Wailau Storytellers and Hosts: Spring 2023

Ioane Boshard is 19 years old, graduated from Kamehameha School's Kea’au campus in 2021 and now attends the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo as a sophomore. Ioane’s hobbies include music composition, surfing, hanging out with friends, hunting, fishing, woodwork and musical theater. His mom and dad were very influential in his love for the arts and in Hawaiian culture. Prior to graduating from Kamehameha, Ioane attended ʻEhunuikaimalino and Nāwahīʻokalaniʻopuʻu, which are both Hawaiian immersion schools on the big island of Hawaiʻi. He has been a part of the Hawaiian immersion community since his kindergarten years, all the way to his college years. He is fluent in the Hawaiian language and familiar with cultural practices. He thanks his family for their love and support, all of his friends for looking out for him, his loving partner and fiancée for always being there for him, and he gives all the thanks to God for the many blessings in his life.

Rachel Edwards graduated from UH Hilo with a degree in Performing Arts and a concentration in Music, and has earned her Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the Longy School of Music. Since then, she has returned to teach at UH Hilo, sharing her love of singing with a generation of new students. A member of the Board of Directors for Hilo Community Players, she has served as Musical Director for several productions in recent years. You may have heard her soaring acapella soprano notes singing the Star Spangled Banner solo at UH Hilo Commencement Ceremonies.

Salomé is a poet, short story writer, theater techie, modest singer/lyricist, and dabbles in theatrical makeup, and voice over artistry. She loves all things art and shares her artwork online, under the name: nyx.child. She began writing as a teenager and only recognized its importance as a therapeutic exercise later, in her adult years. She would like to continue storytelling through poetry within her local community.

As a writer in Hawaiʻi, Kimberly writes from internal spaces that are not the same as her environment. Her cultural background as a Sami-American weaves its way through her creations. Writing for children and those seeking knowledge has been part of her life for decades, many of which have been spent teaching others to communicate in English both orally and in writing. Currently, she shares her knowledge with composition students in the University of Hawaiʻi system. She writes both fiction and non-fiction inspired by her global experiences. Optimistic warmth and subtle illumination are trademarks of her writing. She creates thought-provoking stories using gentle humor and hopes that her work will bring comfort and encouragement to others.

Desiree Moana Cruz is the Project Director for Project Iwikuamoʻo, a Kanaka non-profit organization that focuses on the repatriation, reinterment and care of iwi kūpuna. She was raised in a musical family in Pālolo Valley and has lived in Hilo for 33 years. Desiree is a proud graduate of Hawaiʻi Community College, I Ola Hāloa Hawaiian Lifestyles program. She is a member of Hālau Nā Kīpuʻupuʻu, a volunteer with the Volcano Art Center, Hawaiʻi Island Commissioner for the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission, member of the Hawaiian Civic Club of Hilo, president of the Paukaʻa Community Association, and member of the Hāmākua Community Development Plan-Action Committee. As an actress, she has performed as the mom in Kāmau, Da Wicked Queen in Once Upon One Noddah Time, Chiefess Kekuʻiapoiwa in Hānau Ke Aliʻi, Princess Likelike in The Last Princess, Queen Kaʻahumanu in The Conversion of Kaʻahumanu, Dowager Queen Emma in Anchored, and Hāwea in Hoe Ana. She enjoys jazz and blues music, baking, and making lei pua and lei hulu. She has a sweetheart husband (Jim), a good-looking, talented son (Pono), and a beautiful, smart daughter (Maraea)... and 3 cats.

Kauanoe Kamanā has over 40 years of personal and professional experience in Hawaiian language and cultural revitalization. She is the president and an original founder of the private non-profit ʻAha Pūnana Leo, the leading language revitalization organization in the U.S., and is an associate professor at Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani, Hawaiian Language College at UHHilo. She is the director of its laboratory school program and the principal of the university’s internationally renown P-12 Hawaiian medium laboratory school, Ke Kula ʻO Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu. Her own children were raised as first language speakers of Hawaiian and educated through the Pūnana Leo and Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu systems. Her life’s work reestablishes the link between cultural vibrancy and academic success. Her focus has been on developing educational institutional systems of operation based on personally experienced Hawaiian cultural perspectives and values.