Conference Session Speakers

Ikaika Bishop has spent his life learning in the loʻi and the ocean, with much of his time dedicated to the restoration and practice of food systems and resource management. These formative experiences continue to guide his work as an educator and community investor.

Ikaika teaches with the Purple Maiʻa Foundation, Windward Community College, and Hālau Hekili, where he develops curricula rooted in the ahupuaʻa system as a model of resource management technology. His teaching emphasizes food sovereignty, agriculture, and aquaculture, informed by moʻolelo, ʻike kupuna, the wisdom of community leaders, and direct engagement with the ʻāina.

Organization/Affiliation:  Hālau Hekili / Kailua High School

Ben Catcho Jr. is a Native Hawaiian educator, communications and outreach specialist , and longtime advocate for ʻāina-based conservation. As the Communications and Outreach Specialist with American Bird Conservancy (ABC), Ben leads efforts to elevate Native voices and place-based knowledge in the protection of Hawaiʻi’s endemic birds and ecosystems. Grounded in a background that bridges education, conservation, and Indigenous storytelling, he works to foster community engagement around urgent conservation issues such as avian malaria and species loss.

Ben is leading partner of Makawalu Manu, a collaborative initiative between ABC,  Kamehameha Schools, that blends Hawaiian cultural frameworks with conservation science to create learner-centered, emotionally resonant curriculum. Through hands-on workshops, classroom partnerships, and community programming, Ben empowers educators and haumāna to see moʻolelo not only as cultural inheritance but as a vital tool for ecological literacy, civic engagement, and healing.

Organization/Afflilation: American Bird Conservancy

Shin Ae Han is an assistant professor and cohort coordinator in the School of Teacher Education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her work is centered on early childhood education with a focus on program development and implementation of culturally responsive/sustaining pedagogy, project-based learning, and place-based education. She actively collaborates with local communities and schools in Hawaiʻi on various early childhood projects and teacher preparation programs.

Organization/Afflilation: UH Mānoa College of Education

Dr. Tammy Jones is currently a teacher in the Hālau Hekili program at Kailua High School. She spent the first portion of her career as an English teacher in both public and charter school settings, and went on to be a project coordinator at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa to support teachers on the Waianaʻe Coast in the creation of place-based curriculum. Tammy earned her MEdT in 2005 and her PhD in Curriculum Studies in 2012, both from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Organization/Affiliation:  Hālau Hekili / Kailua High School

Dr. Keala is from Manaʻe, Molokaʻi but currently resides with her two kaikamahine and kāne in Kapālama, Oʻahu. In her current role as an Assistant Professor of Hawaiian Immersion in the College of Education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, she works with teacher candidates looking to become kumu and gain licensure in Kaiapuni as well as ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. While she works primarily within the MEdT program, she also services Kaiapuni teacher candidates in as their field supervisor. Pili also serves as the secretary on the ʻAha Hoʻokō of the ʻAha Kauleo (Hawaiian Language Immersion Statewide Consortium). She has been a kumu for over 15 years in Ka Papahana Kaiapuni, Kamehameha Schools, as well as community education. Dr. Kealaʻs research includes the educational needs of nā moʻo ʻike kuʻuna ʻōiwi Hawaiʻi, Native Hawaiian children raised exclusively in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi through hoʻomana Hawaiʻi with traditional Hawaiian loina and cultural practices, Kuanaʻike ʻŌiwi Hawaiʻi, Kaiapuni education, programming and pedagogies, Hawaiian culture-based education, and traditional Hawaiian pedagogies of learning and teaching.

Organization/Affiliation: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Professor of Hawaiian Language

Organization/Affiliation:  Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani, UH Hilo

Tricia Kreidler is from Kahaluʻu, Oʻahu. She is an educator with over 14 years of experience in Hawaiʻi’s Department of Education. At Kāneʻohe Elementary, she inspires 4th graders through aloha-infused, project-based, and place-based learning. By connecting students with their ʻāina and community partners, Mrs. Kreidler guides them in exploring sustainable solutions to Hawaiʻi’s food security while nurturing a strong sense of belonging and kuleana for the future.

Organization/Affiliation:  Kāneʻohe Elementary

Blossom Pualani Lincoln Maielua is from Puʻukapu, Waimea, Hawaiʻi. A mother of three handsome teenage boys and a beautiful baby girl, a cultural practitioner and researcher, and an educator for over 20 years. Pualani received both a B.A. and M.A. at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Hawaiian Studies where she focused on Mālama ʻĀina (natural resource management), Hālau o Laka (visual arts), and Moʻolelo (traditions and history). 

She was first introduced to voyaging as a student in high school in 1999. In 2007, she sailed aboard Alingano Maisu on the Kū Holomau voyage to Satawal and Yap in Micronesia, served as an apprentice navigator in 2017 on Hōkūleʻa’s final leg from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi, and in 2019 navigated Makaliʻi to Nihoa and Mokumanamana. 

Pualani applies her time on the ocean, dedication to cultural practices, and land stewardship to the many classrooms and academic programs that she has taught in including Native Hawaiian Public Charter Schools – Hālau Kū Mana and Kanu o Ka ʻĀina; the University of Hawaiʻi system – Kamakūokalani at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and I Ola Hāloa of Hawaiʻi Community College and Pālamanui. Pualani currently works as a Hawaiian Studies instructor at Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy. 

As a mother and educator, Pualani shares her passion for cultural revitalization, traditional lifestyles, and thriving communities.

Keoni Mahelona is the driving force behind the development of digital technologies that aim to protect and promote indigenous languages and knowledge. He makes decisions every day to protect the sovereignty of platforms and data, from the digital and machine learning tools deployed for advanced applications to the storage and sharing of data in culturally appropriate and secure ways.

Organization/Affiliation:  Te Reo Irirangi o Te Hiku o Te Ika

Isaac “ʻIkaʻaka” Nāhuewai is a Hawaiian scholar, educator, and musician whose work spans academic research, cultural revitalization, and artistic expression. He serves with Hale Kuamoʻo, the Hawaiian Language Center at UH Hilo, where he helps develop innovative multi-media resources that support ʻohana, immersion schools, and the broader community in strengthening ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. As a PhD candidate in Hawaiian and Indigenous performance studies, his scholarly focus explores contemporary Hawaiian concerts, pedagogy, and performance as living sites of cultural transmission and sovereignty. Alongside his academic and educational contributions, Nāhuewai creates music under the name Ikaakamai, blending roots reggae with ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and themes of aloha ʻāina, genealogy, and identity, offering a vibrant artistic platform that complements his dedication to Hawaiian language and cultural renewal.

Organization/Afflilation: Hale Kuamoʻo/Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani

Donna Reid-Hayes is a Native Hawaiian, early childhood educator in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. She holds her MEd and EdD from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her research centers on how the interweaving of Hawaiian Culture-based education and Reggio Emilia-inspired pedagogies has transformed her practice within her kindergarten classroom, as well as her growing sense of indigeneity. Donna utilizes the concepts of moʻokūʻauhau (genealogy) and moʻolelo (story) to build understanding of her experiences and pedagogical choices. She believes passionately in the competence and drive of the young child and sees culture and place as having an integral role in their development. Donna believes that, as early childhood educators in Hawaiʻi, it is our kuleana to empower children with a strong sense of place and connection to the culture that is nurturing their childhood.  

Organization/Affiliation:  University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Education

Makamae Santos holds a Master’s in Public Administration with a specialization in Intercultural and Organizational Communication in the Public Sector, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a Minor in Sociology from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She also earned her Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts from Windward Community College. With over a decade of experience in education, community engagement, and nonprofit operations, Makamae has served in various roles—including Financial Aid Officer, Academic Counselor, and Pu‘uhonua Program Coordinator at Windward Community College, and Hapai Pu Specialist at Kāko‘o ‘Ōiwi. She currently serves as Operations Coordinator at Kauluakalana, where she supports ‘āina-based education and cultural restoration efforts in Kailua.

Organization/Affiliation:  Kauluakalana

Alexandria Sisson is a Montessori educator, certified in elementary I-II (grades 1-6) teaching and Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist Teaching from the American Montessori Society. After graduating from Leiden University College the Hague, Alexa taught general education and Hawaiian studies to a mixed-age classroom for students aged 6-9 years old, and served as DEI coordinator at Montessori Community School, working with students aged 2-12. Alexa is currently completing her MPA and certificate in Public Policy at UH Mānoa, and works as a graduate assistant for the Hawaiʻi Early Childhood Educator Excellence and Equity Project.

Organization/Affiliation:  University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Education

Germaine Tauati is Program Director of the Early Literacy Institute at INPEACE, where she leads initiatives to strengthen literacy in Native Hawaiian communities. A Kamehameha Schools graduate, she earned her BA in Early Childhood Education Administration and MA in Education with a specialization in Curriculum and Instruction. In the last 22 years at INPEACE Germaine has served as a teacher, trainer, mentor coach, Pre-K CLASS observer, and PD specialist and manager. She actively promotes culturally grounded, family-centered learning. She is passionate about weaving Hawaiian culture into early childhood education and strengthening the connection between Indigenous knowledge and modern learning. Germaine and her husband Reef, married for 35 years, are proud parents of four keiki and five moʻopuna.

Organization/Afflilation: INPEACE

Heidi Waiamau is a Native Hawaiian educator, cultural strategist, and the Senior Project Manager for Kamehameha Schools Ho‘oulu ʻĀina initiative. With deep roots in environmental stewardship, Indigenous education, and community activation, Heidi’s work centers on restoring relationships between people and place through moʻokūʻauhau, civic science, and systems-level transformation.

Heidi has led the development of multi-year, cross-sector conservation education efforts that integrate bioremediation, forest restoration, and endangered bird recovery across Hawaiʻi. She is a co-creator of Making Moʻolelo, a culturally grounded storytelling framework that supports learners in processing ecological grief, reclaiming ancestral knowledge, and building civic commitment to aloha ʻāina. Her leadership has engaged lāhui through educational events, youth programs, and curriculum co-design rooted in Hawaiian values.

A firm believer in the power of moʻolelo as both pedagogy and healing, Heidi’s work builds bridges between generations, disciplines, and movements toward a more resilient and sovereign future for Hawaiʻi.

Organization/Afflilation: Ho‘oulu ʻĀina Project Lead Senior Project Manager, Kamehameha Schools

Kamuela Yim is a father, and farmer dedicated to advancing Hawaiian language, culture, and ʻāina. With over 20 years of experience teaching across K–12 and higher education, Kamuela has served in the kaiapuni program as well as with community organizations such as Awaiaulu and Kauluwao.  

He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from UH Mānoa