Native Hawaiian Singer-Songwriter • Music • Culture • Youth • Aloha ʻĀina
Giving Voice to Hawaiʻi Through Music, Resilience and Aloha
Some artists perform for an audience.
Others use their voice to help people feel seen.
Paula Fuga has spent her career doing both.
Born and raised in Waimānalo, Oʻahu, Paula is a Native Hawaiian singer-songwriter, poet and ʻukulele player whose extraordinary voice has carried her from Hawaiʻi to stages around the world.
Her journey has included hardship as well as extraordinary achievement. As a young person, Paula experienced homelessness and witnessed the impacts of addiction and violence. Music became part of a path forward—and eventually a way to transform those experiences into messages of perseverance, compassion and hope.
Today, her music reaches far beyond Hawaiʻi.
But Paula has never simply taken Hawaiʻi with her.
She continues giving back to it.
Through music, mentorship, community projects and collaborations supporting Hawaii’s youth, culture and environment, Paula has repeatedly used her talent as a form of service.
For that commitment, Support Local Hawaii is honored to recognize Paula Fuga as a Hawaiʻi Steward.
From Waimānalo to the World
Paula began as a poet before discovering another way to carry her words.
Music.
While attending high school, she began playing ʻukulele and studied under master instructor Roy Sakuma. Poetry became songwriting, and an unmistakable musical voice began to emerge.
Her debut album, Lilikoi, earned her the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for Most Promising Artist. Her career would eventually bring collaborations with artists including Jack Johnson, Ziggy Marley and others, along with performances at venues ranging from Madison Square Garden to the Sydney Opera House Forecourt and the White House.
Her 2021 album Rain on Sunday, released through Brushfire Records, brought another chapter to that journey.
Yet the heart of Paula’s story isn’t simply how far the music traveled.
It is what she chose to carry with it.
Music With Purpose
Paula has described her music as being dedicated to inspiring positive social change, grounded in perseverance and hope. Her official biography also speaks of a commitment to carrying the voice of the Hawaiian people into the wider world.
That purpose becomes especially visible through her community work.
Playing for Change describes Paula as an artist who works to inspire youth by sharing her own story while participating in community projects focused on environmental protection and Native Hawaiian cultural values.
That distinction matters.
Paula’s story isn’t powerful simply because she overcame hardship.
It becomes stewardship when those experiences are turned outward—
toward another young person,
another community,
another opportunity to encourage someone not to give up.
Standing With Hawaii’s Youth
One of the strongest examples of Paula’s stewardship is her longstanding relationship with Mana Maoli.
Mana Maoli brings together educators, artists, cultural practitioners, community organizers and families around community-based education, resource sharing and environmental, economic and community sustainability. Its Mana Mele work connects music and multimedia with students in Hawaiian-focused schools.
Paula has been part of that work for years.
Mana Maoli documented her contributing her time and talent to dozens of events, recordings and school visits across multiple islands—and sharing her own journey with young people facing difficult circumstances.
That is more than appearing at a benefit.
That is showing up.
And sometimes showing up is one of the most meaningful things a Steward can do.
Songs Across Hawaiʻi
Paula has also lent her voice to collaborative projects that connect music with Hawaiian culture, education and community.
Through Mana Maoli and Playing for Change, she has participated in projects such as “Hawaiʻi Aloha,” “Island Style – ʻŌiwi Ē,” “Better Together,” and other Songs Across Hawaiʻi collaborations.
“Hawaiʻi Aloha” brought together dozens of Hawaiʻi artists and more than 1,000 youth from 10 Hawaiian charter schools, recorded across 27 locations. The larger Mana Mele effort connects professional musicians, engineers and filmmakers volunteering their skills with students and schools.
These collaborations demonstrate something Paula’s career has shown repeatedly:
Music can connect generations.
It can carry language.
It can carry stories.
It can create belonging.
And when artists share their time and knowledge with young people, music can become a bridge between those already carrying the culture and those who will carry it next.
A Voice for ʻĀina and Community
Paula’s stewardship also reaches into environmental and community work.
Playing for Change notes her participation in projects centered on environmental protection, while her collaborations have repeatedly placed her alongside organizations and artists using music to support Hawaii’s communities and ʻāina.
That relationship between culture, community and environment is important.
In Hawaiʻi, these things do not exist separately.
Mele comes from place.
Culture comes from relationship.
Community depends upon people caring for one another.
And caring for Hawaiʻi means caring for the ʻāina that sustains all of it.
Why Support Local Hawaii Recognizes Paula Fuga
Support Local Hawaii recognizes Stewardship through action.
Paula Fuga has used her music to entertain people around the world—but her contribution does not end when the song is over.
She has shared her story with youth.
She has donated time and talent to community efforts.
She has supported cultural and environmental initiatives.
She has stood alongside other Hawaiʻi musicians to help connect young people with music, multimedia and Hawaiian culture.
And through her own journey, she carries a message especially important for anyone facing circumstances that make the future difficult to see:
Where you begin does not have to determine where you end.
Sometimes the gift we carry forward grows from the very experiences we once had to survive.
Paula turned poetry into music.
Music into connection.
And connection into service.
That is stewardship.
That is Aloha in action.
Stewardship in Action
Music & Mele
Uses songwriting, voice and ʻukulele to carry stories of love, perseverance, Hawaiʻi and hope.
Youth & Mentorship
Has contributed time and talent to school visits, educational collaborations and projects designed to inspire Hawaii’s young people.
Culture & Community
Participates in collaborations that connect Hawaiian musicians, cultural practitioners, educators and students.
Aloha ʻĀina
Supports projects connecting music with environmental awareness and care for Hawaiʻi.
Positive Change
Uses the visibility created through her music to encourage compassion, resilience and community connection.
Keep the Music Moving Forward
Paula Fuga’s story reminds us that a voice can do more than fill a room.
It can reach someone.
A young person who needs encouragement.
A community gathering together.
A culture being carried forward.
A listener thousands of miles away discovering Hawaiʻi through mele.
One song cannot solve every problem.
But it can reach one person.
And sometimes that person carries what they heard into the rest of their life.
That’s how music travels.
That’s how hope travels.
And that’s how stewardship grows.
Listen deeply.
Support Hawaii’s musicians.
Encourage the next generation.
Mālama the ʻāina.
And when you have something to give—give it.
Every part connects. Every action counts.
Discover Paula Fuga
Name: Paula Fuga
Home: Waimānalo, Oʻahu
Stewardship Areas: Music • Hawaiian Culture • Youth • Community • Aloha ʻĀina
Artistry: Singer-Songwriter • Poet • ʻUkulele
Support Local Hawaii Recognition: Hawaiʻi Steward
Paula’s official site remains active, and she has also established Mana Wāhine Productions, an independent Hawaii-based company created to develop collaborative artistic projects and live events.
