Kāhealani Wilcox

Name Kāhealani Wilcox

Age 33

Town/Moku Waimea

Island Hawaiʻi Island

Social Media Handle FB- @Kāhealani Kuʻuipo Wilcox, Insta- @kkuuipo

Nominated by Pomai Bertelmann

Leadership Category Mauli Ola - Health, Personal & Family Development

Share with us a little about yourself and what you do.

Aloha nui,

I was born in Honokaʻa and raised in Waimea on a thirty acre farm that was cultivated by my ʻohana growing up. My ʻohana stems from Puʻuanahulu, Nāpoʻopoʻo, Hoʻokena, Kohala, Hāna, and Oʻahu to list a few.

After graduating from Honokaʻa High School in 2006, I enrolled in Hawaiʻi Community College in the Hawaiʻi Lifestyles two-year Hula Program with Unukupukupu. After graduating from the hula program, I was invited by my Kumu Hula Taupōuri Tangarō to continue my journey as a dancer in Unuolehua, a group of eleven training to ʻūniki as hoʻopaʻa and kumu hula. After undergoing the ʻūniki ʻailolo in 2014 as kumu hula, I also graduated from Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani at UH Hilo in 2015 with a Bachelors in Hawaiian Studies and minor in Anthropology.

Later that year I began teaching at Kanu O Ka ʻĀina Public Charter School in Waimea as the Cultural Specialist and Educational Assistant in elementary working with keiki.

After leaving Kanu O Ka ʻĀina in 2018, I began lecturing at Hawaiʻi Community College in the Hawaiian Studies Department where I remain today teaching the Hawaiian Studies 103 Hana Noʻeau courses. Students are immersed in learning the creative process of mea Hawaiʻi such as ʻOhe Kāpala or Bamboo Stamping, Waihoʻoluʻu or Natural Dyes, Hei or Ritual String Figures and so much more.

In 2019, during the worldly stance to protect Mauna A Wākea, I opened up my own Hālau Hula in Waimea named Kaiāunu. The name Kaiāunu stems from the word kaiāulu meaning community. Kaiāunu is dedicated to cultivating a community of culturally educated unu dancers that contribute health and well-being in their ʻohana through a solid foundation in hula.

In 2017, I joined Ka Pā O Lonopūhā under the direction of Kumu Keola Chan which is a traditional Hawaiian healing school with a larger focus on Hawaiian Lomilomi. I am dedicated to a lifetime commitment in healing my ʻohana, my friends, my community, and lāhui Hawaiʻi.

Why is the work that you do important to you? The community?

The work that I do is valuable to me because I know that my kupuna led me to where I am today. The work I do flows trough my veins that connects me to the pathway my kupuna once walked. I am just continuing the work that they continued from their ancestors, to not only learn of my culture, but to live it and be it.

I believe the work I do in turn benefits various communities through the diverse amount of students that enroll in my classes at Hawaiʻi Community College as well as the students in my hālau hula.

Share with us the qualities of leadership you admire and how you express those in your life.

For me, I have been influenced by numerous individuals throughout my life who exemplify admirational leadership qualities.

My kupuna kuakahi Robert Kalanihiapo Wilcox inspires me to be brave and leave behind a legacy for future generations to build upon.

My Grandmother Martina Tamara Whitehead inspires me to work hard on our family farm as she did, and continue to cultivate sustainability through kalo, ʻuala, kō, lāʻau lapaʻau, vegetables, maiʻa, hula plants, and animals such as pigs, sheep, horses upon the very soils that fed our ʻohana and community for many years.

My mother Marilyn Mitchell inspires the greatest amounts of strength in everything I do. Through hardships in life, I am reminded of my mother raising three respectable daughters without the support of a father.

My Kumu Hula Taupōuri Tangarō inspires me to be creative, innovative, and impactful to my ʻohana, students, and community through my foundation of hula.

Although there are many more individuals to acknowledge, other leadership qualities that I carry with me include listening with my spirit and naʻau, to never injure another's spirit through degrading words or actions, recognize another's potential and allow it to thrive, be compassionate, express gratitude and appreciation, know boundaries, respect differences and embrace similarities, be real, be authentic, be true, honest, loyal and do it all with aloha.

Who has inspired you to do the work that you are doing?

First and foremost, my grandmother Martina Tamara Whitehead and mother Marilyn Mitchell have always inspired me to work hard, love what I do, and to always give with aloha.

My Kumu Hula Taupōuri Tangarō, though Unukupukupu, nurtured and cultivated culturally connected leadership qualities within my being from when I first joined UNU in 2006. Tangarō recognized my potential at a young age before I could and through hula he continued to invite me into opportunities that fed my growth as a kanaka Hawaiʻi.

What is one word that describes something you are excited about for the lāhui?

Unity

What is one word that describes a pressing issue that is facing our lāhui?

Division