About

Pele-o-aliʻilagi Bennett

Founder, VAVE'AO Beauty

Pele is the founder of VAVE'AO Beauty. A first-generation Sāmoan American, she was raised in a home where beauty was never separate from culture. It was expressed through traditions of care, shared across generations, and the belief that how we care for ourselves reflects how we honor where we come from.

Growing up, Pele traveled and performed with her family's Polynesian performing arts company, an experience that shaped her understanding of culture as something to be lived, shared, and carried forward. Those experiences, along with years of work across art, design, and cultural storytelling, continue to influence her approach to beauty, craftsmanship, and design.

She founded VAVE'AO to honor the values that shaped her upbringing while reimagining how they can be experienced in modern life. Her work reflects a belief that tradition and contemporary living are not separate, but deeply connected.