I’ll be the first to admit, that prior to knowing Isabella Naiduki,  I knew very little about the island nation of Fiji.  But somehow  I found myself in Fiji Twitter and in the process, Isabella and I connected.  I am pretty sure she was loudly pushing back against narratives that she found damaging and unproductive. 

And well, the rest they say is history.

Isabella, who is currently based in the UK,  is a blogger and podcaster, who spends a fair amount of time sharing her experiences as a Indigenous Fijian, on her aptly named blog, Fijian in the UK.  As someone from a small nation, you can bet she’s often combatting misconceptions and stereotypes, which she shares. But we also spend a lot of time talking about Fijian identity and culture, particularly as it compares to life in the United Kingdom.  Isabella  also highlights how she keeps her children tethered to Fijian culture,  the delicate balance between being racialized as Black and identifying as Black,and why she’s very quick to say she’s Melanesian, when talking about the Pacific Islands. 

Early on, Isabella will tell you that Team Fiji Twitter is quite loud.  She’s right. Once you find it, it’s hard to miss.  And Isabella is quite the representative.