Asenati is a cultural and population geographer with over 15 years of research experience. She specializes in gender and development, population mobility, and social change in the Pacific and has published on women and leadership in the Pacific public services, women in politics, and Pacific mobility. She has extensive experience in leading gender research in Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands, and actively supports the participation of Pacific islanders in research. She currently serves as an advisor in the University of Wollongong’s research on Samoans in Australia’s Seasonal Worker Programme and New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme. She was Coordinator of the Gender Studies Programme at the University of the South Pacific, 2014 - 2017, and served as a Pacific Scholar-in-Residence for the Pacific Program of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), 2010-013. Asenati was also a Pacific Researcher at the State Society and Governance Program (SSGM) of the Australian National University in 2009-2010.
Asenati has been active in her Melanesian-Samoan community in Samoa, playing a crucial role in negotiations with the Samoan government on compensations for former plantation communities. She has a PhD in Geography (University of Hawai'i), Master of Arts in Development Studies (University of the South Pacific), and Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons) from the University of Waikato.