Moving Through the Nos | with McKenna Maduli
They told her no.
Again and again.
So McKenna Maduli built her own “yes.”
McKenna Maduli knew what she loved, even as a kid.
“I loved talking to people. I knew that I loved connecting to people and I loved elevating people’s stories,” she says. “When someone told me what they did, I wanted to tell other people what they did.”
She grew up in Kalihi Valley, surrounded by a huge Hawaiian-Filipino family—music, storytelling, and community all around her. Her dad was a musician and producer. Her mom promoted concerts.
McKenna spent her childhood backstage, in the studio, absorbing what it meant to lift voices and connect people.
That passion stuck. But turning it into a career wouldn’t be easy.
In fact, it would mean running headfirst into rejection, again and again.
Learning the hard way
After high school at Roosevelt, McKenna headed to college on the continent. She tried hard news first, thinking she might become the next Joe Moore. But on her first assignment—a tragic story about people getting injured—showed her that wasn’t her path.
“I was such an empath and so emotional. I felt so much of the story. And I remember saying, I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to do this. I was about to give up and I was about to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t for me.’”
Luckily, a mentor steered her toward entertainment reporting. Within two weeks of switching internships, McKenna landed at a red carpet event. Her first interview? George Clooney.
McKenna at the 2013 Oscars red carpet.
From there, she got connected to Access Hollywood. It sounded like a dream.
But McKenna didn’t start in the spotlight.
She started in the tape library—an entry-level job transcribing interviews.
“I worked really hard. I worked in every single position there is in television at Access Hollywood,” she says. “I was invisible in the room. I was absolutely invisible. And I would just take notes and watch what they were doing. I would watch how show rundowns were made. Stories were written.”
She soaked it all in. And when the time was right, she told her boss: I want to be on camera one day.
The response?
Go out there. Get some credentials. Earn some stripes.
No after no after no
And so began the auditions.
Over and over, McKenna put herself out there—and heard the same thing: No. You don’t fit.
“I was a hapa Hawaiian girl. They didn’t know what I was. They would speak Spanish to me. I never fell into anyone’s box.”
For every 500 no’s, she got five jobs. Even when she came close—second place, almost—but not quite.
It stung.
“It was rejection. Absolute rejection. I had to learn to validate from within. To trust my naʻau. To believe that my best was yet to come.”
The breakthrough
Finally, one executive producer at MTV saw what others hadn’t.
“I’m going to give you a shot,” he told her.
McKenna made the most of it—three shows, global interviews, a host reel that brought her back to Access Hollywood, this time in front of the camera.
McKenna with Liam Hemsworth at The Hunger Games Catching Fire premiere.
She flew around the world. Interviewed stars. Built the career she’d dreamed of.
But even then, rejection didn’t disappear.
Eventually, the work stopped feeling right. Another pivot. Another round of uncertainty.
When McKenna returned to Hawaiʻi, she took a job in local news—only to face more no’s, more roles she didn’t land.
“I had auditioned for other new shows that were happening and that were coming to fruition there. And I was actually passed on two shows,” she says. “I had kept my place in Los Angeles. I was about to move back.”
Then came one more moment of trust.
A news executive told her: Hawaiʻi needs you. Don’t leave.
That was the spark that led to Talk Story with McKenna Maduli, now Hawaiʻi’s #1 primetime show—a space built entirely by McKenna, from the painted set to the stories she shares.
what rejection taught her
Looking back, McKenna is clear: rejection was never the end.
It was part of the path.
“All those nos at those points, all the disappointment, all the things that didn’t work out for me, it was right in front of me. It literally was there, but I had to do the work. I had to create it.”
JT Ojerio and McKenna on the set of Talk Story.
And she’s still evolving.
“I am four decades into my life, and I’m so excited about what’s to come because it’s only going to get better from here,” she says. “I’m at this point now with, ‘what do I do? Where do I go next?’ And it’s okay to keep on asking yourself that question. You always want to evolve, you always want to grow.”
If she could give her younger self advice?
Be yourself. Validate from within. Trust your naʻau. And stop trying to fit.
Because the truth is—there will always be no’s.
There will always be boxes you don’t fall into.
But if you keep moving, keep learning, and keep creating, you’ll find your way.
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