Posted on: Thursday, April 4, 2002

Kamehameha grad wins pageant title

Advertiser Staff

Lisa Akiko Lokelani Okinaga, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and Loyola Marymount University, has been crowned the 2002 Cherry Blossom Queen and has the distinction of being the first of Hawaiian ancestry.

With her part-Hawaiian, part-Japanese background, her win follows a trend over the past three pageants in which the Cherry Blossom queens have been of mixed racial heritage.

Okinaga, daughter of Clyde and Naomi Okinaga, is a resident of St. Louis Heights and a 1994 graduate of Kamehameha Schools. She holds an accounting degree from Loyola Marymount, and a minor in Asian and Pacific studies, and works as an accountant for a hospital.

She won the pageant title in the 50th anniversary finals Saturday at the Hawaii Ballroom of the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.

Other finalists were Katie Young, first princess; Nina Hashimoto, princess and Miss Popularity; Michele Nakata, princess; Charlene Sakuma, princess; and Nicole Kuwahara, Miss Congeniality.

Nakata was awarded the $2,500 Violet Niimi Oishi scholarship, and Akira Fukunaga won the community service award.