ʻOhana
I am the daughter of Alfred & Sami Galimba,. My father, Alfred Galimba, is a cattle rancher and dairyman, formerly managing some of the largest dairy farms in the state. He worked at Naʻalehu Dairy as well as Hawaiian Ranch when those were both subsidiaries of C. Brewer & Co. My mother, Sami Galimba, is a cattle rancher, business-woman, and a school teacher starting at Pahala Elementary in the 1960ʻs. I am the grand-daughter of the late Eustaquio and Carlina Galimba, long-time residents of Waiʻohinu, and the late James & Catherine Nellis of Walton, New York. I have three wonderful brothers: Raschad, Garrett & Guy Galimba. Along with the late Timothy Alencastre of Volcano, I am the proud parent of Ua Alencastre-Galimba, who graduated from Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi summa cum laude in 2019 and currently is a junior at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Working with Community
As a business-person, I have helped to build a successful family ranch around providing grass-fed, locally grown beef to local markets.
As an advocate for local agriculture, I worked with the Kaʻū coffee farmers to build a market for their world-class coffee, including coordinating the first Kaʻū Coffee Festival.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, along with Vibrant Hawaiʻi, O Kaʻū Kakou and the Nāʻālehu Hongwanji, we brought CARES Act funding to Kaʻū to help local restaurants and farmers stay in business, provide free meals to our most vulnerable residents, and access to internet and laptop computers at the Nāʻālehuu Resilience Hub.
Along with the Trust for Public Land and the Ala Kahakai Trail Association, we also helped to preserve thousands of acres of our coastline and agricultural lands in perpetuity.
Background & Experience
Current Business & Community Service
- County of Hawaiʻi Windward Planning Commission, Vice Chair
- USDA Farm Service Agency, Chair, County Committee
- USDA Western Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, Administrative Committee and Outreach Steering Committee
- AgHui
- Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaiʻi
- Big Island Resource Conservation and Development Council
- Hawaiʻi Employers Mutual Insurance Company (HEMIC)
- American AgCredit Nominating Committee
- Kaʻū Stewardship Hui
Former Business & Community Service
- County of Hawaiʻi Charter Commission
- Hawaiʻi State Board of Agriculture
- Farm Credit Services of Hawaiʻi
- Hawaiʻi County 4-H Livestock Association
- Vibrant Hawaiʻi
- Kaʻu Community Development Plan Steering Committee
- Hawaiʻi Cattlemenʻs Association & Hawaiʻi Cattlemenʻs Council
- Hawaiʻi Beef Industry Council
- Ka Ohana O Honuʻapo
- Kaʻu Farm Bureau
- Kaʻu Soil and Water Conservation District
- Hawaiʻi Island Energy Co-operative
- Taste of the Hawaiian Range Steering Committee
- County of Hawaiʻi Commission on the Status of Women
Other Highlights
- 2019 Hawaiʻi Agriculture Conference Keynote Speaker
- 2015 Hawaiʻi Business 20 for the Next 20
- Contributor, Food and Power in Hawaiʻi: Visions of Food Democracy
Education
B.A., Asian Studies, University of Oregon
M.A. and Ph.D, Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley
