If her story were a film, it would open on the Kaʻiwi Channel—one of the roughest stretches of ocean in the world—the deep, restless blue between Molokai and Oahu where twelve-foot swells rise without warning and paddlers earn their courage the hard way. It took her nearly eight hours to cross that channel—eight hours of endurance, rhythm, and grit, with a six-woman crew moving as one.
A woman waits in the open ocean between islands, arm lifted for balance as she holds position for the next crew change, her canoe rising and falling with each moving wall of water. There is no shoreline. No applause. Only breath, patience, and instinct.
In the Molokai Channel, you don’t overpower nature.
You endure it—and you trust your own steadiness.
For LaJuana Duncan, that ocean revealed something she hadn’t fully named until then:
She has always kept going, even when the way ahead wasn’t obvious.
The canoe didn’t create her courage.
It simply exposed it—raw, undeniable, already there.
Roots in Red Dirt and Quiet Strength
LaJuana’s story begins far from the ocean, rooted in the red dirt of Atwood, Oklahoma and the warm, dusty air of Parker, Arizona. Her family’s Atwood farm is a fourth-generation cattle operation — the kind of place where hard work isn’t taught so much as absorbed.
Summers meant cattle, creeks, and dogs weaving through the woods beside her. School years unfolded on the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation in Parker, where her father taught school and her mother served as the high school secretary. School was more than a building — it was the scent of her childhood. She still remembers the smell of fresh paper from her father’s classroom textbooks, a scent that pulls her instantly back to those early years on the reservation.
Her parents’ leadership wasn’t loud. It was lived. They worked, they contributed, and they showed up when it mattered — quiet habits that shaped her understanding of what it means to lead.
She married young — her first marriage to the son of the Colorado River Indian Tribes’ chairman — and that chapter brought her two children and her earliest lessons in resilience. By her early twenties, she was raising them on her own, both under the age of five, working constantly and learning she could survive far more than she once imagined.
As her life expanded, her work did too. She rose from the basement copy room of a telephone company to assisting its executives, became the only woman selling Chevrolets on the lot, and traveled the country to watch mall magazines come off the press — learning to spot details most people never see. And working in a small funeral home in Coy, Arkansas, she witnessed racial inequities she would never forget.
Those years shaped her in ways she didn’t fully recognize at the time.
Years later, in Hawaii, she met her husband Dave and experienced something entirely different: partnership without limitation. He encouraged her ideas, supported her ambitions, and wanted her to shine.
“He’s been my rock,” she says. “He’s always encouraged me to go after what I wanted. He never held me back.”
Each role toughened her — teaching her how to adapt, how to listen, and how to keep moving no matter what the landscape looked like.
Ask her about those years and she doesn’t dramatize them.
She just says, matter-of-factly: “I’ve always liked a challenge.”
Finding Strength on the Water
Hawaii opened the chapter that uncovered something deeper.
“Growing up, I wasn’t athletic,” she laughs. “Nobody wanted me on their sports teams.” But the canoe club didn’t care who she’d been. It taught her endurance, balance, humility, and trust. It gave her belonging, focus, and a strength she felt the first time she paddled into open water.
LaJuana spent ten years with the Kīhei Canoe Club on Maui—serving one year as club president and ultimately becoming a lifetime member—and another ten years with the Keaukaha Canoe Club on Hawaiʻi Island. She trained, raced, and competed in long-distance events, including the 32-mile NaPali Challenge off the coast of the Island of Kauai, one of the island’s notable endurance races.
She crossed the Molokai Channel three times in the prestigious forty-two-mile Nā Wāhine O Ke Kai, the Women of the Sea race.
“Paddling proved what I already knew about myself,” she says. “The Molokai Channel didn’t make me brave; it showed me how far that courage could go.”
Her defining moment came during a race off Kauai. She looked around and saw two women in their seventies paddling with absolute authority—strong, grounded, unshaken by the ocean beneath them.
“That’s who I want to be,” she thought.
Still moving.
Still learning.
Still willing to try. It was a five-second moment that became a quiet blueprint for the rest of her life — a reminder that courage doesn’t fade with age; it expands.
Building Something From Nothing
That same endurance carried her into entrepreneurship.
She started Hawaii Blooms with $100 and a handwritten price list. She washed flowers in a bathtub on the lawn, hauled boxes to airport inspectors, earned certification through persistence alone, and grew the business into a 20-employee operation with a nationwide customer base.
One order even shipped to the White House—a quietly triumphant milestone that confirmed what she already believed: she could build something meaningful from the ground up.
Her home became a full operation:
- Kitchen for employees
- Dining room for bookkeeping
- Living room for sales
- Twelve phone lines to keep up with orders
Through it all, her husband Dave was her steady anchor.
“He always says, ‘As long as you can pay for it, you can do it,’” she laughs.
It wasn’t permission.
It was partnership.
A New Chapter in Leadership
Real estate sharpened her instincts even further. She spent years selling homes in Hawaii, building confidence, intuition, and a knack for understanding people. She still keeps her Hawaii broker’s license active—“just in case.”
But everything shifted when the call came from Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance: they were looking for someone to take over the book of business in Oklahoma.
Her first office was in Holdenville, Oklahoma, the town where she was born. Three years later, she opened her second office in Okemah, where her team achieved #1 in the state for new membership.
Insurance quickly became the chapter where her leadership crystallized. It was the first role that fused her sales ability, her community instinct, and her desire to help people.
In Bartlesville, she doubled her book of business in ten years—an extraordinary feat in a competitive market.
“My word is strong,” she says simply. “People know they can trust me.”
She joined the Chamber, completed Leadership Bartlesville Class 31, earned the Jake Bartles Award her first year, and was later nominated for Businesswoman of the Year. Her daughter and brother followed her into the field, carrying forward a legacy of resilience, perseverance, and service.
“You can do almost anything you want to do here,” she says. “People welcomed me. And I wanted to be involved.”
Stepping Into What’s Next
Retirement brought one brief moment of hesitation:
What now?
But she didn’t stay in the question for long.
She kayaks Oklahoma lakes weekly.
She signs up for 5Ks “because I like the shiny medal.”
She keeps moving, keeps learning, keeps choosing what comes next.
She isn’t drifting.
She’s deciding.
Her Advice to Younger Women
Her wisdom is clear, grounded, and hard-earned:
- Don’t be afraid.
- Have the desire—and put in the effort.
- Stay open and willing to learn.
- Follow your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, change direction.
- You always have the right to choose.
Your path doesn’t have to be straight.
Your plan doesn’t have to be perfect.
Every season teaches something that carries into the next.
“I’ve always marched to my own beat,” she says. “That’s the name of my song.”
Where to Find Her Now
If you’re looking for LaJuana today, don’t look in an office.
Look toward the water.
She’ll be the woman paddling across an Oklahoma lake—
steady,
focused,
unhurried—
the same woman who once crossed the Kaʻiwi Channel on a six-woman crew, trusting her strength one stroke at a time. Still moving toward whatever comes next.
Still choosing her own direction.
Still marching to her own beat.
This Blog contains the full version of LaJuana's story. [Download an abbreviated story]
The photo collection captures the spirit of LaJuana’s journey—from her years paddling the waters of Hawaiʻi as a member of the Kihei Canoe Club on Maui and later the Keaukaha Canoe Club on the Big Island, to the vibrant energy of Hawaii Blooms where she stands alongside her floral team. You’ll also see her surrounded by her Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance staff; smiling with classmates at the Leadership Bartlesville gala; sharing a joyful moment with her husband, Dave; participating in a kayak class; and crossing the finish line and placing 4th at Rudolph Run. Together, the images reflect the full arc of her life—strength, community, courage, and the joy of always moving forward.
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About LaJuana Duncan
LaJuana Duncan is an entrepreneur, insurance professional, and community leader whose career spans publishing, real estate, business ownership, and more than fifteen years with Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance. Raised between her family’s fourth-generation cattle farm in Atwood, Oklahoma and the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation in Parker, Arizona, she learned early the value of resilience and leading by example.
A longtime Hawaiʻi paddler, LaJuana spent ten years with the Kīhei Canoe Club on Maui—serving as club president and later becoming a lifetime member—and another ten years with the Keaukaha Canoe Club on Hawaiʻi Island. During that time, she trained, raced, and completed three Molokai Channel crossings in the grueling forty-two-mile Nā Wāhine O Ke Kai race.
From building a 20-employee wholesale floral business in Hawaiʻi to leading top-ranked insurance offices in Oklahoma, she’s built a career anchored in grit, trust, and steady leadership. After retiring on December 31, 2025, she continues to mentor others, stay active in her community, and—true to her nature—move toward whatever great adventure comes next.
About the Writer
Angie Thompson is a fundraising strategist, storyteller, and consultant who believes words can create connection and spark transformation. She has partnered with nonprofits, small businesses, and purpose-driven leaders across sectors to help them move beyond generic messaging into clear, compelling stories that inspire action. Her work spans film, television, philanthropy, and brand strategy, all grounded in a lifelong love of creativity and meaningful communication. As the creator of the Women with a Spark series, Angie brings a listener’s heart, a composer’s rhythm, and a storyteller’s instinct to every narrative she writes. She is also the developer of The Pivot Pulse™, her signature storytelling framework that identifies the brief emotional turning point where transformation becomes visible.