Bridge Builder

Above // Amanda Corby Noguchi, husband Mark Noguchi, daughters Eleanor (8), Aki (6) and friend Kimi Werner (and baby Buddy) visit with Kupa‘a Farm owners Gerry & Janet Ross during a recent production for Servco on Maui. (Photos courtesy Under My Umbrella.)

At an early age, Amanda Corby Noguchi showed signs of an enterprising future. At 17, the Missouri teen — who had, throughout the years, regularly visited the islands — presented her parents with a business plan to move to Hawai‘i, promising to become self-sufficient within 16 months. 

“I had a great relationship with my parents,” she says. “I wasn’t running away from anything, but I felt that there was more to life, and I felt very drawn to this sense of place that the people of Hawai‘i had. I wanted to be a part of it, and I also felt, I think, most connected to myself by being able to be so closely and intimately connected to nature here.” 

So, Corby Noguchi packed up, arrived on O‘ahu and got a job serving cocktails at Duke’s while putting herself through college at University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. There, she earned a degree in documentary filmmaking, an experience that exposed a different side of Hawai‘i.

It was so eye-opening that Corby Noguchi turned her sights to supporting the community that had become her own. 

“I felt that with my skill set, I could start a company that understood the complexities of nonprofits here and community-based work,” she says. 

In 2009, Corby Noguchi launched Under My Umbrella, offering services in marketing, public relations and event planning. 

Throughout the years, the powerhouse has worked with the likes of Kona Brewing Hawai‘i, Servco Pacific, Child & Family Service, Hawai‘i Contemporary and many more. In fact, Corby Noguchi notes that it is because of these larger organizations that UMU takes on that it also is able to assist with smaller nonprofits pro bono — quite the fortuitous evolution, considering her passion for community. In addition to UMU, Corby Noguchi also is co-founder of Hawai‘i Food Policy Council, Pili Group and Chef Hui, helming the latter two with her husband, chef Mark Noguchi. 

In many ways, she and UMU serve as a bridge, connecting for-profit companies with nonprofit organizations.

“We joke that we’re sometimes like the Tinder for businesses and community organizations,” says Corby Noguchi. “We find joy in connecting people together.”

In the past two years, UMU has nearly doubled its staff, primarily comprised of local born and raised wahine, and most recently assisted with events, logistics and communications for Hawai‘i Triennial 2022. 

Moving forward, she hopes to continue to foster collaboration. 

In the meantime, Corby Noguchi might be found with her family, which also includes two daughters ages 6 and 8, hiking, surfing, spending time in their own urban farm at home, and giving back to the community, whether it is through working with lo‘i or being a part of Nā Kama Kai ocean safety clinics. 

“Doing those things together as a family with people I look up to and I’m constantly learning from is how we like to enjoy our free time,” says Corby Noguchi.