As we approach International Women’s Day, Tourism Fiji is celebrating the female-run enterprises and individuals making huge waves for Fijian women, as well as the environment they call home.
Through ethical fashion goods, sport and community-driven tourism, these women are harnessing the power of preserving traditional practices as a form of empowering women.
Hannah Bennett: Riding waves, empowering women
Born and raised on a remote island in Fiji, professional surfer Hannah Bennett is deeply connected to the ocean, as she is to her people. As a trailblazer in Pacific Island surfing, Hannah and her sisters were among the first women to represent Fiji on the international stage. She made history as the first female president of the Fiji Surfing Association, using her platform to empower young athletes, particularly women, through mentorship, surf clinics, and documentary storytelling.
Hannah’s life is a fusion of sport, conservation, and cultural preservation—passions that led her from competitive water sports to studying political science in California, before returning home to serve her community and start a family of her own.
She currently runs Fiji Surf Girl Clinic, an empowering female community focused project which has been running for over 7 years, which sees Hannah go into Fijian villages, asking for the blessing from the village Chief to take the girls away from their duties to have a day for themselves, learning to surf and about ocean stewardship and environmental awareness whilst forming friendships. The project has been supported by InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa and Rise Beyond The Reef, a non-profit organisation focused on female empowerment
Hannah’s dream is to continue to intertwine these grassroots initiatives with tourism experiences, so women all across the world can come together to form friendships whist riding waves, creating an everlasting appreciation and understanding of the ocean.
Beyond the waves, Hannah champions environmental and community initiatives, working with NGOs to protect the fragile marine ecosystems that sustain island life. She is also co-producing a documentary on her mission to help preserve Polynesian heritage, highlighting how it has influenced her career. She also works with Tourism Fiji on various projects to advocate for the destination and surfing experiences for visitors. She is due to run Water Women’s Escape and Fiji Surf Trip, women-only retreats for tourists, in collaboration with women’s swimwear brand Salted, starting 1 April 2025.
Whether carving through barrels or advocating for gender equality in sports, she is redefining what it means to be a Pacific Islander in the modern world – one wave at a time.
Rise Beyond the Reef: Transforming lives through art
Rise Beyond the Reef is a social enterprise making a powerful impact in the South Pacific by bridging the gap between remote artisan communities and global markets.
It was founded by Janet Lotawa, whose belief is that indigenous knowledge and cultures hold the key to the future, creating a path of economies of hope and equity for rural remote indigenous women in Fiji.
In 2024 alone, Rise Beyond the Reef has: Provided 71,600 fair wage work hours to women in Fiji, partnered with over 450 artisans to create sustainable livelihoods, trained 568 new artisans and partner farmers, benefitted 3,261 family dependents by supporting women’s economic empowerment.
With a mission to create long-term economic opportunities for rural women while preserving cultural traditions, Rise Beyond the Reef’s model is a testament to the power of ethical fashion, sustainability, and women-led change. Their handcrafted homeware and fashion pieces have been admired globally, with a host of collaborations with major fashion brands such as Karen Walker (New Zealand) on a collection of hand-woven bags.
Rise Beyond The Reef has worked closely with the tourism sector from the beginning helping to provide market access for the artisans, ensuring that women in isolated regions have financial independence and community resilience.
The woman running the South Pacific’s first solar-run resort
Fijian resorts have been at the forefront of the South Pacific’s efforts to embrace sustainability to combat climate change and are taking great strides in supporting the wider eco system. With rising sea levels, Fiji is particularly vulnerable to the ravages of the climate crisis, despite producing less than 1% of the world’s global emissions.
Lara Meliki Vokai is the property and resort manager at the South Pacific’s first solar-run eco-dive resort Nukubati Great Sea Reef, a family and female run property dedicated to regenerative tourism.
Lara took over the small island resort at the age of just 27, inspired by the pioneering women who came before her, including her mother Jenny Bourke who set up the resort 35 years ago, taking unheard-of decisions, such as hiring women in senior roles. Lara is passionate about harnessing traditional knowledge to address climate issues and preserving traditional practices as a form of empowering women, as well as showcasing the unique character of the Macuata coastal region through authentic, locally run experiences, from traditional Fijian cooking methods and medicinal herbal practices to protecting the marine diversity and beauty of the reef. In addition to her role as the resort’s General Manager and dive guide, Lara is one of the Directors of the Duavata Sustainable Tourism Collective and helped facilitate the group’s first Conservation Leadership Program with village youths from Macuata.
Nukubati, based just off the coast of northern Vanua Levu, offers guests the opportunity to dive the world’s third-largest barrier reef system, The Great Sea Reef, a system that is 95% unexplored, while also helping it heal, thrive, and be revitalised. Its focus on regenerative tourism goes beyond traditional sustainable tourism practices and promotes experiences that allow the local environment to heal and repair. The resort’s commitment to harvesting rainwater, solar power, and composting waste materials for their garden has been in place for over 30 years, and its initiatives, such as the medicinal plant walk around the island, locally sourced food for guests’ meals, native coastal tree reforestation, and the Fijian barbeque (tatavu) featuring freshly caught seafood and root crops from the garden, align with their regenerative tourism goals.. www.nukubati.com
