Keʻōpū Reelitz

Keʻōpū Reelitz has made her career into a love letter to her three young kids. She firmly believes that when families in Hawaiʻi thrive, everyone thrives. She has put that at the forefront of her career for nearly a decade.

Reelitz, a part-Hawaiian woman born and raised in Kāneʻohe on the windward side of Oʻahu, has had a quintessentially millennial career full of diverse experiences. She has worked in journalism, government, coalition-building, public relations and communications, early childhood education, advocacy, and Hawaiian nation-building. The greatest achievements of each of those experiences have been building and supporting safer and braver spaces for women of color to lead the changes our communities deserve—whether in child welfare reform, increasing access to and supports for child care or building more equitable transportation infrastructure. 

Reelitz will join Papa Ola Lōkahi as the policy lead in September 2024. She most recently served as the Chief Advocate for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Prior to that, her career centered on early childhood and human services in advocacy with Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network and in communications and public affairs with the State Executive Office on Early Learning and the State Department of Human Services before that. Reelitz has also had the privilege of building community to advance transportation equity through the uplifting of community voices as leaders. 

Reelitz holds a B.A. in political science and intentional studies from Loyola University Chicago and a J.D. from the University of Arizona. She has also attained the greatest career achievement: being a mom to three young boys. Though Reelitz has to admit that it was her husband—a journalist turned stay-at-home Dad returned journalist—who got them through most of that. For self-care, Reelitz turns on the music really loud to sing and dance and is a regular at her YMCA fitness classes.