Morocco for the International Republican Institute and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. In 2007 she conducted training in Washington for Iraqi and Uyghur women leaders. Other international work has included participation in several Pacific regional conferences. Amata was a member of the 1986 American Council of Young Political Leaders study tour of Australia and was elected a member of the ACYPL Alumni Council in 1987. A member of the advance team for the historic 1990 Honolulu summit between President George H.W. Bush and Pacific Island leaders and assisted the presidents delegation; she also was Washington advance liaison for the vice presidents 1989 visit to Pago Pago. A member of the U.S. House of Representatives Leadership staff for eight years, Amata was Conference scheduling director and also established a database to reach out to Asian Pacific and other minority aspirants for congressional staff positions. Earlier in her career, she served at the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. She also was the first executive assistant to the first delegate-at-large to Washington from American Samoa. A candidate for Congress, she also serves her islands as a member of the Republican National Committee, where she is the senior committeewoman in the western region. She has served on the Chairman’s Executive Council, the Committee on Arrangements for five national conventions and the Standing Committee on Rules. In 2003 she became the first and only Pacific Islander ever chosen as Outstanding Woman of the Year by the National Association of Professional Asian American Women (NAPAW). Amata’s biography appears in Whos Who in Politics, Whos Who in the South and Southwest and on the United States list of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Register of Skilled Women in the Pacific. She also was profiled in the book “The Women of American Samoa 1900-2000.” Amata has a bachelors degree from the University of Guam, with additional studies at Loyola-Marymount and George Mason Universities. One of 13 children of the late Governor and Mrs. Peter Tali Coleman, she is married to Fred Radewagen and has three grown children. Thank you Aumua for being a great role model for our Samoan Pacific women - FAAMALO ATU!
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 07:51:34 +0000
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