I am just your average haole boy from the West Side, currently working as an account advisor in a “high tech” world at Microsoft in Seattle. Microsoft is my career, but helping others, specifically young people in Hawai'i…is my passion! I believe that young people in Hawai'i have had a rough deal, and the programs and resources available for those who wish to climb into different income brackets and build generational wealth are lacking. The Ignite A Life Foundation gives the underserved population of Hawaii’s youth a chance to develop the skills needed to break into successful careers and this opportunity literally changed my life forever.

Before Ignite A Life, I was a young man who was headed down the wrong path, and surrounded himself with peers who didn't challenge his decisions. My home life was difficult as my family struggled with poverty, I was consumed by the weight of traumatic events in my life such as sexual abuse and homelessness, and I resorted to violence and intimidation to receive the admiration and significance I craved as a hurt young man.

All of this changed when one “lolo buggah” named Alexander Muto decided to take me and 40 of his friends on an adventure to San Diego to attend the Anthony Robbins Global Youth Leadership Summit. I learned how to use my drive for significance and admiration in productive ways by serving my community. I partnered with Alexander Muto and Jacob Lum Lung to go around Maui, inspiring other youth. Even though I was still facing issues of poverty, the Ignite A Life Foundation was there every step of the way giving me a support network to guide me. With their help, not only did I survive... but I thrived.

The Ignite a Life was foundational to many of my accomplishments in life including giving a TedX talk on overcoming a victimhood mindset and receive one of the most prestigious college scholarships in our nation's history, the Horatio Alger National Scholarship. I didn't end up finishing college, but the Ignite A Life Foundation instilled in me a drive to persevere and want more in life, so I moved to Seattle to pursue a meaningful career. I secured a role at Microsoft through a vocational program known as "Year Up". Now, I look back everyday on my time as a participant of the Ignite A Life Foundation with immense gratitude. The Ignite A Life Foundation ignited my life forever, and it can ignite yours too.

If it wasn’t for Ignite A Life Foundation, I wouldn’t be pursuing a medical degree. Something was missing in my life. I’ve done a lot from Manager at a Bank, to running my own Leadership Coaching Company, and attending leadership conferences to help me grow as a person. I was searching for what was next. The internship Ignite A Life Foundation offered through Maui Cardiology opened a door where others were closed. It was through this I made the decision to take what I was already doing to help people, to the next level and become a Physician for the Island as it is so desperately needed. Learning the ins and outs of a successful private practice I find is equally as important as the knowledge we will learn to help people medically, which I found is a very unique thing Ignite A Life provides.

Ignite A Life is so generous in continuously giving so much to the youth with a vision far bigger than themselves which makes it so much more exciting to be a part of. There is no better place to be supported while being able to give back to the community. Our home and our people on this Island.

 

Aloha, we are from Honokohau Valley, Maui. We are Ministers, Coconut Basket weavers and jewelry makers part-time vendors.

We are a part of Ignite A Life Foundation because we believe that everything rises and falls on leadership. Everyone is born a leader in the making. Ignite A Life gave us an opportunity to impact youth leaders. To watch a young person grow in their leadership is fulfilling. We find our success in our successors, and that is why we continue to support this Foundation.