PRESENTERS

Kamuela Chun

(Affiliation)

Throughout his life, academic and cultural education laid a solid foundation for Thomas Kamuela Chun. Born and raised into a family of eleven in Mo‘ili‘ili, O‘ahu, he is the seventh child of Clarence and Leilani Chun. He is a descendant of the Kalahui and Alama family on his father’s side and the Keawe-ehu/Campbell family on his mother’s side. Chun began dancing for Edith Kanaka‘ole, founder of Halau o Kekuhi and learned the art of Hawaiian chanting from Aunty Edith until her passing in 1979 and continued as ho‘opa‘a. In 1984, Chun had his ʻūniki into the rank of kumu in Hawaiian dance and chant from Halau o Kekuhi. For 30+ years, Chun has been the chanter of the Merrie Monarch Royal Court. In 2019, at the Prince Lot Hula Festival, the Moanalua Gardens Foundation honored Chun with its Namakahelu Oli Award.

WOM presenter for: Kulukuluua Chant Concert

Lilinoe Kaio

Kumu Hula, Hālau O Lilinoe A Me Nā Pua Me Ke Aloha

Kumu Hula, Annette Lilinoe Kaio is daughter of Sissy Kaio, and directs Hālau O Lilinoe A Me Nā Pua Me Ke Aloha in California. Lilinoe trained with her mother and studied with the noted teacher Dr. Taupouri Tangaro in Hawai’i. Under Annette’s direction, Hālau O Lilinoe today is comprised of over 100 men, women, and children from 4 to 75 years old.

https://halauolilinoe.org/

WOM presenter for: Kulukuluua Chant Concert, Kani-ka-wī-Kani-ka-wā

Pele Kaio

Kumu Hula, Unulau

Pele Kaio is an ʻūniki ʻailolo (graduate) anchored in the traditions of the hula ʻaihaʻa, ritual volcanic fire dances of Unukupukupu. Pele is the Kumu Hula of Unulau, a hālau hula based in Hilo and Waimea, Hawaiʻi. Pele serves as an Assistant Professor of Hawaiian Studies at Hawai’i Community College.

https://www.unulau.com

WOM presenter for: Kulukuluua Chant Concert, Kani-ka-wī-Kani-ka-wā, Hāʻena Co-keynote

Ryan McCormack

Teacher, Ka ʻŪmeke Kaʻeo

Ryan McCormack completed his ʻūniki rites under Taupōuri Tangarō of Unukupukupu, and is currently the kumu hula of Māunuunu. He resides in the uplands of Keaʻau in Puna, Hawaiʻi and works as a teacher at Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Public Charter School in Keaukaha, Hawaiʻi. His ongoing journey in oli began under the tutelage of Lehua Huliheʻe of Ka Pā Lehua in 1998.

Kulukuluua presenter for: Kulukuluua Chant Concert, Kani-ka-wī-Kani-ka-wā

Lehua Kaulukukui

Kumu Hula, Hālau Unuehu

Lehua is a 2011 ʻuniki kumu hula under Kumu Taupouri Tangarō and the traditions of Unukupukupu. She is kumu hula of Kona based Hālau Unuehu. Lehua & co-kumu Pualani Muraki will feature their haumāna, Ms. Amber Waiokeola Needham and a medley of chants honoring wahi pana ma Kalae ma ka moku nui o Kaʻū.

WOM presenter for: Kulukuluua Chant Concert

Amber Needham

Haumana, Hālau Unuehu

Aloha nui, ʻO wau ʻo Amber Mei Lan Waiokeola Needham. My ʻohana comes from Kauaʻi and Oʻahu; I was raised mostly in the Kewalo uka area of Honolulu and now reside in Hōlualoa kai with my husband Makana and our son Kōnale. I’m a full-time mom and began learning hula and oli with Unuehu two years ago. Though I’m not a seasoned dancer or chanter, my hula journey so far has challenged me, illuminating my role and kuleana within my ʻohana, hālau, community and lāhui. And oli in particular has ignited an incredible awakening of the senses in relation to the natural world in and around me. Mahalo palenaʻole to my kumu, Aunty Lolay & Aunty Lehua, hula sisters Kawehi & Lilia, and the babies, for how you fill my life and teach me.

WOM presenter for: Kulukuluua Chant Concert

Kuʻulei Kanahele, PhD

Assistant Professor, Hawaiʻi Community college

Researcher, Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation.

Raised in the ahupuaʻa of Waipiʻo, Oʻahu, Dr. Kanahele is a 1994 graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama. From 1997-2012, Kuʻulei trained as an ʻōlapa with Hālau o Kekuhi. Kuʻulei is currently an assistant professor at Hawaiʻi Community College’s Hawaiʻi Life Styles program and a researcher for the Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation. Kuʻulei’s research focus is Papahulihonua, the study of earth sciences pertaining to the island environment of Hawaiʻi (i.e. geology, hydrology, petrology, oceanography, soil science, and volcanology). She has presented her research to native Hawaiian practitioners, educators, and various organizations, such as Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, the County of Hawai‘i, and Google X.

WOM presenter for: Kulukuluua Chant Concert, Kani-ka-wī-Kani-ka-wā

Pomai Bertelmann

Pomai was raised in Waimea, Hawaiʻi where the voyaging canoe Makaliʻi was birthed in 1995. She and her family are inherently tied to the ʻOhana Waʻa legacy of voyaging canoes and their movements throughout Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. Over the years she served in various capacities of development and implementation on the canoes and has worked to align these skills with environmental & project-based curriculum, teacher and community trainings, and crew training opportunities to progress the understanding and purpose of waʻa in todayʻs society. The canoes have been Pomaiʻs educational foundation and a tool of vision, self discipline, and personal direction the years. “When we sail the deep ocean the canoe is the land beneath our feet. Therefore, when we return home, it is our responsibility to become stewards of the land and do all that we can to mālama ʻāina and her kanaka. If not for the ʻāina, the waʻa cannot exist.”

WOM presenter for: Hāʻena Co-Keynote

Kealoha Fox

President & Senior Advisor, Institute for Climate and Peace

Based in Hō‘ae‘ae, Kealoha Fox applies Indigenous innovation for collaborative solutions in business, science, and policy. Her actions elevate healthy people, places, and futures through work uplifting mana and mauli ola for climate justice. A graduate of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, Dr. Fox is the recipient of more than 50 awards, including a Gates Foundation Goalkeeper, Obama Leader Asia Pacific, and a 2022 candidate for the Pritzker Environmental Genius Award. Kealoha is co-chair of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Climate Commission and member of the Embassy of Tribal Nations Climate Action Task Force. Each year, Kealoha mentors dozens of young women inside and outside of the academy. Living her kuleana, Kealoha has been trained in traditional practices and protocol such as ho‘oponopono, hāhā, and lā‘au lapa‘au. The roles she is most proud of in her story thus far is as a mother.

WOM presenter for: Hāʻena Co-keynote

Cantor Larry Fader

Cantor, High Holy Days at Temple Beth El, Utica, NY

I began leading Jewish services when I was 10 years old, started professionally at age 16. Throughout my life, I have augmented my professional careers (Professor of Comparative Religion and Intercultural Studies; clinical social worker and director of two clinical/training agencies in Maine; professor of social work and family therapy) as the cantor of many synagogues: in Philadelphia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vancouver BC. For over twenty years, culminating in my retirement last year, I was the High Holy Days cantor at Temple Beth El, Utica, NY. I am committed to intercultural, interpersonal respect and inclusivity.

WOM presenter for: Kulukuluua Chant Concert

Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu

Kumu hula, founder and Artistic Director, Academy of Hawaiian Arts

Mark Keali`i Ho`omalu is a hula practitioner, kumu hula, founder and Artistic Director of the Academy of Hawaiian Arts, Planet earth, Oakland, California.

WOM presenter for: Kulukulu-ua Chant Concert

Dr. Taupōuri Tangarō

Director of Hawaiian Protocols and Cultural Engagements, Hawaiʻi Community College

Tangarō, after 26 years of formal hula training, graduated as a hula teacher under Hālau O Kekuhi. For him, chant does not exist as itʻs own, stand-alone culture, but an aesthetic vocal extension of both the physical and spiritual realms of living in Hawaiʻi. His primary chant teacher is Pualani Kanakaʻole Kanahele, it is she who taught him vocal techniques and cultural applications of oli Hawaiʻi. Inspired by hula matriarch Aunty Edith Kanakaʻole, Tangarō began college solely for the sake of learning the language of Hawaiʻi so he could compose his own chants. Today, Dr. Tangarō is a professor at the University of Hawaiʻi and serves as the Director of Hawaiian Protocols and Cultural Engagements at Hawaiʻi Community College and the University of Hawaiʻi. His chant experience has taken him around the world, but his greatest joy is holding in his arms his grandchildren while chanting to them their names.

WOM presenter for: Kulukuluua Chant Concert; Kani-ka-wī-Kani-ka-wā

Luka Zavas

Outreach Associate, American Bird Conservancy

Luka graduated from UH Mānoa with both her Bachelors of Science and Masters of Environmental Management. A local of ʻĀhuimanu, Kahaluʻu, Oʻahu, her love for ʻāina and all of it’s inhabitants has been the root for her journey from the dry-land forests of Waimea Valley to the coastal wetlands of Keawāwa, Maunalua. Her field work and Master's capstone has looked into how stories, between people and place, is important for fostering a reciprocal relationship that will encourage communities to create space for cohabitation. Luka currently works for the American Bird Conservancy, as the Outreach Associate for the Birds, Not Mosquitoes partnership. Her goals are to reconnect communities to the Hawaiian honeycreepers and the conservation tool that will mālama the manu from the threat of avian malaria vectored by invasive mosquitoes.

WOM presenter for: Kulukulu-ua Chant Concert

Kuʻupua Mossman

Born and raised in Kalauao, Ewa, O'ahu, Ku'upua grew up on the softball field with her sister and spent many of her summers traveling between Oʻahu and Hōnaunau where her family originates. She is a proud University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo alumna where she earned dual Bachelor's degrees in Environmental Studies, and Hawaiian Studies. Ku'upua is a 2019 graduate of William S. Richardson School of Law, where she earned Environmental and Native Hawaiian Law certificates in addition to her Juris Doctorate. During law school, Ku'upua focused her legal education on social justice issues in Hawai'i, writing her second-year seminar paper on the collective memory of Mauna Kea, participating in Native Hawaiian law trainings across the pae 'āina, and working on wrongful conviction cases with the Hawai'i Innocence Project. During her time in law school, Ku'upua also worked as a Pre-Law Advisor, externed at the Hawai'i Supreme Court and the Office of the Public Defender, and clerked for Senator Mazie Hirono in Washington D.C.
Most recently, Kuʻupua worked as a Post-J.D. Legal Fellow for Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law. More specifically, her placement was with the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources' Historic Preservation Division where she worked to amend the division's administrative rules, assess historic preservation violations, and led the legal training sessions for the Island Burial Councils.
In her free time, Ku'upua enjoys making shirts and earrings for her small business, Haus Misfits, spending time with her dogs, and traveling with her husband.

WOM presenter for: Hāʻena Co-keynote

Noah Gomes

Noah Gomes completed his Masterʻs research on the Traditional Hawaiian Bird Hunters in 2015 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. He has a B.A. in Hawaiian Studies and an M.A. in Hawaiian Language and Literature. He is from Wahiawā, Oʻahu and actively participates in the conservation of native Hawaiian birds.

WOM presenter for: Kani-ka-wī-Kani-ka-wā

N. Kaʻiako Tagab-Cruz

Assistant Professor, Hawaiʻi Community College

Coordinator, I Ola Hāloa Center for Hawaiʻi Life Styles

N. Kaʻiako Tagab-Cruz is an ʻūniki ʻailolo graduate of Hālau o Lilinoe and Unukupukupu. She serves as an Assistant Professor and the Coordinator of I Ola Hāloa Center for Hawai`i Life Styles program at Hawaiʻi Community College.

WOM presenter for: Kulukulu-ua Chant Concert; Kani-ka-wī-Kani-ka-wā