HB20: Su Lazo, City and County of Honolulu

Trading a Big Four accounting career for community impact, Su Lazo now builds career pathways that keep local youth rooted in Hawai‘i.

Su Lazo did not plan on leaving a Big Four accounting firm to work in workforce development. But over time, professional rigor and personal loss reframed how she measured success and impact.

Born and raised on the island of Kauaʻi, Lazo spent more than a decade on the East Coast, building a successful career as an auditor with Deloitte in the Washington, D.C., and Virginia areas. The work was demanding and respected, but distance from home — and from purpose — became harder to ignore.

In 2017, she lost her father and ended a long-term relationship. That winter, during a walk in sub-freezing temperatures, the question that had been lingering finally surfaced.

“I was walking in the snow—it was about 20 degrees, windy, painfully cold — and I remember asking myself, ‘What is keeping me here?'” Within a year, she made the decision to return to Hawaiʻi — not as a reset, but as a recalibration of how she wanted to use her skills.

Today, Lazo is a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and serves as the Workforce Development Program Manager for the City and County of Honolulu Office of Economic Revitalization. Her work is centered on partnering with government agencies, educational institutions and community organizations to invest in and build pathways to good jobs in key economic sectors for Oʻahu residents.

“I work in workforce development,” Lazo says. “My question is always: ‘How do we help young leaders see what’s possible—and then give them the tools to get there?'”

Lazo’s community leadership style is reminiscent of Barack Obama’s early organizing roots—not in ambition or scale, but in her focus on convening people, questioning systems that don’t work and building practical, trust-based pathways that help people secure good jobs and build lasting lives here in Hawaiʻi.

Lazo currently serves on the boards of the Filipino Community Center and the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaiʻi, further reflecting her commitment to strengthening economic and leadership pathways for Hawaiʻi’s Filipino community.

Her work has earned the respect of longtime community and business leaders, including Eddie Flores Jr., founder of the L&L family of restaurants.

“I’ve seen her do a remarkable job. She’s very dedicated, hardworking, organized and always willing to volunteer her time pro bono,” he says.

Lazo remains intentional about visibility. “I don’t like attention,” she says. “But I’m okay being on these lists because it brings attention to the organizations and communities doing the work.”

For Lazo, success today looks different than it once did. It looks like local students staying in Hawaiʻi, building meaningful careers and strengthening the communities they call home.

“That’s the work,” she says. “And it doesn’t feel like work at all.”