Episode 1 – Alapaki Nahale-A
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Alapaki has spent more than 30 years serving the community in a variety of roles including as director and chairman of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and as the CEO of the Global Resiliency Hub at ʻIole in Kohala on Hawaiʻi Island. He is currently a partner at Islander Institute and has held various roles at Kamehameha Schools, including senior director of community engagement and resources for Hawaiʻi Island. He has served on a variety of community boards and commissions, from chairperson of the County of Hawaiʻi Cultural Resources Commission to chair of the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents and is currently the chairperson of the Hawaiian Council, vice chair of Hawaii Community Lending, and vice chair of the NDN Fund Collective.
In this episode of Pilali, cohosts Ashley and Wren sit down with Alapaki Nahale-a to explore identity, education, and what it means to truly be “of” a place. Alapaki shares his upbringing in Hilo on Hawaiian Homelands and reflects on formative experiences at Kamehameha Schools and the University of Pennsylvania. The conversation touches on discovering Hawaiian history and sovereignty movements while away from home, and how those realizations shaped his path in housing advocacy, education, and community leadership.
Ashley and Wren also discuss Alapaki’s work in Hawaiian language immersion education and charter schools, and the deeper systemic challenges facing Hawaiʻi today. The conversation expands into themes of pilina, community accountability, and the intentional divisions that shape public discourse. Alapaki introduces his work with Islander Institute and reflects on the importance of building empathy, connection, and shared responsibility for place as the foundation for meaningful change in Hawaiʻi.