About Sterling
Aloha! I’m Sterling Higa, an entrepreneur working to drive systems change in Hawai‘i—through education, storytelling, and technology. My mission is to empower Hawai‘i’s leaders with insight—to solve complex problems and build a better future. I live in Honolulu with my wife and our four kids.
I grew up in Nu‘uanu near Foster Botanical Garden, raised by my mom. I attended Royal Elementary, Kawananakoa Middle, and Roosevelt High School. As a kid, I delivered the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and later worked as a grocery clerk, dishwasher, and line cook. On weekends, I surfed with friends and my Uncle Claude.
After high school, I studied at Honolulu Community College and UH Mānoa. As a freshman, I dove into slam poetry and became Hawai‘i’s youngest state champion at 19. I represented the islands at 13 national festivals and served as program director for Youth Speaks Hawai‘i, teaching creative writing and hosting workshops in local schools.
While an undergraduate at the University of Hawai‘i, I helped organize events like this one for Youth Speaks Hawai‘i.
After graduating from UH Mānoa, I earned a master’s degree in education at Harvard. At Harvard, I studied leadership, civic education, and nonprofit management.
Back in Hawai‘i, I taught performing arts at SEEQS, a school focused on sustainability.
While teaching, I enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Hawai‘i. For two years, I traveled the world with the debate team. Our team set state records with help from a volunteer coaching staff. Debate taught me to listen deeply, think critically, and advocate with purpose.
As a student, I traveled the world with the UH debate team, pictured here at Yale.
In 2017, I led UH to the semifinal round of the United States Universities Debating Championship. And Hawai‘i Pacific University brought me on to coach debate and lecture in the communication department. For four years, I taught public speaking, argumentation and technical communication.
As a debate coach, I encouraged students to advocate with conviction while understanding the views of others. And our team won state and regional competitions. I was also blessed with the university’s Golden Apple award for distinguished undergraduate teaching.
For four years, I coached the HPU debate team, pictured here at Windward Community College.
While teaching at HPU, I wrote as a columnist for Honolulu Civil Beat and as a contributing writer for Hawaii Business Magazine. Through writing, I realized the vital role of journalism in informing civil discourse. And I was blessed with awards for column writing and industry reporting from the Hawai‘i chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
In 2021, I co-founded Housing Hawai‘i’s Future–a nonprofit movement to solve Hawai‘i’s workforce housing crisis–and served as its first executive director.
As a housing advocate, I helped to pass historic statewide zoning reforms in Hawai‘i.
In 2025, I resigned from Housing Hawai‘i’s Future to focus on my next venture: Polcom, an AI-powered company helping organizations navigate systems change in Hawai‘i. I also consult with mission-driven teams and write a newsletter on leadership, complexity, and decision-making in the 21st century.
If any part of this resonated—whether you’re working on housing, leadership, or systems change—send me a message. I’d love to talk story and explore what we might build together.
The best is yet to come! 🤙🏻
