Ilima-Lei Macfarlane is a Native-Hawaiian professional MMA fighter from Honolulu, Hawaii. Seeing her success in the cage grow, she wanted to create the Ilimanator Scholarship to not only inspire other girls to go after their dreams, but to also help eliminate disparities that many young native girls face and give them a fighting chance to succeed. Through fundraising, donations, and her win bonuses from fights, Ilima-Lei has been able to award a total of 22 scholarships to young girls around the world including natives of Mexico, Jamaica, Canada, Panama, Hawai‘i, and Turtle Island. Eventually, with guidance from her mentors, she created her foundation, Nā Wahine Toa (Women Warriors), to further empower these kaikamāhine (girls) and older generations. Her foundation focuses on teaching self-defense, self-love, self-preservation, and the protection of sacred sites including our bodies, our divine feminine entities, and our ʻāina (land).
We promote the well-being and health of indigenous women, girls, and youth through self-defense, self-love, self-preservation, and the protection of the sacred.
Mission Statement:
Our goal is to provide the knowledge necessary to preserve and protect our indigenous women nation, children, and other at-risk populations. We will meet this goal by:
1) Providing self-defense seminars, led by professional athletes to women and youth;
2) Leading all-women retreats focused on the four “S” in our vision statement;
3) Making education, counseling, and advice available through seminars, retreats, and other platforms;
4) Advocating for and attending causes aligned with our vision
Aloha Shoyu has been involved with NWT since its inception, being one of the very first big company sponsors of the foundation. In 2022, Aloha Shoyu donated directly to the Ilimanator Scholarship program and Women’s Retreat, as well as the 2023 Annual Fundraiser Lū‘au, Ilimanator Scholarship Program and Maui relief fundraiser. Through their generosity, Nā Wahine Toa has been able to award four scholarships to native girls and women who attended the retreat. The foundation was also able to fundraise over 2.7 million dollars in aid to families who were impacted by the fires.
