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Andre Afamasaga

@styleuso

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I stopped caring about my IG aesthetic in 2019, apologies | 🙏🏽🧔🏽✌🏽🇼🇸

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Andre had been collecting beautiful things long before I came along.

As a child, he spent hours with his father exploring markets, garage sales and antique stores, developing an eye for objects that were interesting, beautifully made and, most importantly, brought him joy.

So when we’d been dating for several months and I still hadn’t been invited into his Wellington apartment, I started to wonder why.

Eventually he confessed.

He’d been Googling my work and was terrified I’d walk through the door and start critiquing everything.

When I was finally allowed in, the opposite happened. I found this wonderful, character-filled oasis, years of collecting and surrounding himself with things he loved. It was comfortable, interesting, unpredictable and completely Andre.

A story of a life well lived, told through a home.

Of course, being me, I eventually suggested we move one or two things. What followed wasn’t a redesign. Over the next couple of years, Andre and I simply edited together, moving furniture, hanging art, taking things away, adding others and allowing the apartment to evolve.
Andre had spent years looking at fashion and interiors and understood instinctively the difference between something timeless and something simply on trend. My role was often just helping him find the relationships between the things he already loved.

And perhaps that’s why this little apartment captures Everyday Opulence so beautifully.
It was never about how much something cost, or creating something perfect.

It was about a man who had spent a lifetime collecting things that brought him joy, and creating a home that told his story.

For me, that’s what a home should do.
📸. @gina_fabish

#interiordesigninspiration #apartmentliving #collectorsedition #curatorial #michaelmansveltdesign taken in Wellington, New Zealand by @styleuso

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9 days ago

What does a young Pacific father’s stroke teach us about health equity?

Recently, award-winning Pacific journalist and friend @indivastewart did a story of a young Pacific father whose life changed forever after suffering a stroke.

It reminded me of two things.

First, every minute matters when someone is having a stroke.

Secondly, why health equity and the Human Rights Act’s provision for special measures matter.

When I worked in public health, I helped lead the Pacific arm of a national Stroke FAST campaign in 2018. We knew Māori and Pacific communities experienced strokes younger and at higher rates, but we also knew many families delayed calling 111 because of barriers that a one-size-fits-all campaign couldn’t address.

That’s what equity is.

Not giving some people more.

Giving different communities what they need to achieve the same opportunity for good health.

In this video I explain the difference between equality and equity, why our Human Rights Act recognises special measures, and why good public policy should always be judged by whether it improves people’s lives.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

#pacific #pasifika #maori #healthequity #humanrights publichealth healthpolicy stroke strokeawareness aotearoa nzpolitics equity socialjustice pacificleadership community by @styleuso

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3 months ago

Happy bday to my older sis who thinks she’s my mum. Love you & God bless 🙏🏽⚡️🌺🩵🎂 @hernshalleen by @styleuso

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3 months ago

CORRECTION: In the video I mistakenly said Ardie Savea was the first All Blacks captain. That honour belongs to Tana Umaga, who is my family also (sorry!!) I meant first time we've had a Pacific All Blacks head coach & captain.

This week I wrote an op-ed, “The Leaders We Already Have in Our Communities”, published in The Post and The Press, about Ardie Savea’s All Blacks Captaincy announcement.

This is a short video summary.
All Blacks Coach Dave Renny’s recall of his convo with Ardie got me thinking about the Pacific leaders we’ve always had, but are often overlooked. The challenge isn’t a lack of leadership. It’s whether our workplaces, organisations and institutions know how to recognise and reward Pacific, Māori & Asian leadership. I encourage businesses and organisations to step up and start building those pipelines now. #Pacific #leadership #newzealand #allblacks #career

I’d love to hear your thoughts. by @styleuso

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3 months ago

Happy bday to my older sis who thinks she’s my mum Shalleen Hern. Love you always, God bless ✊🏽💙🌺⚡️🙏🏽 by @styleuso

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3 months ago

Here’s my latest Op-ed published in today’s The Post print, and The Press online. It’s about Pacific leadership promoted by Ardie Savea’s overdue captaincy. And how those overseeing recruitment and promotions haven’t been able to recognise what we’ve always known. I think many will relate.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/361031405/leaders-we-already-have-across-our-community
#Leadership #PacificLeadership
#allblacks
#WorkforceEquity #humanrights by @styleuso

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3 months ago

My latest opinion piece in The Press reflects on Ardie Savea’s appointment as All Blacks captain and the Pacific leaders we may be overlooking in our communities.

#PacificLeadership #PacificVoices #ArdieSavea #Leadership #Pasifika #CommunityLeadership #Aotearoa #TheLeadersWeAlreadyHave by @styleuso

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3 months ago

Your reminder: You matter, purpose matters, and people matter.
I caught first flight out while it was dark and caught last flight home while also dark.
The hard work will be worth it one day. Pursue tomorrow’s dreams today. #inspiration #work #purpose #travel #love by @styleuso

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4 months ago

For many Pacific Rainbow people, our challenge is not identity alone. It is belonging.

Too often, people assume coming out is about choosing one part of yourself over another. Yet the research tells a different story. Most people are not trying to leave their families, cultures or faith behind. We are trying to find a way to remain connected to them in the safest way possible.

Kane Evans’ recent interview captures something many Pacific Rainbow people know well. The courage required is not simply coming to terms with yourself. It is sharing that truth with the people we love most and hoping there is still a place for us.

In this 4min video, I reflect on belonging, family, faith (including the parable of the prodigal son), Pacific culture and what the evidence tells us.

I also explore these themes in my recent ABC oped I wrote: https://www.abc.net.au/religion/kane-evans-coming-out-and-words-pacific-rainbow-people-long-for/106792886

#PacificRainbow #Belonging #LGBTIQ #mentalhealth #KaneEvans by @styleuso

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4 months ago

This is a quote from my new oped on published in ABC Religion and Ethics: “Kane Evans, coming out and the words Pacific Rainbow people long to hear”. It’s my observation, experience, and review of the extant literature that Pacific families are lacking in support for a family member navigating their diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. There are many reasons from anti-LGBTIQ stigma, shame of judgement and exclusion, a lack of language and cultural resources, less explicit ways of “coming out” that result in silence, hierarchical and elder-led societies, and a collective identity that deprioritises individual identity and needs, and much more. However, Pacific families and community leaders need not look far. The roadmap they could develop can draw on existing Indigenous and cultural methods that already effective for navigating complexity of seemingly irresolvable situations, such as Talanoa. These methods already embed restorative practices such as deep listening, prayer, mediation, reminders of genealogical and ancestral links, scripture or wisdom proverbs, and forgiveness that strengthen relationality and love. As a human rights advocate I recommend a principles of positive duty of care, and safeguarding so that responsibility lies with those who hold power, authority, or duty of care — family, religious and cultural leaders — and not the individual susceptible to harm, i.e the young Rainbow family member. In other words the 15 or 25 year old who lacks power in our communities has little agency and power to initiate these complex conversations and arrangements, therefore it must come from our elders. I’ll write more about this later! https://www.abc.net.au/religion/kane-evans-coming-out-and-words-pacific-rainbow-people-long-for/106792886
#mentalhealth #pacific #pacificrainbow #talanoa by @styleuso

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4 months ago

Here’s some quick thoughts on Kane Evans three life goals:

Make the NRL.

Buy his parents a house.

End his own life.

The hierarchy is difficult to ignore.

Even in his darkest moments, family remained at the centre.

I’ll share more thoughts on Kane’s story, Pacific families, and the conversations we still struggle to have.

@kevansthemandem @themanalagiproject

#KaneEvans #Pacific #Belonging #MentalHealth #PacificRainbow by @styleuso

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4 months ago

LOVE MAKES A FAMILY | At SDA Kinship Oceania, we believe every person deserves to experience faith, community, and family without fear or exclusion. Rooted in compassion, dignity, and belonging, we celebrate LGBTQIA+ people and their loved ones as an essential part of our shared spiritual journey. Love creates connection, nurtures hope, and reminds us that everyone belongs. taken in Sydney by @styleuso

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4 months ago