[MUSIC] Well I had an incredible opportunity after graduating college to head to the island of Maui, Hawaii. And the opportunity arised based on an internship that I had done during college, and so I, I moved to the island and was able to lead whale watching and snorkel trips and during that time an aquarium was built, and I was invited to serve as their first education manager. One of my first big tasks was to design a Hawaiians and the sea exhibit and I was very excited about this topic as well as extremely intimidated. I had grown up in Buffalo, New York, and, moved to the island of Maui and just fell in love with the Hawaiian culture. But certainly was very aware at how far I had to travel in terms of really the, gaining a basic understanding and knowledge of the culture. I also was very aware that some individuals spend their entire lifetimes as well as their academic careers, really trying to, dig into topics of this nature. And I had to create an exhibit, within months that, that told the story, a very important story, in a public setting. And so with pursuing this particular challenge, I knew that I was going to have to really have a certain sense of authenticity and humility with approaching the topic. And I was going to need to be a sponge. And, and really absorb the stories, try to capture their essence and tell them in a way that made the Hawaiian people feel that it was accurate and, and that they felt proud of the way that it was depicted. So as I approach the design of this Hawaiians in the sea exhibit. I, I really had to pose my challenges as, as questions for both myself and for others. And I, I would say throughout studying creativity that that has been a main thread for me. What is, is understanding that when I have a challenge. When I frame it into a question, I'm able to really start to invite some solutions. So at the time, I really, said to myself, okay, you know? How, how might I invite the right people, the right artifacts, the right information forward to be able to weave those pieces together, and, and make tapestry that was, that meaningfully, told this story. And so, some of the answers that started to come forward were, for me, were different people that I really needed to start to connect with and just actively listen. Not necessarily jump into writing graphic panels but to really sit with people and I remember there was one, one kupuna, an elder that I sat with and he really wanted me to log a lot of time listening and just sitting and being with him. And it was through that that I really started to understand that the tone of how we needed to approach the topic. One of my main challenges with creating this Hawaiians and the sea exhibit was figuring out what the right objects were going to be that would best tell the story. And, these objects were not going to come from one source. They weren't something I couldn't go online and start to pull together. It was really through building relationships and asking people to create these pieces to tell the story that the exhibit eventually came alive. And there was certainly trust building that had to happen about how these objects would be displayed and featured before individuals were even willing to create them. I also, realistically as, as always with projects, you have timelines and budgets. And so, with trying to stay within, within a budget, I knew I was going to need to procure some, some items at low to no cost. And I rem, remember specifically I needed to find a [FOREIGN], which is the Hawaiian word for canoe. And these, these can be very pricey items. And the budget was kind of tight and I, I felt that if I drove around this, this certain area or neighborhood that I might come across the right, canoe or person. And so I, I drove around this neighborhood and I ended up driving down this street and, and saw, [FOREIGN] at the end of this street that, was just exactly what I was looking for, at the time. And I ended up having to kind of walk behind someone's house, and find my way to a back shed. And there was a man sitting there who fast-forward months later ended up very emotionally moved at the blessing of the opening of this particular exhibit. And so the, the trust factor and the serendipity, and a openness that I think sometimes comes along with approaching things with a creative mindset can lead to some pretty incredible things. [MUSIC]