Ryan Leong

Name Ryan Leong

Age 42

Town/Moku Kuliʻouʻou

Island Oʻahu

Social Media Handle Facebook: @leongrya, Instagram: @reymahea

Nominated by Jessica Garlock

Leadership Category PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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

I am the deputy executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Hawaiʻi. I am lead HR/finance and supervise operations and development. I also work on team culture, team building, and strategic planning. I also founded a nonprofit in Hawaiʻi in 2009 (Hands In Helping Out) and we are the foremost leaders in volunteer management training, developing volunteer systems, and organizational management. I am kānaka maoli born and raised on Oʻahu. I spend my free time with my wife and dogs and enjoy volunteering and cooking.

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

As a kanaka maoli working for the ACLU of Hawaiʻi there is a tremendous opportunity to bring a locally born and raised Native Hawaiian voice to the work that we do. We need to recognize the overt white supremacist systems of colonizers and settlers while lifting up the voice of the people in Hawaiʻi most affected by it. I want to build a better Hawaiʻi for the people of the land and who call this land home.

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

I value honesty, compassion, empathy, and effective communication. I embody these values in my actions every day in a servant leadership role. Furthermore, I believe that a leader should strengthen people and steer the organization towards goals that are pono.

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

My late mother inspired many more than me. I take no credit as the only one who has had their lives changed by her. She gave everything she had, money, 

talent, love, and more to everyone around her. She made friends easily and kept them forever. She taught me that your gifts are precious and to use them to make everything around you better, even when it benefits you the least. She lived a life of service to her children and to the communities she worked in. There will never be a greater mentor, teacher, mother, and friend than her. Every day I try to live up to her example.

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

Ea

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

Representation