Aloha! We're so glad you're here and thank you for joining us on this journey.

We wanted to share a little about us, who we are, and how we got here. 

We were born and raised on Oahu and in 2016 embarked on an ambitious adventure to leave our family, friends, and lives behind to relocate to the "mainland," taking a leap of faith with hopes of a better future for our family.  

It hasn’t always been easy, moving away from home is hard. We’ve experienced our family and friends’ life blessings and heartbreak from thousands of miles away. We also had to experience both good and bad in our own lives, and it was extremely difficult not to be able to share that with the people we love in person. Some of these events made us wonder if we should just go back home, but we persevered and with every setback there has been a comeback.

Through all the ups and downs, we believe that aloha should always be there in good times and most especially in bad times. Hawaii is so unique and growing up we always had pride in putting others first and coming together to make things right. Giving whenever, however, and wherever we could, was something we just did. Growing up in Hawaii has shaped who we are and what we believe in.

Our family has grown since moving and now we try to teach our children about aloha and Hawaii culture. We started by wanting our children to understand the importance of aloha, but we believe we can share this beyond our little family. Honestly, we took the aloha spirit for granted when we were home. Being away from the islands has solidified that we want to instill what we grew up with in our children. We want to share with the world the aloha spirit. We want the world to see that an open heart, open mind, integrity, and compassion are not weaknesses. 

This is how Be the Aloha was born.

Our goal and measure of success is to spread the aloha where we live now and way beyond our little island in the middle of the ocean, by paying it forward, serving our community, and just showing up for our newfound hanai family in the same way we would back home.

Everything you find in our shop is thoughtfully crafted by us and we hope you love whatever you decide to choose in our shop, and just know that supporting our little venture here means the world to us and supports our efforts to spread the aloha everywhere and paying it forward.

-Mike + Kelli, Be the Aloha