Shelley Kalei Muneoka

Aloha mai kākou, ʻo wau ʻo Shelley Kalei Muneoka, no Heʻeia Uli mai au, i ka malu o nā pali Koʻolau. Kalei graduated from Kamehameha Kapālama in 2003 and went on to earn a Bachelorʻs degree in Sociology with a minor in Japanese language from the University of Evansville in southern Indiana. She returned home to complete a Masterʻs degree in Social Work. Sheʻs worked at various non-profits and educational institutions over the years, always with the healing and uplifting of the broader lāhui in mind. Today, she works at the Unviersty of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa on a research project that focuses on different aspects of later life for Native Hawaiian kūpuna.

Much of Kalei’s lifeʻs work focuses on the care of elders, past, present and future, both human and more-than-human. She is involved in a number of different advocacy efforts for ancestral places and practices that make Hawaiʻi unique. Kalei has had the privilege of connecting with and caring for kūpuna over the years and believes in the power of learning and passing on their stories.

Kalei met and began training with ‘Ōlohe Keani in 2014 and has been enriched by the many facets of lua.