Kaui Mahikoa Brandt

We heard about Auntie Kauʻi from the Stagner siblings – Ishmael and Dorinda – as she was a long-time friend that had taken hula with their mom, Kumu Pansy Akona Stagner, in the 1930s. They told us of her contributions at Disney’s Polynesian Resort in Florida. A new HPS volunteer who had recently moved to Oʻahu from there was her haumana! This volunteer was able to connect us with Auntie Kauʻi during a trip home for the Merrie Monarch Festival, and we loved sitting and listening as she shared about the journey she had taken from Oʻahu's Pearl Peninsula as a youngster, all the way to Orlando, Florida, a place she hadn’t planned on staying but ultimately found great meaning in bringing Hawaiʻi and aloha to life there.