If you are seeking calm in a hectic world, you may find it at a yoga school in Puna, surrounded by a Big Island rain forest. Among the classes at the Yoga Oasis is a 200-hour, monthlong program for Yoga Alliance certification that focuses specifically on Chi Hatha Yoga. “By doing these intense practices, the mind is trained,” says co-owner…
What’s It Worth? $3,000 Abigail Langlas makes special occasions especially sweet. The cake artist and pastry chef created a four-foot cake shaped like a 1959 pink Cadillac for the 50th anniversary of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association three years ago. It took her a week to create and, at $3,000, was her most expensive cake ever. “These cakes cost so…
At 4 on a Sunday afternoon, Barron Guss – businessman, entrepreneur, inventor – is often at the field mauka of Kailua’s Kawainui Marsh flying part of his vast collection of remote-controlled helicopters and airplanes. His passion for flight began in boyhood and has never dissipated. He took flight training at Florida’s Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; managed the U.S. F3C helicopter team…
There’s a new way for children and adults to view tropical sea life and even touch some of it. The Living Art Marine Center near the airport has a modest collection of fish tanks with creatures from around the Pacific, plus an area to create fish rubbings from facsimiles, and the chance to touch creatures such as hermit crabs or…
What is ReadiBand? ReadiBand is a civilian product that commercializes technology developed for the military to identify, assess and manage fatigue. It is made by Fatigue Science, a spin-off of Archinoetics, a Hawaii-based, dual-use company. How does it work? ReadiBand is a wristwatch-like device that uses a built-in accelerometer to monitor the sleep history of the wearer. Fatigue Science CEO…
Name: John Hirokawa Job: Master illusionist, Magic of Polynesia Experience: 39 years as a performing magician Starting out: When he was about 8, Hirokawa saw the 1953 movie, “Houdini,” starring Tony Curtis, and was entranced. “My mom borrowed magic books and tried to re-create the tricks,” but failed, he remembers. So she found a magic shop in downtown Honolulu, Magic…
A new company offers Hawaii businesses something unique: a peek at secrets that may be hidden inside their own organizations. Risk Source Hawaii provides customers with a 24-hour whistleblower hotline so the customers’ employees can report workplace problems anonymously. “Through the hotline, our business members are able to offer their employees a secure and confidential forum to report things such…
With so many individuals, businesses and governments facing financial problems, it is more critical than ever that people learn about economics and finance from a young age. However, the subjects are rarely taught in local high schools. The Hawaii Council on Economics Education aims to fill that void with the Summer Economics Academy, a new, six-week program that holds its…
ART USHIJIMA, President & CEO, The Queen’s Health System Art Ushijima has been at Queen’s since 1989 and its chief executive since 2005. Interviewed BY Jason Ubay HB: The Queen’s Medical Center is a 153-year-old Hawaiian institution. What’s the most important thing to keep in mind when working for a company with a lot of history? Ushijima: Our most important…
Vicky Cayetano, president and CEO for United Laundry Services, will receive the “Salesperson of the Year” award next month from the Hawaii chapter of Sales and Marketing Executives International. Hawaii Business publisher David Tumilowicz recently asked Cayetano about her sales secrets: FEAR: Fear is not necessarily bad. Twenty- three years in sales and I still get nervous when I have…
With another Hawaiian Renaissance on the horizon, two local media companies are collaborating on a new forum to report on and explain coming events. The Kalaimoku Group and aio are launching Mana, a magazine designed for Native Hawaiians and others interested in the historic changes under way. “We’re committed to being a voice for the Hawaiian community,” said John K.S….
A little belatedly, the rest of the country is getting it: Tourism is big business. This realization is at the heart of President Obama’s executive order in January, which calls for a national strategy to make America the world’s top travel destination. The executive order bolsters the role of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (adding Hawaii chef Roy…
Q. I’m tired of renting space for my business. Is this a good time to buy a commercial property? If so, how do I get financing and what options are available? A. Your timing is good. The current financing environment offers low interest rates, as well as favorable financing terms and conditions, making it a great time to buy commercial property….
When Todd Yamanaka joined Island Insurance 11 years ago, the company’s website,www.islandinsurance.com, was essentially a tool that shared basic information about the company’s products. That was it. Needless to say, the site didn’t rank at the top in search results, and that was a missed opportunity for the state’s largest locally owned and managed property and casualty insurance company. So…
6:37 pm, Thursday Polynesian Cultural Center, Laie Photographer: David Croxford >> Wardrobe worker Aliecha Wilkenson assigns costumes before the show to the actresses of Ha: Breath of Life. More than 120 costumes are used in the performance. A total of about 160 people are involved in the six-evenings-a-week production, including 100 performers. About 1.4 million people have seen…
Chinese visitors in their 20s and 30s. At least I assumed they were Chinese and, judging from their features, probably from the northwest provinces of China. But when we reached a security checkpoint, they pulled out their Mongolian passports. (Please, no jokes about all Asians looking alike to us haoles.) My error about national identity got me thinking about another…
Mike McCartney President & CEO, Hawaii Tourism Authority McCartney, who served on the APEC 2011 Hawaii Host Committee, discusses the after-effects of APEC and HTA’s plans for 2012. How will APEC affect Hawaii’s visitor industry now and into the future? APEC gave us the ability to believe in ourselves, improve our skill sets and improve who we are as a…
Though it was an ocean away, the devastating earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis that ravaged northeastern Japan in March 2011 struck Hawaii in the heart. People all over the world grieved over the magnitude of the tragedy, but it was Hawaii’s unique social, cultural and economic ties to Japan that prompted an unparalleled statewide response that raised more than…
First Place: Baldridge & Associates Structural Engineering Inc. OVERALL WINNER – THE FOOSBALL HIJACKING Victim: STEVE BALDRIDGE, president, BASE Pranksters: BASE EMPLOYEES BASE employees wanted a foosball table, so when president Steve Baldridge was gone on a business trip, they bought a used table. There was no space that Friday, so they set it up in Baldridge’s office and turned it into the Employee…
There are two ways to reach Molokai’s isolated settlement of Kalaupapa. You can ride a mule or walk along the 3.2-mile trail that descends the 1,700-foot cliff along 26 switchbacks, or you can fly. Those are the only ways to leave, too. “It takes me about one-and-a-half hours to hike up the trail to ‘topside’ and then I’ll have to…
At first glance, Hawaii Fish Co. in Mokuleia doesn’t look like a hotbed of innovation. For more than 20 years, owner Ron Weidenbach has run a simple operation, raising tilapia in floating cages in the deep waters of an old quarry that he leases from the state. It’s a picturesque setting. Nestled against the craggy Waianae Mountains, the 4-acre fishpond…
Good leaders are crucial to our economy, businesses, governments, nonprofits and schools. That’s why each year, Hawaii Business profiles 20 emerging leaders who will help guide us through the next two decades. This year, we have an outstanding group of individuals who already have a strong record of achievement and the potential to do much more. Mauna Kea Trask Jill…