Before it was Lilikoi Project Hawaii, it was called Wahine Supper Club, and before that my friends were constantly asking me about new business ideas they were churning on…pretty much all the time. I finally decided to make things official as a birthday present to myself and one year later I am still trying to perfect ideation to execution for Lilikoi Project, a women’s organization helping women launch into side hustles and small business based on their passions. My full-time job is in business development for a large electric utility. Super engaging, but not quite filling my passion bucket. Most of my friends know I do this type of work and were always asking me about ideas they have for new businesses. I have 10+ new business ideas stored away in my brain too… so we were always just talking about the future and if any of us would ever pull a trigger and go for it. We would talk about it over dinner, at kids b-day parties, during kids basketball practice, you name it! I was really into the conversations, and it was a lovely departure to always talking about botox, our husband’s honey-do list, kids’ poop and throw-up and all the other fun stuff mom’s talk about. So we just kept engaging and dreaming of what could be.
Finally, I decided to do something about it. For my birthday I decided to throw a big dinner party. I love throwing dinner parties and am pretty darn good at it, so I thought this would be a great way to test my theory. I spent my own money, charged my friends $25 per plate (really it cost me $100 per plate). And we all just got together with exceptional food and wine, and talked about the issues facing women as they contemplated stepping into a side hustle. That first dinner party was in Sept 2022, and it was called the Wahine Supper Club. Wahine is Hawaiian for woman. The logo I basically stole off Google images and added to it in Powerpoint. (I had no idea about Canva yet). My original concept was about fancy food and wine, and we would focus our chit chat on business and intentionally not talk about husbands and kids. The main takeaway was to find a way to earn a little side cash, splurge on shopping or on a vacation or something. I quickly realized after that night that there was an appetite in Honolulu for this concept, but it wasn’t really about making side cash per se, it was more about re-evaluating what you are passionate about, what hobbies you have, what you are good at…and contemplating the idea of starting a side hustle or new business to fill your passion cup and do what you love. Making a little side cash on top as the icing on the cake. It was more about passion than money. That’s when I changed the name to Lilikoi Project. Lilikoi is Hawaiian for passionfruit, which is by far my favorite fruit, and the perfect icon for what this organization really represents. Our motto is Passion. Purpose. Profit.
From there I did all the crazy, scary things like how to engage on Instagram, learning how to use Survey Monkey to my advantage, how to master Canva Pro, I started an LLC and did all that fun paperwork. I bootstrapped it all myself and I started telling more people about my experiment project and decided to throw another dinner party January 2023 (4 months later). Again, this one was at my house, and for a loss; but it had more organization to it, different guest speakers to add perspective. We started promoting local chefs and caterers as well. The women who attended that had businesses brought swag for each place setting at the table and we did it all again! Again, it was a hit, again people really got into it. When I asked my friends if this was something to keep pursuing, they all said absolutely. Not only was it helping motivate women to keep going and pursue their passions, it was also turning into a welcome night of fun, a reward for the hard work they had been putting in. Our dinners have become babysitter-worthy nights out where concentrate on ourselves, find inspiration to keep going and treat ourselves to a lovely night of conversation with similarly situated female entrepreneurs.

I was born and raised in Oklahoma, but moved to Hawaii in 2011 with my husband, Barrett, and our dog, Frank.  I have a law degree, but do not practice law in Hawaii.  I use my legal background coupled with my business development skills to engage in new business opportunities for the electric company I work for here in Hawaii. I am an alum of the Patsy T. Mink Leadership Alliance, which helps elevate middle-management women in leadership and business and prepare them to take on larger roles at the executive level of their industries. They have a goal to have more female C-suite executives in the future and I am proud to be a product of that cause.

 I have a 7-year-old daughter, Isla, and we are just out here on Oahu living the life.  I love raising her in the surf & sun, but it’s also really important that she see me as a strong female leader and that I commit some of my free time to help other female entrepreneurs elevate their game.  Just recently she wanted to do a lemonade stand to raise money for the Maui Wildfire disaster and she asked me to help her.  I was touched by her giving heart and I love that entrepreneurial spirit she is brewing inside her.

 I am in such awe of how local, small-business oriented Hawaii is.  I mean, I guess we have to be pretty darn self-sufficient living out here in the most remote populated island chain in the world.  We take pride in being sustainable across multiple industries; food, energy, security, and in promoting small businesses ownership as well.  The shipping cost alone make it difficult to buy online from a lot of the popular retailers on the mainland.  So it’s logical Hawaii would have so many local business owners here.  It also helps we have such a strong tourism industry, visitors love what Hawaii has to offer when it comes to vacation shopping. Supporting local female-owned small businesses has always been near and dear to my heart, so Lilikoi Project was a natural step for me in spending my time outside of work helping women in business. Plus, it’s just fun!

 I think I am pivoting as we speak! I recently had an identity crisis thinking I should have established myself as a non-profit, not as an LLC. I thought I needed that non-profit status to get corporate donations. But after a lot of soul-searching, I realized Lilikoi Project is actually a social enterprise, that hybrid world where we exist to make money, but where most of the dollars will be reinvested in a social cause, not for pocketbooks. The corporate/legal structures for social enterprises aren’t exactly set up yet. Lots of people have different ideas, different definitions of what a social enterprise is, or what qualifies as a social enterprise. At the core of it is the notion that the business exists to help a specific demographic…one that is often marginalized in some way. Lilikoi Project is just that. Our primary benefactor is women in Hawaii establishing new small businesses, but right behind that our secondary benefactors are local caterers/chefs/restaurants, and Hawaii consumers who have a choice to buy big box or local. Both of those subsets of women are critical to retail business sustainability here in Hawaii.  I feel like that is clear now, but it wasn’t so clear as I was launching into this project.

I have read so many stories and consultant type advice on understanding IG’s algorithms, how to save time, be more efficient, re-use content, etc. For me that just doesn’t work. It’s obvious when I am not genuine or just posting something to post. I am not trying to gain followers who don’t really care about what I am doing…just for the sake of a headcount. I would much rather have a high conversion rate by fewer followers, than have all of these people who follow me but don’t engage. When I find someone on IG that I think would impact or help mentor small business owners I individually reach out to them, learn about who they are, their brand. And I engage with them one on one and hope they like what I have to say and decide to follow Lilikoi Project. That organic, honest promoting feels like I am gaining real community and making new friends than paying for followers. Those people are more likely to really help me or Lilikoi Project beneficiaries more than a paid follower. That’s just something I share with a lot of small businesses starting out. Don’t act like you’re the next greatest thing and spend a ton of money on marketing and promotion right out of the gate. You are brand new, and the biggest thing /cheapest thing you can do is grassroots word of mouth promotion. It takes time, but its free, it shows who you really are and builds relationships along the way.