Moa Learning began at home around the kitchen table, between everyday conversations, laughter and the small moments that make up family life. The stories we share come from real experiences, real voices and the world our children are growing up in as Pacific diaspora.
As parents raising children away from the places we come from, we’ve learned that connection to culture doesn’t come from comparison. It comes from helping our kids feel grounded where they are, confident in who they are right now and secure in the stories that surround them, because it doesn’t change the fact that they are still Pacific children.
Language is how we pass that knowledge on, not something to perfect, but something to live with and experience so they know how to use it. We use it naturally, in ways that make sense in our homes and communities today, allowing culture to be carried forward without expecting our children to become Pacific people who understand the culture and language as if we were born and raised there.
Each story is a small offering. A way to hold onto values, humor and belonging wherever they are in this world, while making space for curiosity, imagination, and play. Moa Learning is our way of sharing that with other families like ours.
Special thanks to Vili Guttenbeil, Jacinta Latu and Ravana Saifoloi for helping us get the books this far.
Meet the Founders
Storyteller & Indigenous Children Advocate
Cathleen Moa (nee Nansen) is a storyteller, advocate and cycle-breaker whose work is rooted in healing generational trauma through truth-telling. Descendant from the villages of Levi Saleimoa, Leauva’a, Vailima and Safotu Samoa, Cathleen was raised between worlds and now raising her own children in the diaspora. She has witnessed firsthand how disconnection from culture, our true history and the identity mask we are expected to wear affects Pacific families across generations. Her life’s work is dedicated to breaking cycles by speaking truths that were once unspoken, honouring the stories that shaped us and our ancestors and creating new pathways built on belonging, uplifting and cultural restoration.
This journey led to the creation of Moa Learning, each book acts as a cultural bridge, connecting children to their heritage, language, and ancestral values while acknowledging the realities of growing up far from their homelands. When children understand the truth of who they are and where they come from, they gain the grounding needed to stand confidently in any environment.
Cathleen’s advocacy extends far beyond storytelling. Her work in Indigenous children’s rights has taken her to international platforms, including the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), where she has spoken to the lived experiences, the resilience of our children and challenges we face today from migration and colonisation.
Wherever she is in the world, Cathleen’s mission remains the same: to raise and inspire grounded confident Pacific and Indigenous children who understand their history, honour their identity and grow into the fullness of who they are meant to be despite the influences and barriers set against them.
Creative Founder & Digital Storyteller
Lincoln Moa, from Neiafu Vavaʻu and Talasiu, Tonga, is a creator whose passion lies in storytelling and art. Like many Pacific diaspora children, he grew up speaking mainly English, as Tongan culture and language wasn’t passed down to him.
Lincoln discovered his love for drawing at a young age, escaping into the early digital culture of storytelling through cartoons, anime, gaming, and heroic fantasy novels, and imagining himself as the heroes in those stories, but a Tongan version of course, that carried the grit, honour and mana of his ancestors. Over time, these stories lead to Pacific history research on motifs, patterns and warriors, envisioning what our ancestors may have looked like in ancient times. He blended these ideas into a unique artistic style that honours heritage through a new form of Pacific art storytelling.
Lincoln is the Creative Founder of MoaThought, his design and illustration studio specialising in Pacific-centred artwork, branding and visual storytelling. Over the past decade, he has illustrated children’s books for the Ministry of Education, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples and numerous independent authors and community organisations.
In recent years, Lincoln has also stepped into teaching and mentoring, supporting Pacific rangatahi and emerging creatives through workshops in illustration, design, 3D and digital storytelling. His work as a creative educator has strengthened his belief that young people thrive when they see themselves and their culture reflected in the work they create.
Now, through Moa Learning, Lincoln brings together his lived experience, design expertise and ‘ofa for storytelling to help Pacific children be seen. Each story he creates becomes a pathway for the next generation reconnecting them back to their true self.
