What is your preferred first name (full name or nickname)?

TK, for Taylor Kaili

Where did you grow up?

Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. I am proud to be Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) 

Where did you attend undergrad and what was your major?

I attended Seattle University and double majored in Environmental Studies with a Specialization in Urban Sustainability and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. I graduated this June!

How did you become interested in food systems?

Hawaiʻi has a fragile ecosystem, disrupted and constantly threatened by settler colonialism. I became interested in food systems as an anxious child, terrified about the shipments of food being interrupted and my island home going hungry. I became interested in studying food systems when I began studying ecofeminism in college and learned about the role that Indigenous women and queer individuals have had in protecting Indigenous food ways and subverting big agribusiness.

What does transforming the food system mean to you?

Transforming food systems is localizing them to center vulnerable peoples, particularly Indigenous communities, in what is grown and how. This looks different for every area, dictated by their particularly ecosystem and settler colonial history. To engage in this process, I volunteer in mutual aid urban farms and distribute information about agroecology, Indigenous food practices, and ecofeminism.

What do you do in your free time?

I guess it’s too obvious to say gardening! I also love exploring new places and finding new bookstores. My favorite genre is queer science fiction and comic books. During lockdown, I got into the trend of hand knitting blankets and continue to struggle with chunky yarn!

What University of Michigan program are you in?

SEAS

Awards: Association for the Study of Food and Society’s Racial Justice Research Fellowship