Episode 100: Maui Fire Updates and Supporting Local at Made in Hawaii Festival 2023: Part 1

Hawaii's Best
Announcement
00:03
Aloha. Welcome to Hawaii's Best. Here you'll learn what to know before traveling, as we discover Hawaiian culture, local businesses and the experiences that make Hawaii one of the most incredible places in the world. And now your host, brian Murphy.
Bryan Murphy
Host
00:21
Like many of you, I am still in utter disbelief of the tragedy that has taken place in Lahontown on Maui. Lahaina has been deeply affected, destroyed by a devastating wildfire. There is still much to be understood as what happened, the why, the how, but I think now we must wrestle with the what. What are we to do to help? What are we do to show aloha? What are we to learn those who love Hawaii? What are ways that we can help support a place and people that have given so much? So here's a brief update and overview. If maybe you don't know what's going on, but my assumption is you do. But just in case, driven by heavy winds of Hurricane Dora, catastrophic fires have consumed vast portions of Maui, especially Lahainatown, and Lahainatown is on West Maui, just below Kaa Napali, the resort area. There are fires on other parts of Maui, upcountry Maui and in South Maui as well, and they've led some destruction as well, but not to the devastation that has been seen in Lahainatown. Lahainatown, which many of us hold dear, now lies in ruins. To comprehend the depth of this, here are the current numbers as of today, tuesday, august 15th 99 souls were tragically lost, with many still uncounted for, given that only a minor part of Lahainatown has undergone search operations. Over 2700 structures have been affected or damaged or destroyed, with a heartbreaking 86% of these being homes. Of these, 2700-2200 structures were either completely damaged or reduced to rubble. It's said that the rebuilding process carries an estimated price tag of $5.52 billion. However, there is a little ray of hope amidst all this sorrow is that 60 individuals this was just reported in the news today 60 individuals who were reported missing have now been found safe.
02:40
One of the biggest questions that has been surfacing is well, what if I have plans to visit Maui this year, next week, in the next coming months? Here's what to know about visiting Hawaii, and particularly Maui. The Hawaii Tourism Authority strongly advises against any non-essential travel to West Maui. Basically, west Maui is closed period. This includes tourist visits and even those from neighboring islands, without any pressing needs. In Lahaina town, that's classified as non-essential. If you have bookings in West Maui, you've probably already been proactively contacting your resort, such as in the Kana Pali area. So please cancel or reschedule to another neighboring island and, to give you a clearer picture, hotels in Kana Pali aren't even taking new reservations as of now. For those with plans in South Maui, like Kihei, which is on the other side of the island. If you have plans to visit within the next few weeks or months, it may be wise to reschedule that.
03:49
There are many people saying to completely cancel your trip to Maui. However, there are some local Maui businesses not in West Maui who are starting to speak out and saying they largely rely on income of visitors and they're not sure how they're going to survive this and keep their own homes and businesses. It's definitely a complicated and difficult situation for many people on Maui. I can't even comprehend some of the conversations and decisions that are needed to be made on the ground there For bookings later in the year to Maui. I advise you to remain updated with news from the area, but Lahain is going to be off limits for quite a while.
04:38
Now, if you're heading to another Hawaiian island, such as Kauai, oahu or the big island Hawaii Island, please remember all the Hawaiian islands are in mourning and to please exercise sensitivity and just understanding as you go about, if you're going on a tour or even out on the beach, especially posting publicly on social media, just to be aware and having that sensitivity of what is curling going on in the islands Even, for example, a light-hearted post from another beach on Oahu, say from Waimanalo, and inadvertently come across as insensitive given the current mood and state of mourning right now. But I'll do that to your own discretion. We're all adults here, so if you're like me, you probably have asked one of your first questions was well, how can I help? How can we help? And there are many ways that you can help, even if you're not on Maui. One of those ways is to look for local businesses on Maui, maybe who have a website presence, for example, patrick Parker, who is a local artist on Maui who a lot of his artwork was displayed and for sale in Lahaina, which all of those galleries have been destroyed. He was a guest on the show and he has a website where he sells prints. So I would encourage you maybe to go to PatrickParkerArtcom and take a look.
06:07
Maybe consider supporting Patrick there's also so many other local businesses on Maui with a website presence or to support families directly affected by the fires in Lahaina. There's this really great Instagram account. It is lahaina underscore ohana underscore Venmo. I'll link it in the episode description and this Instagram account are images of all the families Venmo accounts that have been affected, so you can directly give through Venmo to Lahaina families. The other two organizations that have been vetted and I would ask you to also look into considering a donation to would be the Hawaii Community Foundation and also the Maui Food Bank. Going back to Venmo, one of our past guests, ecolu Lindsey, whose home was destroyed in the fire. He and his family run Maui Culture Lands. I'm going to link his Venmo account directly and I'll also link the conversation I had with Ecolu on the podcast in the episode description. Also link up Patrick Parker as well, so you can listen to those episodes to get to know those guys better.
07:26
So in these trying times, let's embody the true spirit of Aloha, standing together and lifting one another up. And another way to do that, another way to support and lift up Hawaii, is by attending the Maiden Hawaii Festival on Oahu this weekend. If you're lucky to be on Oahu this weekend, you've got to check it out because it's going to have over 400 local vendors across all the islands. You'll be at the Honolulu Convention Center Friday, saturday and Sunday, along with award-winning musicians and chefs. So the next two episodes today, which is Wednesday, and then tomorrow, thursday will feature a few of these vendors, chefs and musicians that will be at this year's festival. But if you cannot make it this weekend to the Maiden Hawaii Festival, many of these local businesses have an online store where you can shop and support them that way. I'll leave a link to all the vendors that will be at this year's festival in the episode description. So it's important to note that these interviews were recorded over the last few weeks, which means a few of these interviews were recorded before the Maui fires and a few were recorded after. Please know that many of these vendors will be offering ways to support Maui during this year's Maiden Hawaii Festival and, for example, 10% of all ticket sales will be going to support Maui, along with 100% of the proceeds from the official Maiden Hawaii T-shirt will be going to support Maui as well.
09:01
So first up we have Lauren Zerbel, who is the president and executive director of Hawaii Food Industry Association. President of the 1972 Hawaii Food Industry Association, a nonprofit trade association, has been tirelessly working to improve the Hawaiian food and beverage industry. Representing over 200 diverse companies, they are a strong voice promoting sustainability and resilience in Hawaii's food sector. More than advocates, hfia are connectors and educators, facilitating networking events, learning experiences and information sharing on innovative, sustainable practices and one way that they do this is through the Maiden Hawaii Festival, and since 1995, this event has provided a platform for local businesses to boost sales, gain exposure and test new products. More than just a showcase, the festival has evolved into a cost-effective business incubator, helping Maiden Hawaii businesses to thrive. So let's talk story with Lauren from the Hawaii Food Industry Association, just give a kind of a high-level overview about what the Hawaii Food Industry Association does. But I'd love to hear in your own words what your guys' mission is and kind of give us a little behind the scenes of what a day-to-day looks like for you guys.
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
10:22
Yeah, so we are a nonprofit trade association with about 200 member companies all across the food supply chain. So food retailers that you would know of grocery stores, tta, safeway, food, land, times, all of those types of stores and then a lot of convenience stores, abc stores, 7-eleven, and then a lot of food suppliers Coca-Cola, pepsi, down to a lot of smaller food manufacturing brands, a lot of which are vendors at the Maiden Hawaii Festival, and our mission is to promote a strong, sustainable and resilient food industry in our state. We provide a lot of member education, networking and then larger public-facing events like Maiden Hawaii Festival.
Bryan Murphy
Host
11:05
Specifically about Maiden Hawaii Festival which started back in 1995, I can kind of maybe fill in the blank and what the motivation behind why it was started. I'd love to hear from you why it was started and how you've seen it contribute to local businesses today.
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
11:21
Yeah, so it was actually the idea of a state legislator and just met him a few years ago over the phone he was like, oh, I went around and I shopped it out to all of these different associations but Dick Boddy, who at the time was the executive director of each of I, was really excited to do it, and so I guess that's how it happened.
11:40
It started out super small and the idea was really to kind of test market Hawaii products to the general public at a low cost and kind of allow people to taste and feel and touch all of these really unique products and to also incorporate a buyer's hours, which we do do during the first two hours of the festival.
11:59
So wholesale buyers from a lot of different companies, big companies in Hawaii will come the first two hours and they'll make wholesale orders with the vendors, which is a huge part of the revenue for the event and it helps these companies be sustainable year round. So that's a really great part about the festival that people don't really know about. And then, of course, we get just tons of members of the public during normal operating hours, starting at 10 am on Friday. It's just a great opportunity for local vendors to kind of sample and meet the community, meet wholesale buyers, and a lot of the companies that we've started with started out really small and now they're kind of like medium to large size businesses. So it's great to see how the festival has really served as a business incubator for a lot of companies.
Bryan Murphy
Host
12:38
Yeah maybe speaking in a little bit, what businesses have you seen thrive off of this festival?
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
12:44
There's just a lot of examples. White ship company actually, I believe that they started with us like maybe over a decade ago. You know we're smaller and they actually grown to be a pretty large local company and they still participate in the festival actually and they sample their new products at the show and medical dairies They've participated for a long time. They're going to be doing some other ice cream, they're going to be doing ice cream floats and a lot of the clothing vendors that have been coming for years like 10 tomorrow. They've been a vendor for, I think, over a decade and they've really grown and they have some really awesome, beautiful products that they showcase every year. And a lot of our vendors create products that are actually exclusive to the festival. So they'll have made in Hawaii festival releases of like new dresses or prints or food items. So that's also kind of an exciting thing.
Bryan Murphy
Host
13:31
So it's kind of like across Oahu and across the neighboring islands. You know you have your farmers market, so it's kind of like the ultimate farmers market, like all in one location.
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
13:42
Yeah, so it's like a little festival, right. So we really do have like just this amazing lineup of award-winning entertainers. Like, all of our entertainers are Nahoku award winners. We had a minor performing on Friday evening, so we're super excited. Cpb is sponsoring her, so that's very generous of them, and we have just a lineup of really amazing award-winning chefs and they're doing chef demos and people can taste their food. Like we have little sample platters that we pass out to people who are sitting in the audience. So that's a really great experience. So it's like we have, I think, over 450 vendor booths this year, which I think is the largest it's ever been. Wow, yeah, by quite a bit, and so that's exciting. But then there's also, like the entertainment and food, and this year we have a beer garden too, so that's another added feature of the festival this year.
Bryan Murphy
Host
14:31
And first time at the convention center in Honolulu. That's got to be exciting.
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
14:35
Yeah, it's really exciting. It's such a beautiful venue. I mean I just it's like you walk and then you're like, oh my gosh, this is beautiful and you know, coming from our park.
14:43
Like we've made it, oh man you know, like that was, that was difficult, just organizationally it was very, very difficult. So I think that you know, having an actual venue that's that's supposed to be used for events is going to be a dramatic improvements in class for people. You know we've got AC. You know the floors are nice. You know we've got electricity, like it's. You know it's amazing, just all the little things that we've missed.
Bryan Murphy
Host
15:08
The little things better, right? Well, what tips would you give someone maybe who's visiting, who's traveling to Hawaii? They're on Oahu and they're like I want to go check this out the convention center, maybe help those people. What info would you give them or where would you lead them to get the best info?
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
15:25
Yeah, so go to wwwmadeinhawaiifestivalcom to purchase your tickets. It's $8 for an all day ticket, so you have in and out privileges, so it's super affordable. We highly highly recommend that you park at Alamuana and use their paid parking. You are a code on our website. They're giving us 50% off parking there. We're fairly certain that the parking at the convention center will fill up almost immediately. So we just recommend people park at Alamuana, pay there and walk across the street. It's really convenient and they have a lot of parking there, so it's actually kind of an improvement over some of the other venues.
15:59
As far as parking goes, if people will just park at Alamuana center, pay their walkover, you know it's a better situation. You can have people circling and you know. Or if you you could take the bus there's a bus drop off there or you could do a ride share. You could have your friend drop you off. You know it's it's always. Parking is a kind of a bit of an issue, but if you park at Alamuana, I think it's going to be okay, it's going to be good.
Bryan Murphy
Host
16:20
Okay, I'm just curious for the vetting process of vendors. How does that go if you could just kind of share that process?
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
16:28
Yeah, so Department of Ag has a formula up on their website and that's the formula that we use and we send out to the vendors to fill out those forms and if they have any questions we kind of collaborate with them on that, with DOA, and send them in their direction. But all of the vendors fill out the forms, the valuation form, so it's a 51% value added requirement under the state of Hawaii, it's in HRS, and so that's kind of the process that we use and we're always looking for, like unique, no-transcript, culturally relevant products that you know people will be excited to buy, that are you know that they can get special at the festival. So that's kind of the type of product we're looking for.
Bryan Murphy
Host
17:07
Gotcha. Okay, now, when it comes to supporting local and you know we've seen that a lot the last couple of years, and especially currently with what's happening on Maui what does supporting local mean to you? What does it look like to you?
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
17:21
Yeah, so for us, it's a big part of our mission, because that's a huge part about sustainability and resilience. Right Is buying locally produced food items, locally grown food. Mahi Pono is one of our major sponsors and they operate a large farm on Maui. They've been a major sponsor for many years, so we're super grateful to them and everything that they're doing in the community to promote sustainability and promote the availability of locally grown produce for food manufacturers in our state.
17:52
And you know, obviously CPB does a lot for small businesses and during the pandemic was just huge in getting these small business loans for companies like Maiden Hawaii Festival vendors, who are really struggling. So we were happy to be a part of, you know, helping them generate some revenue during that time, even though it was, you know, very difficult for everyone. And yeah, I mean now, like you mentioned, with the fires, it's just so devastating and a lot of our vendors have been impacted and are doing some really generous things right now. And we decided at the festival level, our executive committee voted yesterday to donate 10% of our ticket sales profits to the Maui Strong Fund, hawaii Community Foundation and also 100% of our profits for the Maiden Hawaii Festival t-shirt. So we're encouraging the vendors to do similar things to help raise funds for the victims of the fire.
Bryan Murphy
Host
18:43
That's awesome. That's good to know Anything else that you would love to be able to share with anyone who's listening about thinking about coming to this year's festival or maybe anything else you'd like to lead our listeners with?
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
18:55
Yeah, well, I mean, this year is going to be the biggest and the best. The venue is beautiful and air conditioned, over 450 vendors, we got all these award winning performing artists and chef demos and like awesome beer and our beer curtain and yeah, we're just really excited. And all the vendors like a lot of them. They prepare for months for this festival. It's a big part of their yearly sales so it's really important for them that the community come out and support their small businesses and it just has such a huge impact on the economy overall. This festival is really important to a lot of our local vendors, so we just really appreciate the community support overall these years.
Bryan Murphy
Host
19:35
Awesome. Well, Lauren, thank you so much for your time and what you're doing.
Lauren Zirbel - HFIA
Guest
19:39
Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it and hope to see you at Maiden Hawaii Festival August 18 through the 20th.
Bryan Murphy
Host
19:48
All right, thank you so much, lauren. Up next we have Alexis Akiyana from LexBrizi. Lexbrizi Hawaii is a second generation aloha wear company that encapsulates the essence of Hawaii and the profound Hawaiian culture. In its designs, the company upholds the belief that aloha wear should be within everyone's reach, thus promoting unity and the embodiment of the aloha spirit. Lexbrizi Hawaii constructs styles that vividly portray modern aloha wear through its unique prints. Their mission revolves around linking generations via ageless fashion, establishing significant connections between the culture people. In the spirit of aloha, they do more than just manufacture clothing. They intertwine threads of culture, community and aloha.
20:35
This conversation was recorded prior to the Maui Fires and since the Maui Fires, alexis and her team at LexBrizi have stepped up in a huge way. For example, they've already raised over $50,000 directly for Maui families who have lost their homes and jobs. They've also created a line of Maui strong styles featuring an aloha dress, a men's aloha shirt and palazzo pants. 100% of the proceeds of the Maui strong styles collection will go directly to Maui families. Let's welcome Alexis. I just read your bio a little bit and one of the phrases that stuck out in my head was second generation. Maybe start there a little bit about what you guys do, but then kind of give us like a 30,000 foot view of who you guys are.
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
21:25
Yeah, so my name is Alexis Akiyona. I am Lola Miller's daughter, so I am the owner of LexBrizi Hawaii. We are a modern aloha wear company. Second generation.
21:36
I followed into fashion after watching my mom simply, sisters, you know, find her footsteps in Hawaii fashion. So I really had the idea of I love what my mom is doing, but I want to create something of my own. So I was able to, you know, follow her footsteps but create a brand that really speaks to my generation in aloha wear. So taking her styles and her prints and making it a little bit more modern and fun and, you know, a little bit more sexy. So that's kind of what the playoff of LexBrizi is.
22:08
So we still work together. We're, you know, getting ready for the Maine and Hawaii festival. My first main in Hawaii festival actually was with my mom and it was actually her booth. So we always do the Maine and Hawaii festival together. We work with local artists to designs our prints and we make very exclusive styles and one of a kind designs. We never reprint any of our prints. We have two storefronts, one in Kailua and one in Ala Moana. I mean, then my mom has actually her business based out of in Hilo, so she has a storefront in here. So during the Maine and Hawaii time, it's when both of our brands come together and we showcase, you know, the best of Hawaii's fashion during Maine and Hawaii. So that's so much fun for us.
Bryan Murphy
Host
22:50
That's awesome. Thanks for sharing that. Speaking of Hilo, this all started in Hilo, yeah, at the Mary Monarch craft fair.
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
22:56
Yes, yes, so I'm originally from Hilo. I am a graduate of Waikila High in 2011 and my mom's still there, my parents still there. So we launched Lexxi Hawaii at I think it was 2016 Mary Monarch craft fair, and that's kind of where our brand was born. I made 50 pieces of one style dress that sold out in 10 minutes and that was like our heart moment. Like I can, you know, still Keep the tradition of my mom's company alive, but kind of make it my own.
Bryan Murphy
Host
23:29
Yeah, you're like this, might, I might be honest something here that's cool. And yeah, and speaking of like just the family to your husband, james recently went full-time into his His venture maybe, maybe shot him out a little bit. Give him some yeah.
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
23:43
So I'm super excited for my husband, james Okina. He just left his full-time job. He took a huge left turn after a 10-year career amazing career in auto body and he's now doing his own kind of collective line that we're super happy and super ready to support his journey in Entrepreneurship and in Aloha, where and what's so awesome is that James actually is an artist and he created our first print at Lex Breezy, hawaii. So no way, he's our secret artist. We call me Behind some of our prints here at Lex Breezy and simply sisters. So now he's getting ready to launch his here already kind of launch his own brand, but really taking it to the next level and We'll have some kind of collective at needed Hawaii as well.
Bryan Murphy
Host
24:27
Oh cool, that's good to know. I can't imagine both you guys entrepreneurs, doing this thing, hustling and grinding it out, and I love that. That's super inspiring, but I bet there's probably some butterflies right now. Maybe a little bit definitely.
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
24:43
I think it's always like so scary at first and you know that watching him Support us from the beginning and we really built this from, you know, scratch. So now it's kind of like a full circle moment that we can turn around and I can support his journey in entrepreneurship and, you know, see where it takes us and really introduce the world to our secret artists behind a lot of our prints and designs.
Bryan Murphy
Host
25:06
I Love that. You alluded to it a little bit but you know, made in Hawaii is gonna be at the convention center for the first time. Yeah, maybe speaking to that a little bit that excitement, but just in general, why is it important to continue to participate in Maine, hawaii?
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
25:22
Well, when we first started Lex Breezy Hawaii, we started as a made in Hawaii company. We cut it, so we manufacture everything locally and I think that it's just really important to support our community and support our artists and our manufacturers, support families and small businesses, and for me it's really you know, after the pandemic, it's really our bread and butter, and it's really important to continue to support the median Hawaii community, because that's kind of all we had during the pandemic. We only had each other. So it's nice to get together again and support the made in Hawaii industry and our, you know, the farmers, the artist, the fishermen, everybody who continued to make products in Hawaii.
Bryan Murphy
Host
26:08
Yeah, and taking that venue to the convention center, that kind of adds some excitement to it. Are you looking forward to that?
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
26:16
Yes, we are. I think it's like you know, right now we call it the main in Hawaii season. So it's a whole season for us that we prepare and we get ready for, like you know, the past three, three to four months we're preparing. As soon as made in Hawaii I mean Mary Monarch is done, we're straight into Mary Monarch made in Hawaii production. So we're always just so excited to be around other local businesses and other local entrepreneurs and it's really an exciting time for everybody.
Bryan Murphy
Host
26:40
You know waffles, so it's kind of like Mary Monarch, but here it was like oh, then you got your storefronts too, that you got a, you got to do it too. So that's, yeah, so what's?
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
26:50
so cool is that we only we have like made in Hawaii exclusives, so stuff that we still.
Bryan Murphy
Host
26:54
Let me know why you can't get at our stores supporting local and you mentioned, just especially during the pandemic, okay, how that was super important. But I think it's pretty obvious to kind of fill in the blank why it's important to support, support local. But what does supporting local mean to you?
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
27:12
Supporting local for me, is not worrying about the price tag and really look at what is in the label. Who's making your products, where is it being made? Who are you supporting behind it? What families? And Kiki, I feel like, is being supportive, and you know we started out as a small business and now I have two sons, so it's like what's behind the label when you support me and who are you supporting. And you know, not only are you supporting your families, like our family, you're also supporting the families that we support and the community that is around us as well. So I think that's just what's so special about supporting me in Hawaii. You know who's making your products. You know what's in the label pretty much.
Bryan Murphy
Host
27:54
Nothing against ABC stores, but a lot of people who visit Hawaii and this podcast is for people who are visiting Hawaii and helping with education and bringing amazing voices like yourself to the audience but going to like an ABC store, there might be some you got to kind of sift through. There might be some local products there, but by and large probably not. So how can someone seek out and support local, maybe specifically why they're on their on their trip?
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
28:23
Maybe it's not about supporting, maybe, everything that's made here, but what about things? Maybe people that have that are raised here, maybe they're not, that have still their connection with Hawaii. I think it's super important. So maybe their item is not completely made here, but they have a connection to Hawaii, maybe they're grew up here or their kids go to school here. So I think that's really important and really nowadays you have to really look what's behind the label. You know anybody can say their things and are made in Hawaii, but is it truly made in Hawaii? Does it really come like? For us? It's. I do Aloha where. So is it carry the Aloha spirit?
Bryan Murphy
Host
29:01
Yeah, well said, I think even just driving around the island to you can kind of you see those farmers markets, you see those those pop ups, and you just kind of there's just a certain vibe that you, you, just you just know.
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
29:15
Totally, totally. And I think it comes down to you know the price at the end of the day, but can you just maybe a little extra, more extra. And you know where your items are getting made and you know the family and the story behind it and you know we are supporting and you know during the pandemic we only had each other as small businesses. So I think you know, when it came down to it, that Hawaii and our community, like we, have to support each other. You know that's like number one.
Bryan Murphy
Host
29:41
Well, alexis, how can people first find you guys online? But, but more importantly, we're talking about Maine and Hawaii how can people find your booth as well?
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
29:49
Yep, lex Brizzi and Simply Sisters are together at Maine and Hawaii. We're going to be all the way in the back left corner and you can find us online at LexBrizziHawaiicom and you can find Simply Sisters at LolaMillerDesignscom. We have also have a storefront in Awa Moana Target Wing, second floor, malka, and we also have a storefront in Kailua Town.
Bryan Murphy
Host
30:09
Awesome. Thank you so much for your time.
Alexis Akiona - Lexbreezy Hawaii
Guest
30:11
Thank you for having me and I can't wait to see you guys all at the meeting in Hawaii.
Bryan Murphy
Host
30:17
All right. Next up is Kailana, a musician from the island of Oahu, and is an award winning musician, artist and songwriter with over 10 years of experience in the music industry. Growing up in Paradise really allowed her to flourish and nurture her passion for music, being constantly inspired by the beauty and aloha all around her. She's done everything from working as a nightly gigging musician to doing session work and background vocals for big stars, writing and producing songs for film and TV live sound set up in production, to finally owning her artistry by writing, recording, performing her own original work. Her mission is to share her music and story with the world, inspire the next generation of young voices and to see just how far an island girl can go when she follows her dreams. Before we dive into our conversation, she's going to share a song with us that was recorded live during our call together.
Keilana
Guest
31:37
I am a masterpiece constantly evolving. I am never changing. I don't need your validation from a short lived, conditional love. A little girl with a big, big dream change the world to see. Age of 15, that was me. Now I'm ready to let myself. Prophecy of a dream turn reality. You will see. You will see. You will see. I said this isn't my song to sing, this isn't my song to sing, this isn't my song. To say, this isn't my song to sing, this isn't my song to sing, this isn't my song. And those things. Close your eyes. Come with me to a place called Lake Larall. Miss. My mind is my sacred place to define the way I see, the way the world sees me, and I hope to sing along, sing along, sing along.
Bryan Murphy
Host
33:13
Awesome. One of the first questions I just kind of wanted to kick off for you was growing up in Hawaii. How do you think that has shaped your musical journey?
Keilana
Guest
33:25
It's shaped my music and my journey as an artist tremendously, because I feel, being from Hawaii, we're really in a very special place. A lot of people come here from all over the world to vacation or sometimes it's on people's bucket list and to be able to call this place home is not only a privilege but there really is something magical about being from Hawaii and experiencing all the different cultures and that has really shaped my music, because you can kind of feel that authenticity, that warmth and that aloha in my music. Even though I'm very much inspired by the people that come here and that I need and the different experiences that are very different from my own, being an island girl from the islands, I'm actually very inspired from the people that come here. So you can kind of see that little bridge and that melding of the two worlds in my music. So I would say that's how Hawaii has shaped my music.
Bryan Murphy
Host
34:16
That's awesome.
Keilana
Guest
34:17
Well, what are some of those?
Bryan Murphy
Host
34:17
influences for you.
Keilana
Guest
34:19
I would say I'm a mix of a bunch of things. You know I think there's that I grew up living in Hawaii. I'm Hawaiian, but also my grandma is someone Polynesian, so I have a little bit of that, but I also have my mom the Filipino, and the Chinese and Portuguese. I'm just like a mix of all these different cultures and I think it's so beautiful because here in Hawaii you really celebrate that and we find a way to take all of those things and evolve it into a very special thing that can only be found in Hawaii, and I can see that really inspiring my own music. I would say that my music is very different from a lot of music from here and also from outside, because it's again like that melting pot. That's what I would say my music is.
Bryan Murphy
Host
35:03
Right? Do you feel a responsibility or kuleana in your music, and especially being Hawaiian?
Keilana
Guest
35:09
Totally, yeah, I would say. I feel this strong desire to best emulate what it was like to be from this place and to grow up here, so that it can best be represented outside, and I also feel that call to like maybe embrace the people that aren't from here and find a way that where we can live in this beautiful place of love and harmony together. And I've had a lot of really great opportunities to share my music outside of home in Hawaii, so outside of Hawaii, so it's been really cool that I get to be a part of this, especially from all the things that I've been doing recently.
Bryan Murphy
Host
35:43
And speaking about doing things recently, we're talking about Made in Hawaii Festival. Why is participating in that important for you?
Keilana
Guest
35:50
I feel like Maiden Hawaii is a great way for a lot of us local artists, artisans, businesses to have a platform and to really come together as a unit to show not only Hawaii and our people here, but also, like other people from outside the world. I know that people fly in for this event specifically and I feel like it's just a really great time of community, of celebration and to be able to be saw and participate in it and showcase as my artist. It's just a huge privilege and, yeah, I want to be able to check out all the really cool vendors and perform and just meet all these people. It's just a great hub and I love that it happens once a year and that we're able to do this together.
Bryan Murphy
Host
36:37
In being at the convention center. I mean the first time there, yeah.
Keilana
Guest
36:40
Yeah, first time there, I know. Last year I played at Maiden Hawaii and so this year it being at Hawaii Convention Center just kind of blows it up into like an even bigger awesome event and I really am just excited to see how it all is going to turn out Awesome.
Bryan Murphy
Host
36:57
As an artist, and this might seem like a kind of like well, I don't know how to answer it, but just curious. You know a lot of people listening aren't artists or aren't songwriters. What would you say that drives your creativity as an artist the most?
Keilana
Guest
37:10
What drives my creativity as an artist the most are my experiences, and, like they said, hawaii is very special, so there are a lot of experiences that you can't have anywhere else in the world, and I think it's really key to take those experiences and kind of put them into my art as like a timepiece, while also finding a way to pay homage to my culture and to the way it was raised, but also find a way to give it everlasting like, so that it just keeps living on forever.
37:39
And I think I can see that in some of the vendors that are also going to be showcasing.
37:43
Know, you mentioned, like, lex Breesy is going to be there and she's one of my favorite, favorite, favorite designers, as well as Mahina Maid, and what I love about what they do is they, you know, have that respect in the way that they create. They have the meaning behind and the culture integrated into it, but they find a way to make it fresh without you know, so that it's welcomed and like it encourages people to want to be interested, like, oh, that's cool, I've never seen that before. It's something new, but it's still. It has a bit of old in it. And, again, like I love when there's like this bridge between cultures and between time and I say, as an artist, I want to find a way to encapsulate my moments and my experiences from the past and from my, my ancestors, and the ways that they've paved for me, but also find a way to kind of tie into the future and and get people excited to learn about my story and maybe share more about theirs from my experiences. So that's kind of what I take in as an artist.
Bryan Murphy
Host
38:44
Well, being an artist and being on island and with a big vision of big voice and and great songs, do you ever feel attention of? I want to, I want to. I just want to get out there like I want to. I want to share this music I know with with online platforms it's so much easier to share worldwide, but getting off island, is there attention there to like kind of experience that as well?
Keilana
Guest
39:09
Oh yeah, totally.
39:11
I always kind of feel this, this pool of like I want to experience more out there, but at the same time I don't want to just just leave.
39:17
I love my home, I love everything about it, but I definitely have this pool because I have the privilege, and I've been blessed, to have opportunities to perform outside of home in Hawaii, and so every time I'm out there, I make it a point to really showcase home, you know, and to show protocol to Oli, to speak a little bit about my culture, because these are moments and opportunities for me to share Hawaii with people that have never experienced Hawaii, or even people that had to leave Hawaii for whatever reasons and circumstances, and I think that that is such a key thing. But I always, don't, ever want to forget home, and so what I love is I love having the support of Hawaii from like Meaden Hawaii Festival, having these opportunities to perform in spaces and and still cultivate my art and grow as an artist. But definitely that pool between the two is is a big desire of mine. I don't want to forget about home, but I also do want to see what else is out there and how many people I can share Hawaii with.
Bryan Murphy
Host
40:15
When you think about some of the major venues on Hawaii, you you can't help but think about the show and Blue Note, and back in last April you headlined and sold out two shows at Blue Note Waikiki. What was that like?
Keilana
Guest
40:31
That was incredible. I have been performing and doing music for about 12 years now, and it was always a dream for me to headline a show. So when I got the opportunity to perform at Blue Note and sell out that show it was actually last April was my first time ever performing at Blue Note and I sold out two shows and it was a dream come true and, and since that moment, I've always had a goal of okay, I played at the Blue Note. This is awesome. I want to play at the shell. That would be incredible, and so that's actually happening. It's coming up very soon too, and yeah, so I'm really excited and and I just there's so many places here in Hawaii that I have yet to perform at, but playing at Blue Note was a dream come true and it's one of my favorite venues and I look forward to doing more shows there, for sure.
Bryan Murphy
Host
41:16
That's awesome. What does supporting local mean to you?
Keilana
Guest
41:19
Supporting local looks like supporting the dream of you know, whether it be a native person, native Hawaiian or someone that has roots here in Hawaii with the intention of giving back to Aina, giving back to the La Huy and to community. And what it looks like is supporting, whether it's by word of mouth, like if you have a brand or an artist that you believe in whole heartedly. I think it's so important to share it, whether it's by word of mouth or by reference, or on social media. Social media is such an incredible, powerful tool now. Sharing their, their stories, their sharing their posts and spreading the word.
41:59
I think that's like the best way to support local at this time. But again, if you have the financial means to to buy and support local, I think that that helps too, because every single purchase really goes back into that business and the bigger that business can grow, the more people it can touch. And and really I think it makes such a huge impact on Hawaii to be more self-sustainable and once we can get to a point where we can really sustain ourselves and we have all of these trades and these artisans and all these like, I think it'll it'll create a very beautiful future that hopefully I'll be able to see, but definitely for my kids in the future generations to be able to live off or to see experience yeah so if if you are going to be on Oahu this weekend for Made in Hawaii, where and when can people find you?
42:48
oh, I've made it super easy for you. So if you are going to be on Oahu this weekend, definitely come and check out my set at the Made in Hawaii festival. But later that day, on that same day, on August 19th, I will actually be playing a show at the Atherton Studios for Hawaii Public Radio. So if you enjoy the music and you're like, wow, I want to continue to hear that after Made in Hawaii, then I would love to see you at the show. I also have a couple of other big shows coming up, but you can learn about all of that by following me on social media, at Kilana Music, or checking out my website, which is wwwkilanamusiccom.
Bryan Murphy
Host
43:27
Big Mahalos to Kilana, alexis and Lauren. Thank you so much for your time and coming on today, and be sure to catch part two of the special Made in Hawaii series tomorrow, on Thursday, when it'll be released, and all the ways that you can help support Maui during this time will be linked up in our show notes by going to hawaii'sbesttravelcom. Slash episode 100. And until next time, be well aloha.
Hawaii's Best
Announcement
43:56
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