Dinner Party: Hawaiian Heroes

May brings about many different important groups of people and subjects to highlight and one of them is shining a light on Asian American and Pacific Islanders also known as AAPI Heritage Month. "Pacific Islander" means having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawai'i, Guam, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and the Marshalls or other Pacific Islands. We sat down with Sage Ke'alohilani Quiamno, native Hawaiian and Co Founder of Future For Us along with her friends to enjoy traditional Hawaiian food and fellowship.

The native Hawaiian food that colored the table consisted of Lau Lau (main dish), Kalua Pig (main dish), Fried Samin (main dish), Loco Moco (main dish), Chicken Long Rice (side dish), Spam Musubi (side dish), Macaroni Salad (side dish), Lomi Salad (side dish), Poi (side dish), Ahi Poke (side dish), Fried Rice (side dish) and Portuguese Sausage (side dish). She called these Hawaiian 'local' foods.

Our favorite was the dessert cakes infused with guava and passion fruit. The layers of whipped cream, moist cake and fruit melted in our mouths and transported us to Hawai'i. Aside from the delicious food, was also the rich dialogue. The conversations around the table spoke of a true pride for the resilience of Native Hawaiians and a desire to dispel images of Hawaii that simply were perpetuated by colonizers.

Things like coconut bras having no connection to true Hawaiian culture was one of the ones that surprised us the most since Westerners have long associated that with Hawaiian visuals. Sage spoke passionately about Queen Lili'uokalani and how she fought and represented for her people. Queen Lili'uokalani was the first woman ever to rule Hawai'i. She was instrumental in implementing a new constitution that would restore the powers lost to the monarchy through the Bayonet Constitution.

If there is anything that we picked up during this dinner party, it was a deep love and admiration for carrying on their ancestors strength and pride. This ancestral connection was a driving force to inspire Sage to start Future For Us. Future For Us is a platform dedicated to advancing womxn of color at work through community, culture and career development. Future For Us started in 2019 with Co Founder, Aparna Rae, and has grown into a community of over 10,000+ professionals across the nation. Future For Us has been featured in Forbes, People, Vogue, The Seattle Times and Geek Wire, to name a few. Most notable is their recent accomplishment of earning a grant from tennis superstar, Serena Williams through Vital Voices Global Partnership. With this grant and the others she obtained, they will be able to carry on valuable work to help womxn of color in the workplace like their annual assembly (that welcomed over 500 attendees this second go-round when they took it digital amidst this pandemic), digital resources, workshops and more.

Queen Lili'uokalani reclaimed her power and we see Sage doing that every day as she fights for womxn of color's rights for diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Her ancestors would be proud.

Mahalo!

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