Miki is the founder and CEO of Education Incubator. She began her career in biosystems engineering, then moved into education where she spent 20 years in teaching, administration and curriculum development. She reflects on the positive changes she’s seen in the classroom, and shares lessons from growing up in a tight-knit community on Maui, the…
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Melanie is a media producer, a James Beard award-winner for Best National Cooking Series, and winner of an Emmy Award for best historical, cultural, religious documentary. She shares stories from her career in media production, starting on the mainland working on music videos, coming home and working at PBS, and what she’s up to now….
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Since high school, Ryan has been drawn to helping address the homelessness crisis in our state. Today he serves as Executive Director at Family Promise of Hawaiʻi, an organization dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness for families with children. Ryan shares about his family history of his grandparents fleeing their home country and starting from…
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Andrew is the co-founder and creative director of Redefined Media, and one of the hosts of UNCUT Hawaiʻi. His parents and grandparents immigrated to the US from Vietnam, and instilled in him a sense of gratitude for the opportunities and blessings he has today. We talk about the decision to stay in Hawaiʻi, the challenges…
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Brandon has always been self-motivated, so his parents weren’t worried when he switched from medicine to business. He served as COO of Wahiawa General Hospital before becoming Executive Director of Aloha Harvest. He shares some career and leadership lessons, and through his stories (including self-inflicted fitness challenges like doing 45,000 push-ups in one year) we…
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Allan is a public school teacher, a founding member of 24-VII Danceforce, and Program Coordinator for The I’m A Bright Kid Foundation (IABKF). He shares lessons learned working with Castle High School theater teacher Ronald E. Bright and his incredible wife Aunty Mo, his experience helping people find their spiritual gifts while serving as an…
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Venus went to college to become a film director, but working at a summer program for kids changed her path. Today she serves as President and CEO of Hale Kipa, which specializes in working with youth and their families who often have nowhere else to turn. Venus shares how she has been shaped by challenges…
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Kimee left Hawaiʻi at 17 to join the national touring company of Miss Saigon, then spent many years performing on the continent before returning home where she started improvhi (Improv Hawaii) and got a recurring role on Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I. She shares about her passion for improv comedy, the experience of providing a…
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From an early age, Rona just knew she wanted to do charity work. Today Rona serves as President and CEO of Lanakila Pacific, which operates Lanakila Meals on Wheels and Lanakila Custom Products. She shares her experiences and some lessons she’s learned through her career in social services, why she attributes a lot of her…
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Kamaka is the host of the Keep it Aloha Podcast and one of the creators of the Hawaiiverse platform. He grew up speaking Hawaiian as his first language, but didn’t appreciate his culture until after living abroad. He spent three years in Madagascar with the Peace Corps, then came home and started “The Race to…
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