Louise Su'esu'e Kuaea, affectionately known as "Luisa," epitomizes love for the people. She has selflessly served for over 30 years in communities across California, Utah, and American Samoa, helping to feed the hungry, bring healing to the sick, and improve access to government programs and services for marginalized groups. Luisa's compassion towards the suffering of others has fueled her volunteerism and inspired her fearlessness in advocating for underprivileged people.

Born in Oakland, California, Luisa grew up in government housing as her immigrant parents from American Samoa did their best to provide for their family. Witnessing her parents' service and sacrifices for people regardless of their ethnicity, age, or lifestyle nurtured Luisa's love and respect for all humankind. Honoring her immigrant parents' wishes, Luisa pursued higher education and earned a Bachelor's Degree from Brigham Young University (BYU), an Executive MBA from BYU's Marriott School of Business, and a certificate in Project Management from UC Berkeley. Her education, compassion, and concern for the well-being of others propelled her to senior leadership roles in multiple Fortune 500 companies. Those professional experiences enabled Luisa to serve in numerous non-profit organizations that have greatly contributed to the empowerment of minorities, women, and children.

In moving to American Samoa (AS) in 2017, Luisa immersed herself in service for her own people. During her first summer in AS, Luisa launched the territory's biggest summer reading program in partnership with the Feleti Barstow Public Library, exceeding previous enrollments by more than 900%. She secured donations and volunteer support to provide each child with reading books, interactive games, fun field trips, free lunch, and an amazing experience of discovery. Over the next 5 years, this reading program helped more than 1,200 children develop a love for reading.

The following year, Luisa learned that AS had the highest incidence of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD). She took the initiative to contact the BYU RHD team and persuaded them to include AS in its outreach. Luisa then secured donors to bring BYU's team of cardiologists, professors, and sonographers to AS. Working with the AS Dept. of Health (DOH), they screened thousands of children, youth, and adults over the past 5 years. With BYU and other valued partnerships, DOH has built up a robust RHD program that has significantly reduced the territory's high incidence rate.

With the launch of high-speed internet in AS, Luisa saw an opportunity to build a new industry in the territory that could create hundreds of jobs for her people. She partnered with the Dept. of Commerce and built American Samoa's first call center. She then hired 75 women, youth, and veterans, and trained them with computer skills for various remote customer support roles to service hotels, retailers, and healthcare organizations in the states. Luisa recently partnered with one of the largest call center corporations in the world and is planning to hire 150 more remote customer service agents in AS.

When COVID-19 spread across the world, Luisa and her family were unable to return to AS due to border closures. Upon learning of other AS families who were also stranded and in need of help, Luisa leapt into action and secured housing, food, and healthcare assistance for them from various non-profit groups and government programs. She then joined the Tagata Tutu Faatasi Alliance (TTFAAS) for stranded American Samoans across the states, and secured thousands of dollars in gift cards from businesses to help TTFAAS families with living expenses while they waited to return home. As stress, anxiety, and depression spread amongst TTFAAS families, Luisa brought psychologists onto the weekly TTFAAS Zoom calls to help people manage the challenges of being unable to return home.

After returning to AS, Luisa dove into the needs of her fellow small business owners who were struggling to survive the government's COVID-19 restrictions on their operations. As Vice-Chair of the AS Chamber of Commerce (ASCOC), Luisa contacted the US Small Business Administration to identify roadblocks preventing businesses from accessing federal aid, including the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and the Employee Retention Credit (ERC). Together with the Chairwoman of the ASCOC, they helped dozens of local farmers, taxi drivers, retailers, restaurateurs, aiga bus owners, and other small businesses accurately complete and successfully submit their applications for federal aid.

Last year, Luisa and a group of like-minded sisters created the Women's Coalition of American Samoa (WCAS) to strengthen, empower, and unite the women of AS, while championing gender equality and advancing the presence of women in leadership positions. The coalition's goal is to empower women to reach their full potential within their communities. As WCAS has highlighted inspirational AS women each month and provided a platform for women to be seen and heard, it has been awesome to witness their numbers grow as more and more women and men join this worthy cause.

Luisa personifies love for people, and we haven't even touched on her church and family service where she's invested most of her time and energies. Luisa never intended to run for public office. But, at the behest of so many who have benefitted from her compassionate service, she feels compelled to answer the call for new leadership, new ideas, and new energy to address the persistent challenges of her people. In light of what she's accomplished on a volunteer basis, imagine how much more good Luisa Kuaea could do for the people of American Samoa as their elected representative in Congress.