Manulani Aluli Meyer is the fifth daughter of Emma Aluli and Harry Meyer who grew up on the sands of Mokapu and Kailua beach on the island of O’ahu and along the rainy shoreline of Hilo Palikū. She obtained her doctorate in Philosophy of Education from Harvard (Ed.D. 1998) and is a worldwide keynote speaker, writer, and international evaluator of Indigenous PhDs who now works at the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu campus.