Lilia is from Wailua, Puna, Kauaʻi and currently resides in Kīlauea. She has an AA in Liberal Arts from Kapiʻolani Community College, a BA in Hawaiian Studies (with a minor in Hawaiian Language) as well as a MA in Hawaiian Studies with a focus on Mālama ʻĀina (Cultural Resource Management) from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Over the last five years, she has held positions for both public and private landowners in the State of Hawaiʻi and other Native Hawaiian serving institutions. These positions have given her the opportunity to not only collectively learn from thought leaders, practitioners, change agents, and advocates in the growing field of Cultural Resource Management, but also provided her experience in information research and dissemination, as well as, some public relations work through the very diverse assignments previously completed. In 2019, she developed a Hawaiian Based Web-App called ʻĀinaFinda and won the ideation phase of the Indigenous Tech Competition, the Purple Prize. Since her participation in the 2014 Mālama ʻĀina Field School, she has assisted with the Wahi Kūpuna Internship Program and has work as a field assistant on Nihoa and Mokumanamana of the Papahānaumokuākea National Monument. Lilia has also served as the lead Graduate Assistant at Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at UH Mānoa under Jon Osorio, Kekai Perry and Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa, and has interned with Bishop Museum’s Anthropology Department, Kamehameha Schools Natural and Cultural Resource Division, and Office of Hawaiian Affairs Land Assets Division.