As chief advocate for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kawika Riley’s job is to wade into some of our state’s most controversial and complicated issues. He presents before state legislators and department heads, members of Congress and federal agencies. Before…
Q: I’m a vegetarian in an office that worships food. Daily spreads of manapua, brownies (not the kind from college), casseroles with ingredients I don’t recognize, and slow cookers of kalua pork (with a rice cooker on the side) fill…
Richie Stewart builds 15 new platforms a day at the Green Bed Factory, a division of Ross’ Appliances and Furniture. The frames take the place of traditional boxsprings (though the company calls them by that traditional name, “boxsprings”) and are…
NAME: Celeste Indvik AGE: 25 PART-TIME JOB: Professional cuddler and co-owner of Aloha Cuddle Co. START: Indvik was born and raised in Orange County, California, received her B.S. in nursing from Hawaii Pacific University, and is now a full-time labor…
Ross’ Appliances & Furniture was founded in 1975 by Ross Wigney, an Australian who served as an electrician’s mate aboard Jacques Cousteau’s ship Calypso. “He met a girl on the Mainland, and when the Calypso pulled out of port, Ross…
Q: I’ve been in middle management for 25 years, and I have a closet filled with aloha shirts, khaki pants and work shoes to prove it. I’m good at what I do, but I’m bored. And I worry, that as…
“Change is ahead for your small business, and how do you prepare?” Jane Sawyer, Small Business Administration Hawaii district director, asked a room of more than 100 people at the YWCA Laniakea on Thursday. Jane Sawyer,…
Readiness for next-level success often depends on the leader’s ability to develop the complex set of qualities that comprise “executive presence.” R. Scott Simon, an executive coach frequently engaged by Hawaii companies to support their emerging leaders, offers five steps…
Kalin Uluave didn’t let business failures stop him. Good thing, because the fourth succeeded, and the fifth and sixth are on track, too, with a seventh on the way. Uluave, a business-management major at BYU-Hawaii, topped three other contestants to…
