Diane AkoMotherhood completely changed Diane Ako's life! She is first and foremost a mother to little Olivia, and is thrilled and lucky to spend five days a week at home caring for the baby. Diane spends the other two days a week at work, which is actually fun now, because it's a nice balance to talk to people whose sentences don't end with "Mommy." She's excited to write this column to share her experiences and observations about parenting with others.
Diane anchors the KHNL and K5 weekend news - Saturdays at 6, 9, and 10 p.m.; Sundays at 5, 9, and 10 p.m. Diane joined KHNL/K5 in 1996. She happily went part time in 2007 to have more time with her child.
Diane was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007 for her reporting on a killer mudslide in the Philippines. She has also filed reports from Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Denmark, and Canada. Her favorite type of reporting is anything that involves travel and adventure.
She is a Kamehameha Schools graduate who attended college in the Bay Area. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Mass Communications in 1992 from Menlo College and her Master's degree in Political Science from University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2004.
Diane spent half her childhood in Hawaii, where she has extensive Native Hawaiian and Chinese roots that trace back to the 19th century, and the other half in Virginia, Connecticut, and California.
Before KHNL, Diane reported and anchored in California, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico. She took a few brief breaks from news: one, to pursue Spanish language fluency by living in Chihuahua, Mexico; another, to hone her skills at her favorite sport by getting a ski instructor job in the Poconos, Pennsylvania.
Diane's favorite hobbies are traveling and writing. She actively volunteers with a national think-tank, the East-West Center. In her free time (read with air quotes around "free") she hopes to earn a black belt in martial arts with DanZan Ryu JuJitsu.
Diane is married to a fantastic Dane. They have two Labradors, one garden-variety cat, and a beautiful, precious, wonderful baby named Olivia.
