25-year-old Ha'ani San Nicolas is making waves as not only an emerging poet but also as an activist for indigenous Pacific women's issues. In fact, San Nicolas was recently highlighted in a Teen Vogue article appropriately titled '11 Indigenous Youth Making a Difference in their Communities.' Joan Aguon Charfauros has more on this change-maker.

San Nicolas was born and raised on Guam. The Mongmong resident is currently a third-year Ph.D. student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa studying indigenous politics as well as an advanced graduate certificate student in the women, gender, and sexuality studies program.

"I'm really grounded and rooted in my Pacific identity and I carry that in my academics and also in my poetry, I still consider myself an emerging poet, I also consider myself an activist so a lot of the work that I do with the community is still kind of tethered to indigenous pacific women's issues," she described.

Recently San Nicolas has generated quite the buzz, being featured in a Teen Vogue article, appropriately titled 11 indigenous youth making a difference in their communities. With November being Native American Heritage Month, the article shines the spotlight on a batch of 25-year-old and under young adults who are change-makers. It was an opportunity that presented itself in april, when she was one of about 10 who attended the inaugural retreat for the Indigenous Nations Poets.

"I was among three Pacific poets that were selected to go and when I went there I connected with the writer for the Vogue piece, Kinsale Drake and she's an established young poet herself, and we connected there," said San Nicolas.

She admits she initially had some reservations about being featured but when the piece finally came out- she was so humbled to be a part of such an amazing group of young people who are igniting change through their voice, actions, and creativity.

With more and more young adults having so much to say and with a desire to make the necessary changes to make Guam better, KUAM News asked San Nicolas how she felt and she believes that they are in a perfect place to be saying these things.

"We're not necessarily done with school yet, we're not in the workforce, many of us are full-fledged parents, we're in families where we are the head of the household, so we're kind of in this perfect pocket to be loud and to be vocal and to be unafraid of the things we want to say," she said.

"There's so many of us that i can think of, we're doing such amazing work in different fields. like there's poetics, there's other kinds of creative things, there's those at school who are doing awesome projects. If anything it makes me proud, and it also shows that we should be listening to what even those who are younger than me are saying because i think we also see things with a a different set of lenses and different positionality with what our elders might think or say."

San Nicolas did want to take the time to extend her gratitude to all who have and continue to impact her life.

"In some way or another...or who i've met because that really does transform and shape the way that I think about things, the way that I write, and also for uplifting my voice. I'm only one of so many in our community, so I'm just really appreciative and I'm really humbled that i've been getting this outpouring of support and love," she said.