Staff + Board of Directors

Meet The Team

Staff

Nanea Lo
Executive Director - Staff

Nanea Lo, a proud Kanaka Maoli from Papakōlea, Oʻahu, now residing in Mōʻiliʻili, has been with Native Stories since 2019, serving as communications manager, podcast host, and independent contractor. She is now the executive director, using her expertise in community and urban planning to further the platform’s mission. Nanea also hosts the podcast Naughty + Native, discussing aloha ʻāina topics.

Beyond Native Stories, she serves on the boards and committees of the Hawaiʻi Workers Center, Hawaiʻi People’s Fund, and Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, advocating for Hawaiian sovereignty, Aloha ʻĀina, and feminism. Nanea has participated in leadership programs such as Young Pacific Leaders and the Native American Political Leadership Program. She leads with a practice of abundance, grounded in joy.

Board of Directors

Native Stories' Board of Directors serves on a volunteer basis.

Nohealani Frizzell
President, Founder, and Board Member

Nohealani Frizzell is a dedicated waʻa paddler, whether it’s 6-man, 1-man, or sailing. An electrical engineer living on the Waimānalo Homestead on Oʻahu, Nohealani earned her Executive MBA from UH and her Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Cal Poly Pomona. She is a wife and māmā to two kaikamahine (daughters).

Her ancestral roots trace back to Honolua and Honokohau, Maui; Lihue, Kauaʻi; and Kumagae-gun, Japan. Her inspiration for Native Stories came from huakaʻi with community programs and her experiences using Rick Steve’s Europe mobile app.

Kahealani Wahinekapu Winchester
Vice President - Board Member

Kahealani Wahinekapu Winchester is a professional engineer with two young Hawaiian children. She is passionate about contributing to Hawaiian history, culture, manaʻo directly from native people through modern technology. Technology through mobile apps, is how the next generation is sharing and consuming information. She is responsible for managing goals and expectations to keep Native Stories on track and moving forward.

Kauluponookaleilehua Luʻuwai
Board Member

Kauluponoʻokaleilehua Lu‘uwai is Native Stories’ treasurer. Raised in Waiohuli, Maui, Kaulu’s ʻohana has deep generational ties to Kīpahulu and Makena in the moku of Honuaʻula. She currently serves as a Post-Juris Doctor Legal Fellow with Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, where she provides crucial legal assistance to rural Neighbor Island communities.

Kaulu’s impressive academic background includes certificates in Native Hawaiian Law and Environmental Law from the William S. Richardson School of Law, along with bachelor’s degrees in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, Finance, and International Business from UH Mānoa.

In 2021, she completed her ʻailolo and ʻūniki rites as a Manalima in lomilomi, under Kumu Keola Chan of Ka Pā o Lonopūhā, honoring traditional Hawaiian healing practices. Kaulu also serves on the boards of the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana and Hui o Nā Wai ʻEhā, supporting grassroots efforts to restore Maui’s streamflow.

Ikaika Bishop
Board Member

Ikaika Bishop lives his passion every day, working to elevate our communities by strengthening our relationships with each other and with our home, Hawaiʻi. Born and raised sovereign in the valley of Kaʻalaea, you’ll often find loʻi mud under his fingernails and sea salt dried in his hair. He loves teaching about the Ahupuaʻa and our Indigenous technologies and grows food to feed the soul.

What’s most special to him is creating regenerative connections with people and fostering our cultural values for place. He does what he loves, loves what he does, and feels like he’s never worked a day in his life.

ʻAʻAliʻi Dukelow
Board Member

ʻAʻAliʻi Dukelow. Born and raised on Maui, ‘Aʻaliʻi has always valued being a part of a diverse, tight-knit community. After graduation, ‘A’ali’i spent a year back home as a reporter for Maui Now, the island’s online news and information hub. He is now a reporter for KITV.

He graduated from the island’s Kula Kaiapuni, or Hawaiian Language Immersion Program, and later earned his bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Victor Limon
Board Member

Victor Limon is Born and raised in Manila, Victor is descended from Ilokano and Igorot ancestries. A cartographer and GIS analyst by training, he completed his masters in urban planning at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2023. Since graduating, he has worked as the data analyst at the City & County of Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency.

Regina Lepping
Board Member

Regina Lepping is a writer, filmmaker, photographer, and advocate for youth and community development. With training in Peacebuilding and Youth Development, she has facilitated Social Entrepreneurship Bootcamps for rural youths in Malaita and the Western Province in the Solomon Islands. Regina also played a key role in hosting the Youth Peacebuilding Innovation Forums under the UNDP Peacebuilding Fund in 2017 and 2018. Her passion for empowering young voices led her to co-found the NATIVE LENS Film Festival, a platform for indigenous filmmakers. Through her work, she continues to amplify the stories of her community and foster social change.

Kencho Gurung
Board Member

Kencho Gurung is a passionate advocate for justice. Born into a tribe Indigenous to the Himalayas and raised across South and Southeast Asia, her experiences across three continents shaped her deep commitment to racial, LGBTQ+, climate, and food justice. A graduate of Kuleana Academy, Kencho works tirelessly to dismantle systems of colonialism and white supremacy, inspired by her love for Black and Brown communities and Indigenous peoples worldwide.

Through her organizing and advocacy, Kencho strives to uplift Hawaiians and other Indigenous peoples in their fight for sovereignty and justice. As an educator and volunteer, she is dedicated to fostering intersectional solidarity and strengthening the progressive movement in Hawaiʻi. Kencho’s lifelong mission is to create a more equitable and just world, guided by her belief in the power of community and collective action.

Philamer ʻPhilʻ Felicitas
Board Member

Philamer ʻPhilʻ Felicitas, is a Hawaiʻi-born digital media expert.

In 2021, Phil’s passion for storytelling led her aboard Hikianalia, sailing to Maui and later voyaging from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi. She documented these journeys, sharing stories that connect people across oceans and generations. Her experiences inspire her to empower Filipina and Indigenous women in the diaspora to reconnect with their roots.

For Phil, the waʻa Hōkūleʻa symbolizes cultural resurgence and community strength. She is committed to preserving the knowledge she gains and passing it on to future generations, including her son. Phil believes storytelling is essential to cultural survival, fostering unity and pride among Indigenous peoples.

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