Growing up in Waimanalo in the 1980s, Paula Fuga didn’t have an easy life. Her father left the family when she was 4. Living with her mother eventually meant living in a tent on the beach and sometimes scavenging for food. Read more
Jeffrey J. Higa’s journey to publishing his first collection of short stories started in a secondhand bookstore in Troy, N.Y. The Mililani High School grad was renting a room above the bookstore and noticed a cart of used paperbacks that were priced 25 cents each. The price was right, and he began buying the ones that looked interesting. Read more
Kavan Smith was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He studied economics at the University of Calgary but decided that acting was where his heart was. Read more
COVID-19 pandemic protocols prevented Girl Scouts from using several traditional ways of selling cookies. That made online marketing more important than ever. Read more
Growing up in central Oahu, Lionel De Guzman was home-schooled and had a preference for mainstream indie rock and electronic music that didn’t get play on local radio stations. Read more
Author and educator Gregory Shepherd grew up in New Jersey. Read more
The old adage about the third time being the charm proved true for Taylor Cozloff this spring when the 17-year-old Kamehameha Schools senior won the 2021 Hawai‘i Poetry Out Loud competition in March. Cozloff had placed second in her first two tries. Read more
Ammon and Liahona Olayan are competitive in ways that only siblings close in age can be. Ammon, 18, and Liahona, 17, are the oldest of eight brothers and sisters, with another on the way. Read more
Janine Myers was born and raised on Oahu, attended the Waldorf School through the eighth grade, and went from there to Punahou School. Read more
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Born and raised on Oahu, Cyril Ontai III attended Kapolei High School, where he played football. Read more
Alphonso Braggs was born and raised in Wilmington, N.C. His parents separated when he was young; his father died when he was 11. From that point on, he was raised by his paternal grandmother, Ruth Braggs. Read more
Born and raised on Kauai, Daphne Sanchez met entertainment industry veteran Art Umezu when she was 15. She was competing in a talent contest on Kauai; he was one of the judges. Read more
Lukela Keala was born in Wailuku. He grew up in Kapuna Valley in Maui’s Waihee area, graduated from Baldwin High School, and went straight into music. Read more
In 1986, Horace K. Dudoit III and Manu Boyd formed Kipona Leo Hawai‘i with William “Ama” Aarona and Chris Kamaka to compete in the Ka Himeni ‘Ana Hawaiian singing competition — and won. Read more
Kamran Samimi, 36, is in the final days of his residency at the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design. Read more
Peter Apo grew up in Makiki, graduated from Mid-Pacific Institute, and continued his education at the University of Oregon. Read more
Kaliko Ma‘i‘i was born and raised in Honolulu. He graduated from Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Anuenue, a Hawaiian immersion school in Palolo, and continued his formal education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Academy of Creative Media. Read more
Growing up outside of Cleveland in the ’60s, Jim Brickman fell into music at a young age. He was 5 when he started playing the piano. Read more
Hawaii has been Twan Matthews’ home since he was 13. He graduated from Radford High School and later studied theater at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Read more
In October, Flower, 43, was crowned Mrs. Hawaii 2020. On Friday she is co-hosting a virtual pau hana dinner, concert and silent auction that will be livestreamed starting at 7 p.m. on Facebook. Read more
Hawaii-born brothers Riley and Maddison McKibbin — aka “the Beard Brothers” — grew up watching their mother, a Kamehameha Schools graduate, playing beach volleyball. Read more
