Archives: February 2012

Harnessing Global Creativity

Local entrepreneurs Chris and Kimberly Dey, who have ventures in varied fields from finance to sports, have found another niche, this time in advertising. AdTournament.com, their online graphic design agency, allows businesses to create an online contest for their advertisement needs and have designers worldwide submit entries. Burt Lum and Forest Frizzell – organizers of CityCamp Honolulu, a county project…

New Workplace Law Aids Breastfeeding

The Patagonia store in Haleiwa is one business in Hawaii that doesn’t need a lesson on the federal law covering breastfeeding in the workplace. Hiromi Hasegawa-Suitt’s children, now 2 and 4 years old, were breastfed when they were younger, thanks to the California-based company’s family-oriented workplace policies. “I would seriously eat and breastfeed,” recalls Hasegawa-Suitt, noting how her husband would…

Advice from the Top: Eric Tessem

Eric Tessem founded Construction Associates Inc. in the Pacific Northwest and led it for 22 years before joining Ledcor Construction in 2003. He now heads the Honolulu office of dck. YOU STARTED YOUR OWN BUSINESS, CONSTRUCTION ASSOCIATES. WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN GROWING A BUSINESS? Bigger is not always better. Also, grow at a rate…

Fast and Accurate

NAME: Sharon Mujtabaa JOB: President, Hawaii Court Reporters and Captioners Association; owner, The Caption Co. EXPERIENCE: 15 years in captioning, nine years as a court reporter STARTING OUT: When Mujtabaa went to court-reporting school in Chicago, she loved it all, even the difficult, letter-less stenotype machine. “I found that little machine with no writing on it so fascinating.” She moved…

S.O.S. Device Can Be Seen for Miles

Creator: Robert Yonover is a serial inventor. Although he studied volcanology at the University of Hawaii and has worked at MIT, for much of the last 30 years he’s been inventing search and rescue devices. RescueStreamer is one of his most promising endeavors. What is it? RescueStreamer isn’t exactly high tech. Basically, it’s a long ribbon of orange plastic that…

Pau Hana with Joe Perez

Joe Perez has one of the toughest jobs in Hawaii, and finds his release in kickboxing. “There’s something about hitting that bag after a tough day,” says Perez, executive director of the Hawaii Meth Project. “I hear such emotional and sometimes tragic stories. You really do need a release and kickboxing has turned out to be really therapeutic for me.”…

The Art of Tease

The women of the Cherry Blossom Cabaret believe the word “burlesque” is often misunderstood. The directors, who go by the stage names of Lola Love and Miss Catwings, see burlesque as an art form – the “art of tease.” “Most people think burlesque is stripping and that’s just one part of it,” says Love. Everybody in the troupe has a…

Kahuaina Plantation

The lushest property in Hawaii real estate is a 360-acre parcel of vacant land in Kilauea on Kauai’s North Shore that includes a mile of coastline plus streams, valleys and forests, say the two agents offering it for sale. Patricia Choi of Choi International is working with Shawn Smith of Falko Partners on Kauai to sell the property, known as…

Ask SmallBiz: Requesting Public Records for Your Business

Q. A state agency compiled information that might be helpful to my small business. How do I get it? A. There is a great deal of government information that is relevant to small businesses, such as unreleased reports, information related to government contracts and background on new rules. The Freedom of Information Act is the federal law that gives individuals access…

Parting Shot: Bradley & Lily Fine Stationary

1:46 PM, Thursday Bradley & Lily Fine Stationery Kapahulu Photographer: Olivier Koning Ian Nomura, co-owner of Bradley & Lily Fine Stationery, examines stationery printed on an antique Heidelberg Windmill letterpress. Ian and his wife, Stacey, started the company in 2005. Local printers were hesitant to let the Nomuras use their letterpresses, so they bought their own, shipping the 3,000 pound machine…

Editor’s Note: Connect with Hawaii Business on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Hawaii Business magazine’s mission is to cover big issues affecting our Islands’ economy and businesses in a way that is useful and accessible to readers. Although our main vehicle is a print magazine, we understand the importance of reaching and interacting with readers in the digital world. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of social media giants…

Talk Story with Tim Johns of HMSA

Tim Johns has had an eclectic career. He recently became a senior VP at HMSA and was co-chair of the APEC Hawaii Host Committee. Previously, he served as CEO ofBishop Museum, COO of the Damon Estate, VP of Amfac, chairman of the state Department of Land and Natural Resourcesand a director for the Nature Conservancy. We spoke with him about the value…

Is Your Subconscious a Bad Financial Advisor?

Afraid to make money? Are you recklessly sabotaging your financial security? Can’t bear to spend a penny, even though you have plenty of wealth? If any of this sounds familiar, Brad Klontz can help. Just as people develop personality traits from their life experiences, they also “learn” to relate to money from their parents and others around them or from early financial stresses,…