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For Suzanne Vares-Lum, bridging connections has always been a part of her life. Growing up in Wahiawa, she first learned the importance of building bridges through her parents, who came from different upbringings but made it work. And as part of her 34-year career in the Army, she traveled extensively to Asia and Pacific island nations to meet officials and dignitaries to discuss key issues.
Now Vares-Lum is stepping into a new role as the East-West Center’s president, the nonprofit’s board of governors announced last week. She begins Jan. 3.
“I want to build on the initial vision of the East-West Center to try to bridge understanding with Asia, Pacific and the United States. I think I’ve done a lot of that from the time I was growing up (in Hawaii) and my time in the military,” she said. “Hawaii sits in the middle of all of this. The multiculturalism of Hawaii helps to foster understanding.”
A University of Hawaii at Manoa and Aiea High School graduate, Vares-Lum said her top priorities will be to develop the institution’s short- and long-term strategic plans with community input to address pressing issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, gender equity, economic diversity and food insecurity. She added that engaging more youth and incorporating more Native Hawaiian culture and values into the center’s initiatives is also important.
She said working with more community partners and finding ways to connect with other organizations and events, such as the Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture and the Polynesian Voyaging Society, are also key. She said she applied to be president because it seemed like a good fit given her background growing up in Hawaii and working in the military.
Vares-Lum, who is Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Tahitian, Portuguese and English, said living in a multicultural household helped her develop an appreciation for diversity from a young age. Her father, who grew up in Paia, Maui, served as an Army sergeant first class and met her mother while he was stationed in Tokyo. She also remembers her grandmother telling her stories of how she was discouraged from speaking Hawaiian at a time when many parts of the Hawaiian culture were banned. This is one of the reasons incorporating more Native Hawaiian culture and values is important to her, she said.
“My dad was this young man from Maui in this big city (Tokyo), and my mom was from this big city and going to Maui. It’s a wonderful tale of building bridges,” said Vares-Lum, 54. “Our Native Hawaiian values of malama, ohana, aloha and laulima resonate and transcend culture. Hawaii can bring that through example.”
A former Army major general, she was commissioned as second lieutenant from UH Manoa’s Army ROTC program and served as an intelligence officer during the Cold War in Germany, as well as in Iraq with the Hawaii National Guard. Known as a trailblazer, Vares-Lum was the first Native Hawaiian woman to become a general in the Army.
She is also the first Native Hawaiian and first woman to helm the East-West Center.
“Being the first female, I know it opens the door for many other women,” she said. “While this is wonderful, there are still many women’s issues around the globe. Women’s voices in the Pacific are certainly taking a new role, and I am hopeful that as we develop our next generation of leaders, (more people will see that) it’s a benefit to include all people.”
Most recently, Vares-Lum was assigned to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command at Camp Smith, where she was tasked with directly managing and advancing the command’s relationship with Hawaii, as well as engaging with officials amid regional tensions. Since retiring in April, she has been running her own consultancy firm focused on Indo-Pacific issues.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in education from UH Manoa, as well as a master’s in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania. In 2017 Vares-Lum was a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, a prestigious award given to Americans with an outstanding commitment to serving the nation.
Rather than a melting pot, she said she compares Hawaii’s diversity to “delicious beef stew,” where all of our ethnicities are like ingredients. While you can still taste each ingredient in beef stew, she said, they all come together. That’s the vision she said she will take with her in this new role.
“In a democracy where people can debate issues and talk freely about them, it’s a model we can share with the world,” she said. “That’s a powerful statement. I’m excited to be able to do that.”
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Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Suzanne Vares-Lum was the first Native Hawaiian woman to become a general. She is the first Native Hawaiian woman to become a general in the Army.
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