Nicole Naone
Name Nicole Naone
Age 34
Town/Moku HONOLULU
Island Oʻahu
Social Media Handle @nicoleforever
Nominated by Chris Kahunahana
Leadership Category Art/Creative/Music
Share with us a little about yourself and what you do.
ʻO Lyons Kapiʻioho Naone Sr. ke kāne, ʻO Helen Auoholani ka wahine, noho pū lāua a ua hānau iā ʻO Herbert Naalohaʻelua Nāone. ʻO Herbert Naalohaʻelua Naone ke kāne ʻO Beatrice Youn ka wahine, noho pū lāua a ua hānau iā ʻO Danton ʻĀlika Naone. ʻO Kenneth Ortiz ke kāne, ʻO Rose Kukunaokalā Kawaiaiea ka wahine, noho pū lāua a ua hānau iā ʻO Denise Kapiʻolani Ortiz. ʻO Danton ʻĀlika Naone ke kāne, ʻO Denise Kapiʻolani Oritz ka wahine, noho pū lāua a ua hānau iā ʻO Nicole Alohalani Naone. ʻO Nicole Alohalani Naone koʻu inoa.
Iʻm a sculptor (NicoleNaone.com), filmmaker (WaikikiTheFilm.com), creative director (PointHawaii.com) and most importantly - worldʻs greatest aunty.
Why is the work that you do important to you? The community?
I descend from a lineage of Kamehameha the Great’s exclusive warrior class, the same warrior class that helped transform the Hawaiian archipelago into a Hawaiian nation. It is this genealogical connection that continues to shape my process and imaginations of both the limitations and potentials of creating art that protects and fights for my community on a variety of levels. Grounded in developing platforms in which art can invigorate news forms of relations between higher forms of thought and community, I aim to convey that the ever-expanding battlefields of the 21st century have not imprisoned Indigenous peoples as merely survival artists - but rather illustrate the dynamic nature in which we actively combat these mutations of colonization.
Share with us the qualities of leadership you admire and how you express those in your life.
He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka. The land is the chief, the people are its servants. To be a high quality leader, one must never stop being a follower of the ultimate leader - ʻāina.
Who has inspired you to do the work that you are doing?
My family, Carl Pao, Christopher Kahunahana, Tom Mehau, Haunani K. Trask, Matthew Dekneef, Lanakila Mangauil - truly too many to list.
What is one word that describes something you are excited about for the lāhui?
Change.
What is one word that describes a pressing issue that is facing our lāhui?
Maunakea.