KUʻUWEHI HIRAISHI
Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi is an award-winning journalist and reporter at Hawaiʻi Public Radio. She was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, and was one of the first graduates of the Hawaiian language immersion school Ke Kula ʻo Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu.
She went onto study Journalism & Mass Communications at Seattle University, and returned home to work on the Hawaiian language television news program ʻĀhaʻi ʻŌlelo Ola, which aired on KGMB, Hawaiʻi News Now, and ʻŌiwi TV. Her in-depth research and reporting on native Hawaiian water rights earned her and the ʻŌiwi TV team their first international journalism award at the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters’ Network Journalism Awards in 2012.
After a brief hiatus working in communications for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, she returned to journalism in 2017 as the general assignment reporter at HPR. Her unique skillset of Hawaiian language fluency and journalism were valuable assets in building a de facto ʻōiwi beat at the radio news station, covering issues important to the native Hawaiian community and ensuring ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi continues to be heard on airwaves far and wide.
For more, visit https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/