Tina Sablan’s career began in the aftermath of a Typhoon Soudelor which struck her home, Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in mid-2015. She took a leave of absence from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa to support her family and community’s recovery and returned to graduate in 2016. That experience would shape the trajectory as a journalist, public servant, and community advocate.
Since graduating, Tina has built an impressive record of leadership across disaster recovery, public accountability, climate planning, and legislative advocacy. She began working in the Northern Mariana Islands’ congressional office as deputy communications director and outreach coordinator, serving in both the district and Washington, D.C. offices. In the wake of repeated climate disasters—including the catastrophic impact of Super Typhoon Yutu—her work became deeply focused on disaster-related casework, intergovernmental coordination, and recovery efforts involving FEMA, local agencies, and affected communities.
She later returned to elected office in the Commonwealth legislature, where she focused on disaster recovery, government oversight, and public accountability during a period marked by overlapping crises: typhoons, COVID-19, and unprecedented federal relief funding. Her legislative work included major oversight investigations and efforts to ensure transparent, equitable use of public resources. She subsequently ran for governor in 2022 as the Democratic nominee and, after the election, served in a coalition government as senior policy advisor while also leading climate planning initiatives.
In 2024, she relocated to Hawaiʻi and now serves as a community and policy advocate with a legal clinic, where her work centers on immigrant justice, community education, and statewide policy advocacy. She is actively engaged in a broad coalition effort advancing legislative priorities related to immigrant rights, language access, and workforce development, including measures affecting the University of Hawaiʻi.
Throughout these varied roles, she credits the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution with sharpening the skills that have made her effective in both public service and political leadership. From facilitating public forums and town halls to navigating legislative negotiations, she says her training helped her become “a much better listener” and gave her a more nuanced understanding of how to create the conditions for productive dialogue. Courses in facilitation and negotiation taught her to pay close attention to process—who is in the room, how the room is set up, and how to build spaces where people feel safe enough to speak honestly.
One of the clearest examples of those skills in action came during her time as chair of the Health and Welfare Committee in the Commonwealth legislature. Amid the challenges of remote governance during COVID, she led efforts to expand access to mental health services by advancing legislation to join an interstate telehealth compact that would allow licensed psychologists from other U.S. jurisdictions to serve CNMI residents. After extensive public engagement and bipartisan collaboration, the bill passed unanimously—only to be vetoed by the governor. Undeterred, she helped rally providers, coalition partners, and legislative colleagues behind an override effort. The legislature ultimately voted unanimously to override the veto, and the bill became law.
For current and future students, she emphasizes the importance of applying classroom learning to real-world goals. She encourages students to think intentionally about how conflict resolution and negotiation can strengthen their professional “toolkit,” especially for those pursuing careers in public service. She also highlights the value of building relationships with faculty and seeking opportunities beyond the classroom, noting that her work with faculty mentors broadened her understanding of how widely these skills can be applied.
Looking back, she sees the program not simply as a credential, but as a foundation for leadership across multiple career paths. Whether in legislative negotiations, public meetings, or coalition-building, the skills she developed through the Matsunaga Institute continue to shape how she leads, listens, and serves.