Connor Arakaki is a summer reporting intern at Honolulu Civil Beat. During her internship, she plans to focus her coverage on Native Hawaiian rights.

At Yale University, Connor studies English and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. She was previously the Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Herald, the university’s weekly magazine. You can also find her journalism in The Nation, The New Journal, Yale Daily News, and Hawaii News Now, where she worked in 2023. She is committed to accountability-driven journalism that platforms Indigenous voices and those often underrepresented in traditional media.

Hailing from ʻEwa Beach, O‘ahu, she is grateful for this opportunity to write for her home state. She will always remember that she was first encouraged to pursue journalism by a high school teacher at ‘Iolani School, where she graduated in 2022. She initially protested this because she loved math. However, in college she circled back to her teacher’s suggestion, and now firmly believes she made the right choice.

Aside from journalism, she is fascinated by poetry and linguistics. If not writing, she is most likely reading. And if not reading, she is probably designing a crossword puzzle.

Connor welcomes story ideas and anonymous tips at carakaki@civilbeat.org.