Terisa Siagatonu

Terisa Siagatonu is an award-winning poet, teaching artist, mental health educator, and community leader from the Bay Area. As a queer Sāmoan woman, her voice has led her to perform at the White House (as a 2012 Champion of Change awardee), the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, the Asia Pacific Triennial in Australia, and the 2019 SF Women’s March. Her work blends the personal, cultural, and political, calling for healing, courage, justice, and truth.

A 2022 Emerson Collective Fellow, her poetry has been published in Poetry Magazine and The Academy of American Poets, and featured by Button Poetry, CNN, NPR, KQED, and more. Since 2010, she has competed nationally with award-winning slam teams, including the 2017 Root Slam Team, placing 5th in the U.S. She now coaches college slam teams, mentors young writers, and co-founded The Root Slam, a free bi-weekly poetry venue in Oakland.

Offstage, Terisa facilitates writing workshops, delivers keynotes, leads trainings, and provides clinical mental health support. Her community work centers youth advocacy, education, Indigenous rights, climate justice, and LGBTQQIA+ issues. She holds degrees from UC Santa Cruz and USC and integrates poetry and mental health to foster collective healing and liberation.