Mahina Paishon-Duarte is co-founder and chief executive officer of Waiwai Collective, a regenerative urban oasis, a kīpuka, for creatively growing community, culture, and commerce. As a social entrepreneur who has also led several educational and cultural organizations, her vision and mission are one and the same––to catalyze positive, lasting change for Hawaiʻi in one generation. Most notably, Mahina is the founding executive director of Paepae o Heʻeia, the first modern Hawai‘ian fishpond that created ground-breaking ʻāina-based education programming for students from preschool through post-doctoral levels. She gained public sector experience as a policy program manager with NOAAs Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, as well as head of school for both Hālau Kū Māna and Kanu o ka ʻĀina public charter schools. Today, Mahina is a part of the ʻĀina Aloha Economic Futures movement to address long-standing socio-economic inequities that the COVID-19 pandemic underscored; and to bring to life a resilient economy through our core value of ʻāina aloha—a deep and abiding love for Hawaiʻi’s communities and natural environments.

In our conversation, we discuss: radical aloha;  what it means to have ‘āina based thinking; her recent appointment by the Governor of Hawai‘i to the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, and their strategic plan for regenerative tourism; and, the need for a governance structure, such as a food policy council, to help achieve Hawai‘i’s goal of increasing local food production. 

Mahina graciously accepted my request to begin our conversation with a pule (aspirational chant).

For more info on Mahina: 

• Transformational Change with Mahina Paishon Duarte (Seminar, July 2022)
• Indigenous Centered Economies: Leading the Way (TED Talk, November 2021)
• An Open Letter To The Millionaires And Billionaires Of Hawaii (Civil Beat, July 2020)

Mahina’s suggested reading: 

• From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai‘i (Revised Edition)
  by Haunani-Kay Trask (1999, University of Hawai’i Press)
• Kaiāulu: Gathering Tides
• By Mehana Blaich Vaughan (2018, Oregon State University Press)

Credits: 

Created, produced, and hosted by Paula Daniels

Sound engineer: Keola Iseri
Project support: Sue Woodard

Theme music: Caryssa Shinozawa
Other music: "Monomer" by Leroy Wild, “Waialua By Night” by Pacific Sounds

Logo: Reiko Quitevis, Sue Woodard

Thanks to our sponsor, the Hawai'i Institute for Sustainable Community Food Systems at the University of Hawai'i - West O'ahu

Thanks also to the students at Waipahu High School for sound creation (Caryssa Shinozawa, Landon Guzman, Syd Sausal) and graphic design (Ashley Alfaro, Erika Pagtulingan, Reiko Quitevis); and their teachers, Noelle- lili Edejer and Sky Bruno.