Kim Coco Iwamoto
Kim Coco Iwamoto has made history a few times. In 2006, she became the highest-ranking openly transgender elected official in the country after winning a seat on the Hawaiʻi State Board of Education, where she served two terms. In 2024, she became the first trans person elected to the Hawaiʻi State Legislature, securing a House seat from Honolulu after ousting longtime House Speaker Scott Saiki in the Democratic primary.
Born on May 25, 1968, in Kauaʻi, Kim was unexpectedly delivered during a party at the Coco Palms Resort, leading to her middle name, "Coco," in honor of the hotel.
Kim Coco hails from a family with a rich history in Hawaiʻi's business landscape. Her paternal great-grandparents emigrated from Japan to work in Kauaʻi's sugar cane plantations. They later founded Roberts Hawaiʻi, a prominent transportation and tour company, utilizing their family cars to start a taxi service that expanded into a tour and rental car business. Her father began working for the family business in high school, contributing to its growth.
Kim Coco and siblings, image courtesy votekimcoco.com
On her maternal side, Kim Coco's grandparents also emigrated from Japan, initially growing produce in California's Imperial Valley. During World War II, her mother and family were interned in Poston, Arizona. Her uncles enlisted in the military during this period, and after their release, the family returned to farming.
Raised on Oʻahu, Kim Coco attended several schools before graduating from Saint Louis School in 1986. She pursued higher education at the Fashion Institute of Technology, earning an Associate of Arts in Merchandising. She later obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law. In 2011, she completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government as a David Bohnett Foundation LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.
Kim Coco's advocacy began in New York City, where she volunteered at a community center supporting homeless LGBTQ+ youth. This experience inspired her to attend law school to ensure legal protections for diverse employees. After passing the bar in 2001, she worked at Volunteer Legal Services Hawaiʻi, coordinating free legal clinics statewide. She also became a licensed foster parent to LGBTQ+ teenagers, addressing bullying and harassment in schools.
Following her election to the Hawaiʻi Board of Education in 2006, and re-election in 2010, she served as a commissioner on the Hawaiʻi Civil Rights Commission, appointed by Governor Neil Abercrombie. In 2013, she was honored as a "Harvey Milk Champion of Change" by President Barack Obama for her advocacy against bullying in schools.
In her significant 2024 electoral victory, Kim Coco’s campaign focused on progressive policies addressing homelessness, government transparency, and support for small business.
Kim Coco Iwamoto, image by Cory Lum / Civil Beat.
But, as her first legislative session began, one of her Republican colleagues tried to diminish her achievement by echoing the anti-transgender rhetoric of the new Trump administration in an opening day speech.
Rather than take the bait, Kim Coco used an opportunity on a subsequent day to deliver an invocation to her House colleagues that spoke to her values and the values she hopes will help to overcome the challenges facing her community, her island home, and her country.
A video of her speech appears below, and an inciteful, candid interview Kim Coco did with journalist Mitchell Kuga in Lei Culture magazine, can be seen here.
Video from facebook.com/repkimcocoiwamoto
Header image by John Hook for leitravel.com