Born and Raised on the Island of Kauai Val Aquino Okimoto is the proud daughter of two public service workers, her mother with the Department of Agriculture and her father with the Kauai Fire Fighter Department. She is a scholar athlete graduate of Kauai High School and spent time in the Philippines, on a service mission. Val then went on to obtain her BA in Accounting from BYU-H.

Val became a certified special education teacher for the HIDOE. During her ten year tenure there, she served the students of Makalapa Elementary School and Highlands Intermediate for a decade.

In her pursuit of public service Val ran for office in 2018 and was elected to the State House of Representatives for District 36, which covered Mililani Mauka and Mililani Town. In 2020 she won her re-election bid to the House and was also voted in as the House Minority Leader by her peers where she continued to serve until her departure from the House in 2022. While serving in the House, Val served on the committees on Labor & Tourism, Economic Development, Education, Higher Education & Technology, Agriculture, Transportation, and Legislative Management. 

With a servant leader's heart, and always in search of ways to have the greatest positive impact on her community, Val decided to not run for re-election in 2022, but instead ran for the Honolulu City Council, District 8 seat. She won her election bid for this seat and now serves as Budget Chair and Vice Chair of Infrastructure, Transportation & Technology, and sits on the committees on Executive Management, Public Safety & Economy, Zoning & Planning and International & Legal Affairs. It has been her absolute honor to represent her District 8 communities, which encompasses Mililani, Pearl City, ‘Aiea and Waipahu.

Perhaps her greatest responsibility and joy has been to be a mother of her two daughters. Val has always seen motherhood as one of the most noble callings in life, and works diligently daily to ensure she can instill the values of honesty, hard work, integrity, and charity in her daughters. Being a “local girl’ born and raised in these islands, Val seeks to keep our current and next generations here in Hawai’i by providing the economic opportunities that they all deserve. Her priorities include economic development, public safety, infrastructure, strengthening and “community building”, and Government transparency and accountability. She looks forward to continuing her service in the Honolulu City Council and will do all she can to serve the people of  District 8 and O’ahu.