Mark Esekielu

Talofa lava,

My name is Mark Esekielu. I grew up in Auckland with a house full of family migrating from Fasito’otai and Letogo in the beautiful island of Samoa. Attending church services and living in a community filled of other Pasifika people has laid the foundation for my love of working with our communities and more importantly, the understanding of service (tautua).

Trained as a social worker, I’ve worked in child protection, youth justice, youth development, suicide prevention and mental health and addiction services which has allowed me the privilege to follow this love for over 25 years.

Along the way I have begun to understand my obligations to tāngata whenua and a different whānau context with my own four children. I am married to Cherie, my beautiful wahine toa, who has whakapapa to Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maruw’arenui and Ngāti Raukawa and we share three out of my four children who motivate me daily to try and make our world a place we can all flourish.

I joined Le Va in September 2022 as the senior manager for our Mental health and addiction portfolio where I will continue to serve our Pasifika communities.