Dr Inez Fainga’a-Manu Sione was born in Fiji to Tongan parents and is connected to Samoan and Yolngu communities, including through adoption into the Gumatj clan.

For the past 25 years, she has worked with Pasifika and Māori communities across Queensland in Education, Youth Justice and Community sectors. She originally studied a Bachelor of Theatre and enjoyed a career performing with La Boite and Queensland Theatre. She also completed a Bachelor of Laws/Business (after which she was admitted into the Supreme Court as a lawyer) and a PhD.

Alongside her role with the Griffith Centre for Social & Cultural Research, a community board member on the Qld Parole Board, she is a Research Fellow with Village Connect Ltd, Australia’s first Pasifika Holistic Health hub co-located within a Pasifika church, where Pasifika and Western knowledges are woven together to support spiritual, clinical, cultural, communal and holistic wellbeing.