Infrastructure of Stories, an event presented by Bad Friend Productions and supported by the Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), recently explored how to broaden Maui County’s role in cinema beyond merely hosting a traditional film industry. The name, ‘Infrastructure of Stories’, refers to a community-driven economic initiative to transition Maui from being a backdrop for the film industry into a self-sustaining, community-led film economy.
The meeting focused on how to keep economic benefits on the island, support local talent, and highlight the upcoming Wailuku Film Festival. The panelists featured leading Hawai’i creatives, filmmakers and business leaders including: the married writer and producer couple from Maui, Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, famous for their recent film series Shogun; Brian Kohne, Maui Film Commissioner; Matt Yamashita, Emmy-winning filmmaker from Molokai; Kawika Hoke, filmmaker and marketing analyst; and Stefan Schaefer, director.
“The mission is to empower local creators, integrate authentic mo’olelo (Hawai’ian storytelling), and build the resources needed to produce films and media,” said Kohne. “We aim to connect local storytellers with established film and media professionals. We want to keep our talent on Maui and bring back those that left home. I am one of a handful in our business who came home and I want that for our present and future generation. I thank Shogun producer Rachel Kondo and her family for moving back to Maui; however, they still have to travel to Los Angeles for work. Artists need to be able to feed themselves and their families.”
Event host, Ted Anderson, owner of Venture Physical Therapy and member of the Maui County Health Partnership, thanked MEDB for their support. “This is what we want,” he said. “Our entire community is needed to make the whole system work, including the county and state government. The Wailuku Film Festival is definitely a big step in the right direction.”
The inaugural Wailuku Film Festival, presented by the Maui Film Office and the County of Maui, June 17-21, at the Iao and Naylor Theaters, plus special films on June 21 at the MACC, features over 100 films, with over 50 Hawai’i filmmakers, screening in categories of Hawai’i, Indigenous Voices, Watersports, Animation, and Student productions. The festival is a gathering place where Hawaiian values, cultural knowledge and storytelling meet.
We need to develop all the different components needed to keep all of our talent on island. Home is where work is! Tickets are available at WailukuFilm.com and MauiArts.org., and the Film Festival Box Office at 45a North Market Street, Wailuku.
– Brian Kohne, Maui Film Commissioner
Lisa Payne, owner of Hana Hou by Hale Zen in Lahaina, recentlyhosted a public book-signing with Maui-based author Alana Kysar celebrating the release of her newest cookbook, Aloha Veggies. The guests met the author, had books signed, and enjoyed complimentary pupus throughout the evening made from the author’s recipes.
“We love creating gatherings that bring people together around beautiful things,” said Payne. “Hosting Kysar at the shop felt like a natural fit and a wonderful way to share an evening of conversation, food and inspiration with our community.”
Hana Hou by Hale Zen reopened in November 2024 in Emerald Plaza after the original Hale Zen boutique was lost in the August 2023 Lahaina wildfire. The store became the first retail business to reopen after being lost in the fire, offering a welcoming space for residents and visitors to reconnect through thoughtful shopping and community gatherings.
Payne said, “Thankfully, our warehouse and office location in Emerald Plaza was spared, so we had a base of operation. With the assistance of dozens of vendors, we hosted free shopping events there to help hundreds of Lahaina fire victims.We were honored to host Maui-based author Alana Kysar as she celebrates her new book, Aloha Veggies. It’s so much more than just a cookbook. It’s a love letter to Hawai’i, the food, traditions, and farmers. Kysar’s work is deeply rooted in Hawai’i and it shimmers on every page of this beautiful book. Her previous book, Aloha Kitchen, has been a personal favorite of mine since its 2019 release and remains a bestseller at our store. We’re excited to help her launch Aloha Veggies!”
Kysar added, “I’m always trying to build my meals around what’s locally sourced. Farming isn’t an easy business but it’s so vital that we, as a community, do what we can to support local farms. In my book, Aloha Veggies, I profiled five farms throughout Hawai’i to showcase the wide range of crops that can be grown here, and how rich and diverse the culinary space is on the islands. I believe that it’s still constantly evolving, and I feel lucky to play a small role in both preserving and contributing to it.”
You can tell how much Lisa loves the Lahaina community. Her enthusiasm really comes through in all she does. Both of us explore and are inspired by the cultural influences that shape our community.
Alana Kysar, Maui author of Aloha Veggies and Aloha Kitchen
The Hawaiʻi State Public Library System is now modernized. New resources such as e-books and audiobooks are accessible via user-friendly apps on smartphones. This modern approach allows patrons to borrow materials without waiting in line or even stepping foot inside if they prefer digital access. The library inspires curiosity and creates opportunities for all to read, learn, and connect with almost any subject imaginable. Rooted in the ʻohana spirit, the library embodies aloha, cultural richness, and the environmental beauty of Hawaiʻi through its books, digital collections, community programming, and welcoming spaces. It boasts an extensive collection that spans many genres, from standard references to contemporary fiction and much more.
“We also have a new, fully operational library on wheels, Holo Holo Bookmobile, that visits schools, senior centers, and community sites,” said Tracy Latimer, Kihei Library Branch Manager. “Plus, all Maui library branches now offer personalized free in-person or virtual tech assistance to help residents with devices, online job applications, and safety tools via the Digital Navigator Program.”
The Maui Public Library stands as a beacon for knowledge seekers and community members alike. It’s not just a building filled with books. It’s a vibrant hub where stories come alive, ideas flourish, and connections are made. Included in the library’s updates is a new library card with a new logo inspired by traditional Hawaiian art and kappa patterns. Al branches also host numerous events throughout the year.
Latimer shared, “In Kihei, we offer author readings, workshops on everything from gardening to technology skills, art exhibits showcasing local talent, and book clubs that ignite passionate discussions among participants. These gatherings create an inviting atmosphere where everyone can share their love for literature or learn something new together. There are spaces dedicated specifically for community meetings or study groups equipped with wi-fi access so people can collaborate effectively on projects or simply connect over shared interests. Moreover, staff members are always ready with recommendations tailored to individual tastes.”
In essence, visiting the Maui Public Library isn’t merely about borrowing books. It’s about immersing oneself in a rich tapestry woven from diverse narratives written and spoken by fellow islanders who call this place home.
In addition to books, there are specialized activities each day of the week including movie matinees and story-time for keiki. Also, on May 29th, all are invited to the 30-year anniversary of the Kihei Library. The all-day celebration includes visits from dignitaries, entertainers, and more. Come to the library!
Tracy Latimer, Kihei Public Library Branch Manager
The Sheraton Waikīkī’s conference venue was packed with middle and high school students, including many from Maui Nui, for the 17th annual Hawaiʻi STEM Conference on April 15th and 16th. Organized by STEMworks™, a program of Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), the 2-day event is the program’s largest student career awareness and teacher professional development event of the year. The 2026 conference welcomed a total of 612 attendees from all across the state despite moving to a smaller venue due to the closure of the Hawaiʻi Convention Center. Many of the workshops were standing room only, showing the high demand for engaging, industry-led STEM education opportunities among both students and teachers.
One of the highlights of the conference this year was the interactive exhibit hall, referred to as the “playground.” Over 30 companies and organizations tabled in the playground, representing a wide range of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) career pathways and educational opportunities, including healthcare, engineering, computer science, aviation, ocean science, and natural resource management.
Students and teachers benefitted from the expertise of over 60 STEM industry guest speakers who led 38 student sessions and 9 teacher workshops. Keynote addresses were also presented by Caitlin Sarian, a global cybersecurity expert known as @cybersecuritygirl online, and Maile Miyake, a graphic designer and entrepreneur from Kauaʻi.
In light of this year’s conference theme, “Navigating Change,” many guest speakers focused on helping students learn about artificial intelligence (AI) tools and how to use them effectively and responsibly. One student attendee commented, “I learned about how AI can be used for chatbots and to improve our time efficiency when it comes to repetitive actions.” Another student shared, “My favorite session was creating a custom AI. It was cool to be able to create an AI that I could make do anything.”
Over 40 industry professionals also joined the students for an hour of speed networking. Students were encouraged to ask the professionals about their careers, educational backgrounds, and paths to their current roles. One teacher observed, “The best part of the event is being able to take my students to experience avenues of career choices connected to STEM. It was great to see how much they took in from this conference.”
Students traveled from all islands to participate in the event, with 196 of the 366 student participants coming from Maui County, including Molokai and Lānaʻi. Among the 82 teachers at the conference, 50 were from Maui County. STEMworks is proud to offer financial support to neighbor island students and teachers for travel costs thanks to the program’s many donors, grant funders, and event sponsors.
Bringing together leaders, policymakers, cooperatives, and energy innovators, the 2026 Hawaii Energy Conference will discuss pathways to resilience and sustainability using firm (dispatchable source) power, while incorporating the lessons learned from successful indigenous projects.
From geothermal in Hawaii to energy projects on tribal lands and cooperative models across the U.S. and New Zealand, participants will share experiences and strategies for advancing energy solutions while maintaining harmony with local landscapes and traditions.
A deep dive session will explore the topic of Water & Energy in a more intimate setting for up to 40 people. A panel will discuss current and emerging options for seawater desalination, the status of desalination plans on Oahu and Maui, and the energy challenges that influence the feasibility and cost of these technologies.
Attendees at HEC2026 will engage in meaningful dialogue on how policy, technology, and cultural wisdom can shape a resilient and more affordable energy future across all generations.
Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) STEMworks™ education program is continuing to expand its paid summer internship options this year to meet growing student demand for meaningful, on-the-job training in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. After hitting an all-time high last summer with over 120 interns across the state, STEMworks aims to accept at least 170 high school and college students this summer. The success of the program rests on STEMworks’ role as matchmaker between interns and host companies, ensuring that students enrolled in the program gain experiences that align with their interests and skills.
STEMworks offers three different options for students interested in STEM summer internships. The first is STEMworks Innovation Internships, a statewide program focused on placing students with cutting-edge STEM companies, covering fields such as cybersecurity, aerospace, manufacturing, medical research, and aquaculture. The application form is online here: https://bit.ly/STEMinno26. The deadline to apply is April 3.
For Maui County students interested in agriculture, STEMworks Agriculture Business and Technology Internships offer hands-on experience in a wide variety of agriculture-related professions, not just traditional farming. Intern program manager Britney James explained, “While the careers are based in the agriculture sector, students can apply the skills they learn to other fields. Students come away with the understanding that the agriculture sector has many different types of industries that can fulfill their career aspirations.” Students can apply online here: http://bit.ly/2026SummerAgInternships. Applications are due May 8.
New this year, STEMworks is also launching the Maui County Healthcare Student Placement program. After working with the MEDB-facilitated Maui County Healthcare Partnership, STEMworks staff decided to create a paid work-based learning and job-shadowing program specifically for students interested in healthcare careers to meet the growing need for more healthcare workers in Maui County. Students interested in healthcare job shadowing can find more information here: https://forms.gle/5ktgisJzSqGgmFNq9. The deadline to apply is April 3.
This is a valuable opportunity for students to build their resumes, explore career options, gain new skills, and grow their networks. I’ve never had any students walk away from their internship experience disappointed.
Britney James, Agriculture Program Manager, Maui Economic Development Board, STEMworks
As communities across the country observe Women’s History Month this March, it is also a time to recognize the challenges women continue to face and how the Maui Nui community is responding, carrying forward a long tradition of women supporting women. In the spring of 2016, a group of Maui-based doulas, midwives, and childbirth educators, met in the living room of one of their homes to talk about the need for a strong local network of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum professionals. This led to the first annual Labor Day Event in September 2016 and ultimately to the formation of Pacific Birth Collective (PBC), which provides crucial services to Maui families as well as professional development opportunities to its network of professionals.
Morea Mendoza, PBC’s director of leadership and operations, shared “Our board and staff are run by women. We offer many programs such as the Community Birth Project, contributing financial aid to families looking to select a birth worker of their choice, from a midwife, hospital doula, post-partum therapist, lactation specialist, etc. We also work with Medicare and the State of Hawaiʻi, trying to implement better systems so that people can have all these benefits included into their insurance as other states have.”
PBC secured a 501(c)(3) status in 2021. During the Maui wildfire crisis of August 2023, they jumped into action to support some of the most vulnerable of those affected by the fires: mothers and babies. “We knew immediately who would be left most vulnerable in the wake of such destruction,” said Mendoza. “By acting quickly to deliver supplies to these moms and families, PBC saved many lives.”
Mendoza added, “Another PBC program, Farm to Mother, is funded by the Maui County Department of Agriculture. We partner with the Maui Food Bank and various local produce farmers to provide a weekly food box program specifically designed for the nutritional needs throughout pregnancy and postpartum. We offer an online library with recipes and different types of nutritional suggestions explaining the benefits of the food. Plus, at our Haʻikū facility, we provide a wellness and education initiative including a full schedule of classes, clinics, support groups, body work, and group therapy. There are often pop-ups in Hāna, Molokai, and Lānaʻi.”
PBC reaches a wide community, and women at all stages of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum meet each other and become friends while utilizing PBC services. “It takes a village!” Mendoza concluded. “It’s amazing what you can do with community. We have a wonderful mix of women, children, and fathers. All are welcome!” For more information, visit online at https://pacificbirthcollective.org/.
Realizing there is not enough help for mothers and families, our organization has become the support that our founders needed when they were raising their children.
Morea Mendoza, Director of Leadership and Operations, Pacific Birth Collective
Ted and Ann Anderson started Venture Physical Therapy (VPT) in 2008. They wanted to launch a program that improved island residents’ health while also building infrastructure to train therapists to bring the highest level of care to Maui and the state. Today, VPT has three locations on Maui and one on Lānaʻi. Knowing how hard it is to attract kamaʻāina back to the islands after they complete college on the continent, the Andersons also became interested in launching an internship to support Maui County’s healthcare workforce needs.
“We’ve been developing our internship program for over 15 years,” Ted explained. “We include internships for high school students to introduce them to healthcare fields, plus, we also offer undergraduate internships for students who need clinical observation hours when applying to physical therapy school. Additionally, internships are offered for graduate students in the final rounds of their doctoral programs.”
Thanks to their commitment to local healthcare workforce development, this year the Andersons hired two new local physical-therapy graduates who both went through their VPT internship program. VPT’s winter 2026 cohort of interns will also be their largest locally-connected group ever. Three of the seven interns have a direct connections to Maui, and the others also grew up in the islands.
“We try to give interns a wide breadth of what healthcare practice and our business model look like throughout the islands,” Ted said. “When interns excel, we create opportunities for them to spend time learning specialties in our other Maui clinics. We also send them to other islands to see how we practice in more rural communities. We believe creating a well-rounded experience, where someone can truly see how they can develop a career on Maui and in Hawai’i, is essential for long-term economic development.”
Ted added, “I’ve been working with Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) through the Maui County Healthcare Partnership (MCHP), and I’ll be interacting with MEDB’s STEMworks internship program this coming summer. We share many of the same values and perspectives on internships, specifically that interns should be given real, meaningful tasks focused on helping them understand and build a career, while also learning how to train and collaborate with colleagues.” VPT is one of 35 healthcare organizations and 20 community organizations that commit to regular MCHP discussions and coordinated action, focused on priority areas like growing our own healthcare workforce here in Maui Nui.
Along with MEDB, we believe that investing in students is one of the best ways to strengthen long-term health and wellness in our community.
Ted Anderson, PT, DPT, Owner and Physical Therapist, Venture Physical Therapy
Maui resident and marine biology PhD candidate Jessie Hoffman says she’s “always been a little fish.” Originally from Iowa, she grew up surrounded by corn and soybeans. However, her first time in the ocean, she knew she was home. “When I look out at the ocean, I see a big hug, wrapping us all up in joy and magic,” Hoffman said while explaining her work. “My dissertation title, Quantifying the physiological impacts of negative human interactions on humpback whales in the North Pacific, is based on understanding how much people impact the health of humpback whales when they become entangled in fishing gear or get struck by boats.”
With a Master of Science in marine sciences from Hawaiʻi Pacific University, Hoffman was selected as a Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar in 2023 for her PhD research. The scholarship program is run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to support the mission of the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and it’s how Hoffman ended up collaborating with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, located in Kihei. In 2024, she did a three-month field study with the whales, research that will someday help complete her dissertation.
“I’m looking at the whale’s stress hormone levels, which come from their blubber and their breath, and I’m looking at how their energy use changes when they are entangled,” Hoffman explained. “Researchers have been able to obtain and share a lot of information about entanglements and vessel strikes, a leading cause of whale injury and death. Actions such as improper disposal of gear or debris can lead to whales becoming entangled in fishing lines and nets, which prevents them from swimming, feeding, and breathing properly.”
Hoffman added, “Interacting with these marine mammals, sharing personal experiences with them, looking into their eyes and them looking back at you—there is nothing like it! Humpbacks also taught Hawaiians how to voyage. They are a direct representation of Kanaloa, a major Hawaiian god of the ocean. They are ʻaumakua [ancestral guardians] to some families. They sing the songs and provide important ‘ike [knowledge]. We need to be aware of them and what our actions are doing to them. Never leave gear or trash behind in the sea, maintain a safe distance, and please be responsible!”
Our actions and choices have an impact on the Earth and everything that lives in it, including us.
Jessie Hoffman, Marine Biology PhD Candidate, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary
