Pacific Perspective Vol. 9
By Alesi Meyers-Tuimavave
Photos & designs provided by Mya Akana
Mya Akana is a Hawaiian student at UH Hilo, currently in her second semester. She is majoring in Hawaiian studies while minoring in business, and is originally from Kapolei on Oʻahu.
Mya shared that she chose UH Hilo for numerous reasons, one being the immersive Hawaiian Language program. She expressed her appreciation for the college of Hawaiian language, Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke'elikōlani.
After touring campus with family, friends, and being exposed to the ins and outs of the ʻōlelo Hawai‘i program, Mya fell in love with the rigor of it all. She mentioned that in grade school she had a different ʻōlelo teacher every year, never one that was committed to her success like she has now.
Mya mentioned that her parents and their siblings are the working class of the family, allowing her the leisure to blossom into creativity and become the artist she is today, also allowing her the time to be interested in the history of Hawai‘i.
“In my first semester I had to take the Hawaiian ʻOhana class,” Mya said, “We [had] to go to the library and learn everything there is to learn about how to use [it], and we're also doing it right now in English. I think that’s the greatest resource that all these classes kind of point towards, how to use the system to our full capability, which is really nice.”
“My first semester I was really a newbie because I didn’t go to a Hawaiian immersion school… [or] Kamehameha, so it was hard to connect,” Mya said. “But in the second semester, I've met so many people that are really good resources and really supportive, and I see them everywhere I go. I see the Hawaiian teachers out and about in Hilo, students have come to support me at my art shows and what not. I feel really supported her.”
When asked if there were any issues on campus she wished had more attention, Mya said that, “Here at ʻAlahonua, all of the students that have cars speed in the parking lot.” She went on to say, “I’ve almost gotten hit like three times. We need to do something about that, a slow down sign or something.”
Mya also wished that there were more opportunities for younger students at UH Hilo. She expressed that it would be a “good leadership opportunity” if said students could work with high schoolers touring campus.
“[They] could still give a lot of advice and experience,” Mya said. “Usually for those kinds of things certain people are chosen to speak to younger people, but I think giving thoughts off the top of someone's head is the way to get folks.”
Along with being a student here at UH Hilo, Mya also started her own business last semester called Welina Mai Nei LLC. She registered her business towards the end of fall 2023, and it has started taking off this semester which is “very fast” for a new business.
“My grandmother had a hanai [adopted] brother,” Mya mentioned. “He was an artist from Kauaʻi and made his way to Hawaiʻi island, where he built his house in Volcano. He was strictly a painter and an artist of shells, he had a giant shell collection and giant paintings all over his house. He would sell those paintings without any documentation because that was just his way of life. He had to eat, bills had to be paid. When he passed, everything had gone to my tutu [grandmother.] She lived in his house for a little while, and I just wasn’t old enough to realize it yet; what we had.”
This artist was named Laka Martin.
“A few years ago, she ended up giving everything to me. With that, I realized that to my family, these paintings are just paintings we've seen our entire lives…” Mya said, going on to say, “But when I show it to other people they're like ‘oh my god, where did you find these?’ And these are all paintings of Hawaiians that he knows; they are all real people, they're not fictional characters or anything. We even have some of the reference photos. It made me really sad to think about the fact that he didn’t get any of the publicity that he should've when he was alive.”
Mya went on to share with Ke Kalahea how this situation has guided her in finding her drive within her business.
“As an artist myself, I felt the responsibility to get [Laka’s] artwork back to our people, and hopefully find some kind of mission along the way,” Mya said. “That’s what I've been doing these past couple of months. Figuring out, really, a specific way to get his artwork to our people in a vital way that makes a difference.”
Mya explained that she started with designing surface patterns for others, while also taking Laka’s artwork and making prints on shirts. Mya would take his pieces to different art shows, but realized that “those kinds of things aren’t worth buying unless you’re a collector.” People recognized the work and were mesmerized by it, but not drawn to buying anything.
“So, I came to the epiphany that I need to start a clothing line,” Mya concluded. “Starting a clothing line was always in my head because that’s been Hawaiʻi's thing the last couple of years. Hawaiʻi clothing has been brought up into the world, and it's thriving right now.”
Mya explained that her father helped her set up a meeting with a brand developer, who really got the ball rolling on Mya’s connections within the business world of Hawaiʻi’s clothing industry.
“I went to that meeting thinking I was just going to get advice from him on what I should do, and when he saw the artwork he was like, ‘we could turn this into aloha wear by next December’.” Mya said, “We left that meeting with a game plan and it took off, just like that. Opportunity hit me in the face and I didn’t even know it. It was amazing.”
Mya expressed her love for Reyn Spooner fabric, called Spooner cloth, as well as the reverse printing style of it. One of the most important factors to Mya is ensuring that her clothing is made with quality material.
After attending a fabric convention in L.A. last month, she expressed these feelings to the brand developer, who then put her in contact with Robert Kaufman, a manufacturer for Spooner cloth and other Aloha Wear brands.
Mya told Ke Kalahea that due to the expensive nature of creating your own business, she’s unable to have Kaufman and his team create all of the cuts for her clothes. Instead, she will buy the fabric from them, and then have her clothing cut, styled, and manufactured in Hawaiʻi.
“The selection that we have is super limited,” Mya said, talking about other Aloha Wear clothing. “A lot of these brands that come up today are made for hula, or it's just super casual. There's nothing like, ‘oh I'm gonna wear that to my interview’, or ‘I’m gonna wear that to the gala’. There’s nothing super professional…”
“That’s also what I'm striving for, clothing that fits the Hawaiian body,” Mya went on, “I'm gonna include the option to have your purchase tailored fit to you for an extra 20-30 dollars… and figuring out a pattern for the cut of the style itself to fit our bodies better.”
Mya went on to express that her goal right now is “being the start to a new era of Hawaiian products.”
“Welina means the greeting,” Mya said, going on to say, “It comes from my middle name which is Kewelinaalohaakeakuamana, [meaning] the gift or greeting from God. Prior to me being born, my mom was pregnant with a boy and she had a miscarriage when he was born… they had lost him and a couple months later, I popped out.”
Mya shared that she got this name from her tutu, who gave it to her because even though it wasnʻt her brother's time, her parents were still deserving of a child.
Mya mentioned some of the struggles of being a young business owner to Ke Kalahea.
“With digital designing and designing for other companies, because I'm so young, a lot of people feel that I'm hungry for work and I should be happy they're asking for my work,” Mya said. “I usually get lowballed a lot of the time. I didn’t know this prior to working with my brand developer… but I can up my price because I work with higher end programming.”
“When I started I felt the need to be humble in that sense, and get my work out as much as possible,” Mya went on to say, “That’s the hardest part, making sure that I get rewarded for the work that I do; correctly, fully. Another thing that's really hard is finding the money to continue pouring into the business. Thankfully, I have my dad, my uncle, and my tutu to put in money when they can, wherever they can. But when it comes to bigger purchases that I need, it's really hard.”
Mya said that it's been hard finding grants to support her business as well. She shared that they are very time consuming, and knowing that she won’t always get them also adds on to that stress.
“I don’t have a husband to piggyback off of,” Mya said, “a lot of these smaller women-owned businesses, they're married or have a spouse to pay their bills while they focus on their business. I have school, a business to pay for, [and] I have a car now. It's hard to upkeep the money. There will be opportunity though, it's coming.”
“It is scary to first see how much you really have to pay for when it comes to starting a business,” Mya said, continuing on to say, “When I was first told that my first drop would be 50 grand, I was like ʻhow, where?’, but now that I've worked it out and brought that price down a lot in ways that I can, but still keeping that quality that I need, it seems a lot more in reach.”
Ke Kalahea asked Mya what the most satisfying part of owning her business is, and she talked about her recent experiences traveling to L.A. for said business.
“The opportunities that come along with owning your own business and the people that I get to meet, is truly wonderful,” Mya said. “I've gone to L.A. a few times, I've traveled, I've gone to Europe. But this time, I felt like I had a place. I wasn’t just a student, I was a part of something bigger. I had my own mission. I’ve been finding myself really focusing on that feeling lately. The times that I'm not busy, back to back doing things, I feel useless.”
“I’ve noticed that I’ve been craving that feeling of success. I’m not money hungry, but I wanna prove to everyone that I can do it.”
Mya went on to express that another issue she’s been dealing with is people telling her she can't own a business and go to school at the same time.
“I'm preparing for it, taking little steps in my business, [and] I'm not rushing through it because I'm not trying to make a profit tomorrow,” Mya expressed. “I have the need to prove to everyone that I can handle all these things. I have to prove that it's not as hard as everyone thinks it is. I have these people my age that are like ʻI couldn’t imagine doing that’. ʻI do this, but I couldn’t see it being my whole career and I'm like, ʻBut have you tried?’”
“I need that validation for myself to let myself know that I did that. I did it with flying colors. I didnʻt just crawl through it, I thrived. That’s ultimately the end goal for me, the fact that I thrived in doing it. In the process of it. Not, I thrived or I'm thriving now because I started my business in college.”
Mya’s business page can be found on instagram @welina_mai_nei_llc
