Some of our newest faces who said hello in #introductions include:
Eric Nakagawa: "Hi folks, I'm eric! I live in SF now, but my family is mostly on the Kapolei/Ewa/Waipahu side. I work in tech at Novi/Facebook on a blockchain project called Libra. I run the open source and developer advocacy program for the project. I've done a bunch of other stuff before, too."
Michael Erickson: "I'm a teacher and data scientist. I've lived on O‘ahu since 2011. I'm originaly a Californian. I've lived at far east on the mainland as Pittsburgh, PA, and internationally, I lived in Portugal for a while."
Trish La Chica: "I'm Policy and Advocacy Director for the Hawaii Public Health Institute (HIPHI). I usually work on issues concerning tobacco control, food access, the built environment and oral health. But lately (mostly) I've been working on a lot of covid response advocacy. I'm also a candidate for State House in Mililani (District 36)."
Richard Padilla: "I'm originally from Kauai (my family is from Waimea side) but I live here now in the Bay Area after being in LA, the OC, Columbus, and Chicago. I currently work at Nintendo of America on its strategic communications team, working on social media (and others things, too!)."
Ging Ging Fernandez: "I'm from Washington, lived in the Bay Area, Southern California, and Massachusetts. Married a local guy, so we put down roots here in Hawaii 6 years ago, with 3 boys doing virtual school now. I'm working on a project for Hawaii Department of Transportation called Hawaii Road Usage Charge Demonstration, researching roadway funding alternatives as the gas tax is becoming outdated."
Chiemi Nakata: "I'm just happy to find a community of fellow data nerds to kick things around with about covid. I've been driving my friends and family crazy with all of my ranting and hand wringing."
Brandon O'Dell: "I am a Technical Architect for Windsor Solutions living in west Oahu. We build software for the Environmental Health Administration of Hawaii Department of Health, to help with permitting, compliance, enforcement and reporting to EPA. One of our more public apps is the water/beach advisory system, which shows and alerts users (including new stations) when bacteria levels in water pose a health risk."
Peter Zwickert: "For 12 years I was in the Culinary Industry and worked my way to Chef in a few places. Several years ago, I was truly burnt out and decided to make a career change. I have now completed my 5th and final year as an electrical apprentice at the ABC Apprenticeship Program, as well as, my A.A.S. in Business from Kapiolani Community College. I was recently accepted to Shidler School of Business at UH Manoa. There I will obtain in B.A. Entrepreneurship. For now, I work full time on the multiple military bases on Oahu. However, I am passionate about helping the community anyway I can!"