Civil Beat Welcomes Nanea Kalani and Robert Brown
We’re happy to announce that Nanea Kalani and Robert Brown have joined the Civil Beat team as reporter-hosts.
You’re probably already familiar with their names. Nanea has been contributing to Civil Beat for months and Robert, well, he’s “Mr. Fact Check.”
Nanea
Nanea launched her journalism career at in Honolulu after graduating from Hawaii Pacific University. She spent almost four years as a reporter for the weekly business journal, covering energy, high technology, retail, higher education and nonprofits. Most recently, Nanea’s been a freelancer for several online publications.
She earned her B.A. in journalism and minored in visual communication at HPU, where she worked at the university’s bi-monthly newspaper, Kalamalama, as a reporter, editor and page designer.
Some things most people don’t know about Nanea: When she was little, she wanted to be a librarian. She attended Hana High School, where her graduating class numbered just 30. Growing up, she spent almost every weekend farming taro and making poi. Her Hawaiian first name translates to mean “of absorbing interest; fascinating.”
Robert
Robert joined Civil Beat as an intern and quickly became known for his work on our Fact Checks, where we verify the statements of community leaders on issues of public concern.
He will continue to be our lead fact-checker, and work with Adrienne LaFrance and Chad Blair, our reporters covering the city of Honolulu and the state of Hawaii respectively.
Robert is a graduate of the journalism program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Before joining Civil Beat, he worked as an intern at the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of Punahou School.
One thing most people don’t know about RJ is how many countries he’s lived in. As a child, he lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Sydney, Australia, as well as Florida, Maui and Oahu. He moved so much because of his father’s job with Marriott Hotels. Another thing people often don’t know about is his football story. RJ walked on to the football team at CU, a Division I school, earned a scholarship and was elected team captain in his junior season. An injury caused him to miss his final season of eligibility.
In 2009, he moved back to Oahu. He married Rikki Brown this year.
