The center of the universe for a young Jessica Ka\u02bbiulani Hilo was a wholesale flower shop in San Francisco that specialized in tropical, Hawai\u02bbi-grown plants. The business, Hilo Inc., was established by her Kanaka Maoli grandfather and passed down to her father, Lance Hilo, and his siblings.<\/p>\n
There, Hilo did her part by hauling flora, making lei and filling buckets. The spot in the historic San Francisco flower market not only developed her work ethic; it also imbued her with a sense of being Hawaiian.<\/p>\n
She watched her makuak\u0101ne build a network of Bay Area K\u0101naka, serving local h\u0101lau hula through the late 1980s until the store shuttered in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis small shop in the wholesale flower district in San Francisco was kind of the footprint for my identity,\u201d Hilo said. \u201cFor being in the diaspora, I very much lucked out in still being very connected to the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hilo, now 42, has established a successful career in media, having worked at powerhouse outlets such as CBS Interactive, NBC News and USA TODAY. The Los Angeles resident found that her strength lies in intertwining her career goals with her K\u0101naka identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cJournalism is part of our culture,\u201d Hilo said, referring to the plethora of Native Hawaiian newspapers \u2013 numbering over 100,000 pages \u2013 that were published by K\u0101naka Maoli writers between 1834 and 1948. \u201cThat is [often] forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in Burlingame, California, Hilo is the eldest of three children. Her father claims K\u0101naka Maoli roots from both of his parents, plus Chinese and Japanese on his mother\u2019s side. Hilo\u2019s mom, Marcia Rapozo-Hilo, was raised by her Austrian Jewish mother who was displaced by World War II. Her Kaua\u02bbi-born father was a descendant of Portuguese plantation workers.<\/p>\n
Beginning at age 4, Hilo learned hula under n\u0101 Kumu Hula Esther Correa and Renee Price of H\u0101lau Hula \u02bbo Ku\u02bbuleinani in San Mateo. For the next 14 years, she regularly performed and competed at continent-based festivals like I\u0101 \u02bbOe E Ka L\u0101 Hula Competition and Festival. Hilo recalls long days and demanding practices.<\/p>\n
Other interests blossomed, too. In fourth grade, Hilo began playing saxophone, and she added \u02bbOri Tahiti to her middle school routine. After watching an episode of the TV series Matlock, Hilo set her sights on becoming a lawyer. She also served as the editor-in-chief of her middle school\u2019s newspaper.<\/p>\n
As a teenager, Hilo took advanced placement classes at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, and joined mock trial. She also played soccer, swam on the varsity team, and continued to dance hula, earning a scholarship worth one year of h\u0101lau tuition when her family fell on hard times.<\/p>\n
For a child from a working class \u02bbohana, academics were Hilo\u2019s key to success. Though she excelled at math, she was enamored with history and English. \u201cYou can see the connective tissue between that and journalism,\u201d she quipped.<\/p>\n
After graduating in 2001, she attended University of California, Santa Barbara. Hilo pursued a double major in political science, with an emphasis in international relations, and English, plus a minor in music.<\/p>\n
But by the end of college, she was disenchanted with her legal aspirations. In a mock Congress class, she assumed the role of a journalist and unlocked a new passion. When she graduated in 2005, she was faced with a decision: enroll in a graduate program in English literature or focus on freelance writing?<\/p>\n
Freelance journalism won. At first, Hilo was \u201cwriting for beer money,\u201d publishing stories with local news outlets. She supplemented her income with a job at the Santa Barbara Symphony.<\/p>\n
During that season of her life Hilo met her future husband, Matthew Andersen, at a party in 2008.<\/p>\n
Soon afterwards, she enrolled in a master\u2019s degree program focused on specialized journalism at the University of Southern California finishing in 2010. Later that year, she wrote stories for Patch.com<\/a>, a local news platform, which took her to Connecticut for a three-month internship.<\/p>\n After returning to the West Coast, Hilo was hired in 2012 by Yahoo! as a content producer and social media editor. The following year, she secured a role in media outside of journalism at CBS Interactive. Hilo spent four years producing live social and digital events, leading marketing campaigns and creating editorial content.<\/p>\n Galvanized by the state of the press and democracy, in 2017 Hilo pivoted joining NBC News as a social media editor. She rose through the ranks and became the senior manager of social programming and specials in 2021. Hilo led the coverage of historic events like presidential elections and spearheaded DEI initiatives, which helped her reconnect with her K\u0101naka identity.<\/p>\n Often, she was the only Native Hawaiian in the newsroom. \u201cWe\u2019re just not there,\u201d Hilo said about those spaces. \u201cIt\u2019s so hard to find that community.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond her professional ventures, Hilo was growing her family. She married Matthew in 2017. Their eldest son, Clifford, was born in 2020, followed by Charles in 2023.<\/p>\n Following layoffs at NBC in 2024, Hilo was hired by USA TODAY as the deputy managing editor of social. That year, she also founded N\u0101 Lei Hilo, a monthly newsletter and digital community that strives to connect K\u0101naka in the diaspora.<\/p>\n In 2025, Hilo found herself drawn to academia after teaching a semester course in public relations at Santa Barbara City College. Today, in addition to publishing N\u0101 Lei Hilo, she works as a part-time lecturer on cross-cultural journalism at California State University, Dominguez Hills.<\/p>\n Returning to Hawai\u02bbi someday feels like a colossal decision to Hilo, but she\u2019s open to it, particularly as she dives further into her genealogy. \u201cI\u2019ve been listening more to my ancestors,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, I have the bandwidth to really hear them when they\u2019re saying hello.\u201d<\/p>\n This article is reprinted with permission from OHA’s Ka Wai Ola\u00a0newspaper: “Combining Career and Kuleana on the Continent” by Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, in its April 2026 issue, Vol. 43 No. 4. Read more at kawaiola.news<\/a>.<\/p>\n