Pacifique X: The Podcast Project

Tony Fretton is the founder of Pacifique X, formerly known as VIKA. He is an active member of our Samoan diaspora and Melbourne community, working in spaces such as the Miss Samoa Victoria pageant, employment services and the Samoan Victim Support Group. We learn about Tony’s personal journey and discuss his passion for supporting our Pacific community, insights into the realities and perceptions of gender and queer communities in the Pacific and Australia and hear about some of his inspirations and role models in this space.

Junior is a star with many accomplishments on and off the netball court, representing New Zealand (and previously Australia) at numerous international competitions. He is an active member of the LGBTIQA+ community and Pacifique X group, passionate about uplifting our diverse community and sharing his thoughts on possibility models. In this podcast, Junior shares insights into his life including growing up in the church and his love for family and culture, reflecting on identity and intersectionality of cross cultural spaces. He further provides hot takes on how he navigates his own experiences, spaces including the sporting realm and personal learnings.

Sebastian, a proud Gay Samoan Foster Parent and active member of the Pacific Islands LGBTIQA+ group, PacifiqueX  - we have a chat with Sebastian  about his coming of age journey, identity, sexuality, relationships and his role as a Foster Parent. We get into the Samoan practice of Family 'Adoption' and the retelling of his own journey of beign adopted to his Grandparents and how this helped shape his life journey. Sebastian speaks candidly about all these things and we thank him for his time.

Maurice Simeon Turia is a Cook Island/Tahitian Gender Fluid person from Melbourne, we have a chat to them about their life, culture and experience and their story about how they view the world, current issues and talking about their fond memories and inspiration of early 90's Raerae community who inspired them to embrace and be proud of their identity. Tony K. Fretton has the privilege of this open conversation, our sincere thanks to Maurice for sharing their story. Join us, as we chat with Maurice.

This episode is an open conversation with Beedis Mana-Daniel, a proud Cook Island/Tahitian Gender Fluid person living in Melbourne. She talks about her experience as a Netball Coach for the Australian Institute of Sport, their life as a Gender Non-Conforming person navigating Employment, Community, Culture and living their truth. Tony K. Fretton interviews Beedis 'off the cuff' and the episode touches on issues with Trans Women competing in Sport and the effects of the 'Israel Folau' on the Pacific sport community. Join us, as we have a chat.

An intro (including all the mistakes) on the Pacifique X: The Podcast Project. A quick overview of what's to come throughout the Podcast series.