Aaron Daniel Motuki “Tuki” Herefenua Drake is a Hawaiʻi-based Food Systems Research Specialist with over 12 years of experience working to empower marginalized communities through regenerative agriculture, business creation, education, grant writing, sustainable tourism, art, and environmental conservation. Drake has worked with both nonprofit and government organizations in Hawaiʻi, the Cook Islands, the Philippines, and the Continental United States. He is a passionate lifelong student of Indigenous Austronesian and Oceanic traditional food systems, cultures, languages, and art. He is particularly fascinated by Niu, the coconut tree, and the “tree of life’s” extensive and storied interwoven history with Pacific Peoples. Drake has an MA in Pacific Islands Studies from the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and is a UH Press published author.