Episode 16: A Caterer Is Born

In this episode, Piilani returns to the Big Island, where bartending at the Naniloa Hotel and baking cakes in the KHBC kitchen set the stage for a bold leap into catering. She shares the story of her first big event—a building dedication for Senator Elroy Osorio—pulled off with the help (and exhaustion) of aunts, sisters, and friends. Along the way, she fills in a portrait of her grandmother, Julia Stevens, a remarkable woman with 17 siblings, 11 children of her own, and five husbands, each lost to the rugged ranch life of Hawaii.