Nestled in the slopes of Lēʻahi, the Shangri La  Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design connects people through art, storytelling, and cultural  exchange.

Here the ocean is a constant presence, just like it was on Onoun, the small island in  Micronesia, that Josie Howard still calls home.

Tell me about your home island,  what was it like growing up there?

This place actually reminds me of my home island.

I grew up by the ocean, put to sleep by the sound of the wave and woke up in the morning by the  pounding sound of the wave on the reef.

And life was very simple.

There is no electricity, there  is no running water.

We live off the land and in the middle of the ocean.

They will go to the  taro pads for the women.

The men will go out into the ocean to get fish.

That was our daily life.

When I was growing up, I thought my island was the biggest island and had the most people on Earth.

But there was like 250 people when I was raised, yes.

And I spent 14 years of my life on the  island before I went off to high school.

She set out for high school on a bigger island in  Micronesia, eventually making her way to the Big Island of Hawai‘i to study medicine at UH Hilo.

It was in the 90's, right?

Yes.

When you came.

So, what was like in 90's to be  from Micronesia in Hawaiʻi?

That's a really great question.

When I first  came to Hawaiʻi, I realized people didn't know Micronesia.

When I said, oh, I'm from Micronesian,  people were like, Oh where's that, you know?

I felt very homesick, you know, when I first came.

I had to really explain myself, like, yeah, Micronesia is like this.

And I think a lot people  don't know that there's still places that exist where people live off the land, and it's, you  know, it's a whole traditional indigenous system.

Life on your island sounds  pretty idyllic, you know, leaving for education.

Did you think  that the journey would take you back?

Yes, definitely.

Because I could never see myself  not coming back to the island.

I, at that point in my life, my obligation and my value that was  instilling in me is to come home and serve.

Come home and contribute.

Come home, and, you know, do  your purpose.

Yeah, and when I went off to school, it wasn't my, just my goal, it was my family's  goal.

My major in college was decided by my family.

It was never my decision.

And I thought I  was going to school and come home.

To be a doctor.

And at what point did the path change?

I got into, deep into science.

I actually got  involved in a biomedical research project to study cancer, the cause of cancer.

But it was in  those times that I realized, if I go back to my island with no electricity and no running water,  and there's no hospital, what would I do, right?

And also, I realized that, yes, my people  were very sickly, our health was very poor, but I felt that there was something bigger than  that that was causing all of this.

And that's when I got introduced to the word colonization.

That's what really kind of changed my mind and you know like changed my path, career path at  that point.

But I was scared of my family and I was scared of my island people, the community and  how they were going to be disappointed in me.

So, disappointed in me, so it was a  really risky move that I made.

Yeah, how did you find the courage to  make that and what was their reaction?

A lot of people were like, oh, we thought you  were going to be a doctor.

What happened?

Ah, the courage is just, honestly, it's in me accepting  my truth and accepting the fact that people will never understand unless they walk the path or the  journey that I went through.

But I knew that at the end, if I stay true to my, you know I call it  calling, that I will benefit my people either way.

Her path became clear when  her sister became seriously ill.

With no access to adequate care  back home, Hawai‘i was their best choice.

When we found out that she had both kidney  failure, that also changed both her life and my life.

Because it means as long as my sister lives,  I cannot leave her by herself.

And for her, she had to make a decision because if she goes back  home, she's gonna die.

There is no renal services back home.

There's no dialysis.

So that would be  like, you know, going home to die.

Or if she wants to live, she has an option to stay here but that  will mean she had to bring her family over.

So that was a whole life change for her.

And for me,  I have to, you know like, I have be here with her.

Josie never became a doctor but her work  still heals.

Today, she leads We Are Oceania, a resource center she created to support  Micronesian immigrants in Hawai‘i.

For the roughly 20,000 who now call these islands  home, this is often the first place they turn.

There is a philosophy that I learned from my uncle  and it’s a Chinese proverb, the one that goes, you, oh you give a man a fish, you feed him  for one day.

You teach a man how to fish, you feed him for the rest of his life.

And  that’s the same philosophy that we use, you know like, when someone can come through the  one stop and learn how to fish or learn how to get by and come out at the end, and now  that they’re able to afford their rent, now they’re able to send their kids to school,  that is what every immigrant want when they come to Hawaiʻi.

They come out with big goals like  I’m gonna bring my kids so they can have access to better education, but then those barriers  and those you know other things that they don’t understand they go through that and kids don’t  end up going through school or they get dropped out and you see their dreams just shatter right  in front of them.

And at last they would say, I wish I didn’t make that move to  come here because now I lost my kid.

What do you wish people understood  about the Micronesian community?

I want people to know that we are a great  asset you know, like wherever we go.

You know, a lot of people come with wealth  of cultural knowledge skills set.

Sometimes it doesn't match or it doesn’t jive with what's  marketable here, but as long as we are utilized, our strength is being utilized, we will be  great contributing members of this community.

I think when people are not believed  or they're not believing in them, the worst comes out.

But when you believe  in people and you're empowered, the best comes and that's not just for the Micronesians,  it's for anyone, you know, like any human being.

It does seem that for a lot of the Micronesian  community, immigrating to Hawaii is not easy.

It's not.

I think one of the biggest  struggles that I work with is our youth.

And it's about discrimination.

Most of the youth  that will, that come through our center, the story you hear constantly is, my teacher didn't  believe in me or I won't be able to graduate.

Or I'm not allowed to come back to school  anymore because I don't have enough credit so they are born and raised into an era or a time  when Micronesia is defined so negatively.

For me, I came, I have this really beautiful picture  of Micronesia and I'm really proud of my identity.

I think a lot of our youths  are not, because they’re, you know it's a different definition.

And so that's one  thing that I would love people to understand, that this new definition of Micronesia is  not correct.

And that the youths need to know that.

The Micronesian youths need to know  that.

And I think it's our responsibility, the parents, to teach those in our homes.

Like teach our kids about our real cultures.

You know, when we started out our conversation,  you're describing this very idyllic life, of growing up on an island, growing up in  community, resource shared, right?

Really, really strong community values.

And what you're  describing are these children of immigrants who then come and they don't grow up in that way,  right.

So what they know is their experience here.

And it sounds like you're trying to ground them  in culture, in the youth center and other places.

Yes, definitely.

And when you see that transformation, when you see  that identity shift, what is that like for you?

Oh my God, It's so powerful.

I mean, to me, I feel  like I'm ready, you know, because I feel, like, with our work with the youths,  I would say two years ago, I start seeing that transition.

I can see  in the kids that come through our center, they come out prouder.

Still ahead, weaving pride and identity from coconut palms, Josie helps  the next generation reclaim their roots.

Your culture is who you are.

And so, for  indigenous people it’s important that they must know their culture because they  need to know who they are in that culture.

That’s when A Leader’s Journey continues.

At the We Are Oceania youth center in Kalihi, Josie Howard isn’t at a podium, she’s on  the floor.

That's her sister nearby on the couch.

Together, they weave alongside the next  generation, teaching them where they come from.

This is part of our upbringing, like our  daily, daily life or routine would end with us making flowers during the evening, and  you can wear them either during that evening, go to church, or the men will wear it when  they have.

The men, they come together and… And tell me about the  coconut weaving over there.

So that, they’re um, they’re making baskets.

So, in my part of Micronesia, I would say Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, the men go and make baskets  cause they go and gather food like breadfruit, taro.

So that's our storage, like to, or  carry, like our shopping bag.

We make, um, We make baskets to be able to carry  the stuff that we cut back to the house.

We can make plates out of that, we can makes  forks and spoon out of that.

We can make mat, so those are examples, and hats,  so when you go to get to fish, you don't have to buy hats and all  that.

Everything is from nature.

You can just make it.

Yeah, so I grew up learning how  to live without money.

Yeah, because everything is provided by nature.

What do you, what do you hope that the  kids who are doing this with you today, what do you help kids get out of  learning this part of the culture?

For me, like I, knowing how to do this, I  also feel like it gives me the confidence to be able to do the other culture, like  the things that I learned in this culture, or even academia.

Because it's the same concept.

It's like learning knowledge.

And for the kids, they're born and raised here, they don't  know our culture.

I think if they know a piece of who they are by hands on and really  experiencing it, it empowers them.

Our whole goal is to empower our youth and this center is  called the WAO Youth Empowerment Center and we believe that teaching them their culture is a form  of empowerment and it's a form of grounding them, it's the form of allowing them to  be able to navigate success, yeah.

What I am hearing from you is grounding  in culture leads to confidence.

Yes, because your culture is who you are.

And  so for indigenous people, it's important that they must know their culture because they need  to know who they are in that culture.

And that culture also represents a society, right,  that they live in.

Everyone has a role in that society.

And if you don't know that, it  will be hard for you to also navigate outside.

So for young people who are Micronesian who don't  have that connection, what are they missing?

Direction.

Because if you  don't know where you start, you will never know where to go.

That  perspective, that indigenous perspective, is that we need to where we come from  in order for us to know where we go.

Josie knows what it’s like to feel off  course.

When she first came to UH Hilo, even the coconut trees felt unfamiliar.

That was my first cultural shock.

I arrived  at UH Hilo, and I walked down the campus, and I saw the first coconut tree.

And I  look up, and it's a grown coconut tree, it was like higher than this building, and it  didn't have fruit on it.

And I was confused.

So, I was like, What happened to this coconut tree?!

What, it never matured or something and my friend cracked up.

He was laughing at me.

He's like,  here in Hawaiʻi, they have to cut everything down for liability.

And I was like, what is that?

They're like if, if they you know if they mature and they fall on you you can sue the city or the  state, whoever land you know that falls down and I'm like what?

I got so confused and that was  my first time to realize how twisted and how like you know like back home with we, we go by  nature, but here we control nature.

And I kind of, like, I was worried.

Yeah.

Because I knew  that there's no way you can control nature, we have a saying that says, we cannot change the  direction of the wind, but we can adjust sails.

You talked about when you came to UH Hilo  and how isolated you felt.

Could you ever have imagined creating this kind of a  space?

I mean, it's really remarkable.

I know, yeah.

So, I can only think to that  experience, there's like somewhere I read that it says there's no such thing as failure.

Failure  is actually a mechanism to teach you what to do, create something out of it, like so that  you learn new things.

And I think like those experiences of being alone and  homesickness had allowed me to create.

We are Oceania!

Both speaking: Right.

That pain, a way to  support.

Led to all of this.

Yeah, like create our family away  from home and or create a community away from home.

And we get to be able  to teach our kids, bring them together.

For example, like they don't have a  space at home to do this.

They don't have the resources on their own to do this.

So programs like ours can allow families to, you know, come together and learn and have the  resource to learn, and have a space to learn.

Coming up, harnessing the power of humility.

You have to be humble, to maintain your power.

Or to have power.

Because if you're not, if you are not humble, then  people won't respect you.

Josie Howard leads a statewide  organization, advises policymakers, and is an inspiration to many.

Yet she  hesitates to call herself a leader.

So Josie, how would you describe your leadership  style and how has it evolved over time?

That is the hardest question, I, because I  don't see myself as a leader.

Yes, I do not see myself a leader, and I think my leadership  style derives from my instinct to help others.

I just find that so interesting because  obviously you lead an organization, you ask anyone in the Micronesian  community or in general Hawaiʻi about who are the leaders in this sector  and your name comes up again and again.

If someone has asked me, Josie, we need you to  come up and lead this, I won't.

Yes, but if they say, Josie we need your help, there's a situation  and we need to get this done or I will be there.

You see this difference?

So you see yourself as a helper, not a leader.

Yes, I see myself as a helper and it's people who define me as a leader, not me (laughs) It's my role and it's my responsibility to my community that puts me in that  category, but it's not so much that I see myself as a leader.

My urgency is the urgency  of the community and so that I will be there.

For her, humility isn’t just a value,  it’s how she moves through the world.

You have to be humble, to maintain your power,  or to have power.

Because if you're not, if you are not humble, then people won't  respect you.

So, to me, that is the biggest key, the word humility.

It's so important in order for  me to navigate success in our cultural spaces.

How did you learn humility?

Oh, I think my whole life is about humility.

I learned that from my family.

I mean, like every  day you're taught to be humble.

Those practices to me, they really hold values.

Those systems hold  values, and I also think that when you move from place to place, uh, there is place in our culture  that allows those things to be uplifted.

And so there's a term that says atoll learn, meaning  like, if you're, you, when you're voyage off to the ocean and you look back and, uh, see where  I come from, it's atoll.

So here in Hawaiʻi, you have mountains.

So when you come from an atoll  and when you leave the island, you only see like the coconut trees are at the top and then on the  beach, you'll see the laupaka plant.

So the term is literally, if you can no longer see the laupaka  leaves, then the cultural norms are lifted, because you need to survive.

So, I do believe  that we need to adapt as we come to Hawaiʻi.

I just get the sense that your  life is a constant adaptation.

Oh my gosh.

I like, I always tell people I have  multiple personalities.

Like on a daily basis, I travel between cultures and when I'm at home,  like when I come to work with my staff at WAO, who are Micronesians, it's also a different  space.

And then when I'm gone to a meeting, like in this space, it is a totally different  space and when I go back home, I'm in a totally different space.

So like at the end of the day, I  get so exhausted.

You know, it s like I'm changing culture every single day, and I realized my  kids do the same thing.

Like, my daughters would leave the house, they'd leave their skirt  on the wall as they go out to the road to go to school.

And as they come home, they come back get  the skirt and put it on, and come into the house.

Do you feel like Hawaiʻi is your place now?

To be honest, I had a hard time.

Saying that  because I know that I am not from Hawaiʻi and maybe that's again a cultural thing and it's  a respect and a humility thing.

My mom, when it was time for her to pass, she said, make sure  you take my body back to the island, so that I can reunite with the land.

That's a cultural value.

For me, I think I'm okay if I'm buried in Hawaiʻi.

In my work and in my contribution, yes,  definitely Hawaiʻi is home to me now, and I feel like I need to do my best for Hawaiʻi.

But when it comes to that cultural space, like to claim that Hawaiʻi is my home or that I am from  Hawaiʻi, I do have respect and I cannot say that.

What's best piece advice you've ever received?

I would say like one advice that stays with me was  from my father.

And this was like my, it was my very first time to leave the island to go to high  school.

I didn't realize that that was gonna be my exit from the island and going to that high school  was gonna change my whole horizon and that I would never come back, you know, like as I always  thought or wish I would back to the island.

And he told me, he said, you know, I don't have money  to give you.

I don't have anything to give to you, but I will give you this and it's a story of two  birds.

And the two birds, one is the morning bird, and one is evening bird.

So, navigators will wake  up in the morning, and they'll look to the horizon to where the bird is coming from.

And they will  know exactly where land is because they will go to where the bird was coming from, right?

So, he said, don't follow the morning birds because it will take you out into the wide ocean  because they go out to look for fish.

It will take you up to where there's no land, but follow  the evening bird, where it will take to land.

Josie may have followed the  evening bird far from Micronesia, but in helping others find direction,  she too, has found her place here.

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