Our Origin Story

Born in the rupture, sustained by return

SoCo began at the edge of breakdown (personal and collective) when a handful of facilitators, creatives, and cultural workers saw that mainstream leadership and self-help spoke of “resilience” yet ignored the body that must carry it. The gap was humanity itself.

In late-night circles and early-morning voice notes, we asked a simple, radical question:

What if nervous-system care, lived experience, and cultural healing were the first design constraints—never the afterthought?

Six founding Hatafu pooled their tools, stories, and unfinished questions. They agreed on three vows that still guide us:

  1. Body before output – regulate first, create from safety.

  2. Truth before polish – lived experience outranks theory.

  3. Kinship before transaction – relationships are the real KPI.

The experiment took root. Today SoCo is a living movement - an ecosystem where people remember who they are, together.

Meet the SoCo Hatafu

Hatafu is a Rotuman term meaning “to steer/to guide” shared with SoCo by Emeli Paulo and used with cultural care and permission. Across the Pacific, navigators read stars, tides, and wind to carry their people across vast waters. SoCo Hatafu do the same - reading bodies, rooms, and histories to guide communities through life transitions, cultural shifts, and systemic change.

Our Reconnection Ripples isn’t just a graphic; it also represents the visible traces of guidance—one steady movement, then another—until the shoreline itself begins to change. Each Hatafu brings lived expertise, cultural roots, and body-wise craft. Bold where it counts, gentle where it matters. This circle is invitational and accountable: we centre community, uphold cultural safety, and measure impact by how regulation spreads: self-regulation → co-regulation → collective culture → systemic shift.

Meet the Hatafu below and follow their ripples of return.