I am Dr. Laiseni Fanon Charisma Liava‘a (Seni), a global systems and faith thinker working at the intersection of institutional ethics, indigenous knowledge, and governance.

My work explores how structures shape conscience, how belief systems influence power, and how communities navigate integrity within complex environments.

I currently serve as Research & Development Lead at Pacific Trust Otago, designing culturally grounded research initiatives focused on Pacific wellbeing, climate resilience, and structural equity.

I hold a PhD in Pacific Studies from the University of Canterbury. My doctoral research introduced Lotu and Felupe as an indigenous climate resilience framework for Tonga, integrating theology, cultural systems, gender justice, and sustainability into a unified architecture of community and planetary wellbeing.

Across more than two decades in government, academia, ministry, and policy environments, I have worked in roles ranging from National Climate Change Coordinator for Tonga to interdisciplinary researcher, institutional advisor, and cultural strategist.

My work consistently bridges:

• Indigenous knowledge and institutional governance
• Faith traditions and systems design
• Cultural intelligence and policy formation
• Pacific identity and global transformation

I am committed to advancing ethical systems that protect dignity, cultivate resilience, and foster generational coherence across Oceania and beyond.

Through Edrienia Consultancy, I provide confidential advisory support to institutions seeking cultural intelligence, governance review, and faith-informed systems analysis.

My guiding principle remains:

Create Love and Be Love Everywhere, expressed not sentimentally, but structurally.

Areas of Expertise

• Institutional Ethics & Governance Analysis
• Indigenous Climate Resilience Frameworks
• Pacific Research Methodologies (Talanoa, vā relational ethics)
• Systems Design & Strategic Development
• Public Theology & Cultural Systems Thought
• Policy Writing & Cross-Sector Advisory

📍 Based in Dunedin, working nationally and across the Pacific.

📩 Open to advisory roles, institutional collaborations, and strategic engagements.

Welcome to 12-Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, His creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you Dr. Lyson.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I'm tuning from Toronto, New Zealand.

When you look at the work that you do today, I wonder how you started, and I look back at your past and wonder if as a child, at some place, the influence occurred.

Earlier on as a child, I felt there was a sense of kindness or some kind of calling in my life, and I'll just give one specific story.

I was locked in this old car with my younger brother.

We were just playing in the car, and then we found ourselves locked.

We couldn't open the door, and then over time, he was passing out, fainting, and I would just keep standing just on the window trying to wait for somebody to come in and rescue us.

For some reason, this guy, one of the workers in my sister's resort, just came as a normal part of his role just to dump some rubbish, and then he accidentally found us, and then he took us out of the car.

But when we were still in the car, when I saw my brother, he was already fainting.

Slowly, I saw myself moving out of my body, which I later on understood it was my spirit leaving my human body.

I was rising up to the car ceiling, and then I hear this voice very clearly, you will be still alive and will be the blessing of your family.

That took me to a lot of old children later on, but that's as far as I can go back.

As a young child, I felt that sense of calling, or we can call it chosen, to do God's work.

And when did you accept Jesus as your personal saviour?

I accepted Jesus during my primary school.

There was this elderly lady, she was looking after us, because normally in Tonga, in primary school, every Friday, every church, they will bring somebody to look after us, like more in a Sunday school context.

And this elderly lady, she was the first person that I felt she was the one who taught me about Jesus.

And I accepted Jesus at that time, though not really understand a lot about Jesus, but that is as far as I can go back to the very moment.

How many siblings do you have?

There are seven of us all together.

Tell me the work that you do today.

Today I serve as research and development lead with Pacific Trust Otago, while I also do writing, mentoring, researching, supporting individuals and communities through my own holistic work.

What excites me most is helping people discover meaning, discover purpose, hope, and transformation in their own lives.

So I continue to seek God working through relationships.

God is working through the service, learning, community, and everyday encounters.

And my faith today is less about having all the answers.

It's more about remaining open to God's ongoing guidance and transformation, which is revelation.

How has your family relationship evolved today?

We are all well in our own ways.

And in my own little household, we are doing well with my wife and my children.

How many children do you have?

I have three girls.

What is the biggest challenge with the work that you're doing?

The biggest challenge in the work that I'm doing is myself.

Because this is one of the biggest realizations throughout my whole, not only personal journey, but faith journey, is whenever I look after myself really well, that will outflow into whatever I do and how I relate to others.

If I'm looking after myself well and take care of my relationship to myself, that will eventually flow on.

And I often use the analogy of the tree.

When I take care of the roots and the plants and all that, the fruits will show.

Because this is one of my convictions, because Jesus said, you will know them by their fruits.

And that has a huge impact on how I take care of my self-care and the way I do my work.

Because eventually, whatever I do with myself will outflow externally to my relationships and for my work as well.

Is that something you had to learn the hard way?

Yeah, the hard way, I think.

It's not an easy work, because let me put it this way.

I cannot really preach or teach somebody else about something that I'm not, or something that I'm not doing.

Because it will eventually show when we are being honest with God and our relationship and we really look after ourselves.

Whether we hide it or not, whenever we are relating to another person or work with, for example, communities, that will eventually, our spirit will show that if we are in good terms with God and we are not only being serious, but we are being honest with our work, people can pick it up through our vibes.

Just before we say any word, people can really sense us on a spiritual level.

Is that textbook?

Have you ever seen anything like that in a textbook?

Well, for my whole research and journey, I have read some other books, but for me personally, most of the things that I'm experiencing and the things that I do now, it's something that I have experienced.

Because that's one of the main learnings I have learned for the years.

I cannot teach something or go deeper with my relationship with another person if I have not experienced it in my own self.

One of the most important moments in my spiritual journey came while I was studying the gospel.

I want to use this as an example.

I think you are familiar with this story.

Jesus asked his disciples, who do people say that I am?

The disciples responded by repeating what others were saying.

Then Jesus made the question personal.

Who do you say that I am?

That question really stopped me.

Later, Peter answered, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God.

Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my father in heaven.

This became a life-changing insight for me.

I realized there is a profound difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus.

Because for many years, I knew about Jesus through church, through books, sermons, and what others said.

But Jesus was inviting me into something deeper.

He was inviting me into a personal encounter, a personal relationship, a personal discovery.

That totally changed everything.

If you could teach me one thing today, know that you believe would create a legacy, what would you teach me?

What I would teach you is to open yourself to Jesus.

Because this is one of the things that I have seen throughout my ministry that a lot of believers are struggling with.

They rely on what they have heard about Jesus.

Whether they hear it through preaching, sermons, books.

But they have not really had that witness or that inner conviction within themselves.

And that's the invitation.

That is something I would impart with you.

You have to explore that within yourself.

Not relying on what others or what the scriptures are saying, but to really experience it within yourself.

Because that will totally change everything once you have that inner conviction and that witness within yourself.

It will affect the way you relate to others, the way you evangelize, the way you preach the gospel.

Because you are connected.

I often use the analogy of this grand Wi-Fi, which is God, and we are the smaller one, you know.

And once we connect to the bigger Wi-Fi, which is God through Jesus Christ, that would totally change everything.

And it was so.

The way you enter into a room, it's different.

The way you present yourself is different.

When people hear how you speak, it's different.

Because they can really feel it.

Because it's something that outflows from inside of you.

Not something that somebody was putting to you.

It's coming from you.

Or it's coming from the source, but through yourself.

And that will outflow to others.

Five years from today, you're listening to this conversation.

I asked you back on to the podcast.

You don't remember what we spoke about.

So you're listening to the conversation, but then you get this message that you leave for you, Dr. Seni.

What would you leave as a message?

I would tell myself, keep on the journey.

Do not draw any conclusion yet, because God is still full of surprises.

Remain open to that.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

It is good to know about Jesus, but it is life-changing to know Jesus for yourself, because God is still speaking.

God is still guiding.

God is still revealing himself.

So remain open to that journey.

The greatest transformation in my life did not happen when I learned more information about Jesus.

It happened when his question became personal.

Who do you say that I am?

And that question continues to save my life to this very day.

And it can change your life as well.

Dr. Oluseni, a pleasure.

I treasure.

Thank you for being on What Is Inspired by 12 Minute Cardinals.