McKenna Maduli is the creator and host of Talk Story with McKenna Maduli, a weekly Hawaiian variety show on Hawaii News Now in Honolulu. The show celebrates all things entertainment and shines a light on the many talented people who come from the islands in music, fashion, art, hula and the Hawaiian culture.

Maduli spent most of her adult life living in California. After three years in San Francisco at Foothill College, McKenna moved to Los Angeles to pursue the Broadcast Entertainment program at UCLA Extension. She has interned at KABC both in hard & entertainment news with George Pinnachio.

She was an entertainment reporter for the likes of  NBC’s Access Hollywood, MTV, VH1, Billboard Magazine’s “Billboard Live” and has interviewed some of the biggest celebrities in the world on multiple red carpets of movie premieres, award shows and events.

The Roosevelt High School graduate moved back to Hawaii in 2016 where she joined KHON2 (FOX) as the Weekend Weather Anchor and morning news reporter on WakeUp2Day.

McKenna pursued her real passion of elevating content in her homeland and was created a position in Local Content Development at Hawaii News Now (CBS & NBC). Her intention of finding new talent and weaving the stories of Hawaii’s finest continued as her dream show became the only one-hour Hawaiian variety show.

Talk Story with McKenna Maduli was created and within 4 weeks became the number one primetime show in the state, garnishing two Emmy nominations in its first season, winning her first regional Emmy Award in 2020 for Interview and Discussion Segment.

McKenna’s love of storytelling and connecting with others continues as she launches “Talk Story” season 2 in October 2020 as well as curating and hosting specials. She is incredibly grateful to be doing what she loves back home and aspires to tell more of Hawaii’s stories.

In her personal life, she enjoys being with her very big ‘ohana (family); hand making items with her home décor line “Hale Sweet Hale” (home sweet home); practicing Aloha ‘Aina (love of the land): and dancing hula.

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