{"id":232973,"date":"2026-04-24T09:29:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=232973"},"modified":"2026-04-24T10:53:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:53:44","slug":"uh-alumnas-brand-rooted-in-hawaii-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/24\/uh-alumnas-brand-rooted-in-hawaii-island\/","title":{"rendered":"&lsquo;Hilo Das Why&rsquo; <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> alumna\u2019s brand stays rooted in <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Island"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_19682\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AfpQ_d33ec0?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Alumni Hali\u02bba Aloha: Tania Takashiba\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Before launching her local clothing and accessory brand, <a href=\"https:\/\/marumaruhawaii.com\/\">MaruMaru Hawaii<\/a>, Hilo native Tania Takashiba made the decision to continue her education at the University of <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> at M\u0101noa. She spent several years studying on the U.S. continent before attending the Shidler College of Business, where she earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in marketing in 2002.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_232981\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-232981\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uh-foundation-takashiba-tania-1-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"two women at MaruMaru booth\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-232981\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uh-foundation-takashiba-tania-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uh-foundation-takashiba-tania-1-130x130.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uh-foundation-takashiba-tania-1.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-232981\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tania Takashiba, left, and her sister Kara Iopa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A member of the business fraternity Pi Sigma Epsilon, Takshiba said her time at Shidler played a pivotal role in shaping her professional network and lasting friendships.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think graduating from &rdquo;<abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa was the perfect transition into adulthood,&rdquo; said Takashiba. &ldquo;[I] did internships, I was able to get a job pretty easily, and I couldn\u2019t be more thankful for the people I met.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Those connections continue to play a role in her life today. Takashiba stays in touch with several friends from her Shidler years, including one who serves as her financial advisor.<\/p>\n<h2>Building a local business<\/h2>\n<p>Takashiba started MaruMaru Hawaii with her sister in 2015. She said it was hard to find local brands that offered clothes for kids, so they decided to create their own. The brand has taken off, and Takashiba has run into people at the airport and on vacation wearing her clothes.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our designs are super simple, but I think because they\u2019re based on real things, it resonates with a lot of people,&rdquo; said Takashiba.<\/p>\n<p>Popular designs such as &ldquo;Hilo Das Why&rdquo; and &ldquo;Hilo Love&rdquo; reflect the brand\u2019s commitment to represent Hilo and its people.<\/p>\n<h2>Rooted in Hilo<\/h2>\n<p>Despite the brand\u2019s popularity, Takashiba has intentionally chosen to keep MaruMaru Hawaii rooted on the Big Island. She said she does not plan to expand through pop-ups on <span lang=\"haw\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> or other islands, even when opportunities arise.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think there\u2019s something to be said about being able to give Hilo people something first,&rdquo; said Takashiba. &ldquo;There\u2019s nothing like Hilo; it\u2019s very special. The community here is amazing, you\u2019re connected to everybody, and it\u2019s just Hilo das why.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_232982\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-232982\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uh-foundation-takashiba-tania-2.jpg\" alt=\"2 women at the MaruMaru booth\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-232982\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uh-foundation-takashiba-tania-2.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uh-foundation-takashiba-tania-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uh-foundation-takashiba-tania-2-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-232982\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tania Takshiba, right, and her sister Kara Iopa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&rdquo;<abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> connections helped pave the path for a thriving <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Island business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":232983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,679,774,146,319,9,56],"class_list":["post-232973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-marketing","tag-shidler-college-of-business","tag-uh-foundation","tag-uh-manoa","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uh-foundation-takashiba-tania-horizontal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232973"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233007,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232973\/revisions\/233007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}