Former teen mother Sainiana Waqainabete is looking forward with pride to her CQU graduation ceremony on March 4, after completing a Masters in Management degree.

The Fijian professional believes her story could be an inspiration to other teenage mothers.

"I dropped out of school to become a teenage mother at 17 years of age. I was a product of a broken family and my husband (the father of my baby then) was also in high school; he was 19 years old then," Sainiana recalls. 

"Giving birth didn't stop my urge to continue my education and I got a job as a journalist purely because I was a talented writer.

"From then on, it was up and up and I have enjoyed some of the best jobs in the public relations field.

"Now I am 31, graduating with a Masters and my eldest son, who is 15, has started secondary school. I will only be 40 when all my children join university."

Sainiana says that, after joining the Fiji Times newsroom at 18 years of age, she made her way up to being Chief of Staff of the other major newspaper in Fiji called the Daily Post in 2000.

Then she joined as the Regional Promotions Specialist for a project under the United Nations Development Programme in 2003 and became its Project Manager in 2004 before resigning in 2006 to join her current employer, the Fiji Islands Trade and Investment Bureau.

Sainiana will be the first in her family to graduate with a Masters. Her other siblings all hold Bachelor degrees. Two are nurses, one in Dubai and one in New Zealand, and another brother is a lawyer, whilst the youngest is an IT engineer.  

Originally from Kiuva, on the island of Bau in Tailevu, Sainiana now lives in Laucala Beach, a suburb of Suva.

She started in the CQU Masters program in 2004 and completed it in November last year. CQU's Fiji Campus has since closed.

Sainiana is looking forward to her Rockhampton graduation as a culmination of all her hard work so she is flying across with her mother and youngest daughter.

"I attribute my success to first and foremost The Almighty, for his guidance and whom without I could not have achieved what I have," she said.

"And secondly to my family, my husband and children for all their support and patience with me during all those nights of study.

"I dedicate this graduation to all of them and also to a very close relative whom I lost a few days before Christmas last year, who was a mentor and guide to my achieving what I have. I hope he is smiling down from the heavens."