
Jayna Omaye
Culture & Arts ReporterBorn and raised on Oʻahu, Jayna Omaye loves writing about the communities she grew up in and highlighting the challenges and successes that make Hawaiʻi so special.
Before joining Hawaiʻi Public Radio, Jayna was the ethnic and cultural affairs reporter at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. While at the newspaper, she mentored and taught high school students about journalism as part of a youth storytelling project that she spearheaded about Hawaiʻi’s Japanese American veterans.
Jayna has also worked as a reporter at the Orlando Sentinel newspaper in Florida and as a staff writer at Honolulu Magazine, where she won numerous local and national awards for her stories on arts, culture and history.
A Moanalua High School graduate, she earned her master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon. When she’s not chasing a story, Jayna enjoys dancing hula and playing taiko.
Contact her at jomaye@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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The U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade on Friday, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion upheld for nearly a half-century no longer exists. Hawaiʻi's attorney general said that despite the ruling, abortion remains protected under Hawaiʻi law.
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A new national study is looking at why some ethnic groups are underrepresented in clinical research trials. Researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa are focusing on Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander disparities. HPR’s Jayna Omaye has more.