Memoirs of a Samoan, Catholic, and Fa'afafine

Vanessa was born in independent Samoa, where his parents were Catholic missionaries. His father, an American Samoan, was a naturalized United States citizen while his mother was a citizen of independent Samoa. Through the one-parent naturalization law of the U.S. Immigration Office, Vanessa became a United States national, the immigration status of all the citizens of the American Samoa Territory of the United States. His memoirs are a recollection of his life as he struggled through his sexual identity, becoming the first fa’afafine to reach a deputy position in a government department (ASCC) dressed as a woman. It also depicts his involvement in the establishment of the first fa’afafine organization on the island and its beauty pageant fund-raising to help the community, specifically the old people’s home at Fatu-o-Aiga and the LBJ Medical Center. He also promulgates his reactions to the writings on fa’afafines by different authors in this short autobiography.Vanessa is the author of 'Memoirs of a Samoan, Catholic, and Fa'afafine', published 2007 under ISBN 9781424191024 and ISBN 1424191025.