With humor, grit, courage and grace, women panelists, speakers and attendees shared advice on how to not only survive but thrive in a business world still dominated by men.

The theme of finding community and supporting each other dominated Hawaii Business Magazine’s 2025 Wahine forum, attended by more than 1,000 people at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu on Friday. The conference, whose presenting sponsor is the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, is the state’s largest annual event that addresses issues women face in their business careers.

Keynote Speaker, Nicole Lapin Photo: Aaron Yoshino

Keynote speaker Nicole Lapin — a New York Times best-selling author, television news anchor, and founder of the Money News Network — joined panelists in addressing a range of topics, with recurring themes of resilience in the face of adversity and taking control rather than simply reacting.

For Lapin, the ultimate setback occurred early this year when Los Angeles fires destroyed her family’s home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, forcing her and her husband to flee with their 3-week-old baby.

“When your home burns, your sense of self burns with it,” Lapin said. “You’re left asking the question that every woman asks in her life, maybe not because of an actual fire but because of something else that has scorched her world: Who am I when everything is gone?”

She said the calamity forced her to reassess her relationship with money — and to confront what it can and cannot do to provide security against unexpected events — learning new lessons about insurance, for instance.

Her nuggets of advice included: “Stress-test your life the way you stress-test your balance sheet”; “You fall to the level of your preparation — preparation is peace”; “Systems are built to serve process, not people”; and “Document everything — evidence moves money, and documentation is evidence.”

Lapin also advised others who have gone through traumatic assaults on their lives to rebuild not just to make a comeback but to redesign their lives for a future shaped by the knowledge they have gained through the experience.

“When the next fire comes, study it, process it, harness it,” she says. “That’s what women do. You are the architect.”

Nicole Lapin during Wahine Forum’s Opening Session Photo: Aaron Yoshino

In breakout panels, experts covered many more topics, including how to get a seat at the table where business decisions are made, how to harness AI to their advantage, and how to keep from getting overwhelmed by the demands of their jobs once they’ve landed at the top. They also shared pearls of wisdom on how to balance family demands when the job extends into evenings, weekends and holidays.

“Last week was so stressful, I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest,” said Jen Lau, executive vice president at Finance Enterprises, in a session titled “Burnout, Boundaries and Balance: Thriving in a Demanding World.”

She said at such times she relies on her mother’s advice to take control and slow things down.

“She’d say, you want to be able to go fast enough but not so fast that a little pebble throws you off the racetrack,” adding that flexibility is also key. “You constantly need to adjust and re-evaluate – what works in one situation won’t in another.”

Lau’s advice for women trying to make an imprint: “I just want to do a good job, to kick ass for my team. There’s no substitute for hard work. You have to put in the time.”

Also important as a way to prevent burnout, added Emi Au, chief financial officer at HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union, is setting boundaries, such as no video calls before 10 am. She says she’s often working until 1 and 2 in the morning because “my brain is on at night, that’s when I work well.”

Au added that pushback from colleagues against those boundaries sometimes “means your boundaries are working”.

When facing difficult decisions that might seem overwhelming, Au says she consults AI. The process of writing out the problem that she poses to ChatGPT, for instance, can help her find a solution.

“Sometimes articulating it is key, it helps formulate the issue,” Au says, quickly adding that once she has the AI answer, “I say okay, now I’ll go ask my dad.”

Her advice for preventing burnout draws on an analogy to machines used in manufacturing. “If you run it at 100% capacity, it will break down, but 75-80% is a good balance. You’ll have a little extra capacity so if something unexpected hits, you can adjust.”

A well-attended workshop focused on “Negotiating Strategies for Wahine Who Want More,” covering everything from advice about asking for a raise to persuading colleagues to approve a business plan or proposal.

Unyong Nakata, founder of Nakata Advisory LLC Photo: Aaron Yoshino

Unyong Nakata, founder of Nakata Advisory LLC, shared solutions that focused on vocabulary, body language and attitudes, all factors that can affect the outcome of negotiations.

Playing the long game, she said, is the “ultimate return on investment,” reminding attendees to remember that “this is a small town” where social networks are intertwined and reputations formed in one company can affect how people are treated elsewhere.

In negotiations, she says, “when you hear ‘no’ or ‘not now’, keep your tone calm, curious and open” while trying to pivot a conversation toward solutions that include “we” or “us”.

“I don’t want to stab them with my words,” she said, laughing.

Women bring their own style in negotiating in a male-dominated business setting, says Sharlee Tokunaga, executive business developer at Sperber Companies.

“When you step up to the table, it’s sometimes challenging because men don’t fight nearly the same way that women do,” Tokunaga says. “I mean think of when you speak to your husband. They fight differently, right?”

The power of example, and seeing other women in leadership roles, has a compounding effect, according to many attendees.

Wendy Hensel, president of the University of Hawai‘i Ann Teranishi, president and CEO of American Savings Bank Photo: Aaron Yoshino

Wendy Hensel, president of the University of Hawaii, and Ann Teranishi, president and CEO of American Savings Bank, both said they never imagined earlier in their career that they would be in the roles they now serve.

Indeed, taking risks and stepping outside of comfortable or expected paths can lead to rewarding careers.

Hensel recalled that after seeing a teaching job become available at Georgia State University College of Law, she stepped away from a career track at a law firm, deciding that teaching was something she’d wanted to try.

“In taking that chance….it was the best moment in my life,” she recalls. “I found my passion — my passion for my students and the ability to reach someone right in front of you but also literally generations of people who are affected by what you do in our classrooms.”

Hensel recalled her interest in academia stemmed from seeing a female provost and thinking, “I could do that.”

“The power of seeing someone who looks like you and is recognizable in a position you want to be in should never be overstated. It is really very powerful. I started thinking I want to be an administrator, and later I became the dean of a law school, and was elevated to provost.”

Photo: Aaron Yoshino

For younger women who might see in her the role-model they’d like to emulate, Hensel cautioned that “it was not all sunshine and roses,” but she reached the moment when life exceeded her expectations through “grit and resolve and resilience.”

Teranishi, who was selected Hawaii Business 2025 CEO of the Year, was asked what advice she would have given her younger self: “I would say trust in yourself. … Take a little more risk…Don’t look so much backward, look forward…Have faith in the journey and the process.”

Other nuggets of advice gleaned from a range of conference attendees:

• Build a community of trusted friends and business colleagues who can be a sounding board for ideas and career advice.
• Be alert to signs that you’ve taken on too much and are risking a negative stress cycle
• You must be present and commit to doing the hard work needed for success.
• Be mindful to nurture the next generation of female leaders and help them gain skills and articulate the vision for them to succeed.
• Hawaii values culture, respect and community. Those aren’t soft skills needed to succeed; those are hard skills.
• You’re going to fail. Whether you ultimately succeed depends on showing up the next day and proving you’re not going to give up.
• Always remember that the ones who are most important are those who are waiting for you at home.

For other resources suggested by keynote speaker Lapin and others, click on Resources – Hawaii Business Magazine.

Register.

Date: Wednesday, October 26 – Thursday, October 27, 2022
Time: TBD
Location: TBD

Be Bold. Be Remarkable. Be You.

Gain tools and strategies for leadership and learn insights to manage work-life balance through keynote speakers, panel discussions, fireside chats, presentations, and more at Hawaiʻi’s largest leadership and career development conference for women.

Real women will share real advice on how to find personal and professional resilience during valuable skill-building and inspirational sessions.

Schedule

October 27, 2021: 

• 8:00-9:00 AM: Opening General Session
• 9:30-10:30 AM: Revive Your Life Amid Burnout, Stress and Anxiety
• 10:45-11:45 AM: Making Real Change: A Call to Action
• 12:15-1:15PM: Wahine Lounge (Live on Facebook)

October 28, 2021: 

• 7:30-8:00 AM: Morning Zen
• 8:30-9:15 AM: Fireside Chat
• 9:30-10:30 AM: Social Capital is Your Most Valuable Asset. Here’s How to Build It.
• 10:45-11:45 AM: Negotiate with Finesse
• 12:15-1:15 PM: Wahine Forum (LIVE on Facebook)

October 29, 2021: 

• 7:30-8:00 AM: Morning Zen
• 8:30-9:30 AM: Reframe Your “Weaknesses” into Superpowers
• 10:45-11:45 AM: The Future of Hawaiʻi’s Economy is Female
• 11:00 AM-12:00 PM: Health & Wellness Session presented by The Queen’s Health Systems
• 12:15-1:15 PM: Closing General Session: Leading with Grit and Grace

You can still register to catch up on all the Wahine Forum content! Replays expire on December 31, 2021.

Session replays are available to full conference ticket holders until December 31, 2020. Register to gain access to the content you may have missed: hawaiibusiness.com/wahine2020.

Thursday, January 1, 1970, 7:30 am – 5:00 pm

By Noelle Fujii-Oride

More than 1,200 people attended Hawaii Business Magazine’s 12^th annual Wahine Forum, a sold-out daylong conference that was held Thursday at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

The theme of this year’s inspiring and informative event was “live fearlessly.”

“It’s really a captivating theme because it’s all about hope, it’s all about resilience, it’s all about supporting one another, and it doesn’t surprise me that Queen’s is supportive of that message or that mission to continue to support not just women but individuals to live fearlessly, be healthy,” said Laura “Kauʻi” Nishizaki of The Queen’s Health Systems’ Native Hawaiian Health Program. The Queen’s Health Systems was the event’s presenting sponsor.

Wendy Sachs gave the morning keynote presentation at the 12th annual Wahine Forum | Photo: Aaron Yoshino

Susan Eichor, President & COO of aio, Ann Teranishi, Executive Vice President of Operations at American Savings Bank, Nalani Jenkins, President of 721 LLC and Strategic Leadership Executive Sunshine Topping | Photo: Aaron Yoshino

Here are three takeaways from the Wahine Forum:

1. Learn to love yourself and be your own best friend, said Rose Hata, director of the Queen Emma Nursing Institute at The Queen’s Medical Center, during a panel on strategies for work-life harmony. “A lot of times, especially women, we are our own worst enemy. And the things that we say to ourselves: ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have done that. Oh, well I wasn’t good today.’ But we have to really change our mindset to be our own best friend,” she said.

Actress Amanda Schull | Photo: David Croxford

2. “There is a really big strength to saying no, and that’s personally or professionally,” said actress Amanda Schull during the closing general session. “We all have vampires in our life who metaphorically suck energy, suck our time, don’t fill our cup.”

Margery Bronster, founding partner of Bronster Fujichaku Robbins, added that you shouldn’t beat yourself up when you’re unable to maintain a balance between your work, family and other responsibilities. “There’s so many things pulling at all of us. In my history, I’ve known there are times when I’ve neglected my family, there are times when I’ve neglected my job, and there’s certainly been times that I’ve neglected myself,” she said.

Darolyn Lendio, district judge of the First Circuit Court of Hawaii | Photo: David Croxford

“And you have to realize that there’s going to be an ebb and flow and it would be very easy to say, ‘I can’t do it, I’ve been a failure because I’ve let down one aspect of my life at one point or another.’ Just recognize that tomorrow is another day and you can face new challenges then,” Bronster said.

3. It’s important to establish relationships with other women and help them advance in their careers, said Darolyn Lendio, a district judge of the First Circuit Court of Hawaii, during the closing general session. “Because unless we change the culture in the C-suite, in anything in management, it’s not going to change,” she said.

“My advice is everyday lift somebody up. Lift somebody up to that position because we have responsibilities to change the culture, and it’ll change after we get women up there,” Lendio said.

This video is a tribute to all the women who broke down barriers, took a stand, and rose up to the call of leadership in the face of adversity. Video features the young women of La Pietra School for Girls. | Created by RKT Media

Thursday, January 1, 1970, 7:30 am – 4:30 pm

It’s 2018 and ninety-one percent of countries still have laws that discriminate against women, said Amanda Ellis, an adjunct senior fellow at the East-West Center.

“We still do not have a level playing field,” she said, “and that’s what gets me up in the morning and why I’m so excited to be here with you today as tomorrow’s leaders who are really going to shape the future.”

Amanda Ellis shares her story at the closing general session. | Photo: David Croxford

Ellis addressed about 1,000 people at Hawaii Business magazine’s annual Wahine Forum on Thursday. The day-long conference featured 55 local and national speakers who focused on leadership, negotiating, returning to work as a new mother, public speaking and grit.

The Queen’s Health Systems again partnered with Hawaii Business to present the event. Keala Peters, Queen’s director for strategic marketing, said about 72 percent of the organization’s workforce is made up of women, and the organization brought about 30 employees to the event.

“We know that women are so selfless and oftentimes forget to take care of themselves. And so by supporting a day for women to be able to forget about all of their other responsibilities and just focus on themselves, is something that Queen’s works to support,” she said.

Here are five takeaways from the Wahine Forum:

1. It truly takes a village to raise a family and have a career, and sometimes women must be the ones to create that village, said Amanda Corby Noguchi, creative director and owner of Under My Umbrella and co-founder of Pili Group. Family isn’t always able to take on that role, she said, so women need support from many people: neighbors, friends, employees and clients. “We all are looking for … people we can call on and say, ‘My life looks really ugly, can you help me?’ And we need to honor that from one another and really be there,” she said.
2. Women need to take advantage of the opportunities they have to shape company cultures, said Christine Matsuda Smith, VP at Bennet Group: “If we have the chance to identify the strengths of working moms and celebrate those, and the strengths of all the different kinds of unique and wonderful ways that people can figure their lives and what it can add to a company, we need to do that.”
   
   

   Michele Kauinui (left) and Kristina Lockwood on the Negotiating for Advancement panel.  |  Photo: David Croxford

3. Women tend to be humbler than men and, therefore, downplay their contributions to a company, said Kristina Lockwood, VP and general manager of KHON-TV Broadcast Center. “I think that has actually prevented women from being able to make an ask for a higher wage,” she said. Her advice: women should negotiate with a win-win mindset – they should focus on their own strengths and contributions while also keeping in mind the company’s needs and values.
4. It’s like a wave when women support each other because then we all rise, said Ellis, who is also executive director, Hawaii & Asia-Pacific, for the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability. There should no longer be a mentality of “we already have one female, so there’s not room for anybody else,” added Susan Ballard, Honolulu Police Department’s first female chief. “There’s more than enough room for all of us to be out there – to be successful, to lead our many companies, to do anything we should want to do.”
5. Women should get involved in reversing the damaging effects of climate change, said Bettina Mehnert, president and CEO of Architects Hawaii Ltd. There’s no future if we don’t figure this out quickly, she said: “I am incredibly optimistic that women will play a major role in accomplishing that. We have a history of fighting, we have a history of standing up, and we are bright, and we can do this.”

Thursday, January 1, 1970, 7:30 am – 4:30 pm

By Noelle Fujii

It’s 2017, and women are still striving for equal wages and better representation in the workplace. “How can we solve these issues?” asked Noriko Namiki, executive director of the YWCA of Oahu. “Today’s event’s theme says it all: ‘Work together and rise together.’”

Namiki addressed a crowd of more than 800 people Thursday morning at Hawaii Business magazine’s 10th annual Wahine Forum. The conference featured about 35 local and national speakers in 10 sessions that focused on leadership, negotiating, building confidence and, especially, effective collaborations.

“I think that we all do better when we know we’re not alone in the world and that we have support and people that we can trust to go to,” said Nalani Leonard, a real estate agent with Locations and a member of the Organization of Women Leaders.

This was the eighth year The Queen’s Health Systems partnered with Hawaii Business to present the event, said Makana McClellen, Queen’s public information officer. She said Queen’s respects the power of having women involved in decision making and the value they bring to all levels of the organization — after all, about 73 percent of its workforce is female. Every year, the organization brings about 30 employees to the conference so they can learn and acquire new skills to bring back to their work at Queen’s.

“It’s like a plant: you come, you have the seed, you bring it back, like in a hospital setting, you would say your unit or department, and you live by example, and you implement these things, and everyone else around you hopefully starts to buy into that. And it starts to create this culture,” she said.

Here are five takeaways from the Wahine Forum:

1. “‘There’s a special place in hell for women who do not help other women,’” said Miriam Hernandez-Kakol, U.S. service line leader for KPMG’s customer and operations business, quoting the first female secretary of state, Madeleine Albright. One way to help other women is to tell stories, “Telling our stories in a way that people can relate to them and people understand that we’re whole human beings — every woman needs to do that for the next generation of women. We never want our young women to think, ‘I never want to be that, because I don’t want not to have a husband, not have a wife, not have children, not have fun,’” said Miriam Hernandez-Kakol, who noted she had had a wonderful marriage, family and life, plus a successful career.

2. Female leaders need to recognize their employees’ potential and understand they’ll sometimes have to pull that potential out of them — especially female employees — and convince them they’re right for a higher position, said Kelly Hoen, area general manager for the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort and Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort. Female employees, according to studies, tend to refrain from automatically throwing their name in the hat when a higher position opens up the way men do, she said.

3. You can be biased and not realize it. That’s called unconscious bias, and it doesn’t just relate to bias about gender — it can include biases about cultural differences or work habits. Brandie Ota from UHA Health Insurance said learning about unconscious bias was one of the biggest takeaways from the conference. “Now I’m interested in learning more on what to do, to combat it and try to break down those barriers for women in the workplace.”

4. Everyone needs to be educated about the importance of gender equality, Hernandez-Kakol said. She quoted Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, wife of the Canadian prime minister, who said: “Let’s not forget to educate our sons, because if we don’t educate our sons about the importance of gender equality and the importance that we’re all human beings who bring our talents to the table, and if we don’t educate our sons about the role that they have to play with their sisters, their mothers, their friends, then when will we ever break the cycle of unconscious bias and when will we ever break the cycle of not knowing that together we’re stronger?”

5. Sometimes it can be challenging for women to help other women. Women may not pick other women for the job or task or team, even if they are the most qualified candidates, because they worry people may think they’re biased in favor of other women. This is called favoritism threat, said Olga Khazan, who frequently reports on gender issues as a staff writer for The Atlantic.

Workshop Presentations

LIVE A LIFE WELL PLANNED – Divina Gonzalez-Maruyama
BUILDING YOUR CONFIDENCE – Tiffani Bova
DESIGN THINKING – Renee McKaskle presentation

Thursday, January 1, 1970, 7:30 am – 4:30 pm

The Wahine Forum is Hawaii’s largest leadership and career development conference for women. The conference is attended by Hawaii’s top female executives, entrepreneurs, up-and-coming leaders and others intent on advancing their careers.

This year’s theme is WORK TOGETHER, RISE TOGETHER, focusing on the importance of effective partnerships and collaboration in the workplace. Connect with like-minded individuals and cultivate relationships at this full-day event featuring national speakers and local leaders.

DOWNLOAD EVENT AGENDA

AGENDA

Registration, Networking Expo and Continental Breakfast: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m
MORNING GENERAL SESSION: 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

PAY IT FORWARD: WOMEN HELPING WOMEN

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Miriam Hernandez-Kakol, KPMG
Miriam Hernandez-Kakol has achieved a great deal on her way to becoming U.S. service line leader for KPMG’s Customer and Operations consulting practice. Her accomplishments include leading teams that automated many telecom services we take for granted today, and being a founding leader of KPMG’s Technology Enablement consulting business that fueled triple-digit growth within five years for  the Management Consulting group at KPMG. Miriam is particularly proud of the work she has done to break though glass ceilings and blaze a trail for younger women. Miriam was recognized by the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) and Fortune Magazine as one of the Fifty Most Powerful Latinas in U.S. business in 2017. Miriam will discuss the importance of women mentoring women, and offer specific steps businesswomen can take today to ensure the future is even brighter for the next generation of women leaders.

Read more about Miriam Hernandez-Kakol

 MORNING WORKSHOP SESSIONS: 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. 

HANDLING DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS & MAKING DIFFICULT DECISIONS

At every stage of your career, you must be able to handle difficult conversations and decisions if you want to succeed. We will discuss asking for a raise or promotion, closing a sale, allocating scarce resources, giving a tough employee review and firing an employee.

SPEAKERS:

• Sunshine Topping, Vice President of Human Resources, Hawaiian Telcom
• Dr. Kim-Anh Nguyen, President & CEO, Blood Bank Hawaii
• Susan Yamada, Director, University of Hawaii Ventures
• Terri Funakoshi, Director, Patsy T. Mink Center for Business and Leadership, YWCA
• Moderator: Unyong Nakata, Executive Director of Development, UH Foundation – Shidler College of Business

Read about this session’s speakers

WE STARTED AT THE BOTTOM, NOW WE’RE HERE

Local female business owners share the victories and failures they experienced on the path to local, national and global success.

SPEAKERS:

• Jana Lam, Owner, Jana Lam
• Maile Meyer, Founder, Native Books/Na Mea Hawaii
• Bliss Lau, Owner, Bliss Lau
• Moderator: Malia Kaaihue, President, DTL Hawaii

Read about this session’s speakers

DESIGN THINKING

Today’s successful women are learning to expand their scope and perspective to include ‘Design Thinking,’ a methodology that employs a repeatable problem-solving technique that any team or business can use to get extraordinary results. Join Renée McKaskle, SVP and CIO of Hitachi Vantara as she shares how she uses Design Thinking to uncover the hidden, collaborate with teams and achieve deeper understanding that results in overall success and profitability.

Read more about Renée McKaskle

STAND OUT BY BEING OUTSTANDING

Women face many challenges in male-dominated industries and workplaces. Gain strategies and learn what it takes to succeed from women who overcame those challenges.

SPEAKERS:

• Katie Kaanapu, Senior Manager of Marketing & Public Relations, Oceanwide Hawaii
• Brigadier General Suzanne P. Vares-Lum, U.S. Army
• Shari Chang, CEO, Girl Scouts Hawaii
• Jules Kremer, Head of Developer Relations, Angular Team, Google
• Moderator: Robbie Dingeman, Editor-in-Chief, HONOLULU Magazine

Read about this session’s speakers

LIVE A LIFE WELL PLANNED

Learn how you can create a financial roadmap that will help lead you to a more independent and sustainable financial future. This will be a heartfelt woman-to-woman talk empowering you to make financially wise decisions for you and your family. (Disclosure)

SPEAKERS:

• Divina Gonzalez-Maruyama, Assistant Vice President & Team Leader, Wealth Advisory Division, First Hawaiian Bank

Read about Divina Gonzalez-Maruyama

CEO ROUNDTABLE
**This is a by invitation-only session.

Networking Lunch, Expo: 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
AFTERNOON WORKSHOP SESSIONS: 1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

NEGOTIATING SO EVERYONE WINS

Great leaders are great negotiators. Negotiation skills can help you make deals, solve problems, manage conflicts, advance your agenda, as well as build and preserve relationships. At this session, learn techniques and strategies to get the best deal possible for you and your counterpart.

SPEAKERS:

• Lauren Nahme, Vice President of Strategy & Innovation, Kamehameha Schools
• Emily Porter, Executive VP, Operations and Strategy, MacNaughton Group
• Brittany Heyd, General Counsel, 1776
• Joanne Lee, Associate, Goodsill
• Moderator: Amanda Jones, Partner, Cades Schutte

Read about this session’s speakers

LEADING THROUGH THE GENERATIONS

Women business owners & executives from different generations share what it’s like to lead, the challenges they’ve faced and how to work with others from different generations.

SPEAKERS:

• Marilyn Romano, Regional Vice President, Alaska, Alaska Airlines
• Katie MacNeil, Principal, G70
• Amanda Corby Noguchi, Creative Director & Owner, Under my Umbrella, & Co-Founder, Pili Group
• Maya Rogers, CEO, Blue Planet Software
• Moderator: Susan Eichor, President & COO, aio

Read about this session’s speakers

BUILDING YOUR CONFIDENCE

Tiffani Bova, Global Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist for Salesforce, says when you think big, you become big. She will explain practical, actionable exercises and tips to build your confidence.

Read about Tiffani Bova

IT’S NOT MY JOB

It’s easy to forget that other departments exist when you’re so involved in your own responsibilities. But if you want to be a leader, you must have a holistic view of the organization. We’ll discuss strategies to learn more about other departments so you can be more successful at your job and increase your value within the company.

SPEAKERS:

• Jodi Wilmott, General Manager, World surf League
• Randi Fernandez, Hotel Manager, Prince Waikiki
• Siana Austin Hunt, President & CEO, Make-A-Wish Hawaii
• Dr. Kristin Fernandez, MD, Medical Director of Pediatrics, The Queen’s Medical Center – West Oahu
• Moderator: Makana McClellan, Public Information Officer, The Queen’s Health Systems

Read about this session’s speakers

 CLOSING GENERAL SESSION: 2:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

HOW WE RISE TOGETHER

End bullying, increase support, and build confidence. Local female leaders and award-winning staff writer Olga Khazan from The Atlantic will discuss what we can do to make sure our workplaces are welcoming and equitable.

SPEAKERS:

• Olga Khazan, Staff Writer, The Atlantic
• Kelly Hoen, Area General Manager, Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort, Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort
• Kim Randall, VP, Sales & Marketing, Servco
• Lavonne Leong, Senior Writer, Hawaii Business magazine

Read about this session’s speakers

MAHALO TO OUR SPONSORS