Iwi Nails was born in late 2021 by owner Līhau Willing’s desire to create nail art designs that reflect her culture and identity rooted in Hawaiʻi.

The wahine born in South Kona met her husband from Molokaʻi, and prior to settling on the Friendly Isle in 2009, the pair spent some time in Korea. It was there that Willing was exposed to the global beauty industry, particularly gel nail strips and accessories. Upon returning to the Islands, she researched what it would take to produce a long-lasting product with ʻāina-inspired designs.

Today, “Iwi Nails offers semi-cured gel nail strips and custom press-ons, with a focus on community engagement through collaborations with local artists and nonprofits,” according to its website. “Unlike typical nail strips, you cure these after application for a manicure that lasts 3-4 weeks when applied correctly.”

She recalled a couple of her first collections, Hebrew cone shell and pastel palaka prints, which are still among the brand’s most popular designs.

“On that first day, I had 50 orders and it went from there,” she said. “It was very much unplanned.”

Storytelling is a priority, she adds, noting that intentional moʻolelo is included in the packaging, on the website and through social media. “One really important thing for me is making sure that Hawaiʻi has accurate cultural representation not just on the continent but across the world. Our designs aren’t just for Hawaiʻi people to wear.”

Willing joined Purple Maia Foundation’s FoundHer, a business accelerator for Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Asian women entrepreneurs across Hawaiʻi, as part of the 2022/2023 cohort. She also filmed a commercial with Disney Advertising called “Let Your Nails Do The Talking,” now streaming across Disney+ and Hulu.

Iwi Nails can be shopped online and in wholesale retailers across the Islands. Last November, Willing launched her first storefront on Molokaʻi, which also showcases other local makers.

“It’s been really good and offers a curated boutique vibe,” she said. “As a business owner [here], there are benefits and struggles — shipping is a struggle, cost can be restrictive, networking and mentorship is tough. But the community is strong and supportive.”

Expanding the company’s reach and partnerships continues to be a focus. Iwi Nails will be at pop-up markets in Honolulu over the summer, including the Made in Hawaiʻi Festival on August 20-23.

The businesses’ Look Good Do Good program donates a percentage of sales to various causes. Its Behbeh collection, in collaboration with @elc.designs, has supported Kūlaniākea, a Hawaiian immersion early learning program committed to raising the next generation of ʻŌiwi leaders. Other collaborations have benefited student designers from Molokaʻi High School; Kona nonprofit Kupa ʻĀina o Keauhou, which aims to protect natural resources, community spaces, and sacred historical places; AND The Hawaiʻi LGBT Legacy Foundation, which aims to support, empower, educate, unify and facilitate LGBT organizations and individuals across the state.

“As I started to hone in on Iwi’s purpose, people connect to the designs and seeing themselves in it, right? The nails are such a powerful way of self-expression. So, being able to choose a design that feels truly yourself, it’s huge,” Willing said. “What I started to realize was that I could share what felt like me and some people might relate to that. But the more I could share other people’s perspectives and identities, the more people would be able to find belonging in these designs. We’ve shared a lot of unconventional stories that you wouldn’t think would be through nails.”

Willing is the brand’s sole employee, though, she has brought on part-time workers to help with fulfillment previously, she said, adding, “I wanted to create more job opportunities but then it became difficult to afford it, especially with the surge in tariffs. I had to pare down. I’m looking to bring back a team eventually.”

She is also the primary designer, which she does by hand working with simple block shapes.

When asked what advice she’d give to other Hawaiʻi small business owners, she said, “Give in to the delusion.”

“I’ve had to think big and believe this is totally going to work and just commit. You have to be in it 100%. It’s never going to be easy,” Willing said. “It’s a crazy steep learning curve owning a business. I didn’t expect it to evolve and probably would have done things differently if I knew more from the beginning. But it has taught me to give myself a little more grace, to be flexible and resilient. Understanding the importance of a vision, or something you’re working toward, is what keeps me going.”

This article is reprinted with permission from “Aloha State Daily, the new news for Hawaiʻi.” Read more at alohastatedaily.com and sign up for its free daily edition email at alohastatedaily.com.

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Nearly every weekend, Jay-R Kaawa boards a flight between Maui and Molokaʻi. The trips are not usually for work; they are for family.

Kaawa, head of Summer and Extended Learning at Kamehameha Schools Maui, regularly travels home to Molokaʻi to care for her father, who is living with dementia. At least once a month, she and her siblings help fly him to Maui or Oʻahu for appointments and support. Other times, she makes the trip to check on him, spend time with him and help manage his care. For Kaawa, transportation is not a convenience. “It is a necessity. We need reliable air transportation. Bottom line,” she said.

Her story is one shared by families across Maui Nui who routinely travel between Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Maui and Oʻahu for healthcare, work and time with loved ones. That reality is why many residents are paying close attention to Lānaʻi Air’s plans to expand service to Molokaʻi.

The airline, which began as a charter service connecting Honolulu and Lānaʻi, has evolved over the past several years. Originally created to transport visitors to Lānaʻi, the company expanded public ticket sales in 2024 and now markets itself as another option for island residents. Earlier this year, Lānaʻi Air announced plans to begin service to Molokaʻi, adding a second commercial air carrier to an island that has spent years with limited transportation options.

The expansion marks the latest step in the company’s growth. The airline intends to operate four daily roundtrip flights between Molokaʻi and Honolulu using their 19-seat Cessna SkyCourier aircraft. They have been promoting the aircraft’s larger cabin and accessibility features while emphasizing its goal of improving transportation options for residents traveling for healthcare, education, work and family obligations.

Kaawa flies home nearly every weekend and estimates she spends at least $220 on airfare each trip. Sometimes, she said, a one-way ticket can cost more than $200. “Just from an economic standpoint, having a competitor will hopefully bring down fares,” she said. While she considers herself fortunate to be able to afford those trips, she worries about residents who cannot.

“If one plane is out of commission, the whole schedule is messed up,” she said. Despite those challenges, Molokaʻi residents continue to find ways to get where they need to go.

“We’re resourceful in that way, we always find ways to make things work,” Kaawa said. Some residents catch rides on boats operated by friends or family members. Others coordinate travel with fishermen making trips between islands. For many, finding transportation is simply part of daily life. “We’re going to make do with what we have, but that doesn’t mean it’s right,” she said.

Accessibility is another concern. Because of his dementia, Kaawa’s father often struggles boarding smaller commuter aircraft. While he remains physically capable, navigating the tight spaces of a small plane can be difficult. “I literally have to hold his head down and crawl him into the plane,” she said.

At least once a month, Kaawa and her siblings fly their father to Maui or Oʻahu so he can spend time with family and receive additional support. While neighbors and family friends often help transport him when needed, she worries about the burden placed on others.

“I would feel much better knowing it’s a plane that doesn’t seem so cramped,” she said. For families caring for kūpuna and loved ones with medical conditions, the size of the aircraft matters. Many residents travel with walkers, wheelchairs, oxygen equipment or other medical devices. Others simply find boarding small commuter planes difficult. Kaawa believes a larger aircraft could make a meaningful difference for those families.

Maui lifeguard Kaipo Garcia has seen firsthand how important reliable transportation can be during some of life’s most difficult moments. Inter-island travel is part of his family’s routine. His sister lives on Lānaʻi and regularly travels because her daughter is undergoing cancer treatment.

“She flies every week because my niece has cancer,” Garcia said. Like many families living on smaller islands, they rely on flights to access specialized healthcare services unavailable at home.

Garcia has also heard stories from residents whose travel plans were disrupted by delays and cancellations. “They were missing their appointments,” he said. “They’d make their doctor appointments based on the [flight’s] arrival time and then delays would happen.”

The importance of reliable transportation became personal earlier this year when Garcia’s father passed away on Lānaʻi.

Living on Maui, he immediately searched for a flight home. His father died shortly before 8:00 p.m. Garcia was able to book a last-minute flight and arrive in time to be with his family. “I made reservations last minute,” he said. “At least I got there.” The flight allowed him to help carry his father from his bed to the hearse.

For Garcia, that experience reinforced something many Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi families already understand. Transportation is about much more than getting from one island to another. It is about being present when family needs you most.

Community members have also pointed to another reason they are optimistic about Lānaʻi Air’s expansion: familiar faces. During community outreach events, residents met airline employees who previously worked for Island Air, a carrier that served neighbor island communities for decades.

Many Molokaʻi residents already knew them. That familiarity, Kaawa said, helped build trust. “It’s local folks that we know and have seen frequently while traveling,” she said.

Some residents also see the airline’s hiring of former Island Air employees as a sign that local knowledge and experience remain part of the company’s approach. While questions remain about how the expansion will ultimately affect the community, many residents say they are hopeful.

No airline is immune from weather disruptions, maintenance issues or operational challenges. But for residents accustomed to limited options, another carrier represents something many have wanted for years: a choice.

“We’re grateful for what we have,” Kaawa said. “But we’re ready for another option.”

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By Kealoha Fox, Ph.D.

The city’s new vision to bring food, culture, and connection through food access hubs

When Kānehoalani passes over Oʻahu, sunlight glimmers on Skyline tracks and new garden beds at Hōʻaeʻae Station. Between the steel and the soil at Honouliuli Station, 25 varieties of kalo lift their leaves to the dawn while 15 ʻulu trees spread their shade – living symbols of a quiet transformation taking root.

This fall, Skyline stations in Waipahu and Hoʻopili came alive – boosted by the October opening of segment two, which now connects Kapolei to Kalihi. Kūpuna arrived with carts, keiki darted between food tents, and local farmers sold produce while sharing moʻolelo of the lands that nourish them. Students from Waipahu High School’s Culinary Arts Pathway offered dishes made from the very produce they had grown in their own campus nursery.

For the City and County of Honolulu, these gatherings were more than symbolic. They marked the start of a bold idea: transforming these 13 Skyline stations into food access hubs – places where local, healthy, and culturally rooted food is as accessible as catching a train. This initiative – now a finalist in the global Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025 Mayors Challenge – emerged from the urgent realities facing island residents.

“Our goal is that everyone living along Skyline’s 19-mile route will have access to fresh, affordable, local food,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “Honolulu is building stations of abundance for the people of Oʻahu.”

Healing the Land, Nourishing the People

Oʻahu imports nearly 85% of its food, and prices continue to rise. Many residents live far from grocery stores that sell affordable local fruits, vegetables, and starches. These barriers intensified when SNAP benefits were paused nationwide in November.

But for Native Hawaiians, food access is more than an economic challenge – it is a spiritual wound born of disconnection from ʻāina momona, the abundant lands that once sustained generations in our own respective kauhale and kaiāulu. Restoring that abundance is about more than food – it’s about restoring mana as our legacy and mauli ola as our destiny.

Grounded in these values, the city began prototyping its “stations of abundance” idea at two stations in West Oʻahu. Partnering with the Hawaiʻi Foodbank, ʻElepaio Social Services, Waipahu High School, DR Horton Hawaiʻi, and local growers, the city hosted farmers’ markets and mobile pantry events that distributed 7,000 pounds of fresh produce – roughly 5,800 meals – to more than 300 households in just a few hours.

Residents lined up early, eager not just for the food, but for the belonging it brought to be part of something positive, growing long-term sustainability. Lina of Waipahu said she came with her friend so they could help each other carry their groceries home between Hōʻaeʻae and Pouhala stations. “We would come twice a month if they came back,” she smiled. “We help each other – that’s how it should be.”

Innovation Rooted in Indigenous Wisdom

While the stations of abundance vision embraces innovation – like scoping refrigerated food lockers, food-as-medicine vouchers, and transit-linked farmers’ markets – it’s guided by Indigenous knowledge using the Kūkulu Hou methodology.

City staff worked with practitioners to align planting on Skyline’s footprint with Native Hawaiian lunar cycles. Strategic plantings at Hōʻaeʻae and Honouliuli are for both edible crops and cultural plants like ʻuala for lāʻau lapaʻau, acknowledging the full spectrum of nourishment that ʻāina provides.

To hoʻoulu lāhui Hawaiʻi, they are seeds of mauli ola – a return to wellness and vitality.

We’re designing a city that reflects our values, where government acts as a steward rather than a manager. Stewardship here means laulima. While the mayor’s offices and city departments lead this effort, the real strength comes from the community itself. Schools, farmers, Native Hawaiian organizations, social service agencies, and residents each bring their expertise.

By 2028, the city hopes to scale the project across all 13 stations, supported by more than 25 community partnerships and an anticipated 1 million meals provided through local food systems. Each site will reflect the cultural and culinary identity of its neighborhood.

Building Pilina Along the Skyline

Food is not separate from place or people; it is the bridge between them. This program intentionally weaves relationships and reciprocity across agencies and communities that historically worked in silos.

“Skyline stations are not just physical infrastructure, and now, thanks to this project, they are becoming part of the social and cultural infrastructure of our communities,” said Jon Nouchi, City Department of Transportation Services deputy director.

ʻĀina momona is giving rise to a new kind of city planning that begins with listening, nānā pono, being present, and addressing quality of life. When residents are part of the design and prototyping, the results are quicker and more cost effective, generating community pride.

Those stories have shaped the work. Program participant Hermina shared that she went to an October event – not for herself – but for her ʻohana. “Local vegetables are better. I have 14 grandchildren and they like purple lettuce. I usually go to three markets to get it,” she said, laughing. “Now maybe it’ll grow here where I catch TheBus.”

A Model for Island Resilience

Islands across Moananuiākea and neighboring counties each face the same challenge: cities’ complex role to feed people in ways that are affordable, local, and culturally meaningful while activating the public lands each county is entrusted to steward.

This work reconnects the past to the future. The lands underneath and surrounding Skyline’s 18.9-mile corridor can better host plants that feed local families as our moʻolelo recount. Young people use Skyline stations not just as stops on a line, but as living classrooms for mālama ʻāina. Kūpuna see traditions re-rooting in public spaces once paved over. And city government is reimagining its role – from transit- oriented development to cultivating life.

As trains hum past the young Hāloa, leaves shimmer with promise. The land remembers its purpose, and so do the people. Along Skyline’s path, the city is rediscovering what it means to feed one another.

Dr. Kealoha Fox is the deputy director of the City and County of Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency.

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To Kaleʻa Raymond, kapa is something to be worn, lived in and loved.

“It is a reverent thing to have a piece of kapa,” says Raymond, owner of Laʻahana Creations, which sells handcrafted, wearable kapa accessories. “But a lot of Kānaka Hawaiʻi, when they receive a piece of kapa, or you know, they make a piece of kapa, it goes on the wall, or it goes into a cabinet. It’s loved and it’s precious, but it’s not used, right?”

Raymond, who learned kapa-making from her mother, kapa practitioner and teacher Lisa Schattenburg-Raymond, wanted to change that. “I wanted to start doing things where people could wear kapa again,” she said.

Her vision was to make wearable kapa pieces, so she started by making hat bands in 2021 and then earrings in 2022. “I’m still expanding the things that I make,” Raymond said, “but it’s pieces that people can wear every day.”

Each hat band features a uniquely patterned piece of kapa, set on felt and secured to the hat with a ribbon or Velcro. She offers the hat bands as custom orders, allowing her to tailor each one to the individual hat. The earrings come in different colors in wire frames, from circles to crescent moons to triangles to diamond shapes — each pair also uniquely patterned using native dyes.

Raymond is now experimenting with other kinds of products, such as belts, bracelets and necklaces, but wants to make sure that they stay affordable and wearable. “Everything that I make, I wear-test. I make sure that they’re going to hold up,” she says. One day, she would really like to add a lei hulu-style of kapa adornment.

Born and raised on Maui, Raymond attended a Hawaiian immersion school before earning a degree from UH Mānoa with a focus in costume design. She moved to California and lived there for seven years to pursue a career in costuming but felt a longing to return to Maui in 2019. It wasn’t until she moved back that she reconnected with kapa and found herself drawn to it.

“The pandemic was a really unfortunate thing for many, but it was really fortuitous for me because being with my parents, and with my mom in particular, she gave me a deep dive into kapa,” Raymond said with a laugh, amused by the memory. “I did the full immersion experience with my mother. And I’m very grateful for that and I’m still learning.”

The name of her business, Laʻahana Creations, is in reference to a moʻolelo about two sisters who are kapa makers. Lauhuʻiki is the one who is knowledgeable in harvesting and processing, while Laʻahana is skilled in decorating.

“When I first heard that story, and I was first starting on my kapa journey, I realized that Lauhuʻiki and Laʻahana are my mom and I,” she smiled, noting that her mom has the green thumb while she has a passion for art.

To make the kapa pieces, she and her mom grow, harvest, and process the wauke (paper mulberry) themselves.

“My mother and I, when we’re making kapa, especially the watermarked pieces, we usually tend to do large sheets instead of just a small piece, and that can take between 20 to 30 hours of beating,” Raymond said.

“We only do it in four-hour periods, otherwise your body just hurts.” It takes focus, she explains, as they must listen and watch what they’re doing to move the fibers over.

She uses traditional dyes to print the kapa patterns, harvesting plants and materials sustainably. “I make my own ink in a traditional way. I use all handmade ohe kapala (bamboo stamps) from Nalu Andrade of Nā Maka Kahiko. He hand-carves all my ohe kapala,” Raymond said.

Because the kapa is delicate, she fully encases all the earrings in resin to protect them. The resin is see-through and preserves the kapa for longer wear.

Raymond has a strong passion for kapa making, and dreams of there one day being “a hui of kapa makers together to make a 10-layer, 12-foot-long hula pāʻū and have somebody perform in it,” she said.

“With our growing connection back to our ancestors, we’re having more men wearing malo, but we don’t have a lot of women wearing pāʻū,” referring to history books about hula dancers and the kapa pieces that were worn.

While that may be her lifetime goal, for now she would like to see more people making and wearing kapa — and that’s what she’s working toward through her business.

Laʻahana Creations can be found on Facebook and Instagram, and Raymond sells at various Maui craft fairs and cultural events. She most recently attended the Kū Mai Ka Hula competition at Maui Arts & Cultural Center and the Kamehameha Day celebration at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea.

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“I feel like people on the Westside have pride in their community – pride in culture, pride in entrepreneurship, and pride to be from the Waiʻanae Coast,” said Waiʻanae Economic Development Council (WEDC) Program Director Shavone Lave.

WEDC is a community-based corporation serving Waiʻanae Coast residents. Its mission is to support community members who are passionate about entrepreneurship by offering business and financial services rooted in Hawaiian values.

Founded in 2015, the council is composed primarily of Native Hawaiians, and its leaders and staff are either from the Waiʻanae Moku or have worked within the community for many years.

Lave herself has first-hand experience operating a small business in Waiʻanae. In 2013 she founded The Sugar Hut, a bakery based in Māʻili. She recalled that her first introduction to WEDC happened during the pandemic.

“While I was still operating my business, the [WEDC] CEO and business developer came into my establishment during COVID,” said Lave. “They were kind of going door-to-door on the coast and seeing what the businesses were going through. WEDC is definitely a ʻboots on the ground’ and community-based, community-focused organization.”

Lave shared that after she closed her business in 2021, Westside Stories published an article about how she had transitioned from business onwer to business coaching and consulting for aspiring bakers.

“One of the staff members of WEDC learned about my experience and asked me if I was interested in a job, said Lave. “I actually said ʻno’ multiple times because I didn’t have a traditional job for so long, I didn’t know if I could do that again. But it was perfect because I really do love the business space and serving our community.”

As program director, Lave manages and oversees WEDC business support and financial literacy programs including the Waiʻanae Business Incubator, Hoʻokele Digital, Nonprofit Development, and Waiwai Pathways.

WEDC also works with outside contractors who operate their financial literacy workshops and nonprofit development program.

Lave said that she has seen Waiʻanae residents that go through their cohorts receive a boost of confidence and a feeling of community.

“Oftentimes, business owners feel like they’re going at it alone and maybe their problems are unique to them – but these problems are very common. Every business owner goes through a similar journey. So just knowing that there’s support and guidance along the way and they’re not alone is a big deal,” she said.

“And within the cohorts, it’s nice; we really build each workshop or cohort so that they can talk more together. And the power is in them having conversations amongst each other and realizing that, ʻHey there’s someone just like me who’s going through the same thing and we can do it together.’”

Through WEDC’s six-month-long Waiʻanae Business Incubator, entrepreneurs in their early stages gain skills, resources, and the confidence to take their business concept to market-ready community events.

WEDC also emphasizes incorporating Hawaiian values in all its programming by using ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, sharing different ʻōlelo noʻeau (proverbs), and moʻolelo passed on generationally.

“What we’ve found is that when someone is able to relate to something that is deeply seated within their culture, they’re able to connect to the concept they’re trying to teach,” said Lave. “So, what we’re doing is trying to bridge the connection from culture, or what had happened with their own kūpuna, to today.”

Lave added that when looking at both financial literacy and business development, it is comparable to how we steward our resources today.

On November 8, WEDC and the Pakini Loan Fund will be hosting the first-ever Waiʻanae Moku Made event from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. This free community event will celebrate the entrepreneurship of Native Hawaiians and Waiʻanae-based businesses at the ʻOhana Kākoʻo Resource Center.

Lave said that the event initially started as Small Business Saturday to create awareness around small businesses and entrepreneurship.

“When [planning for] the second year, we knew we needed to make a larger statement which is why we rebranded it,” said Lave. “So it’s more of an opportunity to uplift what [already] exists in the community because there are entrepreneurs everywhere.

“When we go door-to-door and talk story with people in the community, someone always knows another business owner or someone with a side hustle. And I feel like that’s just who we are in Hawaiʻi because of the cost of living. And so it’s truly just a way to see what exists on the Waiʻanae Coast and how we support those businesses.”

The event will highlight small businesses, many of which are just starting out. It will also include a business resource hub for the community so folks can learn about how they, too, can start a small business – or how to support businesses in their community beyond purchasing a product or service.

Lave added that WEDC envisions a eventually exposing Waiʻanae owned small businesses to different opportunities beyond their own community – such as major local events like the annual Made in Hawaiʻi Festival or Merrie Monarch Hawaiian Arts and Crafts Fair.

Find out more information about the Waiʻanae Economic Development Center online or on Instagram. Join WEDC’s email list to receive free to low-cost business and financial resources for the community.

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When Hawaiʻi committed in 2014 to becoming 100% renewable by 2045, it signaled a new era of sustainability.

For Kanaka ʻŌiwi innovator Olin Lagon, then a member of the Hawaiʻi Clean Energy Initiative Steering Committee that pushed for the goal, it also revealed a deeper challenge: ensuring that the benefits of clean energy reached everyone, not just those who could afford it.

Lagon realized that underserved communities and renters would face major financial challenges.

“Upwards of 75% of Native Hawaiian families live under the ALICE poverty threshold, which is absolutely criminal. And when I’m talking about the underserved, I’m talking about our Hawaiian community,” said Lagon. ALICE stands for “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.”

Two years later, Lagon and his business partner, Forest Frizzell, founded Shifted Energy in his garage to enable widespread access to energy solutions. The company combines smart hardware and software to help utilities balance the grid using everyday devices like water heaters. Powered by advanced machine learning, the system automatically shifts energy use to lower-cost times and stabilizes circuits without users ever noticing a change.

The water heater was just the first of many devices Lagon and Frizzell realized they could manage and control.

“In Hawaiʻi, the water heater is the number one user of energy in most homes,” said Lagon who explained that many underserved homeowners have cheaply made and inefficient electric resistance water heaters. Shifted Energy sought out to target lowering cost and ensuring quality products.

It took years of tinkering, testing and perfecting. Between pitching to investors and expanding the company, Shifted Energy remained focused on helping those who needed it most. They knocked on doors, talked story, identified issues and sought to solve them. This also included securing funds to get additional work done.

One Waimānalo homestead family had been spending more than a $1000 a month on electricity. Lagon and Frizzell were puzzled. The home had no major electrical appliances such as air conditioning. They traced the issue to a leaking water heater and then identified grant funds to replace the water heater for the family.

“Their bill the next month dropped to $100. There was a $900 swing – and it stayed at that level,” said Lagon.

They also came across homeowners who were sold a bill of goods by unethical companies with no follow-up services. In other cases, Shifted Energy upgraded homes with energy-efficient heat pump water heaters and foresaw other issues.

“They were installed outdoors and started to get damaged,” noted Lagon. “So Forest got some more philanthropy dollars, and we came back out and built enclosures for them, like we don’t have to do that, but we want them to have that thing for 20 years.”

Not only did they introduce their product to households, they also helped people in other ways.

In one house visit, Frizzell came across a kupuna who could not afford to furnish his home. Lagon said he received a call from his co-founder who was determined to find a bed for him to sleep on that night. After calling friends, they were able to deliver a futon.

Lagon calls this “leaning in” to the work they do. “It’s not just about energy. It’s about people and community. And we do that over and over and over again,” he said.

Both founders practice traditional Native Hawaiian farming on weekends and volunteer with the state’s largest technology education nonprofit, Purple Maiʻa, which works in Native Hawaiian communities throughout Hawaiʻi.

Shifted Energy has grown to manage more devices, so they use energy when it is cheapest. Air conditioning systems, electric cars, heat pumps, solar, and batteries can ramp up when power is abundant and ease off when it is costly. The mission never changed. Serve the people most often overlooked.

The company has completed thousands of installations in underserved neighborhoods in Hawaiʻi, on the continent, and in Canada. They have even expanded pilot programs to Europe and Aotearoa (New Zealand).

“I don’t think there’s another company on this earth that is better than us and we’ll beat anyone in any RFP (request for proposal) head-to-head. That is our legacy of Indigenous innovation and here, like you know, we’re the smartest people in the world and not smart in the ʻwestern’ sense but smart in the community sense. We lean into the strength of diversity,” said Lagon.

Lagon’s pride in what they’ve built is well-founded. On Oct. 9, 2025, Shifted Energy announced its acquisition by San Francisco-based Resource Innovations (RI), a major move to advance grid-edge technology and bolster energy equity.

“Adding Shifted Energy’s capabilities to RI’s offerings enables us to deliver scalable, end-to-end DSM (demand-side management) and grid-edge solutions to more customer segments than ever before,” said Lauren Casentini, founder and CEO of RI.

Following the announcement, Frizzell said, “Tomorrow we get back to building solutions that are equitable, innovative, and rooted in the communities we come from.”

Shifted Energy is Lagon’s third social venture to grow from small Native Hawaiian nonprofit roots to national and international work. Two of his previous social ventures were acquired by larger firms.

“When Kanaka ʻŌiwi values guide entrepreneurship, solutions can scale here and then everywhere,” said Lagon. “Of course, this is not easy but when you are doing the right thing, how can you not be inspired to bust your ʻēlemu (butt) for the community?”

He continues to lean in – inventing and building to solve problems in new ways that honor community and create equity.

The post Innovating for Equity appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

Their collaborative business model featured locally made Hawaiian fashion, art, clothing, cultural items made from wood, stone, bone, shell and materials from the ʻāina, food products like Mamaki tea, beauty products, hula implements, Hawaiian books and other mea (things) made in the islands.

Nā Mea was always a collective effort intended to support small businesses, farmers, practitioners, artists, writers and the makers of Hawaiian things. In perpetuating traditional values and communal practices, their business model was more about sharing than financial gain and about instilling pride in the culture and community rather than commodifying it.

This model attracted people who also valued participating in a shared economy – like some retailers who are working for causes bigger than money.

“David Shepard is a scientist and conservationist who initially sold shirts out of the back of his car. And Hawaiian Force got popular really fast but their main focus is to support PKO (Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana),” Meyer said, emphasizing the altruistic nature of these businesses.

Each business has different goals and sharing a value system allows for flexibility in supporting each one. Nā Mea’s retailers and makers range from small start-ups looking to create a stable income to those who have reached their goals and everything in between.

In the spirit of community, Nā Mea added activities and a Kīpuka Makerspace to bring people together to learn lauhala, featherwork and lei-making.

Nā Mea Hawaiʻi has cultivated a Hawaiian way of doing business by working collaboratively in a sharing economy rather than a profit margin. This past June, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) purchased Nā Mea Hawaiʻi and plans to carry that legacy forward.

“CNHA is committed to honoring Maile’s vision and continuing her decades-long work of uplifting Native Hawaiian makers, learners, and practitioners,” said Max Mukai, CNHA’s director of business development.

“They are the right amplifier of Nā Mea’s value system in supporting local businesses and start-ups,” Meyer added enthusiastically. “They have been a steppingstone for so many businesses.”

Meyer remains actively involved with Nā Mea Hawaiʻi under CNHA as a consultant to guide the transitional process and ensure that the Na Mea brand’s legacy, values, and cultural integrity are upheld.

It has only been a few months, and CNHA has already expanded the brand reach, launching into the Hawaiʻi’s Finest Summer Expo and acquiring and moving into a second retail space at Bishop Museum’s Shop Pacifica.

“The museum provides an opportunity to reach even more audiences and deepen engagement through programming that celebrates Native Hawaiian culture, storytelling and craftsmanship,” said Mukai.

Bishop Museum is anticipating stronger brand alignment between Shop Pacifica, the museum and the possibility of exclusive merchandise created in collaboration with local artists, makers, and cultural practitioners inspired by the museum’s collections.

“We saw in CNHA not just a capable retail operator, but an organization that puts community at the center of everything they do,” said Brandon Bunag, Ed.D., Bishop Museum vice president of public programs and interim director of education. “CNHA is a natural partner for us because of the deep alignment between our missions and their community focus.”

Shop Pacifica will also be a space for workshops, product showcases, and cultural events that will turn the shop into a place for gathering and learning.

“Bishop Museum is a natural fit to uplift businesses that have been long standing vendors with Nā Mea Hawaiʻi, The Mākeke, and our KūHana business accelerator,” said Mukai.

“Together in one space, visitors and kamaʻāina are offered a curated selection of local fashion, accessories, snacks, memorabilia, and more.”

Nā Mea Hawaiʻi’s brand is now a part of CNHA’s integrated business and ecomonic support programs that offer entrepreneurial training, business loans, retail opportunities and cultural education. Individuals can potentially work their way through the various multifaceted programs, gain valuable information and life experience, and eventually create a thriving business venture of their own.

CNHA is working to build more capacity to support and establish a larger presence of Native Hawaiian businesses in the marketplace, reaching visitors and the local community on a larger scale.

Local and Native Hawaiian-owned businesses interested in participating in CNHA’s larger marketing presence can fill out a vendor application at themakeke.com.

The post Nā Mea Hawaiʻi: A Model for Hawaiian Business appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

A Kauaʻi food truck is gaining popularity as it has added two new locations within one year’s time. The Musubi Truck, located in Kapaʻa, Kōloa and Līhuʻe, has a nicely sized menu, with musubi, a poke bowl and bentos. But it’s the assortment of musubi, such as ʻahi katsu, miso chicken and kalbi beef, that makes you want to try them all. There’s even a deep-fried Spam musubi.

“Our vision pretty much was to just create a kind of basic food truck that kind of just put a little spin onto what we all grew up eating,” says co-owner Andrew Kakalia, who is also the chef at the Kōloa location. The idea also seemed fitting for Kauaʻi, since the island is said to be the birthplace of the Spam musubi.

“We just wanted to produce good food at an affordable cost, because everything is so expensive here on island,” Kakalia adds.

He was a fulltime lifeguard, when he and his wife, Kelly, opened the first location in Kapaʻa in 2020. They own the business with another Kauaʻi couple, Nicolette and Jeffrey Aguinaldo, the chef who came up with the recipes. ‘I call him ʻFood Lord,’” Kakalia says. “That guy is a genius with food.”

Although they had a well thought-out plan, Kakalia admits he had some doubts at first. “I was like, ʻWhat are we doing? This is crazy.’ The pandemic hit and I was like, ʻsee, I knew it.’”

Some of the delectable items on The Musubi Truck’s menu include (l-r): Miso Happy Chicken musubi, Chicken Katsu musubi and their fresh ahi poke bowl available three ways – “local” style, “spicy mayo” and “ginger soy.”

But instead of giving up, the owners stuck through it. Kakalia quit his job as a lifeguard to go full time and then COVID shut everything down. “It was logistically the worst time to quit my job, but I knew The Musubi Truck was going to work out,” he says.

Kakalia was right. When the shutdown ended, sales picked up. Last year, they added a second Musubi Truck in Kōloa. Within six months of that, they opened a third — their first brick-and-mortar location — near Kalapakī Beach in Līhuʻe.

It had always been a goal for them to expand, and they are living their dream. Now, they are looking into franchising the business. “Brah, honestly, our vision is to expand globally. I see a musubi truck, no joke, everywhere,” Kakalia says.

Feeding the keiki

Born and raised on Kauaʻi, Kakalia sees and recognizes the importance of improving the island’s food security. When The Musubi Truck first opened, he felt a desire to help the community. They started a Feed Our Keiki program three years ago and recently founded a nonprofit by the same name.

“When we first opened, I would just drive to the skate park every day and hook up all the kids with musubis,” he says. “And then we got a little smarter, and we started just printing out tickets.” Kids could then take the ticket and redeem a meal at one of their locations. One keiki meal consists of an OG Spam musubi with chips or mandarin orange and juice.

Donations of $5 feed one meal to keiki, who are in need. “We had someone donate, like, 1,000 bucks, so we got to go and give hundreds of cards to different people,” he says. Sometimes they’ll give a stack of cards to local school principals.

“Just the little smiles, just the smiles that you see on kid’s faces you know. It’s pretty radical,” says Kakalia, who is also a father of four. “You can see a little bit of shame in the family, sometimes in the parents, but you don’t see any of that in the kids. They’re just smiling ear to ear and the joy is radiant.”

The program, which is now in its fourth year, has served over 10,000 meals. “You know, a lot of people, this is local style, they’re not going to say they need a hand, you know. Most people they [tend to say], ‘Don’t help me, I got this,’” Kakalia says. “When our heart is like, ‘No, brah, we want to bless those that need it.’”

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ʻĀina Hoʻokupu o Kīlauea (AHK), together with partnering farmers, ranchers and fishermen, produces more than 10,000 pounds of produce, meat and fish each month. That is enough to fill 250 donated farm boxes weekly and serve about 100 to 150 people daily through AHK’s retail space, Johnny’s Market.

But unless the organization can increase its production or support other farmers, it will not be able to meet the needs of the community.

To address this, AHK is developing an innovative 2-acre model of food production designed to connect Native Hawaiian farmers with AHK’s financial resources and agricultural expertise.

The idea is for AHK to partner with grantees of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ (DHHL) Kuleana Homestead Program, which allows beneficiaries to lease unimproved, off-grid homestead lots for agriculture.

Through the 2-acre model, AHK would provide all the infrastructure needed for farmers to start raising pigs, chicken and sheep and to grow plants like banana, ʻulu and pineapple. The farmers would provide the labor and land. The model is designed to be a high-yield, low-input system, requiring only about 1-2 hours a day of feeding animals and harvesting food, said AHK Executive Director Yoshito L’Hote.

“The goal of this model is for everybody to engage with the food they eat. [The grantees] get to support the community by providing locally grown food. But also, in case of emergency, there’ll be up to 100 breadfruit trees planted, hundreds of pigs, and thousands of chickens raised. Those are the elements that provide food resiliency and economy,” said L’Hote.

Based on a recent financial analysis conducted by AHK with support from philanthropic donors and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), the initial start-up cost for each farm is estimated at $80,000, and the investment would pay for itself in about three years.

After this initial period, all the infrastructure is turned over to the farmers. If they choose to continue with the system, there is the potential to generate $50,000 to $60,000 per year in revenues. AHK is coordinating with DHHL to arrange a field visit so the department can provide feedback about the feasibility of their plan.

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A key part of the model is being in proximity to a retail and processing space – which is where Johnny’s Market comes in, said L’Hote. The market, which opened in 2023, was a critical piece of making AHK’s operations financially viable. Johnny’s Market, which sells only Hawaiʻi-grown products, has helped shift the center’s funding from 80% grants and philanthropy to 80% earned income.

“The biggest change since we opened the market [has been] financial relief. It’s the final piece to the puzzle,” said 25-year-old Kalei Waipa, AHK’s production manager and field supervisor for the past six years. “We finally have a store that has allowed us to sell our vegetables and bring in financial income to supplement everything.”

Johnny’s Market is part of AHK’s Kīlauea Community Agricultural Center (KCAC), which includes a 75-acre farm, education center, pavilions and food processing facilities. The property, acquired by the Kīlauea community through a contested case hearing, is now owned by the County of Kauaʻi and leased by AHK.

The market is named after the late Johnny Akana, a founding member and president of Kīlauea Agriculture Association, who pushed for the community to be able to farm the 75 acres. Thanks in part to Akana’s efforts, AHK has been farming the area for the past decade.

“We have discovered how much everybody wants to buy local, fresh, high-quality produce and, because there’s nobody between the farmers and the customers, 60-70% of the money made from the sales of produce is going to the farmers – which is not the case in a regular grocery store. It’s more like 15%,” said L’Hote.

“We’ve also eliminated so much of the waste of transportation, the carbon footprint, the plastic wrapping, the cardboard, and the fuel to distribute. We’re creating a way healthier food system that takes into consideration the impact on the ʻāina and the people.”

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Part of cultivating sustainability for such a system is to empower the next generation of farmers and local food advocates, according to L’Hote. “It’s that generation that needs to see the value and push the boat forward.” By design, the team at AHK is comprised mostly of employees in their 20s and 30s – including L’Hote’s son and daughter.

Waipa said engaging the younger generation in farming is important. He is already seeing a shift in how his peers value local food and local food systems. This, coupled with a growing dissatisfaction with higher-paying but less-satisfying jobs, may push more people from “Generation Z” (those currently ages 13-28) to return to the land.

AHK’s vision is to give the upcoming generation access to land and housing, allowing them to farm and mālama ʻāina not as a job, but as a lifestyle that increases food availability, economic diversity and security for generations to come.

“You can only do a job that makes you money, but doesn’t make you happy, for so long,” said Waipa. “I have a friend in construction who I worked with before on a farm. He says he’s not nearly as satisfied with his job. He’s making more money, but he’s not feeling fulfilled and happy. I think that’s been a huge thing for our generation.”

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“Who knows best? It’s the people who live there,” declared Tehani Kaalekahi, the executive director of Sustʻāinable Molokai, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering residents to shape collective decisions about the future of the island.

Like many communities across the pae ʻāina, Molokaʻi struggled for decades with energy challenges, paying some of the priciest electricity costs in Hawaiʻi – which already has the highest electric bills of any U.S. state.

And although the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) forecasted years ago that Molokaʻi could reach 100% renewable energy by 2020, the island didn’t have a clear path forward to create any utility-scale renewable energy projects. Many that were proposed by off-island firms, meanwhile, were met with resistance when they failed to involve the community or understand their needs.

Which is why the people of Molokaʻi are working to change that — and upend the status quo of top-down developer decisions to, instead, embrace placed-based wisdom and collaborative community planning to create a future of energy independence and justice.

“Why would someone from the continent come in and say, ʻthis is going to work for you.’ How would they know? They don’t live here,” Kaalekahi said in an interview. “Who better to make those decisions than the people who live and work here?”

In 2021, the Molokai Clean Energy Hui — a group of community members organized by Sustʻāinable Molokai that include representatives from key partners like Hoʻāhu Energy Cooperative — decided that instead of waiting for state regulators and developers to pick projects for Molokaʻi, Molokaʻi would decide its own energy future.

The hui took an unprecedented step to convince the Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission, which regulates energy across the islands, to temporarily pause planning for all utility-scale energy development on the island, giving time for residents to chart their own path to a 100% renewable future.

What came out of that was a community-led planning process, the first of its kind in Hawaiʻi. It spanned two years and empowered voices across the entire island, involving almost 50 events and focus groups, 700 surveys and 2,800 conversations with residents (about 7,400 people live on island).

Known officially as Molokai’s Community Energy Resilience Action Plan (CERAP), the groundbreaking initiative carefully listened and collected community manaʻo to identify 10 priority renewable energy projects that could deliver 90% of Molokaʻi’s electricity needs.

While the hui ensured that all voices — from keiki to kūpuna to Hawaiian homesteaders to ʻohana living off grid — had a say in shaping the 53-page plan, they also forged partnerships with energy experts and government regulators on county, state and federal levels.

“It’s like one of those things where it’ll take everybody,” Kaalekahi said. There’s no way one entity can do it all.”

Since Molokai’s energy roadmap was published in the summer of 2023, the hui and other stakeholders are now shifting gears to map out project specifics, including the costs, tradeoffs and possible designs that fit best within Molokaʻi’s diverse communities and ecosystems.

Centering place-based knowledge in the energy planning process means that so much more is considered before a project is ever brought forward in any official manner — like factoring in the frequency of sunshine, wind or rain in a particular microclimate, which may have been missed by offshore energy developers. As Kaalekahi notes, there is no “one size fits all,” even though that might have been acceptable in years past.

Molokaʻi’s journey toward energy sovereignty has positioned the community as a model for other rural communities across Hawaiʻi and thousands of miles beyond its shores, documented in national headlines for championing a new way to create reliable, affordable and secure renewable power.

Although the process itself — navigating state and federal energy regulators, understanding the specifics of Molokaʻi’s energy demands and current grid — has been complicated, one thing is clear: Molokaʻi’s energy future is intimately tied to its own self-determination.

Without a secure source of power on island, Molokaʻi will continue to be vulnerable to supply chain disruptions, price hikes and climate disasters that threaten the barges that deliver its current power source.

And that’s a reality that all communities across the pae ʻāina face.

The County of Maui’s Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, for example, charts a path toward achieving zero emissions and a carbon-neutral economy by 2045; the State of Hawaiʻi, meanwhile, is mandated by state law to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.

But while governments have tried to shift the most isolated archipelago in the world away from relying on imported fossil fuels for power, an increasing number of communities are following Molokaʻi’s lead and taking matters into their own hands.

In the aftermath of the 2023 wildfires, for example, Lahaina Strong, Hā Sustainability and Shake Energy Collaborative came together to document the community’s energy priorities and vision for the future; Maui’s Upcountry community is also currently undergoing a process to bring residents together to better understand challenges to resilience and energy security.

“This is an awesome opportunity for community to do what community does,” Kaalekahi said.

The post Molokaʻi’s Journey Towards Energy Sovereignty appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.