Our Hui

We center and uplift the voices of those with lived experience and deep, cultural knowledge to lead, guide, and enact our work. Each of our team members voice a commitment to securing safe spaces for under-resourced and marginalized youth and community members, especially where these identities are most-threatened. We prioritize safety, care and empowerment in ways defined by the communities we serve, and belong to, to maintain integrity to our shared values.

  • Sierra is the Founder and Director of Wisdom Circles Oceania. She is a mother, artist, and community worker with over 20 years of experience in teaching, collaborative healing work and design. She was born on Maui and raised in her family grocery store, Mana Foods, in Pāʻia where her passion for community and health was inspired from a young age. She is especially passionate about creative youth development and cultivating hopeful futures for young people. In 2010, she began providing arts programming and mentorship for women and youth in Hawaiʻi. She noticed the lack of trauma-informed services available so she founded Wisdom Circles Oceania to help people reach their potential and create thriving communities. This organization offers healing-centered creative opportunities to support this mission.

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  • Jaela Henderson is from Kūkanono, Oʻahu, and currently lives in Kiolakaʻa, Kaʻū. Jaela believes in Aloha ʻĀina and Transformative Justice as a critical practices for thriving lāhui, globally. A product of the unwavering love and courage from her aliʻi and kūpuna, she strives to protect land, language, and art for the next generation. In addition to her role with Wisdom Circles Oceania, she is the Operations Manager at the Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA). Through both positions, she is privileged to support the work of community builders and organizers for empowered families and towards a free Hawaiʻi. She is also passionate about birthwork and motherhood, and serves on the board of Kalauokekahuli. She feels her most notable contribution to her people is raising her keiki through ʻike kūpuna and overall compassionate values. 

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  • With a deep connection to Hawaiian culture and 15 years of experience, Kimela Keahiolalo is a dynamic Cultural Educator and Consultant dedicated to empowering communities through indigenous education. Guided by aloha, po’okela, and pa’ahana, Kimela is a visionary who crafts meaningful, ‘āina-based learning experiences that resonate with participants of all ages.

    Her expertise lies in combining instructional leadership, community networking, and program management. Kimela's innovative approach focuses on participant-centered learning, expertly weaving ancestral knowledge (ʻike kūpuna) into educational practices and healing. She passionately contributes to initiatives like ʻāina-based STEM frameworks and teaches Hawaiian culture and language at Kaʻaʻawa Elementary School. When not working, Kimela is either coaching high school soccer, fishing, or spending time with her ʻohana. As a firm believer in ma ka hana ka ʻike (in doing one learns), she is excited to be part of Wisdom Circles Oceania.

A person sitting on grass in a green shirt and black shorts, wearing sunglasses and a black cap, smiling and making a hand gesture. They are outdoors with a lush, mountainous background and are accompanied by two dogs, one sitting in front and another lying behind them. There are vibrant red and green plants in the foreground.

  • Nara Boone is a multifaceted musician, educator and community organizer whose journey intertwines music, advocacy, and healing. Co-founder of the Maui Housing Hui, Nara actively works to address housing insecurity, drawing from her own experiences and empathy for those facing similar challenges. She is one of nine siblings and daughter to one of Maui’s most treasured local midwives. Accompanying her mother on births helped her learn to listen deeply and interpret needs while knowing when to get out of the way. These experiences allowed her to be a voice the community can confide in when they don’t feel they can speak up. Discovering her voice in a local band on the north shore at the age of 13, then in theater in high school, Nara found solace and self-expression through music. In college on the continent, she was able to diversify her experiences and studied classical music in school, sang in a gospel choir, and performed at hip hop shows on the weekends. Nara finds renewal and inspiration in nature with friends that instigate full-body laughs and hold space for the range of emotion, and “staring at the vastness of the horizon because the world is bigger than the one little bit we are experiencing in a given time.”

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  • Andrea Hernandez Rodriguez, PhD (she/her; white body)

    Andrea is a circle facilitator for Wisdom Circles Oceania and a founder of the Maui Organizer Mālama Fund, resourcing local Maui community organizers leading disaster recovery and healing.  She is a lover of humanity, mom, leadership & change doctor, and creative.  Andrea brings over 25 years of practice in nonprofit and foundation management, grantmaking, organizing, capacity building, and systems change–centering trust and the belief that those closest to the issue hold the solutions.

    Andrea specializes in conflict transformation involving race; intergenerational organizing that shares power with young people; and holding compassionate space for leaders, especially in times of significant change or crisis.  She is trained in secondary education, agricultural and community development, trauma responsive care, somatic abolitionism, conflict transformation, nonviolent communication, psychological and mental health first aid, and healing modalities like circle space.  

    Dr. Andrea responded as a counselor after the 2023 Maui wildfires and is a member of the Maui Medic Healers Hui.  She grew up with a strong connection to the ‘āina and its sustainable stewardship.  You will likely find her lovingly tending her garden or near the closest water source or wooded trail with her son and devoted dog.   

  • Mariana is a passionate creative who loves building relationships with people and recognizing that everyone has a story to tell.

    They work across multiple mediums including as a visual storyteller, photographer, block printer, and graphic designer and communications contractor for nonprofit organizations.

    Mariana has an MPA from UH Mānoa and has worked for Hawai’i nonprofits in the areas of art, mental health, environmental conservation and LGBTQ rights, as well as the state legislature.

    As an artist who lives in diaspora, they are fiercely committed to art in service of intersectional liberation and movement building via people power.

    They cherish collaborating across our diverse communities, uplifting and weaving stories of our collective liberation in the making.

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  • Mima Field-Perkins is a dedicated youth leader who aspires to become a kaiapuni teacher. Deeply connected to her ancestral roots, Mima actively engages in community organizing and arts workshops. As a descendant of Lahaina in Maui, she has been a key member of our team and fire relief efforts. Mima is a multi-talented individual committed to bridging traditional knowledge with modern understanding. She is proficient in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, hula, oli, media, writing, art, music, teaching, and research. She dreams to eventually seed her own nonprofit connecting culture, arts, and ʻāina to further contribute to cultural education and community development. Mima feels most creative in the mountains, where she draws inspiration from fern morphologies. She is passionate about Aloha ʻĀina issues and envisions a thriving future for her Hawaiian community.

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  • Koda is an Egyptian-Ethiopian/Filipino transgender man who was blessed to be raised and reside on Oʻahu. He is a musician and a lover at heart but is widely known for his presence within environmental and anti-racism activism in Hawaiʻi. Moments after graduating from Castle High School in 2021, Koda became heavily immersed in protecting the ocean and has been committed to It ever since. He supports building restorative ecological and talk story frameworks for community and youth to engage and build healthy communities within Wisdom Circles Oceania. He hopes to support others through this role to realize their true beauty, strength and infinite potential. For the highest good of humanity.

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  • Leihala Kahoʻohanohano is a youth leader who loves weaving together culture, art, and community. She especially enjoys working with keiki, creating stencils, cultivating lei techniques, and experimenting with ʻāina-based materials. Participating in large cultural gatherings like Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea through Wisdom Circles Oceania has given her the chance to express herself, connect deeply with her community, and feel proud of creating artwork that carries meaning and history. Leihala is passionate about ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, protecting cultural traditions,ʻāina, and water rights. In the future, she aspires to become a Hawaiian Immersion teacher while also pursuing her interests in beekeeping, lei hulu making, and wellness practices that strengthen both personal and community well-being. Her creativity, care for ʻāina, and love for Hawaiian traditions guide the contributions she brings to our team.

  • Lesley and Tamika are two soul sisters deeply rooted in a profound love for Maui and a life guided by the aloha spirit. Together, they founded Aloha Missions to inspire and empower individuals to create a better Maui through connection, community, and care.

    Their aloha lifestyle is shaped by personal experiences and meaningful connections with people and places across Hawai‘i and beyond. They believe that aloha is the key to fostering growth—within ourselves, our communities, and the world. They specialize in working across the ages with keiki, ʻōpio, and kūpuna. 

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Board of Directors

  • Kealiʻimakamanaʻonalani Shannon Parker Poʻoloa is a wahine kanaka ʻōiwi artist, advocate, social worker, healer, wife to her beloved husband ʻAkamu and mother to four keiki; her bonus child Tamateo Elijah Leomana (10), her angel baby Kamalaʻanonalaninohomālieikapō Anora Love (born sleeping 9/2016), her rainbow son Kāhilimanomanookeānuenue George Waipa (4), and her beloved little girl Kaleilehuanonākūpuna Frances Nalani (4 months). Although Kealiʻiʻs one hānau will always be Kuliʻouʻou in Maunalua, ʻOahu, she currently lives in Hilo hanakahi, on Hawaiʻi Island, and is building her farm and forever home in the uplands of Waiākea Uka on her ancestral ʻāina.

    Kealiʻimakamanaʻonalani Poʻoloa is passionate about lifting up indigenous knowledge as wholeness reform and has worked for the last 10 years in the fields of cultural health programs, youth programing, ʻai pono, lāʻau lapaʻau, indigenous birth work and advocacy, and hānai waiū (breastfeeding) as revolutionary healing for the lāhui. She has also worked at the Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC). She looks to the truth telling, life giving water cycle, her reciprocal piliina to land, and to who she is and where she comes from as her guide to hoʻi i ka wai. Through her current work with the Māpuna Lab, and the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, she helps to remove generational, historical and current trauma of kanaka ʻōiwi and pacific islanders through institutional and systemic changes by creating curriculum for cultural trainings for state agencies, federal stakeholders, clinicians, providers, students and the community. Kealiʻi holds a bachelorʻs of Science in Social Work, and is a certified Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor. Kealiʻi loves to draw, and always has since she could pick up a pencil. She has provided illustrations for the curriculum she developed and in other various areas.

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  • Kristina Jenkins has worked in the non-profit community in Hawaiʻi for 15 years, specializing in grants and fund development, strategic planning, and collaborative team building. Born and raised in Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu, Kristina has dedicated her career to supporting creative, community-minded organizations through her work as a consultant and non-profit administrator. In her current role as a program manager for The Nature Conservancy of Hawaiʻi, Kristina finds way too much joy in getting a detailed budget to work out just right on a spreadsheet. She also loves gardening, drawing, spending time at home with her husband and two sons, and dancing hula.

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  • Alicia Yang is a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, and owner of Olanani AcuOasis. She is dedicated to personal and collective healing that reconnects communities with traditional and earth-centered practices that promote balance and holism. For 15 years, in the Bay Area, California, Alicia worked to cultivate youth-initiated and youth-led organizations for social justice, supporting young people in fighting against racism in education, the criminal justice system, violence in low-income communities of color, and creating curriculum to support healing from oppressive systems. Upon moving to Hawaii in 2008, Alicia began her studies in acupuncture, while working at the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. In addition to a Master's in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, she has a Master's in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Political Economy of Industrial Societies from the University of California, Berkeley.

  • Born and raised on Maui, Kandice Johns has spent over 20 years focused on mission-driven, community-based initiatives across Hawai‘i. Growing up on a tropical flower farm along Maliko Gulch and spending much of her youth outdoors and in the ocean, Kandice was instilled with the value of mālama ʻāina as a positive outlet and pathway for coping with and healing from trauma. She was immediately drawn to WCOʻs mission and unique approach to creating safe and creative spaces for healing that are rooted in cultural and place-based practices.

    Kandice currently serves as Executive Director of UVSC (Us Vs. Cancer), guiding its mission to support local families facing cancer while advancing cutting-edge research. She has worked with nonprofit organizations statewide on issues spanning early childhood education, health and human services, conservation, and sustainability; and is passionate about strengthening families and building resilient communities. Kandice looks forward to using her varied experiences in nonprofit management, program evaluation, and fundraising to help WCO champion its mission and expand its impact.

    She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Kandice enjoys traveling, time in the ocean with family and friends, cheering her kids on from the audience or behind the dugout, and adventures with her senior dog, Twix.

  • Shelly is from Kāneʻohe and lives in a multigenerational home. Her background is in social work, research and evaluation. She has worked over 20 years with Native Hawaiian youth and families. She currently works with various non-profit organizations that focus on family strengthening and mālama ʻāina. Shelly is also a hoʻoponopono practitioner and evaluator with ʻAʻaliʻi Alliance.

Advisors

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  • Pāke Salmon is a Mentor and Facilitator and supports youth with frontline documentation and nonviolent direct action. She is currently developing a youth film school and collaboration with Wisdom Circles Oceania Youth Leaders. She is an award-winning Kanaka Maoli producer and director focused on cultural preservation through documentation and storytelling and avid ocean lover from Mākaha, Oʻahu. She has traveled all over the world capturing images, meeting people, learning new cultures, and seeing the interconnectedness of us all on this planet

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  • Liko Martin is a kupuna (elder) of Hawaiʻi and a renowned songwriter and traditional bard who uses music and storytelling for peace, healing, and the protection of sacred places. He is a 49-year veteran of the nonviolent movement for Kanaka rights and restoration, and one of the early forces of the "Hawaiian Renaissance" of the 1970s. He is skilled in the traditional arts of farming and land caretaking, fishing, use of herbal medicines, and peace building.

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  • Laulani Teale is the Coordinator of Hoopae Peace Project. She is an Indigenous peacemaker, activist, musician, teacher, artist and writer culturally trained in lāʻau lapaʻau (traditional herbalism) and hoʻoponopono (traditional peace-making), who specializes in health issues related to activism and colonization. She has been a front-line activist in major kānaka struggles and serves the kānaka movement in many capacities. She holds a Master’s degree in Community Health Development and Education from the University of Hawaiʻi School of Public Health.

To our incredible volunteers:

To all of our amazing volunteers, we extend our deepest gratitude for your unwavering commitment and invaluable contributions. Whether you're helping at events, sharing your expertise, or lending a helping hand behind the scenes, your efforts make a significant difference in the lives of those we serve.