Creative, Actor & Solomon Islands Ambassador

At 25, Elsie Polosovai has achieved a lot. Creating her own path of what Pacific leadership could look like, she moves comfortably between many worlds - including, but not limited to, cultural advocacy, health empowerment and performance. Her dynamic service and advocacy to and for Pacific communities cement Elsie as a multifaceted, warm young leader.

Despite this, Elsie does not feel that she has ‘arrived’. There are, perhaps, good reasons for this. 

"Much of what has shaped my journey cannot always be neatly captured by a list of achievements or milestones."

Elsie's leadership is grounded in connection, place, culture and a deep sense of responsibility to others; these are values that can become invisible or unspoken when they are so deeply embedded in who you are, as they are for her.

For Elsie, the story is less about arriving at a particular destination and more about recognising the threads that have connected her journey so far. From the Solomon Islands to Fiji and South Auckland, from community work to performance to science, each experience and relationship has built upon the last. Her story is one of trusting those connections, even when their significance is not immediately clear, and finding reassurance in the knowledge that, eventually, it will all make sense.

Being Selected

For Elsie, being selected for the Y25 cohort was a surprise. Nominated by Joel Titus, who had connected with Elsie through Y25 legend Latayvia Tualasea Tautai, what made the nomination and selection particularly meaningful was the feeling that she had been recognised not simply for the achievements that might be visible from the outside, but for the work behind them.

After reading her nomination, she describes it as someone having “saw past all the achievements…the glamorous stuff and just really see the work in my community.” For Elsie, that distinction matters.

Her work has always been grounded in people and place, and being recognised for that work felt both affirming and deeply personal. The Y25 launch itself was - as described by Elsie as - “huge”, but one of her favourite moment was being interviewed on Breakfast with fellow Y25er Mariner Fagaiava. This was an opportunity to share what mattered to her, alongside someone she really respects.

However, Elsie is no stranger to the screen. As an incredible actor, former Miss Solomon Islands and advocate, Elsie is used to using her voice and presence to connect with people and communities across many different platforms.

Connection

That theme of connection across place and space has been key for her. Looking back, Elsie is struck by how many important people, opportunities and moments have been as a result of connections; either being in the right place at the right time, or choosing to put her hand up for opportunities, or ensuring she looks after and maintains relationships with those important to her. These connections and relationships are all equally important to Elsie, and reflect her ability to build community wherever she goes.

As a result, many of these connections have “snowballed” into something bigger. From movie roles, to her Bachelor of Science, or her advocacy work, connection has led her into rooms she never could have imagined or dreamed of. Rather than seeing her path as a straight line, Elsie understands it as a series of interconnected moments — each one contributing something to where she is now.

Place

Place is another important part of Elsie’s story. She is a daughter of the Solomon Islands, has spent time growing up in Fiji, is a proud resident of South Auckland and completed her degree in Dunedin. Moving between these places has given her a particular awareness of culture, people and community.

She believes this experience has helped develop an acute understanding of different perspectives, as well as a strong sense of empathy and values-led work. At the heart of her community practice is something that sounds simple but has taken years to learn: how to listen, and how to communicate with people in ways that honour where they are coming from.

For Elsie, these are not simply professional skills. They are deeply rooted in her Pacific identity and reflect values she has been brought up with: listening, relationality, empathy, respect and care for others. Yet, as a Pacific person, these ways of being can often remain invisible or unspoken, precisely because they are so familiar; they are understood as simply part of who you are, rather than recognised as skills, strengths or forms of leadership in their own right.

They are ways of being shaped by the places she has called home and the people she has had the privilege of working alongside — and values that have quietly informed the way she moves through her work and community.

A Feeling of Having Arrived

There is an expectation, Elsie reflects, that at some point you should reach somewhere and feel settled.

But perhaps not feeling that way is not a bad thing. In fact, Elsie has come to see uncertainty as part of the journey, and something she would encourage future leaders to embrace. Her advice is grounded in reassurance: there is “a thread in all of this”. Even when the next step is unclear, she believes there is value in trusting that the pieces will eventually connect.

"You don’t really arrive to somewhere where you’re like ‘yeah, solid’. So I think it’s good to reassure yourself that it will make sense at the end of the day."

For Elsie, this journey of leadership and advocacy has been less about a clear destination. Instead, it has been found in people, places and experiences - every connection, every place, every unexpected opportunity and every piece of hard work has snowballed into this moment. All of which have shaped Elsie’s work and values. In the communities she serves and the connections she continues to build, Elsie continues to blaze a trail of what Pacific leadership can look like.