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Koali Niu Founder and Board Secretary / Treasurer–Vicky Durand
Vicky graduated from Punahou High School and spent her formative years in Hawaii as a young surfer. In 1957, she won The Makaha International Surfing Championships, an early surfing contest. Along with her mother, who was also an accomplished surfer, Vicky was invited to Club Waikiki in Lima, Peru as mother-daughter Hawaiian surfing ambassadors.
Her interest in fashion led her to establish a sportswear and textile design company that she directed for a number of years. Based in California and Hawaii, the company’s products were distributed by boutiques, department stores and museum shops across the country.
Vicky also taught for many years at a Title I School in Waianae, Hawaii. While teaching, she collaborated actively with community groups to provide better education and services for her students. In addition, she successfully pursued grant funding to start an early education and childcare facility for teen parents to enable them to finish school and graduate. Head Start later took over the childcare center and Vicky collaborated and worked closely with the staff.
Vicky is the mother of two grown daughters, an avid gardener and is passionately involved in animal rescue, working with cats and dogs.
In addition, she helped her husband create the family house, a mid century modern gem, into the Liljestrand Foundation.
She also wrote Wave Woman-The Life and Struggles of a Surfing Pioneer written in 2020.
Vicky received her AA from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, a BS at California State University Long Beach in Family and Consumer Science, both with a focus on apparel manufacture and fashion design. She holds an MS from Oregon State University in Clothing and Textiles with a minor in Adult Education. Vicky is certified in Secondary teaching and Special Education.
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