Lauren Matsumoto

Personal life

Matsumoto traces her roots in Hawai‘i back to 1859 and is the sixth generation to be born and raised in the islands. Her great-grandfather started Peterson’s Upland Farm in 1910 and to this day the farm still operates as a family-run business supplying fresh eggs for our communities. Her grandfather began working at Waialua Sugar Company in 1966, where he worked until he retired. Matsumoto’s grandmother Suzanne Peterson was the first woman to serve on the State of Hawai'i Board of Agriculture and later became the Director of Agriculture under Governor Waihee.

For the past 22 years Matsumoto’s father, Michael, has worked at Nanakuli High School as a Special Education Teacher. Her mother Sharon works on the family farm, promotes local agriculture in the islands, and has served as the Vice-President of the Hawai‘i Egg Producers Association. Her brother Matthew is attending University of Hawai‘i (UH) where he is a member of the UH Men’s Volleyball Team. Matsumoto was born and raised in Mililani where she attended Mililani Waena Elementary, was the first class to attend Mililani Middle School, and graduated from Mililani High School. She participated in many activities such as the Hawaiian Island Skippers jump rope team, Mililani High School Volleyball, Swimming, and Water Polo teams, as well as the Symphonic Ensemble.

Matsumoto graduated from University of Hawai'i with a B.A. degree in film production from the Academy for Creative Media and minored in both Business and Japanese. Her first experience with the legislature was with her documentary, Farm Grown, which helped pass the Feed Subsidy Bill. Matsumoto was a four-year Division I scholar-athlete at the University of Hawai‘i as a Wahine Water Polo player. She was also a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and initiated the C.A.R.E. (Collegiate Athletes Reaching Everyone) program, which uses student-athletes to encourage youth to excel in academics and participate in athletics.

In July 2013, Matsumoto married Scott Matsumoto, who is a firefighter for the Honolulu Fire Department. The couple had been together prior to Lauren becoming Miss Hawaii.

Political career

Matsumoto ran a successful campaign for election in 2012 to the newly formed Hawaii State House District 45 in Oahu, Hawaii. District 45 comprises Matsumoto's hometown of Mililani as well as Schofield, Wheeler, Mokuleia, and Waialua. She ran unopposed in the primaries as a Republican candidate.

Some of Matsumoto's key values of which she platformed on include expanding local agriculture, strengthening education, improving the local economy, advocating Christian fundamentalism, and advocating for responsible environmental policies.

Miss Hawaii

Matsumoto competed at Miss Hawaii 2011 as Miss East Oahu. Her talent was a Jump Rope Routine, which she took up after seeing a jump rope team perform at her school. Her platform is C.A.R.E.: Collegiate Athletes Reaching Everyone. She won on her fourth try for the Miss Hawaii title. She represented Hawaii at the National Sweetheart 2010 Pageant, a spot she earned by placing 2nd runner-up to Miss Hawaii 2010. She was named a Quality of Life Finalist at the Miss America 2012 pageant.