Humuhumu

I live in San Francisco,
and I sleep in a jungle.
she/her

Family

My life

I live in San Francisco with my husband and daughter. I like to bake and cook, and I enjoy challenging myself to learn new techniques. These days, it's meant a lot of bread (though I don't like sourdough). I love creating things, and I love sharing what I create. I love seeing old friends, and I love making new friends. I'm pretty passionate about trying to make the world a better place, which feels like an awfully tall order these days.

I grew up in Seattle, I've lived in Hawaiʻi and Los Angeles, and I've been in the Bay Area for nearly 20 years.

Homeschool Humuhumu

Homeschool Humuhumu

In 2019, I started homeschooling my daughter. It was a massive and unplanned life change, and one of the best things that's happened to me (and that's saying something, my life has been packed full of really fantastic things).

Because it was an unplanned change, I went into homeschooling with a bit of trepidation. I was helped tremendously by other homeschooling parents sharing what they've learned, and I've continued that tradition by sharing our experiences at a blog, Homeschool Humuhumu.

If you're considering homeschooling and would like to pick my brain, or could just use a sympathetic ear, please reach out.

Humuhumu at work

Previous work lives

Before I was homeschooling my kid, I was fortunate enough to have a weird-ass career that zigged and zagged and saw me involved with a bunch of different projects and industries. At the end there, I was working as a fancy-pants software development consultant.

My favorite work, by far, was when I was at the Institute for Systems Biology doing SCIENCE! as a computational biologist and leader-y type of person, mostly doing Type 1 diabetes research. Other work adventures included a rather fun gig helping a launch a nanoscience effort at UCLA and Caltech, and another job doing computery things about peat moss, which is a bigger deal than one may guess.

Critiki

Critiki

Critiki was an online database cataloging over 1,000 tiki bars and other Polynesian pop culture locations worldwide, past and present.

I created Critiki in 2002, and operated it for 20 years, until 2022. I collected and edited the content, and wrote all of the articles for Critiki News. Critiki's members contributed their images, ratings and comments.

Sewing machine

My name

My name is Humuhumu Trott; most people call me Humu. It's a nickname I picked up years ago, it's from the Hawaiian word for sewing (it doesn't come from the famous state fish). The name on my tax forms is Michelle, but at home, at work, with family, with friends, I'm Humu.

It's pronounced HOO-moo-HOO-moo.