Mahealani Perez-Wendt is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) poet, writer and community activist residing in Hawaiʻi, on the island of Maui.
She recently retired as the executive director of Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, a public-interest law firm specializing in Kanaka Maoli rights.
Born into a Hawaiian, Spanish and Chinese family from rural Lawai, Kauaʻi, Wendt began writing at an early age, and earned her first literary award while attending Kamehameha School for Girls, from which she graduated in 1965.
[2] In 2011, Perez-Wendt was appointed by Governor Neil Abercrombie to the newly formed Native Hawaiian Roll Commission, a state entity created by Act 195.
In August 2012, Perez-Wendt described in a news article how she envisioned the Kanaiolowalu process to work, "registration first, then delegate elections for a Native Hawaiian constitution, which will also be voted upon.