Khara Jabola-Carolus

Khara Jabola-Carolus is an American advocate for women and the current executive director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, the only millennial to direct a statewide government agency in Hawaii.

Early life and education

Jabola-Carolus grew up in Southern California. Her family is originally from Laguna, Philippines. She holds a degree in international politics from New York University and earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Hawaii, citing an uncle who had previously been deported as driving her to study law. In the same year, she also co-authored a study that exposed the high rate of online sex purchasing in Hawaii. The release of the report led Jabola-Carolus to receive physical threats leading to a lockdown of her state office. The study also alleged that police officers asked for sex in exchange for "looking the other way".

Jabola-Carolus drove legislation allowing people to mark their gender as an "X" on their driver's license When the same statistic was quoted by United States secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem, Jabola-Carolus countered that the report's findings were being "twisted".

Jabola-Carolus is the current executive director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women.

After going viral on social media, Jabola-Carolus urged other women to not "suffer silently" and help draw attention to the pandemic's impact on women.