What is your vision for Kauaʻi?

I would love to see the island function like a large scale homestead instead of a crowded tourist destination. I would like to see Kaua'i become more sustainable in food and products and even become exporters of these items. I want small businesses to thrive and for our youth to have numerous opportunities to grow by providing a wide range of positive activities to participate in. I want to see the county put their energies into ensuring we have roads, bathrooms, parks and beaches that are maintained efficiently and in an excellent way.

Who is the most influential female figure in your life who is not in your family, and why?

She is a long time friend Cristiana Jansen who has influenced my life by her example of unconditional love for others.

Kauaʻi and other rural areas have elevated rates of youth suicide. 11% of our high school students report having attempted suicide. The risk is significantly higher for LGBT teens on Kauaʻi, with 41% reporting suicidal thoughts (YRBS, 2019).

A key factor in youth suicide prevention is making sure that every kid has a positive relationship with a caring adult in their life.
Afterschool programs and activities are key strategies to tackling this youth mental health crisis; however, we don’t have nearly enough afterschool programs on Kauaʻi to meet the need and few safe spaces where our kids can go.

What can the County do to support the increase of afterschool programs, community activities, and safe spaces for our youth?

The county could offer some of the empty facilities that is left dormant all year long. There are many passionate and kind people who have skills and talents to lend to our youth. Most of the road blocks these people find is with securing a meeting place. I had to start KUGA (Kauai Underground Artists) in a garage because space was to expensive or not available. The county could easily make these locations available to people with a program that would serve our youth. All park facilities could be dedicated to this purpose.

Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery that occurs in every state, including Hawaiʻi. In Hawaiʻi, labor trafficking most frequently occurs in domestic work and elder care venues (ACF/HHS, 2017).

Between 2019-2022, Child Welfare received 205 reports of child sex trafficking (AG, 2019). On Kauaʻi, there are at least 6 known child sex trafficking victims with this estimate likely being a gross underestimation (ASU/ HSCSW, 2020).

How would you address the issue of human trafficking and commercial sex exploitation on Kauaʻi?

The first thing I would do is raise mass awareness on the reality of this issue being a threat to our reiki specifically to parents and pre-teen girls. I would also educate the public on how pornography and strip clubs are fuel to this fire. The supply is needed because there is a demand. We could solve this issue by removing the demand and men (who are the number one purchaser of commercial sex) do not correlate their involvement in pornography or attending a strip club to human trafficking. Massive amounts of education and training needs to be done to form a strategy to combat this issue as a state but in the meantime we need to start sounding the alarm within the community, we need to educate ourselves on what it looks like specific to our culture and we need to pin social media and the internet as one of the biggest doorways of access to our kids.

The recent Dobbs decision which overturned 50 years of legal precedent has raised concerns about the possible erosion of abortion rights in Hawaiʻi. Although abortion is currently legal in Hawaiʻi and recent polls show 66% of Hawaiʻi residents support legal abortion, access to abortion services on Kauaʻi are limited, often requiring women to fly off-island for care.

If elected, would you vote for a resolution in support of strengthening abortion rights, and are there other actions you would take as a councilmember or individual to increase local access to abortion care?

I am pro-choice and pro-life. I support women's right to choose what she does with her body and I believe that every child has a right to live from the point of conception. What a woman does with her time, body and money is up to her. I will not support any resolution trying to pull tax payer dollars to facilitate, enable or strengthen abortion.

In 2020, there were over 400 unhoused people on Kauaʻi, many of whom (37%) are unsheltered families (PIT, 2020).

What action will you take to address Kauaʻi’s housing crisis for families? Should property tax revenue should be adjusted to invest more in affordable housing? Why or why not?

Before any property taxes are to be adjusted the county should encourage and provide permitting for current residents to build additional units on their land if they have the resources to do so. In order to build more new affordable housing we need new infrastructure to support it which is costly. If the county was to adjust property tax they should use it to lay out and install the infrastructure to help local families have a stepping stone toward building their own home.

Over 4,000 people on Kauaʻi are on the waitlist of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL, 2021).

60% of the over 200,000+ acres of land governed by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for Kānaka Maoli housing may never have homes due to the lack of infrastructure for residential housing (DHHL, 2019). Kānaka Maoli have the highest rate of homelessness in Hawaiʻi.

What initiatives will you undertake to help combat Kānaka Maoli displacement?

Off the grid tiny homes that have self composting toilets should be explored immediately. These tiny homes should be given to Kanaka Maoli who meet a specific criteria. This tiny home and plot of land should be zoned for a main house to be built if the Kanaka Maoli choose to build one for themselves and their tiny home could be used for future rental income.

Last month, the Kauaʻi County Council unanimously voted to return the property and buildings designated for a drug treatment facility to Grove Farm.

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, Hawaiʻi is designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area. Only 14.2% of the Mental Health Care need has been met as of September 2021 (HRSA, 2021).

What concrete steps will you take to ensure the mental health of our community is addressed? What can the County do to ensure individuals seeking substance abuse treatment are able to access the care they need?

The fact that the county has these facilities that remain unused is unacceptable. We need to remove the line that separates church and state especially on this issue. I think the county needs to start building bridges with religious groups who want to serve the mental health needs of our community. I think it is time for the county to say we can't do this on our own and we welcome others to come and help! There are many groups that are helping people in small numbers. The county should be open handed with what resources and facilities they have to help these people already doing the work expand.

We’ve talked about housing, childcare, the displacement of Kānaka Maoli, and healthcare as separate topics. If we take a wider view, we can see these issues as interrelated and part of systemic discrimination and devaluation of women and girls.

How would you use your role as a community leader to address the impact of systemic injustices so young women and keiki can have equal opportunities to live to their fullest potential?

I would continue what I am already doing which is empowering young women and children through the self-defense workshops I host. The main thing I try to communicate is that we will only defend that which is of value, so valuing ourselves is our number one priority. Sometimes we just need to hear it or be reminded of it. The ability to live to our fullest potential is within us, we just need to change the way we think about the world around us and most of all how we view ourselves.

Are there any other important issues for our community that you would like to address?

I think our community needs to consider de-centralizing the Department of Education, we are the only state that does not function with school districts that govern themselves or have school boards made up of parents. I strongly feel sexual education curriculum approved to be taught at our public schools has harmful material which I will venture to say is grooming our children to be potential victims of human trafficking.