Valli Kalei Kanuha
"I am honored to be associated with the Joyful Heart Foundation because you have chosen to connect healing with the very sacred and special place of my homeland, Hawaiʻi. The history and traditions of the Hawaiian people are based in values such as caring (mālama), doing what is right (pono), working together (laulima), harmony (lōkahi) and love (aloha). I embark on this journey with Joyful Heart because we share a common belief that healing, education/knowledge and empowerment incorporate these many values, and that all persons, places and things deserve to live in an environment filled with ao (in Hawaiian, ao is the word for light/illumination, but also for enlightened)."
Valli Kalei Kanuha was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, to parents of Japanese American and Native Hawaiian ancestry. She has lived and worked in Minneapolis, Seattle and New York City, but since 1998 has resided in Honolulu where she is a sociology professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Kalei has been actively involved in the women's anti-violence movement in the U.S. for almost 35 years as a therapist, advocate, consultant, researcher and trainer. Her current research and community work focuses on using Native Hawaiian cultural values, beliefs and traditions to address intimate partner and family violence in Hawaiian communities. She believes in the power of healing from trauma, oppression and injustice through reclamation and restoration of positive spiritual, cultural and traditional practices, and is dedicated to bringing peace to her own Hawaiian community through knowledge and ally-building with all peoples who love and respect Hawaiʻi.