Jalene Kanani, NOHO HOME
Jalene Kanani’s artistic vision and enduring connection to home and heritage began at an early age. She discovered rhythm and empathy through hula from the age of three, laying a foundation that continues to shape her artistry.
After years designing textiles and licensing patterns for global manufacturers, Jalene saw a gap in décor for authentic Hawaiian designs. In 2018 she founded NOHO HOME, a brand that celebrates noho – the essence of dwelling, belonging and feeling at home – with sophisticated island-inspired textiles that blend nature, culture and aloha.
Her pursuit of cultural storytelling soon led to high-profile collaborations. NOHO HOME partnered with Hawaiian Airlines to design the Leihōkū in-flight amenity kits and soft goods, weaving motifs rooted in Indigenous ideas of navigation, flight and place into pieces that connect travellers to culture.
On the ground, Jalene’s creative vision expanded into hospitality. For the Sheraton Princess Ka‘iulani hotel’s ‘Āinahau Tower refresh, her team provided custom upholstery inspired by the kui lei-making pattern. She also has a retail store at the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu, selling homewares and specialty items. “As a Native Hawaiian, woman-owned business my specialty is taking big stories and fitting them into itty bitty patterns,” she says.
For more information, visit nohohomehawaii.com
Meli James, Mana Up
Meli James founded Mana Up on O‘ahu in 2018 with a simple but powerful idea – helping people rise. Today, Mana Up is a statewide initiative fuelling Hawai‘i’s creative economy.
Each year, Mana Up selects ten Hawai‘i-based companies already generating at least $100,000 in revenue for a six-month accelerator program, offering mentorship, workshops and resources on branding, marketing and operations to help brands increase revenue and reach new markets. More than 60 percent of participating businesses are female-owned, and over 50 per cent are Native Hawaiian.
Supported by partners including Hawaiian Airlines, Bank of Hawai‘i, Sheraton Hotels, ALTRES, Moana Surfrider and The Duke Foundation, its House of Mana Up retail stores on Maui, island of Hawai‘i and O‘ahu (including its new outlet at the Royal Hawaiian Center), offer a curated retail experience where everything on the shelves has a local founder. Shoppers find everything from homewares and puzzles to clothes and reef-safe sunscreen made with local ingredients and sustainability in mind.
Mana Up also hosts weekend events such as product tastings, airport pop-ups and Aloha Markets in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo to showcase Hawai‘i-based businesses. “It’s not about supporting because it’s your duty,” Meli says. “It’s products you actually want.”
For more information, visit manauphawaii.com
Katie Metzger, HĀNAI HIVES
Katie Metzger’s journey into beekeeping began unexpectedly after she took part in a workshop at her child’s school in California. Alongside other parents, she went on to form the Oha Valley Bee Club. She first visited Hawai‘i on her honeymoon and, as a keen surfer, eventually relocated to O‘ahu’s North Shore, just down the road from the world-famous ‘Ehukai Beach Park (Banzai Pipeline).
Not long after the move, a swarm of bees descended on her husband’s infrastructure job site. When they looked around for an apiarist, they realised Katie had become one.
The couple took stewardship of land once owned by a Native Hawaiian family, abundant with mango, lychee, avocado, jackfruit, papaya, banana and starfruit trees. In 2021, Katie launched HĀNAI HIVES, with her offerings now including a sun-infused lavender honey and a chilli honey made with dehydrated peppers from her own herb garden.
Hanai means “to adopt and nurture”, and more than 50 local families have now adopted hives across four apiaries, including one located at the nearby Ritz-Carlton O‘ahu, Turtle Bay resort. HĀNAI HIVES also partners with the Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation, founded by North Shore-born singer-songwriter Jack Johnson and his wife Kim, to support environmental education in local schools and communities.
For more information, visit hanaihives.com
Nili Yildirim and Ahu Hettema, Istanbul Hawai‘i
A Turkish restaurant may not be what visitors expect to find in Hawai‘i, yet mother-and-daughter duo Nili Yildirim and Ahu Hettema have been drawing devoted crowds to their noshery, Istanbul Hawai‘i in Kaka‘ako.
Ahu first left her homeland for San Francisco to attend college, later falling in love with Honolulu when her US-born husband brought her there, hoping it might remind her of her home city of Mersin. He was right. Soon after, Ahu’s parents joined her, helping her through a difficult emotional period.
“My mum’s love language is cooking,” Ahu says. “It’s such a warm, beautiful feeling. That’s why I love doing this with her.”
The pair began with a street-food stall at a local farmers’ market in 2015, before opening their own 130-seat bricks-and-mortar restaurant in 2020. Today, they source produce directly from local farmers. Ahu, who is also an artist, designed the restaurant’s décor, while much of the furniture was handmade by her husband and father. “We just wanted to cook together and share our culture,” Ahu says.
“We cook what we love, and when you cook something you love, I don’t think you need to be a chef. We serve the food we grew up with. You’re tasting my memories. It’s bountiful food meant to be shared, and it’s unlike anything else in Honolulu.”
For more information, visit istanbulhawaii.com
Dillyn Lietzke, PALAI Hawai‘i
Dillyn Lietzke has fond memories of sitting under a tree in her family’s backyard in O‘ahu’s Mānoa Valley as a child, making lei from its flowers. When she was in high school, she started an Instagram account so friends and relatives could see the lei she was creating and before long classmates began asking her to make lei for proms and other special events. Soon, orders started coming in from people she didn’t know, and her business was born.
She named the company PALAI after the native Lacy fern (Palapalai) and expanded to teaching lei-making workshops in 2022. Each workshop begins with participants sharing their name, the ‘āina (land) that they call home and their favourite flower, before learning to thread blooms such as frangipani, bougainvillea and purple crown flowers onto string. Dillyn studied Natural Resource Environmental Management with a focus on plant ecology and conservation at college and in the lead-up to Christmas, she shifts her focus to wreath-making workshops using invasive species.
Dillyn has also started selling lei-making supplies along with books and merchandise centred around native plants online and hopes to one day open her own shop, where she can also host her workshops. “I think it’s really important to perpetuate the traditional knowledge around lei-making because it can often be represented in social media and tourism,” she says.
For more information, visit palaihawaii.com
