Malia Gesuale joins NARF as a Blaustein Fellow in our Boulder office. That fellowship will allow Malia to focus her talent and energies on voting rights and environmental matters (including issues like Mauna Kea and Line 5).

As a Native Hawaiian woman, Malia is inspired by the ʻōlelo noʻeau: he aliʻi ka ʻāina; he kauwā ke kanaka (the land is the chief; the people are its servant) and sees it as her kuleana (responsibility) and honor to serve the land and its Indigenous stewards. Before coming to NARF, Malia gained invaluable experience serving a Harvard Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic project that explored Indian tribes’ and organizations’ opportunities to benefit from Massachusetts land conservation restrictions. When Malia graduated from Harvard Law School in 2023, she had distinguished herself by providing more than 1,000 hours of pro bono (free) legal service to the community.

In addition to her work at the law clinic, she also earned summer law clerkships at Conservation Law Foundation, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, and Earthjustice’s Tribal Partnerships Program. In the spring of her third year of law school, Malia also was accepted as an extern at the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of the Solicitor (Twin Cities).

When Malia is not serving the land and Native people, she enjoys spending time with her fiancé, Joe, and their newly adopted yellow Labrador, Sonny.

Find Malia on LinkedIn.

Tribal Affiliation

• Native Hawaiian

Education

• Harvard Law School, J.D
  • Dean’s Award for Community Leadership
  • more than 1,000 hours pro bono service
• Columbia University B.A. Human Rights (Sustainable Development) and Political Science

Admissions to Practice

• U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit
• Colorado

Download a high resolution headshot of Malia Gesuale here.