This land in Kohala once provided plants  that became tools, food, medicine, and shelter for thousands on Hawaiʻi island.

It  is Keawewai, a 520-acre native ecosystem that the Kohala Center is working to revive, guided  by the belief that planting trees is more than restoring nature, it's reuniting family.

It is here that we meet Janice Ikeda, who founded and leads Vibrant Hawai‘i, a non-profit  organization focused on cultivation of a different kind, not plants, but strength and possibilities.

Vibrant Hawaiʻi does so many things.

When you tell people about what it is that the  organization does, what do you tell them?

Vibrant Hawaiʻi ultimately is an  administrative backbone.

And so, we serve the role as convener.

We provide training  and technical assistance but the fruit of all of that depends on the seed and the vision that the  community had or the community member had.

And so, it grows to look very distinct and diverse.

Our role as Vibrant Hawaiʻi is to be the soil and the water, to nourish the seeds of hope and  vision that everyone carries within themselves.

Their mission is to build resilience,  that looks different in every community.

From food distribution to digital literacy,  Vibrant Hawai‘i meets people where they are.

Sometimes resilience isn’t about services  at all, but reconnecting people with place.

Back in 2020, there had been a number of tragic  deaths in our fire department here.

And a friend of mine who was a captain at the time went to her  chief and said my team is really struggling and I want to take them to Waipiʻo because I know it  would be really good for them for their healing, for their mental health.

And the  chief said, I bet it would be, but unfortunately there's no data to support that.

So, the best we can offer is yoga and meditation.

And upon hearing that I said, well, if  they need data, let's just go get the data.

And so, they brought firefighters to fish ponds, studying the impact on their mental  health.

The findings were clear: connection to culture reduced stress,  eased PTSD, and boosted overall well-being.

When I was interviewing one of the firefighter  participants about his experience, he shared this moment where the kia'i at Kīholo, her name  is Lehua, he said at the end of our workday in rebuilding this wall, she had us all put our hands  on the wall and tap the rocks into place.

And we learned to chant.

And she said, the reason why we  do this chant to keep the rocks firm is because we know that at some point the environment and the  external conditions are gonna destroy everything that we've built.

And that's why it's called a  practice.

And the reason why we commit to this practice and the reason why we continue to shows  up is because we know our children are watching.

To Janice, it was another reminder: sometimes the answers are right there,  but we’re asking the wrong questions.

What if connecting with our fish ponds is  healthcare?

What if connecting with one another and the way that we apply ourselves to our  work and the foundation and core of which we are motivated to continue to show up, to pursue the  things that we know to be right for ourselves and for our family and for the community, what if  all of that is healthcare?

And I think part of the gift of leading this work of Vibrant Hawaiʻi  is being able to ask questions that again look at things from a different perspective and then  measure things in a way that matters to us.

Understanding different perspectives is  core to who Janice is.

She grew up in Hilo, surrounded by cultures and traditions  that didn’t always fit neatly together.

My mom was pure Japanese, my dad was Portuguese  Hawaiian.

My mom's side of the family was Buddhist, my dad's side the family is Catholic.

And so, it was oftentimes a feeling of like, where do I really fit?

But what I think  that ultimately allowed me to develop is being able to be adaptable, being really  observant of my surroundings and knowing how to adapt to different situations so that  people around me are not feeling uncomfortable.

I grew up having adventures in the pasture and  catching crayfish in the ditch and being rugged and just, I love my childhood.

I loved  growing up in a small neighborhood and, and I love being a part of a small  community where people know each other.

Her journey from small-town girl to  non-profit CEO was anything but direct.

At 25, Janice was a single mom, hoping  to get her daughter into ʻAha Pūnana Leo, a Hawaiian language immersion  preschool.

What began as a search for childcare became the spark  that ignited her professional path.

The kahu, his name is Da Pavao.

He said,  everyone has to give back to the school, so if you're accepted, how are you gonna give  back?

And I told him, well, I don't speak Hawaiian and I don't have a higher education degree, and  I'm on welfare, and I don't think there's anything I have to give back.

And he said, well everyone  has to contribute somehow, so think about it.

And I always say I was desperate for childcare, so I  thought hard, and I went back to him and I said, I can cook Hawaiian food once a month for  the kids.

And he said, okay, you're in.

So, I learned how to make kalua pig in the crock  pot and the secret ingredient was liquid smoke.

I learned how to make haupia and I would go to  KTA and buy my bag of poi and once a month feed the kids lunch.

And I always think that was my  professional upbringing because it showed me and it taught me that every one of us has something to  contribute, even if it's something really small.

And for me, it really was that moment of feeling  like I had got a restored sense of dignity and courage.

And it really set me on  this trajectory of, if I can do that one small thing and make a difference,  what's the next small thing I could do?

What followed was education, a  bachelor’s degree from UH Hilo, a master’s from Gonzaga University  and a series of jobs in nonprofits, each building on the one before.

Through  it all, one role mattered most: being mom.

You're a mother of five.

What of  that do you carry to your leadership?

Everything.

When I think about the way that  I lead, like, so much of it is grounded and reflected in everything that it means to be a mom,  you know, the, the ability to get done what needs to be done, even when you are tired to your bones,  get up and you do what has to happen for the team, for the community, for your family.

I think  about the way that mothers just want to invest everything they can so that someone else can be  successful, you know, ultimately maybe not need them.

And I think that's a lot about at the core  of what motivates me in the way that I need.

And just the belief that there is something precious  and beautiful to be celebrated in each person.

That belief, that every person  carries something worth celebrating, is at the heart of Janice’s leadership.

Coming up, she takes us to the Wailuku River and shares  how a Hawaiian legend helped her find her place.

Along the Wailuku River, ancient lava flows  created a series of pools known as Boiling Pots, it's a place steeped in legend.

Janice Ikeda has  walked here countless times.

In the early days of Vibrant Hawai‘i, as she searched for clarity,  the story of this river spoke to her in a new way.

I walked across from our home over to this  place, which I come to all the time.

And I stood in front of that plaque back there and  thought again about the story of this place.

The story says that Maui's mother, Hina, lived  down the river in a cave.

And there was a mo'o of this area named Kuna.

And Kuna was being a pest  and he blocked the river so that her caves started to fill up with water.

And so, Hina called out  to her son Maui to come and save her.

And so, Maui and Kuna started fighting and in the  middle of their fight Kuna dove into one of the underground caves of this area and Maui  couldn't reach him.

So, Maui called out to Pele.

And Pele arrived, and she boiled the water so  that Kuna got so agitated in his cave he came out, Maui gave him the bash, and saved the day.

And so, as I'm standing here thinking about that story, which I'd heard so many times before,  the river asked me, who are you in this story?

And I was like, well, I'm trying to help my community,  so of course, I’m Maui.

And it was as if the river just said, oh, interesting.

And I felt inside my  naʻau like, ooh, maybe that was a bad answer.

So, I thought about it some more and the more I  thought about it, I realized that in this work of Vibrant Hawaiʻi, I'm really called to portray  more of that of the character of Pele.

In that, Pele only arrived when she was first invited.

And  when she came, she only provided enough resource so that ultimately Maui was able to be the hero of  the story.

And I think that's so important in our role of community work and community empowerment  in remembering that our role is to be a support and an advocate, to be invited first, and to be  sure that whatever it is that we're providing to the community, it is so that ultimately, they  are able to be the hero of their own story.

That is so beautiful.

And has  that feeling of that you are the, the assistor as opposed to the main  actor, you know, has that stayed with you?

Oh, for sure.

How so?

In just, I think it's that internal evaluation.

That voice of kūpuna  that's always ensuring that I'm staying in my lane and staying in my role, I'm not  overstepping and that I'm just being true.

We all wanna be the hero.

We wanna be Maui in  the story.

Sometimes it's hard to step back and realize that as a leader, maybe there's  another path.

How have you figured that out?

I always go back to everything that I've learned  over the past twenty-five years of being a mother.

When my firstborn was in high school, that  was probably the hardest lesson of moving from wanting to be a hero to really realizing the  power of being a support.

It's a hard transition, especially when you're first.

And I fumbled my  way through it.

But ultimately, what I learned at the end was how beautiful it is to watch someone  fully ʻauamo their kuleana, and fully grow into their personhood and truly believe that they can  be the designer of their own life, the architect of their own future.

Like, that's amazing and  that's powerful.

As painful as it is to let go, as scary as it is to trust that they will know  how to make good decisions for themselves, I think really it was that experience  that gave me the ability in this work with community to have like a grounding  point to reflect back on, how it felt to let go and trust and how joyful it felt to  watch someone develop and come into their own.

Janice is always learning from  the environment around her, even the way Vibrant Hawai‘i describes its  work reflect how wisdom flows from the land.

Now we refer to our work as streams.

And I think,  you know, that's such a powerful narrative or metaphor about how we move forward in Hawaiʻi.

So, streams, in the way that we think about it, emerge from a common source.

Streams are  agile and they are adaptable.

You know, you can't stop a stream.

It'll find its way  through, it'll find its way around and it always flows forward.

When we pause and we have  the time to connect with ʻāina and we listen, there's always like so much answers  and so much wisdom that we can gain.

Still ahead, Janice explains why  the answers and the leaders we need are right here at home.

That's  when A Leader's Journey continues.

Janice Ikeda lives and works in her hometown of  Hilo.

It's the only place she’s ever wanted to be.

This is the place that has fed me, grown me, and  fed my children and taught my children and the place that holds the bones of my ancestors.

And  it's as simple as it's the place that I belong.

What makes it easy to lead in  Hawaiʻi and what makes it hard?

The way that we're raised.

I often think about  the tiny lessons that we teach our children.

For example, when there's a community potluck.

You know, we teach our kids from a really young age to do mental math, realize how their actions  will impact the entire whole, and when they're going through the line and we're telling them,  look how much food has, and look how many people are in the room, and know how much you should  take.

Because everybody's hungry and everybody wants to eat.

You know, in those kinds of  like lessons you learn when you're really young that just become social norms.

I think  when we embody those things that we've learned from our grandparents and our parents of how to  behave in Hawaiʻi, it makes it really easy to lead because we're all coming from that place  of knowing that we're part of a collective.

And what makes is hard, I think, is when we  begin to doubt our inherent intelligence and wisdom and ways of knowing and think that the  answers are gonna come from somewhere else.

For Janice, Hawaiʻi's challenge isn’t capability, it’s confidence.

The way she sees it,  we already have the wisdom we need, if we choose to trust it.

What do you think  Hawaiʻi needs from its leaders right now?

We don't need to look beyond Hawaiʻi to find  the answers to the problems that we face here.

And I think that there was for a really long  time a trend in looking to fill positions of influence or decision making or leadership.

And  thinking that the answers were out there.

And I think that looking back and seeing what is it  that we can learn from our ʻāina?

What is it that we can from our kūpuna?

They've made it and  they were thriving and they abundant through many, many challenging seasons.

What can we learn and  how can we adapt what they've demonstrated to us?

She's had to shift her own thinking in  similar ways.

When Vibrant Hawaiʻi was still more of an idea than an organization,  Janice and a team set out to gather input on how to end poverty in some of  the poorest parts of the state.

We'd connect with folks and I'd ask them tell me  about your experience of growing up in poverty and feeling poor.

And more often than not, people  would say, we didn't even know we were poor.

Or like, they just really didn't  resonate with that idea and with that identity or that narrative.

At one point I  ended up in Ka'ū.

And I remember standing at the front of a room and I had my PowerPoint and  it had the data up and the charts and in Ka'ū, 78% of the community was ALICE or poverty and  a kūpuna interrupted me and she said, sit down, we like it like this.

And I thought to myself,  surely, she didn't understand what I just said about the data.

So, I wrote down on this big white  paper, we like it like this, and I underlined it, and I said, did I capture this correctly?

And she said, yes.

And I was like, oh boy, I better sit down.

So, I did, and they shared  about the way that their community operates and it's one of mutual aid and reciprocity.

And I had a mentor, her name is Barbara Holtman.

She said, sometimes, we need to  change the community.

And sometimes we need to be changed by the community because what  they're saying is that's not gonna work for me.

But we paused and said, maybe how do we end  poverty is not the right question.

Maybe the question that our island needs us to lead with  is what is wealth?

And I think that was really the moment of the birth of Vibrant Hawaiʻi  in pursuing the answer to that question.

And being open to the complexities and  the differences of what that means.

I'm thinking about the story that  you shared at the outset of making the food for your child's classroom and  it sounds like what you're really doing is giving people the tools to figure  out, okay, how can I be a helper?

What do you wish people understood about  their own power and their own agency?

What you have to offer is not insignificant  and that to make a difference, it doesn't have to be what we've been told is important.

And  recently a friend of mine, her name is Malu Dibes, she said this phrase to me, and I keep thinking  about it and it was around the difference of being important and being impactful.

And  I think that's so powerful you know and especially when we're young or when we  perceive ourselves to be not important, we think that that's the goal, that that's what  we should be aiming for.

How do we be important?

I wish more of us, even in the early days of  our own leadership journey and whatever that looks like, would keep our eyes fixed  on what does it mean to be impactful?

What do you think that 25-year-old  mom who was feeding that classroom would think about the way things turned out?

I think she would be like, are we even the  same person?

(Laughs) A couple years ago, it was an incredible honor to receive a call  from the president of Gonzaga University where I did my masters and be asked to speak to  the graduating class and then to receive an honorary doctor of laws for the work that  I've been privileged to do at Vibrant Hawaiʻi.

There's no way I would have thought that  I'd have that kind of a story to tell, yeah.

Yeah, so, if there's a young person  who's watching this and, you know, feeling that struggle, what would you say to them?

That, this season that you're  in is not the final chapter.

Is there a quote or a maxim that sort of guides  you or that you lean on when things get tough?

Lately, I keep going back to  something that my dad wrote to me, and it's actually a scripture.

And  it says, let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season we will  reap a harvest if we do not give up.

What does that say to you?

Don't quit.

Yeah, keep your eyes on the long game  and everything that you're planting and sowing, that there will be a time that it  will have fruit.

And so be patient.

What's the best piece of advice you ever received?

So, during COVID, when Vibrant Hawaiʻi was just starting out, my brother, who is super kuaʻāina.

He lives in Leilani, he lives off-grid.

He's so awesome.

He gave me this dried-up stick  in this mossy pot and he was like, oh, Jan, I brought this for you.

And I was like,  what the heck is this?

But I love my brother dearly so I put it in the back of my car and  I drove home and I just kind of like took it out of the car and left it in front of the  garage.

And Darryl came out and he was like, what is this, it's rubbish.

And I was like no,  it is from Ben.

He said don't worry, it’ll grow.

And so, we just kind ignored it for a while and  months went by and low and behold it was a kalo and it started to sprout.

And after some time,  we took it out of its mossy pot and put it in the ground and now it has become a loʻi.

And I  think that advice of, don't worry, give it time, it'll grow, is like a powerful, powerful piece of  advice.

Because so much, I think, of this work of Vibrant Hawaiʻi is manifesting and calling into  existence.

Something that doesn't yet have proof or data or research or evidence and it's work of  faith, of believing that something that you don't yet see has the potential to become something  incredible.

You just give it time and let it grow.

Give it time, let it grow.

From kalo in  the soil to resilience in our community, Janice is planting today to nourish generations to  come.

For A Leader’s Journey, I’m Yunji de Nies.