Mereseini Rakuita is a visionary champion of gender equality and women’s rights in Fiji and the Asia-Pacific region. She is the Pacific Community (SPC) Principal Strategic Lead – Pacific Women and Girls, driving gender equality and empowerment of women across the Pacific region as part of SPC’s executive team. Dedicated to gender equality, she serves as the chairperson for the FP2030 global movement dedicated to advancing the rights of people everywhere to access family planning services. Mereseini Rakuita is a qualified lawyer and also the youngest female politician to be elected to Fiji’s parliament, in 2014, and she was the first female Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources. She has also served as Acting Permanent Secretary for Justice and Anti-corruption with oversight of operations in the Elections Office (2012–2013). Prior to politics, as State Solicitor (2009­–2013), she was the highest ranking female legal advisor to the government, and also Chairperson of the Telecommunications Authority of Fiji (2008) – the first and youngest Fijian woman in all of these roles during tenure.