Happy Birthday to us! And thank you for following us, reading us, and telling your friends about us.
One year ago today, we took alohastatedaily.com live for the world to see. We had about 38 articles on that first day.
Now we have more 2,500 articles, all written in Hawai‘i, about Hawai‘i, for Hawai‘i.
I’m beyond thrilled to say that over the year, Hawai‘i has found us. Anyone in my industry with a Google analytics or SEMrush account can see what I’m about to tell you:
In December 2025, looking at page views and unique visitors, we had very nearly the traffic of Honolulu Magazine, which has had a website since websites were invented (I would know, I worked there at the time). We had about one-third the page views of Civil Beat and nearly half as many unique visitors, and that site has been online since 2010. We even had one-third as many unique visitors that month as the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which has had the staradvertiser.com web address since the 2010 merger of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser.
The undisputed traffic king in the Islands is hawaiinewsnow.com, a brand created in 2009 with the merger of the KGMB, KHNL and KFVE newsrooms. It may have a 17-year head start on us, but I can see its taillights, and we’re getting closer.
On social media, more than 7,600 people follow us on Instagram; 1,209 on Facebook; 305 on LinkedIn; and 258 on X. Thousands have subscribed to our daily edition newsletter.
People are reading us because of our content, most of which is produced right here in our Downtown Honolulu office by our reporters.
Every weekday at 9:30 a.m., I have the pleasure of standing with our newsroom for a daily meeting about the stories they’re pursuing. From day one, a year ago, the team has included:
Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros, senior editor and main author of our Aloha Spirit beat celebrating the best of Hawai‘i — its volunteers and community leaders dedicated to making the Islands a better place for everyone.
Stephanie Salmons, senior reporter, covering real estate, business, tourism, the economy and community news. Most recently, you’ve seen her breaking down the complexities of the proposed HMSA and Hawai‘i Pacific Health merger, with more to come.
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta, reporter, covering food and dining. Basically, everywhere I dine out these days is someplace Kelli told us about. I think that’s true for a lot of you!
Katie Helland, reporter, arts, culture and entertainment. One of her biggest interview gets of the past year was Jason Momoa about his “Chief of War” Apple TV series. It took months of wrangling to land him.
Christian Shimabuku, reporter, sports. One of our mantras at ASD is that we report on “People doing things in neighborhoods.” You can’t more “neighborhood” than, say, a high school football team, and Christian had an immediate following as a result. College sports? He’s there. Pro? Most recently, you see him looking into the future of the Sony Open.
Then there’s me, of the original six, contributing some reporting but mainly opinion, something I’ve been doing now as an editor for nearly 18 years across three publications.
Joining us more recently are:
Michael Brestovansky, government and politics reporter, who started with us in April 2025. I’m especially pleased with his Congress Watch department, which we started because it struck me as odd how little attention our delegation gets from local media.
Kady Pascual, social media editor, who joined us in July. She produces all of our social media content as well as produces ongoing features for the site such as Hawai‘i Scene on Social, Hawai‘i Skies for reader-submitted photos of the Islands, and Daily Smile. She also reports on the occasional social media craze sweeping Hawai‘i and works closely with me directing our marketing efforts.
Daniel Farr, government and politics reporter and our most recent hire, who just joined us in December. Going forward, you’ll see Daniel specializing in county-level government and crime, while Mike looks after state and federal news.
From the beginning, columnists and contributors have added greatly to Aloha State Daily. Tanya and Lopaka Kapanui, owners of ghost tour Mysteries of Hawai‘i, were the first columnists, with their weekly look at Hawai‘i history with a side of chills. Among our most frequent columnists, Rick Hamada brings his wit to Island politics and modern life in Hawai‘i; Perry Arrasmith brings us Hawai‘i’s fascinating political history; Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi introduces us to the Uncles and Aunties who make Hawai‘i so special.
Community Voices are unpaid, issue-driven contributions. We have regulars in that department, too. Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i, Tax Foundation of Hawai‘i and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs have shared content with our readers, bringing a variety of perspectives on public policy and Native Hawaiian issues.
We’ve also hosted one-off Community Voices, some we’ve solicited and some that came our way to find a larger audience, from such organizations as the Hawai‘i Appleseed Project; Housing Hawai‘i’s Future; Pacific Resource Partnership; Makawao Eagle Scouts; and more.
We have an open door for Community Voices, and I especially want to remind you of that now, as the legislative session gets underway. Is there a policy you want to advocate for or against? A problem in Hawai‘i you or your organization is trying to solve? A success you want to celebrate? Email me, kam@alohastatedaily.com. There’s no word limit on Community Voices, though experience tells me you’ll keep more readers through to the end with a tight 700 to 1,000 words.
In our reporting, we aim to tell you what happened in the Islands, not how to feel about what happens. I don’t know if this can ever be done perfectly, but I think we have pretty good track record. My crew can tell you, when a draft lands on my desk, it might be a single word that gives me pause, raising the possibility that readers will think the article is for or against a certain action. We’ll talk it out and come up with something better.
As a result, readers have come to trust us. And Hawai‘i leaders and officials, as they see our reporting, and our audience, grow, are more and more often asking for time with us to talk about their agendas. One small landmark we’re pleased with: The Legislative Reference Bureau includes us routinely in a daily roundup of headlines that it sends out to every legislator. We know Hawai‘i’s politicians are looking at us to see what we’re saying — which is only fair, because we’re certainly watching them.
We’ve had more than half a million unique visitors to alohastatedaily.com through our first year. To all of you, mahalo for reading us, for signing up for our daily edition, for following our social accounts.
Much more to come in the year ahead!
If you haven't signed up for our daily edition, click here to do so for free. As a bonus, the first 50 people to sign up this week will receive a free, and adorable, plushie pueo — our mascot — wearing an ASD hoodie.
A. Kam Napier can be reached at kam@alohastatedaily.com.
