Ākea Kahikina is a new translator for Civil Beat. He is a graduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, studying Hawaiian language and theatre. He is also an alumnus of the Kamehameha Schools Kapālama and the University of Miami with a BFA in musical theatre.

Outside of translating, Ākea is an aspiring theatre-maker, a video game nerd, an instructor for Ua Ao Hawaiʻi, a free online Hawaiian language class sponsored by UH, and a co-host of the upcoming podcast “Kūkā a Kīkī,” a platform to celebrate and elevate Queer Kānaka voices of the “māhūi.”

He mea unuhi hou ʻo Ākea no Civil Beat. He haumāna laeoʻo ʻo ia ma ke Kulanui ʻo Hawaiʻi ma Mānoa e noiʻi ana i ka ʻōlelo a me ka hana keaka Hawaiʻi. Ua puka ʻo ia mai ke kula ʻo Kamehameha Kapālama a me ka University of Miami me ke kēkelē laepua no ka hana keaka mele.

Ma waho o ka hana unuhi, ʻo Ākea, he haku hana keaka ʻo ia, hemakeʻe pāʻani wikiō, he kumu no Ua Ao Hawaiʻi, ʻo ia hoʻi ka papa ʻōlelo manuahi i mālama ʻia e ke Kulanui, a me he mea kūkā ʻo ia ma “Kūkā a Kīkī,” he pukana oki leo e hoʻohanohano ʻia ai ka leo māhū o ka “māhūi.”