QUIET nights don’t mean idle ones for Adi Arieta Tinai Lewanavanua. As a financial night auditor at the InterContinental in Sydney, she moves through the silence with determination.
Behind the steady numbers and report, her mind moves elsewhere, back to the fields of Fiji, forward to a future where women in sport are no longer fighting to be seen. At 40, Adi Arieta’s journey stretches across the Pacific, from Suva to Australia, where she relocated in 2024 to create better opportunities for her children.
Adi Arieta who hails from Nanukuloa Village, Saivou Ra is completing her Sports Diplomacy with the Australian Sports Commission.
Yet her story is less about distance and more about direction – how a life shaped by sport and setbacks evolved into advocacy work. Her earliest influence in sports came from home.
“My dad, Ilaijia Lewanavanua represented Fiji in athletics and has always pushed for participation as a child,” Adi Arieta said.
That early encouragement laid a foundation not just for competition, but for purpose.
Sport became her language and eventually, her lens for understanding inequality.
That lens sharpened during one of the most difficult periods of her life, when she was banned from football at all levels in a country she once represented.
“Everything went ugly on social media, and I was even threatened with lawsuits.”
“It is moments like this that sports diplomacy teaches you, the way you respond speaks volumes of where you come from and who you really are.”
Her response was not retreat, but reinvention.
She accepted the ban, moved to Australia, and found her voice in journalism.
“I joined journalism to be the voice of women in sports and that’s when the advocacy work began.”
Adi Arieta stands at the intersection of sport and diplomacy. She is part of efforts to reshape how athletes, especially women, are treated and supported beyond their playing years.
Through the All-Sports Association Fiji, which she helped establish, she is working toward structural change.
“Sports is now more than just sports, It’s one of the best paying jobs for professionals and more.”
Her advocacy is grounded in lived experience.
She speaks not just of opportunity, but of gaps – player welfare, life after sport, and the inequities women face.
“Women deserve recognition like all men in every sport we play. You deserve a clean and comfortable bed like men’s teams when you wear the Fiji jersey.”
By day or rather, by night, she works as a financial night auditor, a role she calls “a blessing.”
Rising from customer service to a trusted financial position reflects the same determination she brings to her advocacy.
“Being the tiniest and trusted employee speaks volume of how people value you.”
Despite long hours, she refuses to choose between work and family.
“When passion sits in your gut, you definitely have time for everything, I am creating a different world for them with the passion I carry in everything I do.”
Looking ahead, Adi Arieta’s vision is clear. She sees herself one day representing Pacific women in sports in Australian parliament.
Her message reaches young people, especially girls who may never step onto a field.
“Be proud of who you are and where you come from.
“Asking for help is never a burden, life is what you make it to be.”
In the quiet hours of the night, Adi Arieta is building something louder than applause, a legacy. One where women in sport are not just participants, but are equals.
One of the highlights for Adi Arieta was being invited as chief guest at St Patrick’s College in Sydney on International Women’s Day.
She was invited through Women in Sports Australia.
