J. Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier is the Hawaiian Culture Based Education Coordinator for Hālau ʻo Kapikohānaiāmālama at Kamehameha Schools Maui. She is also the Hope Kahu of Ekalesia o Kupaianaha in Wailuku and presently resides in Waiehu, Maui. In partnership with Kamehameha Schools Behavior Health Manager, Waianuhea Getgen, they developed Ola Loa, a professional development training module to assist faculty in aligning their own stories with the social and emotional learning of Hawaiian students whose education is based on Hawaiian Culture.
Born in Honolulu and raised in Hālawa Uka, Oʻahu, she graduated from Aiea High School during the Hawaiian Renaissance. She was blessed to have been raised in a home and a church where ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi was still spoken by kūpuna and traditional ways of knowing were still practiced. Ekelaʻs maternal grandmother, Rev. Ethel Kauhi Keaunui Crawford, spoke to her in her mother tongue from birth, believing that one day, Ekela would ʻauamo the kuleana of perpetuating ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi for future generations. Ekela has been sharing this gift since 1978 with thousands of haumāna through Kulāiwi, a distance learning Hawaiian language program, the Duolingo language app as well as teaching in many spaces; from pre-K - 12 and in the University of Hawaiʻi system. ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi deepened and broadened Ekelaʻs insight and understanding of moʻomeheu and nohona Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian culture & lifestyle) and therefore she finds it a blessing to be able to share this ʻike (knowledge).