A multimedia approach to ethnic and cultural affairs

Linsey Dower

Linsey Dower covers the cultural affairs beat for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hawaii’s largest daily newspaper, based in the state capital on the island of Oahu. Dower hails from Oahu, and is a recent graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a bachelor's degree in journalism. She has interned at the Star-Advertiser, covering state legislature, and at Hawaii Business magazine, where she reported on a variety of topics, including community-supported agriculture, local art events and the mortuary business.

Jayna Omaye

Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hawaii's largest daily newspaper. Born and raised on Oahu, Omaye recently worked as a staff writer at Honolulu Magazine, where she led one of its largest projects in recent years—a 19-page cover story and 20 individual pages online—about the life stories of Hawaii's Japanese-American veterans. The multimedia feature won two national first-place awards. Her work has also garnered three local awards. Omaye began her journalism career as a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel in Florida, and then moved back home to work at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 2015. She earned her master's degree from Northwestern University, and her bachelor's from the University of Oregon. Omaye has danced hula for most of her life and recently began playing taiko, a percussion instrument, after a story on Honolulu's ethnic festivals inspired her to reconnect with her Japanese heritage.