This study uses qualitative storytelling methodology to explore the culturally responsive practices of five educators in Hawai'i who are instructional, school, and community leaders. Part of a larger study on a place-based resilience and sustainability graduate certificate program at The University of Hawai'i at Manoa, more broadly, we trace how their experiences as kumu both shape the program and are shaped by it. Their expertise and practices provide actionable examples of how responsive educational approaches, rooted in cultural practice, place, and community, can transform educational experiences for historically marginalized students and communities.