This House Offers Hope
The Rev. Samuel Cox doesn’t talk like a preacher when he speaks about the odds of a woman starting a new life after prison. He calls it like a gambler: “The dice are loaded,” and not in the woman’s favor.…
Author: Lee Ann Bowman
Lots in Common
Daniel B.T. Lau, co-founder of Finance Factors, was born in 1919, the year the treaty officially ending World War I was signed, and Congress approved Constitutional amendments that created Prohibition and gave the vote to women. Stephen Haugse, the owner…
Familiar Name Back in the Funeral Business
In late 2012, Ken Ordenstein started his own funeral business, building on a lifetime of experience. His mother and father were Anna and Francis Ordenstein, co-founders of Hawaiian Memorial Park. At the Ordenstein home, which included four sons and three…
Guide Your Family Business With Good Planning
The boss called one of his employees into the office. “Rob,” he said, “you’ve been with the company for a year. You started off in the mailroom, one week later you were promoted to a sales position, and one month…
Helping Family Businesses
There is no typical family business in Hawaii – they are as diverse as the state itself. But each has at least one powerful strength and one potentially crippling drawback: the family itself. Michael Miyahira, the founder of Business Strategies,…
Family Tradition of Feather Work
Name: Paulette Kahalepuna Job: Feather artist and owner of Na Lima Mili Hulu Noeau, a store where Hawaiian feather work is taught, and supplies and finished pieces are sold. Experience: 21 years. START: In 1991, Kahalepuna helped her feather-expert mother Mary Lou and father…
Starting a Business After Age 50
Ready to move on after decades of experience, but not ready to retire? Consider becoming an encore entrepreneur: someone who takes over or starts a business in a field different from their main career. Many people are doing it in…
Open for Women in Business
It’s all in place: cubicles and copier, conference room and Wi-Fi, a bit of art on the walls and a verdant view of Iolani Palace. The Patsy T. Mink Center for Business & Leadership at the Laniakea YWCA on Richards…
Entrepreneurs After Age 50
Forget about retirement, gray hair means it’s time to launch a business What is it about people over 50? Just when they peek at that no-more-9-to-5 horizon, many do crazy things like travel the world, self-publish books or enroll in…
Starting Over Can Be Sweet (and sometimes meaty) Revenge
A slender face appears at the door of Palama Settlement’s kitchen, bowl in one hand, telephone on shoulder. Kathy Masunaga, owner and creator of Sweet Revenge, smiles a welcome to the Palama Settlement kitchen. She and a single employee are…
Pop-up Restaurants and Stores: Great Places to Start a Business
Until a few months ago, I thought a “pop-up” was an old-fashioned three-dimensional card or book that surprised you with a magical foldout that popped up as you opened it. Now, I know modern pop-ups are fleeting events – whether…
Modern Life Off the Grid
Three years ago, after the Big Island was rocked by a 6.6 magnitude earthquake and power failed across the state, Judi Steinman and her husband, Shaul Baruch Janes, watched movies on their flat-screen TV and drank cold beverages from the…
Local Life Lessons
A little book has important advice for some of the Islands' big-business leaders Growing up, Wesley Park aspired to be ordinary. He ended up being extraordinary. When he was 4 years old, Park was stricken with polio. The debilitating disease…
25 People for the Next 25 Years
Thirty-year-old developer Adam Wong has an intoxicating vision for a vibrant — and affordable — Honolulu. Thirty-three-year-old James Koshiba dreams of a new generation of socially-conscious businesses that do as much for the community as they do their bottom lines.…
