Aimee is a hula dancer that grew up on Kaua‘i, and now nourished by the Pō‘aihale rain of Kahalu‘u, O‘ahu. She earned her MS degree in Botany at UH Mānoa, with a focus in biocultural restoration of Hawaiian dry forests. Her non-academic training comes from her kumu (teachers), including Kumu Kekuhi Kealiikanakaoleohaililani, and she continues to be a lifelong learner of Hawai‘i lifeways and cultural protocol through the program, Hālau ‘Ōhi‘a. Today, Aimee bridges her expertise in biocultural conservation, and Hawai‘i lifeways as the Stewardship Specialist and Coordinator for the He‘eia National Estuarine Research Reserve, at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. As a non-Hawaiian that was born on and fed by these islands, her responsibility to her home is to be a strong advocate of Native Hawaiian values, elevating both the people and places of Hawai‘i, supporting ‘āina-based conservation, and bridging conservation, science, and community to encourage reciprocal and co-developed research.