She attended the funeral of the last reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Queen Liliʻuokalani's in 1917, one of many events marking the social changes to Hawaiian culture.
[4] When Brandt was 16, her father changed the family name to ʻAinoa (her mother was Esther Aionoa), meaning "to eat in freedom" in the Hawaiian language.
It was a reference to the ʻAi Noa period of freedom after a king of ancient Hawaii had died, and the particular one in 1819 which marked the major changes to the Hawaiian social system.
She lobbied the legislature to fund the UH Center for Hawaiian Studies, which offers both an undergraduate and master's degree (starting in 2005).
[6] In 1997, Brandt co-authored two essays known as "Broken Trust", which criticized Kamehameha Schools, the largest private landowner in Hawaii, resulting in their reorganization.
"[10] Senator Daniel Akaka praised Brandt for championing education as most important to the future of the Native Hawaiian people, instead of anger or fear.