Erica has over a decade of experience in education, community building and social impact design. Born to a family of educators going back three generations, she began her career in the Japanese public sector, working on migration issues at the local and national levels. Since then, she has sailed around the world three times on the Peace Boat, designed study tours abroad for Hawaiʻi, and built and taught courses on sustainability at UH Hilo’s College of Hawaiian Language.
While each role was deeply rewarding, there were also clear limits to what any one organization could achieve in tackling broader systemic challenges that affect young people. To better understand how to nudge change along in the big picture, she undertook a Master’s at the London School of Economics in social innovation and entrepreneurship. She then spent a few years in the United Kingdom, consulting for philanthropies, foundations, and governments on evaluating and improving their initiatives’ social impact.
After coming home, Erica has been committed to putting her experiences to work in service of Hawaiʻi’s youth. As the Advocacy Director at HawaiiKidsCAN, she believes in the power of connecting people from different backgrounds to build movements that are true to the needs of the community both now and in the future. While systems change takes a lot to work, the not-so-secret ingredients – aloha (respect, compassion), pilina (connections), haʻa’haʻa (humility), and laulima (cooperation) – are the bedrock of life in Hawaiʻi, so we’re on the right track!
I aspire to be like my 1 year-old.
He falls at least 100 times a day and gets back up again, completely unfazed. To him, falling is a part of learning to walk – and run! As adults, we often tell young people that it’s okay to trip up and make mistakes but we go to immense lengths to avoid making mistakes ourselves.
Why I love my job.
I believe that a robust public infrastructure centered on learning (including schools, libraries, extracurriculars, early childhood resources, family support, childcare, etc.) is the bedrock of a healthy society, and am proud to play a role in ensuring its safeguarding and development.
My connection to public schools.
My parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and I have attended public schools on three continents. Accessing schooling when it was not widely available to all (especially women) is a privilege we have endeavored to pay forward through our careers – on my motherʻs side, weʻve been educators for four generations!
What I’m bad at.
Pop culture references. If it’s a famous movie everybody has seen, I’ve only seen the memes. If it’s a song everybody knows the words to, I’ll be mumbling along hoping nobody notices I’m not actually saying words.
The image that represents why I work at 50CAN
Knowing the world around you is the first step to changing it. Quality education is just one of 17 sustainable development goals, but it’s also the foundation for ensuring communities are equipped to tackle the challenges ahead. Education links to all other goals by informing, empowering, and connecting us to the world – and each other.
