Brooklyn DEI Editor Examines her Native Hawaiian Roots in Local, a Coming-of-Age Memoir

Jessica Machado talks growing up multiracial in Hawai‘i, losing her mother, and finding home in her ancestral homelands decades after moving away.

I first met Jessica Machado in hula Zoom classes at Hula Halau ‘Ohana Holo’oko’a. It was early 2022 and Jessica had a lot going on. She was in the late stages of finishing her first book, Local, a coming-of-age memoir published earlier this year. And she was transitioning into her current position — DEI editor at NBCU Academy’s Equity Lab.

Jessica held p…