Keola Rapozo

Native Hawaiian designer Keola Rapozo, co-founder of local brand FITTED, believes that one’s kuleana to their community includes all the concentric circles radiating beyond the immediate family, too. For Keola, one very essential role in connecting communities is perpetuating the importance of Hawaiian language, and specifically, storytelling. “I believe that the storytelling medium is Hawaiians’ greatest gift,” Keola says. “We’ve always been a society of oration and we have become natural storytellers in all aspects of communication and art. It’s our greatest art form, so to speak.”