9:45 am – 10:45 am – Plenary – Reimagining Us: Fostering Safe and Healthy Organizations
Kuʻulani Keohokalole (she/her/ʻo ia) established People Strategies Hawaiʻi in 2019 with the vision of growing the capacity of organizations to foster community-minded and people-oriented leaders. She trains, consults, and supports organizations across sectors and industries who are looking to transform around the ways they engage people to achieve their mission.
Kuʻulani was grounded in the traditional Native Hawaiian cultural practice of hoʻoponopono by her grandmother, who was a community-based practitioner. The art of reconciliation, and making things right, guides her approach to facilitation and consultation with organizations, stemming from the belief that clients hold the answers to their own challenges, that who shows up and how they show up matters, and that waiting for the moment is key.
Kuʻulani received the distinctions of Pacific Business News’s “40 Under 40” in 2020 and Hawaiʻi Business Magazine’s “20 People To Watch for the Next 20 Years” in 2023. She is a sought-after speaker on topics of diversity, equity and inclusion, Hawaiian values, organizational culture and leadership, speaking for the Hawaiʻi Business Magazine Wahine Forum & Leadership Conference, and the YWCA, among others.
Kuʻulani holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies from UH Mānoa, an M.A. in Education Leadership, Politics and Advocacy from NYU, and an Executive Certificate in Organizational Consulting & Change Leadership from Georgetown University. She is a faculty lecturer for a new course entitled, “ES 496: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion In the Workplace” at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.