Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Audrey E. Kitagawa, is a cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California, and a graduate of Boston College Law School. She practiced law in Honolulu for twenty years. At the time of her retirement in 1996, Ms. Kitagawa had a Martindale-Hubbel AV rating, (i.e. highest rating for professional and ethical excellence in the legal profession). She is President of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, a nondenominational, ecumenical, spiritual community with broad global outreach. She is the former Advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict at the United Nations, and the former Vice President/Trustee of Council For A Parliament of The World’s Religions, one of the world’s largest conveners of communities of faith. She is currently a Founding Trustee of the New York City Peace Museum.

She has been enstooled into the royal family as the Nekoso Hemaa (i.e.Queen Mother of Development), of Ajiyamanti in Ghana, West Africa, and has a school named after her in her African name, the Nana Ode Anyankobea Junior Secondary School. She has published articles in World Affairs, The Journal of International Issues. She has authored chapters for three books, and has been listed in Who's Who of American Law, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, and Prominent People of Hawaii.