Metro Transit employees come from many cultures and backgrounds. To celebrate this diversity, employees who are proud to share their heritage and identity will be regularly featured on the Riders' Almanac blog. Read more stories here.
Please tell us a little bit about your background.
My father is from the Appalachia region in the eastern U.S. and was stationed in Hawaii with the military when he met and married my mother, who is native Hawaiian with a dash of Chinese and German. He was transferred to Kansas, and I was born in Kansas City, Mo., and grew up in Missouri. I was the first person in my immediate family born in the continental U.S.
How did you come to work at Metro Transit?
I was working at Best Buy corporate and wanted something to do on the weekends, so I became a part-time weekend/holiday bus operator nearly 19 years ago. I remained a operator for five and a half years while working at Best Buy corporate and two consulting firms. After being laid off from the last consulting firm I worked for, I got a call from Metro Transit to go full-time and accepted. I drove full-time for two and a half years before applying for Transit Control Center Supervisor and have been here almost 11 years. Recently, I was promoted to acting assistant transportation manager at South Garage.
How do you continue to celebrate your culture today?
Several years ago, I started Minnesota’s first Native Hawaiian nonprofit organization while also serving as president of a Native Hawaiian genealogical society for 12 years. The society grew from 100 members to nearly 18,000 when I left. I am now writing a book about my family’s history. On my mom’s side, I have history that dates back a very long time in Hawaii and other parts of the Pacific Islands. My great-grandfather even worked for Honolulu Rapid Transit Co. in the 1940s when Hawaii was a U.S. territory. My father’s side dates to the American Revolution and Civil War. The book is about how those cultures came together.
I also stay in close contact with ohana (family), especially those in Hawaii. My great-grandmother gave me a Hawaiian name when I was born, which my mother legally changed before I entered school because she thought it would be difficult for me. My birth name is Kawika Kolomona Kamakeeaina, which in the English language translates to David Solomon keeper or caretaker of the land, depending on who you are talking to. I go by my birth name outside of work, and plan on legally changing my name back to my native birth name.