Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti's PEAK Conversations panel to feature Auli’i Cravalho, Naomi Scott, and Sasha Colby 

Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti announced that their PEAK Conversations panel is all set to take place in Los Angeles on May 1, 2024. They also announced that the panel will feature Auli’i Cravalho, Naomi Scott, and Sasha Colby. Sponsored by Amazon MGM Studios, the panel will be moderated by the PEAK Co-Founder Sana LeDoux Miller.

The Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti supports and promotes the talent of the people who are from the Pacific region and their descendants. As per The Cambridge Dictionary, Pasfika is the term given to people who live in New Zealand or have their father and forefathers from the area.

The Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti also announced that the discussions with the panel will focus on the journey of Pasifika women and how they made it to the entertainment industry. As per Variety, the discussions will also emphasize the individual success of all the actresses, as it would highlight the achievements of each of the panel members.

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More details about PEAK explored as the panel features Pacific Islander women from the entertainment industry

As the Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti is all set to host Pacific Islander women, the summit will highlight the achievements of Auli’i Cravalho, who is the first Disney Pacific Islander princess.

At the same time, the discussions will also revolve around Sasha Colby, who was the first Pacific Islander to win RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Naomi Scott, who is the only Chamorro woman producer in Hollywood.

Along with these three, the panel will also have Ledoux Miller, who has been the first Samoan showrunner in Hollywood. Announcing the same, Kristian Fanene Schmidt, the executive director of Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti announced:

“May is AAPI Heritage Month yet you’ll find Pasifika (or Pacific Islander) people are rarely prioritized and often erased in celebrations despite us being named in them. Most AAPI organizations have no Pasifika staff or even board members so it’s why PEAK exists. We’re the only Pasifika-led organization doing this work who will advocate for us the way we do.”

Schmidt also said:

“We’re all about uplifting our most marginalized voices so for this event, it made perfect sense to highlight our women who are the backbone of our communities, yet they experience the most disparity when it comes to opportunities and pay.”

About PEAK in brief

The Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti website defines PEAK as:

“To redefine and expand Pasifika entertainment so that our creatives can thrive, evolve, and drive innovative storytelling that honours the richness and diversity across Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.”

Simultaneously, it outlines PEAK's three primary goals, which are to promote community and make use of industrial networks, hold training sessions, and give Pacific Islanders opportunities for personal growth.

The website also states it encourages the people of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia to work in feature films and other storytelling arenas and thus, it works to connect them with people in the industry.

For those unversed, the Pacific Ocean is divided into three separate regions: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Each has unique historical, physical, and cultural features.

As for the board of PEAK, the members of the board are Averie Joy Maikalima O Makua Huffine, Aisea Launguae, Ianeta Le’i, Grant Torre, and Kerry Warkia, along with Dana Ledoux Miller and Kristian Fanene Schmidt, who are also the co-founders of the committee.

The PEAK summit held last year, in 2023, focused on the scarcity of Pacific Islanders in Hollywood. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the Samoan writer and producer Dana Ledoux Miller raised the concern of the industry being dominated by the non-Pacific Islanders, and many celebrities joined in and gave their inputs on the same.