TEAM WE’VE BUILT

 

CO-FOUNDER

  • Mahina Paishon-Duarte, MBA is co-founder and managing partner of Waiwai Collective, a contemporary resilience space for community, culture and commerce. She is a social entrepreneur who has lead a number of educational and cultural organizations. In addition, she studies and hones her practice as a cultural practitioner with Nā Kālai Waʻa, Hālau O Ke ʻAʻaliʻi Ku Makani and at Heʻeia fishpond.

CO-FOUNDER

  • Ashley Lukens, PhD is an independent philanthropic and development advisor in Hawai‘i and Oregon. Her clients include both funders and grantees. She has worked in and with the non-profit sector in Hawaiʻi since 2006. Ashley is a proud cancer thriver and her commitment to holistic health and well-being knits her personal and professional life together.

FORMER CONSULTANTS

Wei Fang, Co-founder

Kilikina Mahi, Project Advisor

CURRENT CONSULTANTS

 

FINANCIAL

Alexandra Kazlausky

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Anna Camacho

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 

  • The Kohala Center

    Having navigated our communityʻs for profit and non profit, corporate and entrepreneurial worlds, Cheryl chairs our Board of Directors. Cheryl is specifically interested in exploring and uplifting indigenous ways of leading. She is CEO and President of The Kohala Center and lives on Hawai‘i Island. Though she enjoys traveling the world on-line or on-land with her husband, Boots, she is happiest curled up on a big couch with their English bulldog, Bubba, on their island home in the middle of the Ocean.

  • NMG Network

    Born and raised on O‘ahu, Matt honed his passion and skills as a writer/editor in Los Angeles before returning home to serve as deputy editor for Hawai‘i Magazine, where he focused on the unique stories of Hawai‘i and its people. Matthew is the managing editor at Nella Media Group and is our Board Secretary.

  • LA County Office of Food Systems

    Paula Daniels is a lawyer and public policy leader in environmental food and water policy. She is the inaugural Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Office of Food Systems, co-founder and founding chair of the Center for Good Food Purchasing, and founder of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council.

    She has served in numerous government roles, including Senior Advisor to the Mayor of Los Angeles, LA Public Works Commissioner, and commissioner with the California Coastal Commission and California Water Commission.

    Paula is an Ashoka Fellow and Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Resident Fellow, and has taught food policy at UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Vermont Law School.

 

  • Biome Capital

    David Leon is a purpose-driven executive whose experience spans early stage venture building in funds, tech, non-profits, and consumer brands.

    He’s a co-founder and Partner at Biome Capital (a regenerative ag real asset fund) and a co-founder at Farmer’s Footprint (a non-profit working to accelerate the universal adoption of regenerative agriculture). He lives on the island of Lanaʻi with his partner, Arielle, and sons, Remy and Silas.

  • Farm Link Hawaiʻi

    Claire has a deep passion for and experience in Hawai‘iʻs diverse agricultural sector. She has worked on several different facets to support its economic viability alongside the environmental and social/cultural health of our communities. Currently, Claire is CEO of Farm Link Hawaiʻi.

  • Keith and Judy Swayne Family Foundation

    Anne is deeply committed to transforming philanthropy writ large. She founded a local chapter of EPIP (Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy) that through a social justice lens, develops new leaders to enhance organized philanthropy and its impact on communities. Anne is President of the Keith and Judy Swayne Family Foundation