A song for community, one day

vision for waianae

In everything I do, I always ask myself what value do I bring. If I can’t provide value, then I know that the project, relationship, cause, or business is not where I belong. Last week, I attended a meeting facilitated by the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate Strategic Planning & Implementation Group deep in the heart of Kea’au [...]

Does Janet Fouts know more about me?

4. Neenz Faleafine. This woman is the heart and soul of Alltop.com. What cool job. I have a sneakin’ suspicion that she’s interesting in her own right. Now’s our chance to find out? via Diving into a Meme — Janet Fouts – Social Media Coach. The above is an excerpt from a blog post published [...]

Evangelizing Hawaii Island Beacon Community

Hawaii Island Beacon Community

I am pleased to share that through a partnership with Olomana Marketing, Oceanit has been contracted to provide social media marketing for the Hawaii Island Beacon Community. “Hawaii Island Beacon Community (HIBC) is a federally funded collaborative project administered through the College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Through collaboration with health [...]

Evangelizing Para Hita Todu

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Update: As 2011 comes to an end, I wanted to post updates on my blog posts published throughout the year. My pro bono work for Para Hita Todu — providing consultation and infrastructure of social channels — concluded several months ago. PHT launched a website, Facebook page, and Twitter account to convey its message to its [...]

Evangelizing the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival

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Through the power of social media, I’ve been able to experience many, many things that I otherwise would not.  One of those is meeting and working with world renown Chef Roy Yamaguchi.  Besides his cuisine, one thing I love about Chef Roy is that he is fo’ real, in the true local sense.  He’s a [...]

Video: Remembering Ryan Suenaga

Ryan Suenaga

Evangelizing Blue Planet Foundation

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I am pleased to announce Pono Media’s newest client, Blue Planet Foundation. The mission of BPF is simple, to end the use of fossil fuels on Earth, starting in Hawaii.  Considering our current gas and electricity prices, it’s a noble mission.  They’re plan to accomplish their mission is also simple: Education Outreach. Advancing Sound Policy. [...]

Book: The Shanghai [exile] Diaries

aric queen

In 2009 my friend and partner-in-social-crime Christine Lu together with my ex-boyfriend (there go the truemors, in case you’re wondering, I’m kidding!) her business partner Chris Noble coordinated the So Much More Hawaii bloggers tour.  My role was to partner the visiting niche bloggers with a local “puka shell tour guide” to provide an authentic [...]

How to identify internal evangelists

yes!

In doing research on building communities, I came across this post from Guy Kawasaki published in 2006, The Art of Creating a Community.  In true Guy fashion, it’s a list post with information to support his advice.  Even though the tools are changing and evolving, all of his advice are still absolutely relevant. I’d like [...]

How to evangelize your community

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As a community developer, I do a lot of evangelizing for clients.  But, as much social marketing as I do for paid clients, I’m often searching for and welcoming opportunities to help members of my community to get their content to a larger audience. Here are two tools that I use to help evangelize the [...]

How to stay organized on Twitter

social media conversations

Twitter celebrated its 5th birthday last week to a tune of 140 million tweets per day!  The community is global, crowded, and the conversations are noisy.  More than 190 million accounts (unofficial number) have been registered and every single one of them has something to say.  So, how do you build a community, whether personal [...]

If social media is supposed to promote authenticity…

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then why are so many faking it to make it?  At least once per year I’m chastised by someone in the Hawaii social media community for being honest, brutally honest some could argue.  Call it my sixth sense, but intuition speaks volumes to me.  If it doesn’t feel right at first glance, deeper consideration only [...]

Lanai Tabura and friends launch Aloha for Japan campaign

Aloha for Japan t-shirt

Update: Order online from BÜTI GROOVE HAWAII. Hawaii based GRP HOME CO. swiftly pulled their talents together to raise money for our neighbors in Japan. Led by Hawaii celebrity Lanai Tabura, designers from local clothing companies HI Life Clothing, Fitted, In4mation, BUTI GROOVE, Barefoot League, and Aloha Army designed the ALOHA FOR JAPAN t-shirt that [...]

Fundraiser: Chef Roy Yamaguchi Extends Aloha to Japan

Chef Roy Yamaguchi with the Faleafine Family

Last year Chef Roy Yamaguchi extended his Aloha to Haiti after the country was hit with a devastating earthquake by hosting a fundraiser at his restaurant.  Guests dined on a traditional Haitian dinner and were asked to donate whatever amount they could afford to the American Red Cross. It was through this fundraiser that I [...]

Taking steps towards a pono life

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Growth is something I strive for, something I hope never ceases.  I’ve been living by this philosophy for a handful of years now, but I should have been clear…at least to myself.  I strive for spiritual, emotional, mental, professional growth; but not necessarily physical.  To be crystal clear, my weight is out of control, it [...]