Kylee Hamamoto, 17, was recognized in April as the only Hawaii resident out of 25 nationally selected youths to receive the 2023 Prudential Emerging Visionary award.

The award, sponsored by Prudential in collaboration with Ashoka, celebrates change-makers ages 14-18 who are creating innovative solutions to financial and societal challenges in their communities, according to Prudential’s website.

Hamamoto received the award along with a $5,000 prize during an all- expenses-paid trip to Prudential’s New Jersey headquarters for a three-day summit of the 25 awardees.

“I really owe them a lot, just because of the amount of support that they gave me,” Hamamoto said. “Prudential and Ashoka really gave me a great experience and opportunity to share my project on a huge and national scale.”

Hamamoto’s passion for women’s empowerment led her to create WeGo!, a nonprofit that cultivates female leaders that has served more than 200 young women so far.

Hamamoto started WeGo! at age 13 while attending eighth grade at Punahou School. Part of what inspired her to create the organization was her mother, a first-generation Japanese American who successfully built a life in the United States through “hard work and grit,” Hamamoto said.

Another significant source of inspiration was her father, who Hamamoto said always cultivated her strength and independence.

“He’s a huge women’s rights supporter,” she said. “He always looked out for opportunities for me to learn about accomplished women while also looking for ways that I could be like those accomplished women one day.”

She came up with the idea to invite accomplished women to speak to her and her fellow students about their experiences in the workforce. After establishing a group of like-minded girls at Punahou who were interested in the idea, Hamamoto was able to officially form a school club.

Throughout this time, the COVID-19 pandemic had also recently begun. And while stay-at-home orders became an unexpected obstacle, they also normalized the use of platforms such as Zoom, which helped the girls connect with women from places including Japan and the East Coast.

Hamamoto and her fellow club members would discuss their various career interests to determine which career women to reach out to. Many of the leaders who volunteered to speak to the club in its early meetings were Punahou alumni, some of whom included former Hawaii Attorney General Clare Connors and NBC’s “Superstore” actress Kaliko Kauahi, Hamamoto said.

“That was initially what kind of got us going,” she said. “And from there, we were able to branch out and reach out to people who were interested in speaking based on girls’ interests.”

Hamamoto’s parents would often host Japanese exchange students, whom Hamamoto would speak to about their experiences growing up. Learning about the societal norms outside of Hawaii led her to believe that the club she had started at school could be beneficial for young women overseas as well.

In Hamamoto’s sophomore year in high school, she turned WeGo! into a nonprofit so that its resources could be utilized by young women outside of Punahou. She also began establishing WeGo! chapters in California and in several prefectures throughout Japan.

The program has since expanded its resources to include a variety of events, networking opportunities, community projects, workshops and a four-step guidance process that helps women cultivate their leadership skills. She plans to use the Emerging Visionary prize money to create a scholarship program at WeGo! to offer young women financial support along with its other resources.

As Hamamoto wraps up her junior year at Punahou, she plans to continue expanding her nonprofit and to continue overseeing it after high school.

“Our mission is really important and can benefit girls from all walks of life and around the world,” she said. “So that’s definitely what I want to do — to be able to impact girls and empower them to create their own ventures and projects.”

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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.