Kehaulani Cerizo

Kehaulani Cerizo is a local journalist who was born and raised on Maui.

Prior to joining Maui Now, she worked nearly 15 years as a news reporter, copy editor and features editor at daily newspapers on Maui and in San Diego.

In recent years, Cerizo won several Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism awards for breaking news and features writing at The Maui News, including 2019 reporting on the Central Maui wildfire and 2020 coverage of the pandemic. Previously, she earned a San Diego Press Club recognition for visual arts writing at Today’s Local News in Southern California.

Cerizo received a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego in 2004. She was part of the second graduating class of Upcountry's King Kekaulike High School in 2000.

The reporter got her start as the news editor of her college paper and as an SPJ intern at The Maui News.

She was then hired as a reporter and copy editor to help start Today’s Local News, a now-defunct Copley Press publication. Cerizo in 2006 returned home and joined The Maui News, where she remained off and on until last month.

She also owns and operates with her husband, Frank, a small business called CrossFit Upcountry Maui in Hāliʻimaile. The fitness gym, which has more than 100 members, holds annual community outreaches and charity events.

The two reside in Haʻikū.