Aiko was raised in Kāneʻohe and her families were raised in Kāneʻohe, Puʻunēnē, Yanbaru, and Agaña Heights. She has taught decolonial Pacific literature and community-engaged poetry at University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa as well as in partnership with community organizations. She has worked as a graduate assistant for the Center for Biographical Research and an ʻukulele teacher at Roy Sakuma ʻUkulele Studios, and coedited The Value of Hawaiʻi 2: Ancestral Roots, Oceanic Visions (UH Press, 2014) and The Value of Hawaiʻi 3: Hulihia (UH Press, 2021). Her PhD research was about the annual community poetry event Nā Hua Ea, and friendship and decolonial love in contemporary literature of Hawaiʻi.