Kaylynn Drake

Name Kaylynn Drake

Age 20

Town/Moku Anahola

Island Kauaʻi

Social Media Handle @kekuaaloha_foundation

Nominated by Lyah Kama-Drake

Leadership Category Mauli Ola - Health, Personal & Family Development

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

I am the founder and CEO of KekuaAloha - God is Love Foundation. My mission is to prevent suicide by bringing families and communities together in a fun and loving environment and sharing God’s love everywhere we go. Since 2015, we have done our best to have our Free Annual Keiki Fun Day event, Adopt-A-Highway cleanups, and or smaller events to help fundraise for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which is one of our main partners and resource. I have been a guest speaker for multiple occasions at churches, youth groups, and school events educating others about how suicide affects everyone. We also have worked with other organizations that help families throughout the state.

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

The work I do with my foundation is important to me because it is my purpose to help others and be an inspiration. Although the work we do is hard, we know that what we do helps save lives. Our work is greatly important to the community because when a community loses a person to suicide, it affects everyone. Families, friends, classmates, coworkers, and or neighbors. Everyone knows of at least one person in their community that has lost someone through suicide or knows what it’s like to feel lonely and lost. Our Hawaiian communities are all about being there for one another. The free events I host are all about bringing people together, especially for those families who want a fun space and also make a difference!

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

To me, a great leader has to be willing to lead by example. The main quality of a leader that I admire is humbleness. A humble leader accepts what they've done wrong and corrects every mistake. They also treat others with the utmost respect and inspires others to become leaders as well. I've always tried to be a positive role model for my community remaining humble and respectful to those I meet around the world. Whenever I get to speak to others, I use my flaws, like my anxiety and depression, to relate to those who may be struggling just like I was and how I overcome most of my obstacles. The only way I'll know if I became a great leader as I hope to be, would be to know that others have followed in my footsteps by making the community, the state, and the world a better place with their own missions!

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

My family have inspired me to do the work that I do because they all have taught me the importance of community service and giving back since I was very young. If I didn't have my family, I wouldn't have been so motivated to make a positive difference for our state and world.

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

Moʻokūʻauhau

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

Fear