Meet The Women of All My Usos – Breaking Taboo

by Asė Mora

All My Usos (AMU), meaning “All My Brothers” in Samoan, is a homage to the organization’s grassroots initiative that’s provided services and resources to thousands of families over the last decade. It is one of 12 organizations participating in Kaiser Permanente’s Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign, a component of Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Mentoring for Health and Wellness Initiative. In March, I had the opportunity to learn more about their organization. 

Founded by the late Jaytee Mauia in 2015, during his battle with stomach cancer, the principles of All My Usos still align with Jaytee’s initial vision for building community amongst Pacific Islander families in San Francisco. And providing them with support and services that the community often lacks. 

Since his passing in 2018, his wife, Executive Director of AMU, Christine Mauia continues to keep Jaytee’s legacy alive. Now with a team of all women, AMU continues the movement started by Jaytee centered around love, service, and the power of community. 

“AMU wasn’t birthed or formed in a boardroom or for a political vote. It was formed in my husband’s hospital bed while he was going through chemo. And because he’s from the community, as we all are, I think it’s more than just some people that just got hired on to come and do this work. This is rooted in us,” said Mauia.

“Rooted in Us”

Jaytee along with other staff grew up on the Southeastern side of the city, the impact of his work, AMU, has been rooted in the city since before the organization began. 

According to Mauia, the organization’s boots on the ground approach, like; meeting with families in hospitals after a tragedy, bringing families food and other goods to show support holds significant weight in the Samoan community. 

Mauia emphasized how these acts of cultural understanding and connection allow them to serve the Pacific Islander community more efficiently than external city officials or departments.

Shirley Alapati, Community Health Worker at AMU, stated that AMU’s roots as a Samoan organization, makes connecting with the Pacific Islander families easier. Alapati recalled specific outreach efforts such as advertising their programs in Samoan to increase their elderly Pacific Islander population.

Other services AMU provides aim directly to supporting the needs of the Pacific Islander community and breaking down cultural taboos around mental health and grief. Alapati emphasized AMU’s monthly group therapy sessions that specifically cater towards helping people process grief, loss and trauma. 

Breaking Taboo 

Tina Sataraka, Associate Mental Health Therapist at AMU, emphasized how the expectation to be strong can lead to a suppression of emotions and aversion to bringing up certain topics such as grief, depression and abuse. Due to shame or ostracization these topics are never addressed and become taboo. 

According to Sataraka, her work with AMU has also allowed her to heal from trauma and abuse within her own life, she described AMU as a pipeline to breaking generational trauma and taboo.

“So it’s how can we provide access to quality of life, especially resources that are not just only culturally rooted, but beneficial for our people to thrive. For too long, folks are in survival mode.

And we’re trying to cultivate a generation of folks who can live in an environment where they’re thriving,” said Sataraka.

Jillian Payuran, Senior Marketing Director at World System Builder, and professional financial educator was hosted by AMU this past February to give a free financial literacy workshop class. 

Payuran started her own journey with financial literacy after she found herself in debt post-graduation. She stated that although she majored in economics and finances she felt like her education didn’t focus on personal financial independence, rather teaching young college students how to make someone else money. 

Her own journey to financial independence meant addressing taboos centered around talking about finances in many Filipino families such as hers. Beyond financial literacy classes, according to Payuran, AMU is a “one-stop shop” for resources and services for all families in need. 

Specifically emphasizing AMU’s ability to meet specific needs of many immigrant families in San Francisco, Payuran said,

“I really appreciate that. Because if they didn’t do stuff like that, my family would have never been helped.” 

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Source: https://sfbayview.com/2026/04/meet-the-women-of-all-my-usos-breaking-taboo/