Alumni Stories

Christian de Quevedo, JD/MBA ’21, founded Lē‘ahi Landscaping after identifying a disconnect between the importance of Hawai‘i’s built environments and the standards of the industry serving them. Landscapes shape some of the state’s most visible and valuable spaces, yet the work behind them is often noisy, emissions-heavy and unreliable.

Fion Lau, a 2005 University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Travel Industry Management (TIM School) graduate, is turning her experiences as a mother into a children’s book series that explores sibling relationships, growth and family life. The series, The Courageous Forrest Brothers, was inspired by a quiet period in Lau’s life after transitioning from a corporate job.

Hisae Uki, MBA ’12, has worn multiple hats at Sun Noodle, where craft noodles are produced for restaurants and retail in Honolulu, New Jersey, California and The Netherlands. Since beginning her journey at the family business, founded by her father, Hidehito, and mother, Keiko, she’s held management roles in human resources, food safety, quality assurance, marketing and operations. It’s safe to say Uki’s days are never boring.

This story was reposted on Oct. 5 on UH News and originally appeared in the Shidler Business magazine. 

Travis Counsell lives his passion for bicycles every day as the executive director of the Hawaiʻi Bicycling League (HBL), a local nonprofit that represents all people who bike for recreation, health or transportation.

Ben Godsey knows how important entrepreneurs are to Hawaiʻi’s economy. As the president and CEOof ProService Hawaii, one of Hawaiʻi’s largest outsourced human resource providers, he counts more than 2,000 local small businesses as clients—most of them entrepreneurs.

We recently got to know Courtney Choy, BBA ’18, a little better after her busy weekend of being crowned Miss Hawaii 2021 and graduating with her J.D. degree from UH’s William S. Richardson School of Law. Here’s what she had to say about competing in pageants, her time as a Marketing, Management and International Business and Freshman Direct Admit Program student at the Shidler College of Business, her favorite sweet treat and her future plans.

Back in January, Alaska Airlines was operating 30 daily flights between four Hawaiian islands and eight West Coast cities, as usual in a typical month, providing passenger service to thousands of kama‘āina and visitors to Hawai‘i. By early April, COVID-19 brought worldwide travel to a screeching halt, disrupting the lives of travelers and Alaska Airlines employees as the company suspended all its flights to the neighbor islands. These days, the airline has a significantly reduced schedule into O‘ahu and Maui to allow for essential travel and the movement of cargo.

COVID-19 dashed the summer internship hopes for many students who saw their plans evaporate with the deteriorating economic conditions. Stepping up to fill the void, a group of 17 Shidler College alumni rallied with their time and resources to provide 19 students – six of whom were Shidler College students - with an unforgettable and meaningful summer. They engaged the Jordan & Cara Odo Scholarship Foundation to create a five-week Virtual Summer Internship Program to give students opportunities to obtain practical experience, expand their networks, and build on their service leadership in the community.