For years, October in Hawaiʻi meant something very special to me: gathering with my ʻohana at the Susan G. Komen MORE THAN PINK Walk.

I began walking with Komen Hawaiʻi in 2015, and year after year, Team Julia Smiles returned to walk, raise funds, celebrate hope and stand beside families whose lives have been touched by breast cancer.

This year looks different.

After more than two decades of calling Hawaiʻi home, I now live in Arizona. As October approached, I realized just how much I missed the Hawaiʻi Walk—and how much I wished I had formed Team Julia Smiles again.

Then I realized something:

I still can.

Distance doesn't end a relationship. Moving doesn't erase a community that became part of your heart. And changing my address certainly doesn't change my commitment to this cause.

So Team Julia Smiles is BACK for the 2026 Hawaiʻi MORE THAN PINK Walk!

I'll be cheering, advocating and fundraising from Arizona while members of our Team Julia Smiles ʻohana can walk in Honolulu on October 11.

This year, I'm setting a special goal of $5,700 — 57 for 57.

Whether you give $25, $57, $100 or another amount that is meaningful to you, every donation moves us closer.

And if you're in Hawaiʻi, I'd love for you to do something even more special:

Join Team Julia Smiles and walk with us at Kapiʻolani Park.

Hawaiʻi may no longer be where I live, but it will always be part of who I am.

From Arizona to Hawaiʻi, we're still walking.

We're still hoping.

We're still fighting.

And Team Julia Smiles is still smiling.

Mahalo for being part of this journey.