Creative Pacific Keeps Afa Ah Loo’s Legacy Bright

Benjamin Powell speaks at Creative Pacific 2025. Photo: Logan Sorenson

Activism, Outreach and Education

Cosmetologist Benjamin Powell first crossed paths with Afa Ah Loo in San Francisco, when Powell was producing a fashion show where Ah Loo was the featured designer. “We both have very creative backgrounds. We’re both immigrants here to the U.S., born and raised in the islands,” Powell says. “We also had the same struggle of trying to find ourselves and not seeing people like us in these spaces of work.”

When the two realized they both lived in Salt Lake City, they founded Utah Pacific Fashion with jewelry designer Kalolaine Pahulu Rapp. In 2024, Powell and Ah Loo split off to form Creative Pacific, a nonprofit with a focus on mentoring young creatives from Pacific Islander and other underrepresented backgrounds. “I was thinking, ‘How we can actually create pathways for them to find confidence?’ People are in the arts, they’re always lacking some type of acceptance,” Powell says.

“He was not just my partner in business, but he was also like my little brother.”

Logan-based Indigenous designer Codijo Chebon Yazzie used a photo of Afa Ah Loo in his intricate beaded purse. Photo: Logan Sorenson

On June 14, 2025, in the second year of Creative Pacific’s existence, Ah Loo was shot and killed at the “No Kings” protest in Salt Lake City. His sudden death at just 39 years old was felt through the local Pacific Islander community, as well as the global fashion industry. “These two years felt like 20 years,” Powell says, who is continuing to lead Creative Pacific with Ah Loo’s legacy at the forefront. “He was not just my partner in business, but he was also like my little brother.”

As a self-taught, up-and-coming Samoan designer, Ah Loo launched his career through Fiji Fashion Week in 2015. He moved to the U.S. and competed on season 17 of Project Runway, which further amplified his brand. “What an inspiration for many young people,” Powell says. “He was such a humble guy that he never talked about the people he designed for,” who included stars of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and Moana.

“Be true to yourself, true to your culture, and let your work speak for itself.”

Designer Roquin-Jon Quichocho Siongco showcased delicately woven organic materials inspired by his Guam heritage. Photo: Logan Sorenson

“In the Pacific, we love big, bold, bright prints and flowers and all that,” Powell explains. Thinking that no one would buy clothing like that in the U.S., Ah Loo initially tried to match his aesthetic to that of American designers. When he realized he needed to stand out in a larger market, he went back to his roots and embraced the striking floral designs he became known for. “What he started to teach was be true to yourself, true to your culture, and let your work speak for itself,” Powell says. “[That is what] I think will be the impact of what he’s done.”

Powell and Ah Loo planned their second annual fashion show and creative conference for the weekend of July 31 to August 2, bringing designers from across the globe — including all three Pacific regions of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia — to speak at panels, teach workshops and showcase their work on the runway at the Natural History Museum of Utah. “Those are the people we focus on, you know? The ones that just never get in that door,” Powell says. He knew Ah Loo would have wanted Creative Pacific to continue as planned, even in the wake of tragedy.

“Whether you’re Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Hawaiian, we can unite our work together.”

But there was a problem: They were short by one designer. When Powell found a collection of Ah Loo’s old sketches that had never been realized, an idea came to him. “Afa became the designer that filled the space,” he says. Each of the 12 designers took one sketch and brought it to life in their own style, creating the show’s opening collection and paying tribute to Ah Loo’s incredible body of work.

“Part of our message is to teach our community that whether you’re Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Hawaiian, we can unite our work together,” Powell says. Arts education is the most important part of Creative Pacific’s mission. “When it comes to community work — because art is actually a work of service — we sometimes don’t realize the power we have,” he says. Afa Ah Loo inspired countless young designers, and Benjamin Powell continues to empower the next generation of artists with his message. Learn more at creativepacific.org.