Hosanna Noelle-Leilani Kabakoro (born June 24, 1992) was an editor of Mai Life Style, the South Pacific's first style and fashion magazine. Kabakoro also served on the Board of Vision Fiji, was a spokesperson for the Fiji Water Foundation and now works as a model locally. At the age of 21, she was one of the youngest editors of a major publication in the South Pacific but only worked for the magazine for less than 6 months.

Biography

Kabakoro was born in

Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

where her father attended seminary, and spent her childhood in

Savusavu Savusavu () is a town in the Fijian Province of Cakaudrove. The town is located on the south coast of Vanua Levu Island and had a population of 3,372 in the 2007 census. Savusavu is known as "the hidden paradise of Fiji." Geography Savus ...

and Cakaudrove,

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. Kabakoro and her family moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

following the

2000 Fijian coup d'état The Fiji coup d'état of 2000 was a civilian coup d'état by hardline i-Taukei (ethnic Fijian) nationalists against the elected government of an Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry on 19 May 2000. This was followed by an attempt on ...

. She holds dual

-United States citizenship. In 2008 Kabakoro interned for U.S. Senator

Larry Craig Lawrence Edwin Craig (born July 20, 1945) is an American retired politician from the state of Idaho. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he served 18 years in the United States Senate (1991–2009), preceded by 10 years in the U.S. ...

who later appointed her a

United States Senate Page A United States Senate Page (Senate Page or simply Page) is a high-school age teen serving the United States Senate in Washington, D.C. Pages are nominated by senators, usually from their home state, and perform a variety of tasks, such as delive ...

for the

110th Congress The 110th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. It was composed of ...

. Kabakoro attended the United States Senate Page School for one month. Upon returning to Idaho, Kabakoro worked as a correspondent for the Magic Valley Times News and interned at

KLIX-FM KLIX-FM (96.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station located in Twin Falls, Idaho. KLIX-FM airs a classic hits music format branded as "Kool 96.5". Ownership In October 2007, a deal was reached for KLIX-FM to be acquired by GAP Broadcasting II LLC ...

Radio in Idaho, and also in the News Department at Southern Idaho's CBS affiliate

KMVT KMVT (channel 11) is a television station in Twin Falls, Idaho, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate KSVT-LD (channel 14). The two stations share studio ...

. She was

home schooled Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

and has attended

College of Southern Idaho College of Southern Idaho (CSI) is a public community college in Twin Falls, Idaho. It also has off-campus programs in Jerome, Hailey, Burley and Gooding. Until the foundation of the College of Western Idaho in 2007, CSI was one of only two ...

Awards and commendations

After relocating to Twin Falls, Kabakoro became active in public service, with an emphasis on relocated and at-risk-immigrant youth. She is a recipient of the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medal

Congressional Award The Congressional Award is an award for young Americans, established by the United States Congress in 1979 to "recognize initiative, service, and achievement in young people." It is nonpartisan, voluntary, non-competitive, and open to all youth a ...

s, a Jefferson Award recipient and the President's Award. Kabakoro is also the recipient of a $30,000.00 Discover Scholarship, and was named a Philanthropic Education Organization Scholar. In 2009, former First Lady

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...

formally recognized Kabakoro for her public service and presented her with the Prudential Spirit of Community Award. Kabakoro holds a Girl Scouts' Gold Award and was named one of ten Girl Scouts Young Woman of Distinction in 2010. The organization appointed her a lifetime member of the National Girl Scout Advisory Board. In 2010 Kabakoro was nominated as one of Idaho Governor Butch Otter's Brightest Stars. Kabakoro has written for UNLOCK MAGAZINE, and appeared on the covers of two national magazines, (Justine Magazine and Savvy Magazine) She is a representative and spokesperson for the H.Y.P.E. Movement. In November 2010, Kabakoro was a featured speaker at the Destined for Greatness Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. In December 2010, Three Dot Dash announced Kabakoro as one of their 26 Global Youth Leaders. In August 2011, Kabakoro was appointed a Delegate to the 2011 One Young World Conference held in Zurich, Switzerland, and attended by notable world leaders including Desmond Tutu, Sir Bob Geldoff, and others.

Pageants

In October 2009, Kabakoro competed in her first

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

and was crowned

Miss Idaho Teen USA The Miss Idaho Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Idaho in the Miss Teen USA pageant. Idaho has only placed three times and as such is one of the least successful states at Miss Teen USA. Their ...

2010. She also received the Miss Photogenic award and was voted Miss Congeniality by the other contestants. In July 2010 she represented Idaho in the

Miss Teen USA 2010 Miss Teen USA 2010 was the 28th Miss Teen USA pageant, held at the Imperial Ballroom of the Atlantis Paradise Island, in The Bahamas on July 24, 2010. Stormi Henley, Miss Teen USA 2009, from Tennessee, crowned her successor, Maryland's Kamie Cra ...

pageant held at Atlantis Resort in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

and won the national Miss Congeniality award.

References

External links

Miss Idaho Teen USA official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabakoro, Hosanna Living people 1992 births People from Twin Falls, Idaho 21st-century Miss Teen USA delegates Fijian emigrants to the United States College of Southern Idaho alumni Models from Seoul People from Savusavu Fijian journalists American people of I-Taukei Fijian descent I-Taukei Fijian people 2010 beauty pageant contestants