More about me, who I am, what I do, what I believe

Leonora Willis, Daughter of Samoa

Talofa ma afio mai — welcome. I am Leonora Willis, founder of Daughter of Samoa, living and working on unceded Lisjan Ohlone land in Huichin (the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area). As a daughter of Samoa and steward of Indigenous lifeways, I support the rematriation of land through the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and invite others to contribute to the Shuumi Land Tax. Daughter of Samoa takes its name from the 1889 memoir The Story of Lauli‘i: A Daughter of Samoa, written by my ancestor, Lauli‘i Willis. Her work carried the spirit of “Samoa mo Samoa” — Samoa for Samoans — a call for Indigenous sovereignty and return that continues to guide my own. My work lives at the intersection of birth, movement, healing, and education. I am a birthworker, lactation educator, bodyworker, and yoga teacher with over 15 years of teaching and practice. Trained through Roots of Labor Birth Collective in traditional and Indigenous birth support care, I have supported more than 100 families through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. My offerings include childbirth education, yoga, workshops, postpartum support, and mentorship for fellow caregivers and birthworkers. Grounded in dignity, compassion, and teu le vā — tending the sacred relational space between us — I approach this work as both care and resistance. Birthwork does not exist outside the realities of colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy, and systemic violence. Still, I serve with humility, integrity, and fierce love, believing healing, knowledge, and collective care are pathways toward liberation. May all I do honor my ancestors, our people, and this Earth who is mother to us all. #daughterofsamoa #landback #samoamosamoa