Elizabeth's Story

Mentored by Grand Master Navigator Mau Piailug.

She was mentored for nearly a decade by Grandmaster Navigator Pius "Mau" Piailug of Satawal, Micronesia, widely regarded as the greatest non-instrument navigator of the 20th century. What she learned in those years became the work she shares today, a practice for finding direction in uncertainty.

The Academic foundation of Wayfinding Leadership.

Star positions. The interval between swells. The direction of wind. The color of the horizon before dawn. Wayfinding is the science of synthesizing these observations to know where you are and where you're headed.

In 1999, Elizabeth earned her PhD in Cultural Anthropology with a specialization in ethnonavigation. Her doctoral dissertation, I Ka Wā Ma Mua Ka Wā Ma Hope, was the first to study the navigational temple and training ground of Ko'a Heiau Holomoana in Mahukona, Hawai'i. The title captures a core principle of Hawaiian navigation: we find our way forward by understanding what has come before. It has since become the basis for further research in the field.

Ensuring the knowledge survives.

Elizabeth has established scholarships for women and children across the Pacific, Asia, and Southeast Asia, investing in a new generation of cultural stewards and leaders. These are communities where ancient knowledge remains alive but vulnerable, passed from elder to student in unbroken lines that grow thinner with each generation. Her scholarships ensure these traditions survive.

In the wayfinding tradition, knowledge is never held. It is received, protected, and passed on. Grandmaster Navigator Mau Piailug taught this not only as a principle of navigation but as a responsibility. These scholarships are rooted in that same commitment: to invest in the ones who will protect this knowledge and pass it on.