I’ve had the idea for years to do interviews with my favorite Maui humans.  This island tends to have some of the most spectacular people on Earth, whether born and raised or new to Maui.

So, I’m starting with my good friend Ari: the ultimate family man, impact-minded entrepreneur, ping-pong beast, and superhero aficionado.

Ari Zainudddin, originally from Malaysia, moved to Maui for Australia after having jumped around the Pacific quite a bit. He joined the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society (HOCVS) through a neighbor’s recommendation and was introduced to its founder Uncle Kimokeo and Executive Director ‘Anela. HOCVS focuses on both racing and cultural education, with members participating in hālau to learn about oli, mele, hula, and the concept of ‘ohana. Ari shares the similarities between Polynesian and Southeast Asian cultures, particularly the emphasis on accountability and respect for elders. He also notes a difference in materialism and the importance of family and well-being in Hawaii, which they find beneficial for their family’s growth and fulfillment.

Can you share a bit about your background and how you became involved with the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society?

When we first moved here, quite a few years ago, my family and I were looking to do quite a lot more cultural events and activities. Growing up in Malaysia, there was quite a bit of Polynesian culture, but not nearly as much as there is here. And I would say we probably got just very, very lucky that we joined this canoe club (HOCVS), as opposed to other canoe clubs, because there are 9 or 10 canoe clubs on Maui.

It just so happened one day, I was having a conversation with my family about wanting to do more in terms of learning about the whole culture. And a neighbor came over, and he just said, “Hey, I overheard you talking to your kids. You should come with me to this canoe club that I belong to.” So the next morning I was there at around five o’clock. He was surprised I was there. He introduced me to the founder, who was Unko Leonard Kimokeo, who everybody here knows, the Executive Director, ‘Anela Gutierrez, and then a whole boatload of other people who’ve been paddlers.

Big History with some are literally like kupunas, as far as voyaging is concerned.

And then I got hooked.

It;s a wonderful club, the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society, and though we focus on racing and the regatta, both short and long distance, really our main focus is on culture. So many of the members are encouraged to join the hālau, where we learn the Oli, Pule, and meles, and learn about the hula and learn about what it’s like to belong to hālau. And my kids both belong to one. My wife gets involved as much as she can, and I’m with them at that club probably three or four times a week.

It’s been a real blessing for us to move here to Hawaii and be a part of that.

How has your understanding and appreciation of Hawaiian culture evolved over the years on Maui, and how does it differ from living in your past communities around the Pacific?

So I come from Malaysia, grew up there in Indonesia and in the Philippines, and so I’ve got a really strong appreciation for what would be the Asian culture, South Asian culture, but in reality, we are a part of greater Polynesia.

Moving here and being a part of HOCVS has been a real blessing because it’s given us the opportunity to go a lot deeper within the Polynesian and Hawaiian cultures. And I would say that there are just so many more similarities than our there are differences.

The thing that I appreciated the most about being part of the Malaysian community is the greater accountability. You’re not just stuck answering your mom and dad. You’re stuck and you have to answer and be accountable to your neighbors, your uncles and aunties, even those that you haven’t seen for decades. “I took care of you when you were a little kid!” It’s expected that you are accountable to them. The idea of greater ohana, where you know, it’s not just your nuclear family, but everyone: the people that you meet at the grocery store, the people that you paddle with, the people that are at school.

And then another piece is respect, especially respect for those who are older than you. The idea that even I, learning about teachers being called Kumu. And Kumu is not a profession. It actually means something like a “source of” and that, in itself, forces you to give so much respect to people who are kumus and the Kupunas. It’s very similar to the culture that I grew up with.

The one difference, I’d say, which I do really appreciate, is that while I grew up in the culture in Southeast Asia, over time, there’s so much more materialism that has kind of crept into that culture, capitalism that has crept into the country. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone wants to succeed materially and live that kind of dream life. But it seems like, and I might be, you know, naive, and n of one, but it seems like in Hawaii, with the community that we’ve got here, there’s still so much credence and importance given to the idea of family, the aina and just taking care of your well-being, the mana. And I really appreciate that for myself, and I’m very grateful to have my wife and my kids being within this environment. Because hopefully if they can practice that and then be surrounded by people who practice that, maybe our lives would be a little bit more fulfilled.

What are you most looking forward to during the events surrounding the Gathering of the Voyagers at Fairmont Kea Lani?

Okay, I think it’s been, if I’m not mistaken, a few years now that our club HOCVS has sponsored and kind of brought to life the Gathering of the Voyagers. This will be my third year being involved, and I’m very privileged and honored.

I’ve always really loved it when like-minded people get together. And for this, it’s people around the idea of the canoe and the wa’a and voyaging. I love it when we go to a race, and we go to a regatta, Queen Lilokalani race, because there are just so many people from all parts of the world, and they’re all sharing one thing in common. It’s the love for the ocean, the love for the canoe, the love for that community, and the love for being out in nature, right? So this gathering is special because it’s only that we get people from all over the world coming over and enjoying that aspect of life. Led by Uncle Kimokea and ‘Anela our Executive Director, our club has done such a great job every year of bringing these Kupunas from all sorts of parts of Polynesia, who are experts in building canoes, who are the preeminent voices in star navigation. And the fact that they are here, willing to share the knowledge with basically anyone who wants to listen is such a privilege.

These events are open to the public, where everyone can just go and actually get this knowledge. Their knowledge has been around for hundreds if not 1000s of years, so it’s such a privilege to bear witness to their sharing this knowledge and to be a part of this community. That’s probably the thing that I love most about it. It’s an honor.

Can you tell us about a mentor or an individual who has significantly influenced your journey within or outside of your hālau?

I would say that the person that’s probably influenced me the most is probably the executive director of our club, ‘Anela Gutierrez. It’s interesting because you would think that I would say a few of the guys that have taught me how to paddle, like Wilson, and Kelly These guys come from amazing backgrounds, and they’re real Waterman, or our kupuna, our Kimokea. But actually, I would say it’s Anela, because not only is she Executive Director, and she’s really in charge of all of us, her kuleana is extremely big. And she does such a great job at ensuring everyone is brought along.

I’m a foreigner to Hawaii, really, and so many of us really want to learn. She’s so open to it, but she has to be really strong. So on top of her living in what some people might call a male-dominated world, and even within this area of voyaging, she is such a powerhouse. She’s great at what she does. She’s really smart, but she has to be really strong to do it as well. And so every time I look at her, I just go, “Man, she’s open to teaching us anything and everything about being great paddlers. She’s open to always teaching us how to really grow our mana the best way, the Polynesian way.” And then selfishly, obviously being a husband to a wife and father to two daughters, I always tell my daughters, “Man, if you grow up and both of you guys have that strong mana like Auntie ‘Angela, I would just be a very, very proud father.”

You’re the principal at the global marketing agency AMbrands, among other prominent organizations. Do you see Hawaiian values influencing your approach to campaigns and in which ways?

I would say there’s definitely an alignment between what I think is very prominent within the Hawaiian Polynesian culture and what we’re trying to do with AMbrands, which is to ensure that AMbrands has a very strong, positive purpose in everything that it does. As an advertising agency, we’re trying to focus on positive social, and environmental impact. So if we can do more advertising to help brands, organizations, and communities in this way, that would be great. That’s our ultimate goal, our ultimate purpose. When thinking on Polynesian culture, there’s a kind of beyond-self element of it, where you take care of your mana. Then if your mana is strong, then you can hopefully take care of your ‘ohana and your family. And the Ohana is not just your immediate family; it’s your greater community.

Then you have to be good Kahunas and stewards of the aina, which is the land. These types of values are what we would like to continue to permeate within our organization, not just within the people who work there, but for our clients. So we’re very happy, and we’ve been very fortunate that we do work with a few Hawaiian entities. And I would say every single one of the Hawaiian entities that we work with, or our clients and our partners, they’re very clear that “hey, while we are a business for profit, trying to make money, it’s very important that we take care of our constituencies, take care of the people, take care of the land.” We love that.

If we can help our clients based outside of Maui in mainland USA and in the EU, and clients in Australasia, if we can help them permeate their purpose that goes beyond profits, that would be wonderful.

So yeah, definitely takes lots of learning. There are quite a few alignments there. But if we can do more, I think that would only make us more successful, and hopefully make our clients more successful as well.

What does your family’s involvement look like? Is there anything in particular that they love about peddling?

Yeah, you know, we’ve been pretty fortunate because my wife and my children both really love paddling as well. My wife’s a teacher, so she’s pretty busy, and she obviously needs to be at school five days a week. So she tends to come paddling with the club at the very least once a week, every weekend, which is wonderful. I think she loves the idea of being out in nature and obviously the ocean. We always go paddling, and we’ll stop right in the middle of the ocean. Everyone jumps out for a nice swim. We try to see honu whenever we can and see koholas (whales), that’s always really fun. And then she’s made very close friends from the Canoe Club and the community.

My kids, I would say, have taken it up one notch. They love paddling! They don’t want to wake up at four in the morning to go early in the morning canoe. They initially joined our hālau, and now they’re in a different hālau, and so they spend at least three hours every week learning old, mele, doing the hula, and that has given them appreciation for the Polynesian and Hawaiian culture. And both of them have been involved in quite a few long-distance voyages through our canoe club.

My eldest daughter is thinking about joining the canoe team at her high school next semester. So obviously, very happy with that. It’s not a struggle at all for me to bring them to the competitions that we have. They love it. It’s a chance for them to be amongst their friends within this community. Who’s going to say no to being in the ocean, being on the beach, right? So, yeah, very, very blessed.

A perfect day with the Zainuddin ‘ohana would include a paddle session, a spicy BBQ with ‘ukulele practice, a silk performance, and a pong battle to the death.  Let’s make that happen soon!