Hawaii Business Magazine - October 2014

A Guardian During Your Darkest Times

Noy Worachit moved more during her adolescence – over 15 times – than most people do in their entire lives. As a teenager, she also spent time in corrections facilities and gave birth to her daughter. Worachit’s youth, like that of…

Ask the Expert: Health Insurance Plans

J.P. Schmidt President & CEO, Family Health Hawaii familyhealthhawaii.com Question: What steps should I take to make sure I choose the right health insurance for my employees without breaking the bank? Answer: Dealing with health insurance doesn’t have to be…

She Shares Her Love of Ballet

Name: Vivienne Lim Job: Owner and artistic director, Royal Academy of Ballet Experience: Three decades in ballet Start: Born in Malaysia, Lim was just 3 when her parents enrolled her in a ballet program certified by the esteemed Royal Academy…

Stunts? “Sounds like fun!”

Name: Katie Wright Pere Job: Stuntwoman Experience: 14 years Start:  While Pere attended Florida State University, she trained two to three hours a day, six days a week, as a competitive swimmer. She also rode Jet Skis and water skied.…

Amazon Queen

In the downstairs office of a quiet home tucked into a side street in Pukalani, a 49-year-old married mother of two is plotting her next murder. And with a production schedule that sees her churning out five to six new…

Maui Favorite Going Global

When David Yamashiro opened his 65-square-foot shave ice shop in Lahaina in December 2008, he had to beg people to try his product. “In the beginning, we were selling about 15 shave ice from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.,” Yamashiro…

Talk Story with Pohai Ryan

Executive Director, Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association Ryan brings wide experience to her role, from managing an information office in Kailua to serving as a state senator. This Kamehameha Schools alumna plans to focus on culture and authenticity during her tenure,…

5 Steps to Prepare for a Crisis

Steady leadership is essential when bad things happen to good companies. Public relations expert Julie Ford shares advice on how C-suite executives can be prepared for – and effectively meet – a crisis.   1. Be prepared Even the best…

Too Old for Coaching? Think Again

To Donalyn Dela Cruz, coaches were people who led basketball practice and volleyball clinics – not shape executives into leaders. But when she entered the prestigious Omidyar Fellows program in 2012, she was paired with a professional coach who helped her…

How to Ask for a Raise

Thirty-nine percent of Americans believe they are underpaid – 42 percent of women versus 33 percent of men, according to a survey this year by the career website Glassdoor.com. If you are in that group, be aware that there are…

Off-the-grid Air Conditioning

Creator: Briand Achong, president and co-founder of Greenpath Technologies Inc., was an accountant and small-business consultant before establishing his photovoltaic business. “We looked at it from a roofing perspective,” he says. “The roof is the only part of a building…

Love (and success) Stories

As Brian Adrian stands atop a 42-foot ladder on a Dallas construction site, the alarm on his mobile phone rings. It’s time to call his wife, so he secures his grip and hits speed dial. Almost 4,000 miles away in…

How Safe Is Your Hospital?

When Barb had outpatient surgery to remove worrisome growths in her pelvic area last November, the biggest difference she noticed from her previous hospital stay wasn’t a fancy new medical device or miracle drug – it was all the talk,…

Deadly “Superbug” arrives in Hawaii

If patients and their families worry about acquiring an infection in the hospital, they’re probably thinking about the drug-resistant staph infection called MRSA. But hospital administrators and health officials say MRSA is no longer a major risk, with more patients…

Skai Ventures: Strategies for Takeoff

Twenty miles west of downtown Honolulu, inside a compact industrial building in Kapolei, engineers decked in white lab coats and safety goggles are carefully dipping silicon wafers into baths under industrial hoods and studying readouts that flash on monitors mounted…

Changing the World Has a New Birthplace

If you want your new business to make the world better, not just make money, consider launching it at Impact Hub Honolulu. That’s where social entrepreneurs will find inexpensive office space, training and other resources, and a network of like-minded…