Pua Case was born and raised on the Island of Hawai’i and is a Kumu Hula, a teacher of traditional dance and chant, and teacher of the life ways, culture and traditions of the kanaka maoli or native peoples of Hawai’i. Pua serves on various educational and cultural boards in Hawaiʻi and is the Lead Coordinator and ProjectDirector of Mauna Kea Education and Awareness.She has been a part of the Mauna Kea Movement over the past fourteen years and has been involved in both community and frontline actions to safeguard the mountain and unify peoples of all nations in a collective mission to network, plan, and support one another. As a Kumu Hula and composer of both oli and mele, Pua has shared her compositions within and beyond Hawaiʻi. Pua focuses on incorporating cultural and traditional values and life ways into all efforts and actions to set a precedence of protocols for social and environmental justice and positive change.

Pua received two awards in 2023, the USAToday Hawaii Women of the Year, and the Sunrise Foundation Puka ʻana a ka lā Award. In 2024, she received the esteemed NCORE Suzan Shown Harjo Advocate for Systemic Social Justice Award. On October 24, 2025 Pua the Hawaiʻi Island United Way honored Pua with the Ripple Effect Awards – Good Trouble Social Justice Award. Pua accepted the award,on behalf of the Mauna Kea Education and Awareness team, For that award, she was recognized for leading with courage and clarity, inspiring thousands through ceremony, storytelling, and peaceful resistance and for her leadership in the movement to protect Mauna Kea which had rippled far beyond Hawaiʻi, building bridges between Indigenous communities and allies around the world.

“Pua has been selected for embodying the spirit what Civil Rights leader John Lewis called “good trouble” — speaking truth with grace, standing firm in her values, and uplifting others through cultural grounding and collective action.

Through every chant, every march, and every moment of quiet strength, she reminds us that justice is a kuleana — a shared responsibility we carry together.”