‘Strive for greatness’
ANA Laqeretabua believes that women supporting women can be a real game changer in Fijian society. She says when women look out for, encourage and lift other women - it can be a real difference maker.
Born and raised in the United Kingdom (UK), her father was one of the first soldiers to join the British Army in the 1960s.
Her early childhood was spent in the UK and when her family returned to Fiji in the 1970s, she attended Nausori Primary School and, later, Lelean Memorial School.
Ms Laqeretabua was fortunate enough to be sent to New Zealand for her final year of high school on an exchange scheme where she attended Auckland Girls Grammar School for a year.
She did journalism in sixth form there and that was what prepared her for a cadet reporter role at the Fiji Sun under the guidance of (the late) Peter Lomas in February 1987.
After the second coup in the same year, she joined The Fiji Times in December 1987.
After a stint with this newspaper, Ms Laqeretabua went into public relations. She returned to the UK to ‘find herself’ in 1995 and that’s when she went back to university.
She completed her first degree while juggling academia with being a first-time mum and struggled through “a bad marriage”.
Ms Laqeretabua was offered a scholarship given to minority women in the UK to do an MA in Gender Culture and Development. In 2001, she returned to Fiji with her daughter and two suitcases to do research for her MA and never went back to England.
After successfully completing her MA, Ms Laqeretabua began working in the Pacific.
She spent time doing consultancy work and eventually registered a business called SALT Incorporated Pte Ltd in 2009 – a personal development and leadership consultancy she has been operating since.
A certified coach, facilitator, and trainer with the Maxwell Leadership Team, Ms Laqeretabua is a lifelong learner and is passionate about women’s leadership and personal development.
“The opportunity to join the Maxwell Leadership Team was recommended to me through my Tongan colleague Katrina, because she sensed that it was something I would enjoy doing,” she said.
“After Katrina and I got certified in Orlando one of the last things I heard Maxwell talk about at that meeting was how important it was to keep swinging the bat – to keep doing what you’re doing and just to be consistent with swinging your bat.
“And so that is what I did.
“When I came back to Fiji, I began to teach and facilitate the material from 2017 and when I started there were instances where I was only helping one person but because I kept replaying the ‘keep swinging the bat’ motto in my head, I would consistently do the trainings with whoever was interested.
“Eventually I started to charge a fee and people would pay to be part of the sessions I was offering. I would offer six weeks of mastermind sessions and we would meet for one and a half hours a week and I’d just take people through the material.”
She said the purpose behind registering her business was to create a community of growth, of like-minded women who were committed to one another and growing together.
“That’s what we’ve been able to consistently do since 2020, through COVID-19 and the different seasons in a woman’s life. I think one of the things that has kept us together is our commitment to one another and the commitment just to consistently help each other grow, we challenge one another.
“When we meet there’s an intention behind what we are discussing and checking in on, so we’re not going all over the place but rather a structured process and being a part of the global Maxwell Leadership mentoring community has taught me how to do that.”
Ms Laqeretabua saw challenges as opportunities.
“You don’t get to where you are in life without challenges, and I think the challenges are the fuel which continues to propel you forward and if you are not challenged, you don’t get an opportunity to grow.
“When I look back over my journey, just the challenges of running my business, the challenges of being divorced, the challenges of just trying to push yourself through life and the challenges you’d have to deal with just fighting your own insecurities – those are very real challenges that I think women constantly deal with and the narrative in your head, a lot of that is mind set and you have to overcome those challenges in your mind in order to continue pushing yourself forward. “For me, challenge is an opportunity. “So, when asked about these challenges, I just see opportunities to grow. It’s all about what you see – do you see the challenge or the opportunity to grow and so when I look at my life, I just see how I’ve been given all these opportunities to keep getting better”
She holds a MA in Gender Culture and Development and a BA in Visual Communications from the UK and is currently enrolled in a MA in Gender, Sexuality and Global Politics at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), University of London.
“When I did my first degree, I did my dissertation in Cross Cultural Feminism. I wanted to understand how this gender thing worked.
“The reason was, when we were children, my mother took my siblings and I to my father’s village when we came back from England, and I saw the inequality. Because I’m an only girl and I’ve got three brothers, the boys were treated very differently from me, and I had to navigate a lot of the challenges of being a Fijian girl who was born and raised in England to living in a Fijian village. Like straight off the plane and to the village – it was a huge culture shock.
“My mum had to raise my three brothers and I and I saw the way the women in the village treated my mum because she wasn’t from there.”
She said it has been a lifelong pursuit of trying to understand the differences between men and women and how women are socialised.
“The challenges for women in Fiji and the Pacific are huge. There are many challenges that women must negotiate just because they’re a woman and I think that’s often compounded by the expectations that are placed on women by their families, villages, and society.
“Women are constantly having to live up to all these expectations that are placed upon us as women and so you’re always taking care of everybody else and very rarely taking care of yourself.
“I think the huge challenge is really the responsibilities that women must carry and the responsibilities that they carry in their homes, communities, churches, workplace and how they must juggle all these responsibilities often at their own expense. Very rarely do women start to really look out for themselves, you’re either looking out for your children, husband, or extended family.”
She added that her mother has been her source of inspiration through it all.
“She raised four children in England in the 1970s when my father was always away because he was in the army. She had four children in diapers all at the same time and when she decided that she didn’t want to be in England anymore, she packed up everything and brought us to my father’s village.
“When I look back, she’s always been determined, and that determination is what I’ve gained. My father’s sisters are also very strong women – we come from a warrior tribe, and I’ve always had this idea in my head that we’re built for resilience and built to continue to challenge and push against the current.”
Ms Laqeretabua encouraged all women and girls to strive for greatness.
“I’ve found that just being able to be bold and confident has helped me to get to where I am, and I’m happy that I have encouraged other women to do the same.
“Don’t play small. Play on the field and give it your best so that when you leave, you’re leaving your legacy and the fulfilment is when you’re doing it to be a source of encouragement for other people.
“I think part of what I learn is the difference between success and significance – a life of success is when you do things for yourself, and significance is when you’re always doing things for others.”