Born and raised in Honolulu, retired Maj. Gen. Robert Lee graduated from McKinley High School. He continued his education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Read more
Hawaii-born Alaura Ward was 4-1/2 when she auditioned for the role of ZuZu, George Bailey’s youngest daughter, in Diamond Head Theatre’s 1997 production of “A Wonderful Life.” Read more
When Nitasha Tamar Sharma was growing up in Manoa, people who didn’t know her would look at her and define her as “local.” Read more
Karen Lucas was born in Milwaukee, Wis. Her mother was an artist and introduced her to the world of fine arts at an early age. Read more
Zion Thompson and Ikaika Antone formed The Green with four friends in 2009. They all liked Jamaican music and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, but they weren’t interested in being Rasta impersonators playing remakes of bigger artists’ hits. Read more
Rob Garrett was a kid, growing up Brooklyn, a native New Yorker, when his parents moved the family to Las Vegas. Vegas has been his home ever since. Read more
Kimi Takazawa graduated from Punahou School, earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Columbia University in New York City, and then an Associate of Applied Science degree in interior design from the Parsons School of Design in Greenwich Village. Read more
Shawn Kekoa Pimental discovered music almost as soon as he started kindergarten at Kamehameha Schools. Drums were his first instrument. Read more
Scott Kikkawa was born in Los Angeles, but his parents, who were originally from Hawaii, returned home before he was 2. After growing up in Hawaii Kai and graduating from Kaiser High School, Kikkawa went on to earn a degree in Islamic studies at New York University. Read more
Hannah and Anna Rose Ii-Epstein first met in Chicago in 2003. The couple, who recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary, co-founded the Nothing Without a Company theater group in 2008 to present plays about marginalized voices and the queer community. Read more
Growing up, Freddy Von Paraz enjoyed watching his father play music professionally in Waikiki. By the time Freddy graduated from Moanalua High School, he was doing the same. Read more
Jerome Kupuka‘a and Takeru “Tak” Tanabe both call Hawaii home, but they have several other things in common. Read more
When Roger Jellinek became the executive director of the Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival in 2006, it was the latest chapter in an interesting and varied life. Read more
Justin Chon was born in southern California, grew up in Irvine, Calif., and majored in business at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Read more
Jamin “Chief Ragga” Wong was 8 when his father, Jamieson “Wongie” Kauinohea Wong Sr., moved the family from Oahu to the Big Island. When his father started playing music with a Big Island group named Ho‘aikane in the late 80s, Jamin Wong tagged along and played a drum machine. Read more
Born and raised in Nanakuli, Bailey Barnes grew up in a multicultural household — her father is Native Hawaiian, Filipino and African American, and her mother is Native Hawaiian and Portuguese. Read more
Fred Hemmings got his first surfboard when he was 8. By the time Hemmings graduated from Punahou School (class of ‘65), he was a champion surfer. Read more
Growing up in Santa Ana, Calif., Sara Ward discovered that she liked theater but realized that acting was not her thing. Read more
Vernadette Vicuna Gonzalez grew up “a rural country girl” in the Visayan islands of the central Philippines, but she was educated at an American missionary school and was fluent in both English and Visayan. Read more
Born and raised in New York City, Ray Cruz never questioned his heritage until his parents — both Puerto Rican immigrants — moved the family back to Puerto Rico when he was a teenager. Read more
Courtney Choy remembers the night she graduated from Punahou in 2014 as “one of the proudest times” of her life. This year, she celebrated two nights that many of us would consider even bigger. Read more
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