Paula Fuga is one of Island contemporary music's most important young performers. As a vocalist, she's able to convey happiness, pain and the elusive space between, in a richly soulful voice so dripping with real-life emotion fans have taken to dubbing her Hawai'i's Lauryn Hill.

She's shared the stage and recorded with Jack Johnson. She won a Na Hoku Hanohano award in June, for most promising artist. She was invited to perform a set of songs from her 2006 debut CD "Lilikoi" with the Honolulu Symphony Pops last weekend. Pops conductor Matt Catingub says, "Her passion for her music is evident. ... I look for great things to come from her!"

Not content to coast on those kinds of laurels, Fuga turns her attention this week toward Lilikoi Fair — a self-organized, nearly all-girl gathering of musicians extolling female empowerment through the power of song and verse.

I caught up with Fuga on the North Shore last week. Here's the conversation:

WHY AN ALL-FEMALE LINEUP FOR LILIKOI FAIR?

"Why not?" Fuga said. "I'm a woman. Nobody ever bats an eyelash when they hear a whole bunch of bands are playing and they're all men. ... You're lucky if a female-fronted band is even included in a (music) festival."

Fuga hand-picked the musicians for Lilikoi Fair, looking for artists whose work and independent spirit embody the event's theme of female empowerment through the creation of art.

"I see more and more female musicians rising. They're coming up. They're catching on. They're making music and writing songs. ... The possibilities for this are limitless."

The Lilikoi Foundation. It's a women's support organization Fuga founded and is registering as a nonprofit after the Lilikoi Fair. Some proceeds from the shows will go to its benefit. The foundation aims to offer peer support for local women of all social and economic backgrounds who are struggling with self-esteem issues, working through difficult times or simply seeking understanding.

"The goal for it is to promote female empowerment, self-love and respect within women, so that they're able to pass this on to their children, empowering generations to come," said Fuga. It's about "trying to make the world a better place through women and their role in society."

ANOTHER PERSONAL STAKE IN THE FOUNDATION FOR FUGA?

"I was a part of programs (like this) that made me feel good as a youth. And I know there's nothing like that for women now," said Fuga, who struggled with self-esteem issues as a child. "I would love to have a program where we have women mentoring teenage girls in high school."

A future goal for the foundation would be funding a Lilikoi House — a safe zone where teenage girls could hang out, socialize and participate in female-centered classes and workshops outside of school.

She's cool with her reputation as a strong, positive role model for young local women.

"That was the whole point of the music on 'Lilikoi,' " said Fuga, whose shows are typically filled with far more women than men. "So many times women will come up and tell me I helped them work through some problem in their life. They cry. I cry."

Fuga teared up recalling the memories.

"They say all of these beautiful things to me. And I'm just so glad that they're able to get something out of my music. That makes it all worthwhile."

Many of her fans are female musicians, like her. And for them, she has a couple of bits of advice.

"They need to stay true to themselves and their music," said Fuga. "They need to put out the music that is really, truly deep inside of them and not what they think other people will want to hear or is the best marketing strategy."

ALSO IMPORTANT?

"They need to own everything ... from the (music and lyric) copyrights to the master (recordings). Be in control of it all. Do it independently. And have 100 percent creative control."

DOES FUGA HAVE ALL THAT?

"Oh yeah," she said, laughing.

She's her own boss in many ways. "Lilikoi" was produced and co-financed (with business partner Spencer Toyama) by Fuga, on her own label, Pakipika. She orchestrated the CD's promotion and arranged its distribution. She books all of her local shows and planned a brief West Coast tour earlier this summer on her own.

Fuga is already planning a second Lilikoi Fair tour for 2008. "We're working all of this on our own dollar and working independently, so it's kind of hard. It's a beautiful thing. But it takes a lot more time. You have to keep in there, plugging away little bit by little bit."

She got the Hoku she wanted. With "Lilikoi" up for three Na Hoku Hanohano Awards in June — including female vocalist of the year and contemporary album of the year — Fuga took home a trophy for most promising artist of the year.

"I wanted that one more than all of them because it says, 'Hey, we're expecting more from you ... We think you're going to go beyond this,' " said Fuga of the peer-voted award. "It's an honor."

THE NEXT PAULA FUGA CD?

"It's still in bits and pieces in my journal," said Fuga, smiling.

She's written five songs for it so far. But Fuga's next project will be a book of poetry, essays and assorted writing dating back to her years at Kailua High School, titled "Loloiwi."

"Loloiwi (is Hawaiian) for bone marrow. So it's all the stuff that's deep, deep inside." said Fuga. "You ever have those college papers that you're so proud of and can't throw away so you fold them up and stick it in a folder? Sometimes you'll pull them out and realize how far you've come.

"I think all of it is relevant no matter what age you wrote them."

The book — which she hopes to have ready by late next year — may include a CD of original music composed for some of its passages. "By the time the book is done, I'll be ready to work on a new album," she said.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.