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Event Spotlight: Hawaii Educators W-rite

Today we’re sharing an Event spotlight featuring Kristi Oda of Hawaii Educators W-rite, a group that meets here at Impact Hub HNL.

Andrea Bertoli (AB): Tell me more about Hawaii Educators W-rite.

Kristi Oda (KO): The W-rite group is an inspired community of educators who support each other: we do this by carving out time each month to gather in a creative space to reflect and write. This atmosphere and intention cultivate a rich atmosphere for sharing and growing among our peers and friends. These events do not have an agenda and are totally self-directed, which gives everyone the opportunity to informally connect and bring a vibrant energy to our role as educators in the community.

AB: What pulled you towards this type of activism/work?

KO: We want to help nourish the writers from Hawaii and give educators a platform from which they can share their unique voices.

The media has continually reported a narrative of broke teachers in broken schools. The public deserves to hear a wide variety of stories from educators doing the work across our state. There are many things Hawaii educators have found to work that simply need to be shared, spread, and adapted. This tells a richer story of education here in the state.

AB: What are some of the founding values behind your group (and the work)?

KO: So often we get caught up in daily life, so this is about the importance of taking time for self-care, specifically to reflect and design a new path in our work with the overall goal of fostering leadership, collaboration, wellness, and growing a healthy local network of supportive relationships. As educators, in addition to school responsibilities, we work on achieving certifications, degrees, creating curriculum, communicating with families, sharing our work in presentations, and receiving grants for future projects. Some educators need essential time and space in order to be empowered to find and share their stories & voices.

Networking educators from various school levels, communities, and roles, such as parent liaisons, administrators, classroom and non-classroom educators is important to work to break down barriers and dissolve tensions that threaten collaboration.

AB: How can people get involved if they are interested?

KO: If you are an educator in Hawaii, find us online or check out motivated HI educators on Twitter #808educate. If you aren’t an educator and like our work and want to partner, reach out anyway to connect and see how you can participate or support. And if you have friends that work as educators, please invite them to collaborate with us.

AB: Any upcoming events we can share with our audience?

KO: We have three more events happening in July: two online, one at Kāne’ohe Elementary, and an additional monthly meetup at Impact Hub on July 31.

  • July 17 #808educate Twitter chat on Social Media for Educators
  • July 20 808Unconference where educators create topics on the spot and participate in sessions about shared interests (bit.ly/808uncon)
  • July 31 W-rite session at Impact Hub HNL + guest author -retired principal Jan Iwase (6:30pm-8:00pm)

Thanks, Kristi, for taking the time to share your event with us! 

 

Building the Spa Business with our Neighbors, The Skin Institute Internationalé

One of Kakaako’s hidden gems is just upstairs from Impact Hub HNL. The Skin Institute Internationalé (TSII), a locally-based teaching spa and esthetician school, is on the third floor of our building. Their training programs are for new and experienced estheticians (think eyebrow tinting, facials, waxing) and help people of all ages start a business in the spa industry.

And the spa and wellness industry is nothing to dismiss: FastCompany explains that, “the wellness market, which encompasses everything from boutique fitness gyms to day spas, is now valued at a whopping $4.2 trillion, having grown 12.8% in the last two years. The industry now represents 5.3% of global economic output.”

If you or anyone you know wants to get into this industry, there is an easy opportunity just a few floors away from us!

TSII trains hundreds of students each year, and they offer their services at discounted rates to the community. Better yet, Hub members get an additional 20% discount on spa services, perfect as relaxation after a long day at work or if you need to treat someone special to some body care.

I chatted with Mary Ronnow, expert esthetician and Founder of TSII, to learn more about her thriving business and how she helps grow wellness businesses in the islands.

Andrea Bertoli (AB): Tell us a little more about your background and why you started an esthetics school?

Mary Ronnow (MR): I’ve been in the beauty and spa industry for over 40 years, and I’ve worked in every avenue of the industry. It’s an exciting multi-billion dollar industry that is always changing. I have had the great fortune to work with my three daughters who are, like myself, master estheticians. All of us are serial entrepreneurs – addicted to starting new businesses. We see opportunity everywhere- likely many Hub members can relate. My daughter Lierem and I saw a huge need for a thorough, sophisticated training in our industry on island, and we have been greeted with open arms – the business community of Hawaii has encouraged and support us over our first three years, helping us become the thriving company we are today.

AB: We love seeing that it’s a woman-owned business. Do you see any particular challenges to running your team? Has this changed over the years? Do you think it’s different than when you started your business years ago?

MR: How great are women-owned businesses? Not only do studies show that women-owned (or companies with women on their board) do better and create better outcomes, I get to work each day with my daughters – all compassionate, powerful women. Our team is all women, all dedicated to supporting the students in their learning environment.

There is a stereotype that it’s challenging to work with a team of all women, but there are not any particular challenges that I’ve found. Regardless of their gender, employees and team members want the same thing: recognition for their contributions, interesting creative work, and appreciation for a job well done. What I do think has changed is that most of the young women students don’t even know what the term ‘glass ceiling’ means–  which has been a long time coming!

AB: The school seems really active: about how many students do you train each month/year and what types of jobs will they get after they graduate your programs?

MR: We do have a lot of students coming and going! We train all ages, as the spa industry is a great career for the student who has tried college and found the traditional route didn’t fit them, or for mothers who have just put their youngest in school or their oldest is off to college – for all of them, now it’s time to do something for themselves.

Our students so highly trained when they graduate, they can essentially choose their own path and salary among the many options in this growing field. Each student is required to take Hawaii State board exams to become professionally licensed, and after that they can work for day spas, resort spas, medi-spas, or focus on back-of-house spa operations (accounting, education, and more). At least 30% of our graduates start their own businesses.

AB: What services do you think are the best options for our hardworking coworkers, and how can Impact Hub members enjoy these services?

MR: Impact Hub members are welcome to 20% off our elegant spa services at already extraordinary prices at our beautiful and calming spa – it’s a great way to treat yourself, a friend, or a coworker. Our pricing is an incredible value and we just love spoiling people. For the member discount, they just need to mention Impact Hub to receive the 20% off.

Learn more about TSII on Facebook or Instagram.

Member Spotlight: Christine Mai‘i Sakuda of Transform Hawaii Government

Our ongoing series of Member Spotlights highlights the great work that our members are doing across their fields in Hawaii. Christine Sakuda of Transform Hawaii Government (THG) is a local organization that seeks to improve and modernize the Hawaii state government.

You can learn more about the organization here:

THG has hosted multiple events here at Impact Hub HNL, and we look forward to hosting more of these interesting and progressive events about how to improve our government from the ground up! Follow our Facebook events page to keep up to date.

I chatted with Christine over email and asked her to tell me more about the work that THG is doing, and why it’s so important.

transform hawaii government

Andrea B (AB): Can you tell me a little bit more about Transform Hawaii Government?

Christine Sakuda (CS): Transform Hawaii Government (THG) advocates for modernization of state government services so that such services can be provided to the public, Hawaii businesses, and even government officials and employees themselves in an efficient, transparent, and meaningful way. Modernization also helps increase availability and access to electronic data, promoting data-based decision-making in shaping Hawaii’s future.

AB: Tell me a little bit more about you – how did this become your role/passion/career?

CS: I’ve been working in the technology transformation space since 1997, starting off in healthcare and recently transitioning to state government with THG. For 15 years, I’ve worked for non-profit organizations, being the first executive director for the most recent organizations: the Hawaii Health Information Exchange and THG. I do not have a formal education in technology but learned on the job, and believe that technology can be a powerful tool to help solve problems and deliver services.

AB: What are some of the biggest issues you see with our state government?

CS: State departments and agencies have traditionally focused on their own department goals in a decentralized manner. These departments matured during a time when technology was nascent, heavily customized, and not user-friendly. Since then, there have been huge advancements in technology that allows for more enterprise (statewide) planning and systems integration to occur; many of these advancements have brought data to the fingertips of mobile device users, but not yet to our government agencies. Citizens expect the state government to keep pace with these advancements and make best efforts to leverage new technologies to deliver services in more efficient and convenient ways.

AB: What can Hawaii citizens do to get more involved in government and transparency?

CS: THG encourages interested individuals to join the THG coalition through our website to stay informed on the state’s progress towards IT modernization as well as learn how to become more active, such as testifying in support of key legislation that advances these efforts.

AB: Can you tell me more about your events that you’ve hosted here?

CS: THG hosted a series of talk story sessions at Impact Hub Honolulu focused on key themes of state modernization: a state IT strategic plan, modernizing infrastructure, open data, cyber-security and more. Impact Hub HNL is an ideal, central venue to bring together subject matter experts and state leadership to discuss these topics to raise awareness of challenges and discuss opportunities for improvement potentially through public policy.

AB: What upcoming events can we look forward to in 2019?

CS: THG’s speaker series will be returning to Impact Hub HNL in the New Year. We are in the process of developing our 2019 calendar of events and will announce upcoming speaker series topics on our website and through our newsletter. We plan to raise our speaker series to the next level in 2019 by hosting more panel discussions that move these discussions forward. For more information on these events, including Facebook Live video of past presentations, visit our site and select “Events.”

Thanks, Christine, for taking the time to chat with us!

Community Event: East Meets West 2019

East Meets West is THE event for startups and businesses in Hawaii!

East Meets West, created in partnership with Blue Startups and other great local organizations like Hawaii Strategic Development Development Corporation, Hawaii Technology Development Corporation, and Ulupono, is focused on innovation, investment, and entrepreneurship, and brings together experts from Asia, Hawaii, and North America.

This event will showcase global startup trends including cutting edge innovation, influencer marketing, travel, tech, and sustainability.

This is the fifth EMW event, and will be held January 31 and Feb 1. This year features another great list of expert speakers, and features two days of activity. January 31 is a day for ‘Urban Interactive’ activities with sessions in and around downtown Honolulu; the second day offers more formal sessions at the Sheraton Waikiki. See the current schedule and speaker list here.

Tickets are discounted currently – but prices are rising soon. Grab your tickets today at EastMeetsWest.co

The 2018 PMI Professional Development Day

Impact Hub HNL was happy to sponsor PMI Honolulu’s 2018 Professional Development Day. The event, which took place October 19, 2018 brought together hundreds of professionals from across Hawaii The Project Management Institute® Honolulu Chapter.

This Professional Development Day was the 20th Anniversary of the event, and based on attendee feedback, the overall theme was decided to be A’ohe Hana Nui Ke Alu’ia : No Task Is Too Big When Done Together.

Professional Development day

At the event, attendees followed three tracks to help them in their own professional development process:

1) Career Pathways: Whether you are new to project management or an experienced PMO manager, this track will consider the career paths and options for advancement that are available to project managers, both inside and outside of the project management field. Come to be a part of the discussion about career planning and mentoring, and hear from local leaders that can share experiences about their own career paths and outcomes.

2) Practitioner Stories: This will be great case studies where people can tie back the lessons to their work. Stories from all industries – construction, tourism, military, IT, healthcare, etc. The tie back to the overall theme is don’t recreate the wheel, let’s learn together.

3) Creative Approaches: Creative approaches to solve problems of today – This is all about tried and true techniques, new emerging techniques, transformation of techniques and a mash-up of techniques and how to do them in the Real World! It’s not about silver bullets. It’s contextual, it’s real. As professionals we need more ways to solve problems and uncover opportunities in our dynamic, demanding and ever-changing environments. How do you work WITH your stakeholders to move projects to successful completion? How do you co-create? How do you build relationships and ohanas with your teams – while accomplishing amazing goals?

Impact Hub HNL member Dean Ramos was a presenter and attendee at the event. Dean, a business consultant, says that, “PMI offers an excellent toolbox for anyone doing project management, and that the event is a full day learning about the tools in the project manager’s toolbox and how to utilize them better.” He says he especially appreciated the Keynote with Kumu Ramsay Taum, who encouraged us to think about working together, better, in any sort of business, which is important here in the islands and even with the mainland visitors that attended the event.

Dean added that while the event is usually targeted to project managers, this year the scope was such that everyone can really benefit from these lessons.

You can download the brochure here to learn more about this event and contact them here to be involved for next year.

What is PMI?

PMI (Professional Management Institute) is the world’s leading not-for-profit membership association for the project management profession, with more than half a million members and credential holders in 185 countries. Their mission is to promote the project management practice and profession through networking, sharing of project experiences, training, education, and certification in the State of Hawaii.

Why I Teach: Civil Beat’s Speaker Series Featuring our Community Manager, Anne Weber

***Update: This event has been rescheduled to Friday, 9/28 due to Hurricane Lane. Tickets for this event will be valid for the new date.

It’s back to school time for many of us, and to celebrate this time of year, Civil Beat is hosting another Hawaii Storyteller event called Why I Teach.

This event features a group of local teacher leaders telling stories of how they became educators. We’re extra excited about this event because our very own Community Manager Anne Weber will be one of the storytellers!

Anne Weber Impact HubMost of you know Anne as the person that keeps Impact Hub HNL running smoothly on a daily basis, but she is also a writer and educator. Anne was a state teacher fellow and she serves on the Advisory Council for the Native Alliance Initiative for Teach for America nationally. Prior to joining Impact Hub HNL, Anne taught elementary school in Waianae at Ma’ili Elementary for four years.

About her calling to teach, Anne says “the work was more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. Teaching indigenous students is close to my heart because I never had native teachers growing up. Students that have teachers they can relate to and see themselves in makes a significant difference in their learning. The rest of the story you’ll just have to come next Friday and hear for yourself.”

Anne Weber Hawaii storytellers

This Hawaii Storyteller’s event, part of a larger series produced by Civil Beat, will feature a group of local teachers offering up a diverse range of storytelling experiences, with each storyteller sharing personal challenges, triumphs, and insights as to what makes teaching in Hawaii so unique.

The featured storytellers for this Moth Radio Hour-style show includes the following storytellers:

  • Hokulani Holt, Kumu Hula of Pau O Hiiaka and Director of Ka Hikina O Ka La and Coordinator of
  • Hawaii Papa O Ke Ao at the University of Hawaii Maui College
  • Douglas Kiang, Computer science teacher at Punahou School
  • Keil Oberlander, English Language Arts teacher at Waianae High School
  • Mahina Paishon-Duarte, Principal of Kanu o ka Aina New Century Public Charter School
  • Christina Torres, English teacher at Punahou School
  • Anne Weber, Community Manager at Impact Hub Honolulu and former teacher at Maili Elementary School

This event will be held at Arts at Marks Garage in Chinatown. Arrive at 6:00 p.m. to enjoy interactive activities and a no-host bar. The event will start promptly at 7:00 p.m. Register here for this event (registration is $10).