{"id":212351,"date":"2025-03-17T16:34:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T02:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=212351"},"modified":"2025-03-17T16:34:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T02:34:03","slug":"overstory-noelle-fujii-oride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/17\/overstory-noelle-fujii-oride\/","title":{"rendered":"New solutions-oriented publication spearheaded by UH<\/abbr> alumna"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Noelle Fujii-Oride<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Noelle Fujii-Oride, a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa alumna, has always been drawn to the impact journalism can have on a community. Now, as the editor of Overstory<\/em><\/a>, she\u2019s at the helm of a nonprofit publication designed to inform, inspire and drive meaningful change across Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Noelle Fujii-Oride<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fujii-Oride, who previously covered issues such as affordable housing, climate change and education at Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Business Magazine<\/em>, is no stranger to in-depth reporting. But with Overstory<\/em>, she\u2019s leading a different kind of storytelling\u2014one that moves beyond breaking news and instead highlights solutions to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s most pressing challenges.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re not just looking at the problems or the challenges that Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is facing,” Fujii-Oride said. “We really want to know how folks are responding to these issues.”<\/p>\n

Under her leadership, Overstory<\/em> aims to add depth and context to the conversation rather than contribute to the overwhelming flood of daily news.<\/p>\n

“We look at responses to challenges, using data and evidence to see what\u2019s working and what can be replicated,” she explained.<\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr> impact on career<\/h2>\n

Fujii-Oride\u2019s journey to this role began at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, where she earned a degree in journalism<\/a> in the College of Social Sciences<\/a>. While in college, the Bay Area native gained hands-on experience writing for Ka Leo O Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/em><\/a>, the student newspaper, an opportunity she said was instrumental in shaping her career.<\/p>\n

“Working at Ka Leo<\/em> complemented what I learned in the classroom,” she said. “It teaches you to be brave, be curious and ask the important questions, all while learning how to build meaningful relationships with the community.”<\/p>\n

After interning at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser<\/em> and Honolulu Civil Beat<\/em>, she joined Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Business Magazine<\/em> in 2017, where she became a key voice in coverage on social and economic issues. But after years in the industry, she saw the need for a different type of reporting\u2014one that would connect communities with potential solutions to the issues that affect them.<\/p>\n

At Overstory<\/em>, Fujii-Oride is embracing that mission. The publication is an editorially independent program of The K\u016bpaʻa<\/span> Network<\/a>, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing civic engagement. She believes the nonprofit model provides an advantage, allowing journalism to remain a public service rather than a business.<\/p>\n

“With nonprofit journalism, it puts public service at the forefront of what we do,” she said. “It allows us to be intentional in our reporting and really focus on what the community needs.”<\/p>\n

As Overstory<\/em> grows, Fujii-Oride hopes to continue filling gaps in coverage, particularly in solutions-based reporting and neighbor island issues. Living on Kauaʻi<\/span>, she understands firsthand how different the challenges can be outside of Oʻahu<\/span>.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re not trying to replicate what other newsrooms are already doing,” she said. “We saw a gap for more solutions coverage and for neighbor island stories.”<\/p>\n

For aspiring journalists, Fujii-Oride has one key piece of advice: explore new avenues and be willing to innovate.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a really cool time to be a journalist,” she said. “There are so many new journalism organizations popping up, and it shows that we don\u2019t have to do journalism the way it\u2019s always been done.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under Fujii-Oride’s leadership, Overstory<\/em> aims to add depth and context to the conversation rather than contribute to the overwhelming flood of daily news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,679,301,692,217,1466,158,1026,9,1626],"class_list":["post-212351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-journalism","tag-ka-leo","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-publication","tag-social-science","tag-uh-manoa","tag-women-of-uh","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t