A Legacy of Service, Strength, and the Skies

When you meet Anaseini Kamelia Lino Zarka, known lovingly as Aunty Papa or Papa, you immediately feel it: a steady presence, quiet resilience, and a heart full of service that defines her journey.

A proud Tongan woman, trailblazing pilot, and matriarch, Papa’s story is a testament to leadership that doesn’t seek the spotlight but leaves a legacy impossible to ignore.

She chased a dream for herself and carried generations of hope into the skies.

A Childhood Woven with Purpose

Born and raised in Nuku‘alofa, Tonga, Papa grew up where faith, family, and community service were lived every day. Her parents, Viliami and Pamela Lino, shaped her early life with their example. Her father was an electrician and a community basketball coach, and her mother served as a teacher, a leader in the Girl Guides, and Director of the Tonga Red Cross. Their lives taught her that leadership is about presence, sacrifice, and showing up when it matters most.

As the eldest and only daughter among five siblings, Papa naturally stepped into the role of caretaker and protector. She remembers late nights taking care of her mother during asthma attacks and early mornings tending to her brothers. Those formative years forged her ability to lead with compassion and stand steady through storms.

Service was stitched into her spirit before she ever wore a uniform.

Finding Her Wings

After marrying Chris Zarka, a former Peace Corps volunteer, Papa and her husband moved to Hawai‘i, where they began building a new life together. Papa joined Hawaiian Airlines as a flight attendant in April 1992, a role where she found success and pride.

It was during a ferry flight from Tonga to Pago Pago, Samoa,  seated behind the first officer in an empty flight, that a new possibility stirred inside her. Watching the takeoff unfold, she had a sudden realization: "I can do this!"

That single moment sparked a dream she hadn’t previously dared to imagine, setting her on a new path toward becoming a pilot. With a young daughter at home and no clear roadmap ahead, Papa and Chris made the bold decision to use the money saved for a house down payment to fund her flight training. 

The journey was not easy. Flight school was expensive. The road was long and often lonely. There were setbacks, tears, and moments where the finish line seemed impossibly far.

But Papa pressed forward, earning her licenses, building hours as a Certified Flight Instructor, and moving step by step through the aviation ranks. 

Her foundation, formed in her early years in Tonga, carried her.

Breaking Barriers, Making History

Papa’s career broke barriers long before headlines caught up to her. As a Pacific Island woman in aviation, she entered spaces where very few faces looked like hers.

Over more than three decades at Hawaiian Airlines, Papa’s pilot duties began by serving as a Flight Engineer on a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, then as First Officer on the Boeing 767 which led her to becoming the first Tongan woman to captain a major commercial airline. When Chris fell ill, she chose to fly inter-island routes to stay closer to home, balancing love and duty without hesitation.

And then, in 2022, she experienced a full-circle moment few ever imagined: flying in the same cockpit as her daughter Maria, as Captain and First Officer. Together, they became the first mother-daughter pilot duo to fly for Hawaiian Airlines - a historic milestone that symbolized not only a family’s journey but a step forward for visibility and representation in aviation. 

“It was overwhelming in the best way,” Papa shared. For Maria, the day meant honoring the woman she calls "the wind beneath my wings." A graduate of Kenyon College with a degree in Film, Maria was a four-time NCAA Diving Champion and eight-time All-American. After college, she was drawn back to the example that had always been close to home, following in the footsteps of the woman who quietly inspired her all along.

And the legacy continues.

Papa’s younger daughter, Kaimana (Mana), earned a degree in Aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, AZ, and was selected for elite F-22 pilot training with the Air National Guard - an honor reserved for only the most highly skilled and disciplined aviators, and one of the most competitive paths in military aviation.

Through her daughters, Papa’s spirit soars - not just because they fly, but because they carry the humility, resilience, and heart she spent a lifetime modeling.

The pride isn’t personal. It is a collective for their family, their community, and every Pacific Island girl who might now see herself reflected at 30,000 feet.

Faith: The Foundation Beneath Every Flight

Papa’s strength didn’t come from ambition alone. Her anchor has always been faith.

Through every hardship - from battling depression after surgery, to weathering financial sacrifices, to grieving loss, she leaned on prayer, scripture, and a practice of gratitude that sustained her.

Without faith, she says, we are like seaweed tossed by the ocean currents. With it, we are rooted, able to rise even when the winds are strong.

Each morning, she still grounds herself spiritually before facing the world. This foundation didn’t just carry her to the skies; it carried her through life’s heaviest storms.

Carrying Culture with Every Step

For Papa, Polynesian values were never left behind. They were carried into every cockpit, every flight, and every decision.

In a field where women, especially Pacific Islanders, were almost invisible, she led by embodying respect, humility, service, and excellence. She believes a true leader is a servant first. Her leadership was defined by lifting others, not self-promotion.

She lives her Polynesian identity every day, with pride and purpose.

Words for the Next Generation

When asked what advice she would offer to Poly Girls dreaming of new horizons, Papa says:

"Just do it. It’s better to try and fail than to sit, wish, and never even try."

She reminds us that kindness, humility, and service are not weaknesses. They are strengths and are the very foundation from which greatness rises.

Papa knows firsthand:

The journey is never easy.
The world may overlook you.
With faith, culture, and purpose, there is no place you cannot reach.

A Legacy That Soars

Today, Papa’s legacy is written not just in her own wings but in the generations she's lifting behind her.

Maria, now a First Officer on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner after being a Captain on the Boeing 717, is flying international routes. Mana, forging her path through F-22 training in the U.S. Air National Guard. Both daughters were inspired by a woman who refused to let obstacles define her and instead built bridges for others to cross.

Through her faith, her family, her flying, and her strong-willed spirit, Papa reminds us that true greatness is not found in titles or accolades but in how we serve, how we lead, and how we lift others along the way.

Kamelia "Papa" Zarka is not just a pilot. She is a protector, a pioneer, and a woman whose legacy flies higher than any altitude. She wears her story through inspiration, and the hopes of her ancestors with courage, humility, and pride.

And if that isn’t the Poly Girl spirit, we don’t know what is.