Moana 'Ulu'ave-Hafoka was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to parents, both of Niuafo'ou, Tongatapu. In her senior year of high school, she won the Oprah Winfrey High School Essay Contest and Gates Millennium Scholarship which enabled her to attend any four-year college on a full-ride scholarship. In 2012, after spending some time in New Zealand, she graduated with University Honors from Brigham Young University in English and Sociology. Her honors thesis was entitled, Tauhi Va: Nourishing the Space Between--A Collection of Essays which dealt with her love of growing up in Glendale and her identities as a Mormon, Tongan, and American. In May 2014, she graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. While there, she received multiple honors including, the 2014 Intellectual Contribution & Faculty Tribute Award and the Leadership in Education Award. After graduate school, Moana pursued a career in public service in her hometown. First, working in her local community center, then as the Bridge Program Director of the Pacific Islands Studies Initiative at the University of Utah, and most recently, as the first Equity Manager for the inaugural Equity team in the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office. During her time of service, she also published multiple creative and academic pieces including, Talanoa: Tongan epistemology and Indigenous research method, To Be Young, Mormon, and Tongan and Land & Sea: Fonua mo ‘Oseni. Today, you can find Moana, and her partner, Maika, living in Utah with their children, still writing across multiple genres.