Sita Selupe is of Tongan and Niuean descent, married with four children in Weymouth, South Auckland.
Sita is a Primary trained teacher, CEO and Co-founder of The Rise UP Trust established in 2006 as a Saturday morning home school. In 2009 Rise UP Trust were recipients of the ASBCT Maori Pacific Education initiative gaining a five year grant to improve education achievement for Maori and Pacific with the ‘Building Learning Communities’ project. Rise UP Trust have worked with over 200 whanau across South Auckland to set their children up for success in learning. In 2013 Rise UP Trust were selected to open the first Primary Partnership School (Kura Hauroa) in New Zealand. The Rise UP Academy was established on 7 February 2014 in Mangere East to provide world class education for those learners who have not been served well.
Sita has expertise in non-profit management including evaluation, project management, innovation, change management, sustainability, community collaboration and volunteer management. Her teaching experience as an Inquiry Learning specialist has accelerated learning for all her students.