Mona Mangloña, Micronesia Climate Change Alliance

I am from Luta in the Northern Mariana Islands. I am a social worker, grassroots organizer, educator, social entrepreneur, and artist, and my work begins with relationship - to land, to water, to story, and to one another. Rooted in Chamoru values of Inafa’maolek and Inagofli’e’, I move at the intersection of nonprofit leadership, community organizing, and Indigenous systems change.

I founded MPOWERD Solutions, where I partner with mission-driven organizations to strengthen strategy, sustainability, and people-centered infrastructure across communities. I also founded From Luta, For Luta (Luta Collective), a community-rooted initiative advancing community care, access to basic needs, youth engagement, storytelling, and protection of land and culture across the Marianas and diaspora.

I serve on the board of the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance and teach social work and social psychology at Northern Marianas College, grounding systems thinking in lived experience and collective accountability.

Alongside organizing, I am an artist and storyteller. Poetry is central to my creative practice, alongside mixed media work that moves between textiles and painting. Through my art, I explore memory, belonging, sustainability, and the ways care is carried across generations. For me, art and organizing are inseparable - both are practices of listening, protection, and returning stories to community.