The 2009 Lei Queen for the City & County of Honolulu is Lauren Kanoelani Chang, a Punahou graduate.

Her first Lei Princess is Kalai Sina Kamauoha, Second Princess is Jodie Miyagi, a student of Kumu Hula Kahai Topolinski.

The queen and her court will preside over the day long festivities at the 82nd Annual Lei Day Celebration on Friday, May 1st, at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand.

Chang is the daughter of Melvin Kaheana Chang & Sandra Perreira Chang. Her family is of Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese and Filipino ancestry. Born in Portland, Oregon, Kanoelani graduated from Punahou School in 2001, and then studied at Whitman College in Washington State. She moved back to Hawaii and graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a bachelor's degree in Hawaiian Studies, and now works at the Hawaiian Language Department there.

Kanoelani began dancing hula at the age of 6, under the direction of Kumu Hula Leimomi Maldonado of Ka Hale I o Kahala and now teaches keiki hula classes at their studio in Kahala.