Who We Are
Pilina First is a Hawaiʻi-based strategy, content, and communications firm connecting clients with audiences through meaningful relationships grounded in our unique perspective as people from this special place.
Amy Kalili Partner
Amy’s passion for helping to advance and advocate for the Hawaiian language movement for over 20 years has built inseverable relationships that have afforded her opportunities and experiences from classrooms and newsrooms to courtrooms and boardrooms. She brings the depth and breadth of skills she developed as the Executive Director of the internationally renowned ʻAha Pūnana Leo, as well as being the only Hawaiian language news anchor, and helping to start and run ʻŌiwi Television Network to serve Pilina First’s clients in innovative and impactful ways.
Amy is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools and received her Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Bachelor's in Hawaiian Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo in 1997 and 2001 respectively. She also completed both her Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and her JD from the William S. Richardson School of Law in 2006 and was admitted to the Hawaiʻi State Bar in 2007. Amy is a fluent speaker of the Hawaiian language and is fortunate to have been part of the Hawaiian language movement since the early-1990s.
Nāʻālehu Anthony Partner
Nāʻālehu is a Native Hawaiian storyteller from Kaʻaʻawa, with a vast array of experience in film and television and has been immersed - alongside his parents and siblings - in advocating for Hawaiʻi’s people and place his entire life. The relationships built over time and the rich stories he witnessed are at the foundation of his approach to culturally-grounded storytelling that shapes strategies for projects and campaigns to improve the well-being of communities locally and globally.
His desire to give voice to Hawaiʻi’s stories as told by Hawaiians from our perspective is the very reason Nāʻālehu pursued a career in film, television, and strategic communications. He cofounded ʻŌiwi Television Network - Hawaiʻi’s all-Hawaiian language and culture and content broadcast entity - and his production company, Palikū Films, gives voice to Hawaiʻi’s stories through documentaries and oral histories.
Anthony is a 1993 graduate of Kamehameha Schools and received a BA in Hawaiian Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa as well as an MBA from the University of Hawaiʻi Shidler College of Business.
Associates
Kapuaonaona Roback
Kapuaonaona Roback is a native of ʻEwa on Oʻahu. She attended the Hawaiian immersion school Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Ānuenue, eventually graduating from Kamehameha Schools Kapālama. She went on to earn co-current bachelor’s degrees in Hawaiian Language and English at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Her years of experience producing and writing for ʻŌiwiTV, fueled by her passion to uplift kanaka through storytelling, makes her a valuable asset to the Pilina First team.
Hiapokeikikāne Perreira
“Hiapo” Perreira was raised in Waiau, Oʻahu and nurtured over the past 37 years by ʻohana, immediate and extended, from Hilo to Kekaha. He became the first post-baccalaureate graduate from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo when he was awarded an MA degree in Hawaiian Language and Literature in 2002. In 2012, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Hawaiian and Indigenous Languages and Culture Revitalization. His dissertation centered on the revitalization of traditional Hawaiian oratory. Dr. Perreira is currently an Associate Professor of Hawaiian Literature and Oratory at Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, where he has been lecturing since 1996. Hiapo’s wealth of insight on Hawaiian literature and his ability to pull from that resource and apply that knowledge from a grounding in traditional practices and ways of being to modern concepts, messaging and marketing provides a competitive advantage of authenticity to Pilina First’s team and clients.
Norma Wong
Norma Wong (Norma Ryuko Kawelokū Wong Roshi) is a teacher at the Institute of Zen Studies and Daihonzan Chozen-ji, having trained in Zen for nearly 40 years. She serves practice communities in Hawai‘i, across the continental U.S., and in Toronto, Canada. She works as a thought and strategy partner to community and justice activists. In earlier years, Wong served as a Hawai‘i state legislator, on the policy and strategy team for Governor John Waiheʻe with federal and Native Hawaiian portfolios, and community organizing and policy work in the Native Hawaiian (indigenous) community. She was active in electoral politics for over 30 years.