Susana Lemisio

Susana Tetane Lemisio (née Perez; born 16 November 1945) is a community organiser and educator from Tokelau who lives in New Zealand.

Background Born Huhana Susana Tetane Perez, 16 November 1945, on the Tokelau atoll of Nukunonu, she is the youngest child of Ateliano and Malia Sei Perez. In 1964, Lemisio was part of a group from the Tokelau Islands who came to live in New Zealand as part of the 'Government Resettlement Scheme of Tokelau to New Zealand' and by 1975 she had settled in Petone, Lower Hutt. and she currently lives in Lower Hutt.

Career Lemisio became involved in education in the 1970s, first as a parent helper at the Petone Polynesian Pre-School. Through this early work she began to organise with several other women at the school to develop and formalise the teaching of the Tokelauan language and culture. At that time there had been no formal Pacific education plan and Lemisio's efforts complemented those being done by other Pasifika leaders including the Māori community (with the establishment of Kura Kaupapa Māori) and Samoan community (with the creation of the Samoan language nest, Ā'oga 'Āmata).

Lemisio was a founding member of the Tokelau Hutt Valley Sports and Culture Association, Te Umiumiga A Tokelau Hutt Valley Inc (Tokelau community umbrella organisation), and co-founded a Fatupaepae branch of PACIFICA for Tokelau women. In the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of services to the Tokelau community and early childhood education.