2024.08.27 Hybrid Lunch Mtg - Kim Coco Iwamoto

Today is two-fold:  An official visit from our Rotary District Governor, Ted Faigle

and our guest speaker Kim Coco Iwamoto

In 2006, when Kim Coco Iwamoto was elected to the Board of Education, Hawaii became the first state in the nation to elect an openly transgender person to a statewide office; she was re-elected in 2010 with 25% more votes. Iwamoto went on to serve as a Commissioner on the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. In 2013, the Obama White House honored her as a Champion of Change. Iwamoto is an attorney, small business owner and Co-Founder of the Chamber of Sustainable Commerce, which now has over 500 members statewide. Iwamoto lives in Kakaako with her 11 year-old daughter Rory, a proud student of Queen Kaahumanu Elementary School.

Kim Coco Iwamoto was born on the island of Kauai and is of Japanese descent.  She received a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law.

In 2011, Iwamoto completed Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a David Bohnett Foundation LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.

She won election to the Hawaii Board of Education in 2006, becoming the first out trans person to win state office and one of the first out trans people elected in the United States. Iwamoto served two terms on the board and was appointed to the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission by Governor Neil Abercrombie in 2012.   In 2020, Iwamoto lost her race for the Hawaii House of Representatives by just 167 votes. 

Iwamoto was recognized as a Champion of Change by President Barack Obama in 2013[3] and in 2018, Newsweek listed her as one of fifty need-to-know pioneers for LGBTQ rights.[4

Iwamoto's other work experiences include serving as Managing Attorney at Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii and facilitating affordable housing through AQuA Rentals, LLC (Affordable Quality Apartment Rentals, LLC). Her volunteer work includes serving on the board of directors for both Kūlia Nā Mamo and Hawaiʻi People's Fund.[8]

Walk-ins welcome!  We welcome walk-ins and know some of you don't know if you can make it until the last minute.  Please join us!  Registration closes 24 hours prior to the event.  Walk-in rate is $50.  

Can't attend in person?