Neenz Faleafine

I illuminate others.

Born and raised in Hawaii, L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine is the CEO and Community Developer of Faleafine Enterprises, LLC the parent company of digital solutions agency Pono Media, e-commerce subscription lifestyle company Pono Life, e-commerce group Hawaii Traditions Market Place, and soon-to-be launched non-profit, Faleafine Foundation.  A self-described “Social Disruptor”, Neenz believes her purpose is to be a light in the world while she lives a  happy and healthy life, that’s why she likes to spend a lot of time with the family and also take time for activities as exercise with equipment as the URBNFIT balance disc and weights.

Neenz is a nationally recognized practitioner in the application and use of social networks to gather intelligence, build online communities, and use those networks to achieve favorable end results. She began her career building communities as a property manager for her father’s company in some of Hawaii’s toughest neighborhoods. There she learned that the most important commodity of a neighborhood are the people. She focused on understanding and empathizing with residents to build relationships in order to partner with organizations to collaborate on solutions. It is through the strengthening of the people that neighborhoods thrived and communities formed.

In 2005 she reluctantly waded into the social waters of the most popular social network at that time, MySpace. To calm her reluctance to public sharing, she taught herself basic programming and design and each week she’d publish her new personal space. She began building a modest sized community and it was then that she felt the first tremor of the power of social media.

By 2006, Neenz had overcome her reluctance and began exploring everything on the Internet, eventually finding her way onto Twitter. Believe it or not, Twitter was even more confusing in 2006 than it is today. Much of Twitter’s features were developed by third-parties through a generous API, however in 2006 users found each other the old fashioned way — random engagement. One random engagement on Twitter led to a life changing experience. In her first 90-days on Twitter; Neenz followed, met, and began working for best selling author, speaker, venture capitalist, entrepreneur and ultimate chief evangelist; Guy Kawasaki.

From 2007 – 2010, Neenz was mentored by Guy and the leadership team at Nononina, Inc., parent company of citizen journalist site Truemors and leading news aggregation site, Alltop. By choice, Neenz has not yet earned a college degree, however she equates her concentrated time with Guy as equivalent to a Bachelor’s and a Master’s!

In 2010, Neenz joined the Neil Abercrombie for Governor campaign as a strategic consultant. A grassroots campaign, Neenz developed the social media strategy to amplify the campaign’s messaging, extend its reach through social networks, and built an engaged and supportive community achieving historical wins in both the primary and general elections.

After the election, Neenz spent the next two years as the Community Developer for Hawaii’s leading science, engineering, and technology company; Oceanit. Her primary work was focused on strengthening the company culture through the application of the human-centered process known as design thinking. Since being introduced to the process, Neenz continues to grow as a design thinking practitioner and facilitator having led bootcamps, workshops, and hackathons for thousands of Hawaii leaders in government, education, private industries, and nonprofits.

In 2012, Neenz focused on her personal leadership development and since, has combined her knowledge of technology and empathetic leadership to develop strategies achieving favorable end results for clients across Hawaii, the continental US and Guam.

In 2015, after several months of ideation and beta-testing, Neenz co-founded leadership development company, Holomua Institute. Her role is as a facilitator and mentor as well as community development for the company that works on the hearts of entrepreneurs and leaders.

A common phrase in the social content publishing community is that content is King and this continues to remain true. Since her exploration in social networks, Neenz has been data-mining, analyzing and publishing client reports. She agrees that content is King and adds that data is Queen and we all know the Queen rules the castle. In 2017, Neenz is focused on building a team of specialists and analysts to pivot Pono Media to provide businesses with processes to grow their community, extend their reach, supercharge their engagement, drive leads and give their email marketing a boost.

All of her choices has led to her creating what she calls her #ponolife. Pono in Hawaiian means excellence, well-being, and prosperity a concept that is the driving force behind #ponolife. Pono Life is about creating one’s life based on one’s values and kuleana or purpose. #ponolife has evolved into a lifestyle company to inspire others around the globe to live their purpose. Everything has a story. Wanting to inspires others and drawing upon her success with political campaigns, Neenz organized several #ponolife signwavings with her friends on Oahu. The movement has encouraged her to build a company and in Summer 2018, she will expand the Faleafine Enterprises, LLC portfolio and launch Pono Life — a lifestyle clothing company for people living with purpose.

Believe it or not, Neenz still has free time or at least she’s found a way to carve out moments of harmony in her life. She married her soulmate, Lilinoe on October 16, 2015 and together they create memories with their son Jayden (13), Zeus (4), and Athena (4).

Speaking Engagements and Accomplishments

2018

March 29, 2018: Speaker: The Art of Influence, Kaneohe, HI

March 28, 2018: Guest: We The Ancestors Podcast, Honolulu, HI

March 14, 2018: Speaker: PSI Seminars, Kapolei, HI

February 7, 2018: Speaker: The Art of Being Awesome, Ewa Makai Middle School, Kapolei, HI

2017

September 27, 2017: Speaker: The Art of Storytelling, NTEN, Honolulu, HI

July 17, 2017: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, BIA Hawaii, Honolulu, HI

June 22, 2017: Keynote Speaker: Introduction to Design Thinking, 2017 Senior Summit,  Honolulu, HI

May 8, 2017: Mentor, Blue Startups, Honolulu, HI

2016

November 29, 2016: Mentor, Blue Startups, Honolulu, HI

September 2016: Advisory Board Member, Hawaii Restaurant Association, Honolulu, HI

August 29, 2016: Speaker: Social Media Optimization, ULI Hawaii, Honolulu, HI

August 6, 2016: Speaker: Introduction to Design Thinking, Small Business Fair, Honolulu, HI

June 21, 2016: Mentor, Blue Startups, Honolulu, HI

July 5, 2016: Speaker: Identifying Evangelists, Champions, and Influencers, ULI Hawaii, Honolulu, HI

May 3, 2016: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, ULI Hawaii, Honolulu, HI

February 25, 2016: Judge: Hawaii Department of Education Distributive Education Clubs of America Marketing competition, Honolulu, HI

February 27, 2016: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Kuleana Academy, Kihei, Maui

February 28, 2016: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Kuleana Academy, Honolulu, HI

March 13, 2016: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Kuleana Academy, Hilo, HI

March 16, 2016: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Kuleana Academy, Lihue, Kauai

2015

November 17, 2015: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, State Senate Majority, Honolulu, HI

October 28, 2015: Speaker: The Art of Empathetic Leadership, Hawaii Agile, Honolulu, HI

September 3, 2015: Speaker: The Art of Empathetic Leadership, PMI Professional Development Day, Honolulu, HI

August 11, 2015: Speaker: “Social Media to Build Community and Work Toward Social Change”, UH Manoa, Honolulu, HI

June 25, 2015: Panelist: HVCA “Women In Tech”, Honolulu, HI

June 16, 2015: Speaker: The Art of Empathetic Leaders, Honolulu Wellness Week, Honolulu, HI

June 13, 2015: Speaker: Young Democrats of Hawaii Pacific Conference, Honolulu, HI

May 12, 2015: Panelist: Best Practices of Social Media, Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, Honolulu, HI

May 7, 2015: Panelist: Business Leaders Presentation, Honolulu, HI

March 27, 2015: Speaker: The Art of Empathetic Leadership, Network of Women, Honolulu, HI

March 25, 2015: Speaker: The Art of Empathetic Leadership, National Association of Professional Women, Honolulu, HI

March 19, 2015: Speaker: PSI Seminars Basic Presentation, Honolulu, HI

March 15, 2015: Judge: Laulima Tech Challenge, Honolulu, HI

January 21, 2015: Speaker: The Art of Empathetic Leadership, PMI, Honolulu, HI

January 2015: Board Member: Lanakila Multi Purpose Senior Center Participant Advisory Board, Honolulu, HI

2014

December 18, 2014: Emcee: Lanakila Multi Purpose Senior Center Christmas Party, Honolulu, HI

November 26, 2014: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Blue Startups Honolulu, HI

November 23, 2014: Judge: International Women’s Hackathon, Honolulu, HI

October 1, 2014: Host: Reaching Out on ThinkTech Hawaii, Honolulu, HI

September 16, 2014: Panelist: 2014 Advocacy Conference, Honolulu, HI

June 10, 2014: Speaker: PSI Seminars, Honolulu, HI

May 21, 2014: Speaker: PSI Seminars Guest Event, Honolulu, HI

May 14, 2014: Speaker: PSI Seminars Basic Presentation, Honolulu, HI

May 2, 2014: Keynote Speaker: The Art of Innovation, Honolulu, HI

April 24, 2014: Panelist: Business Leaders Presentation, Honolulu, HI

April 1 – 30, 2014: Facilitator, Mentor: Holomua Institute, Honolulu, HI

March 26, 2014: Speaker: PSI Seminars Guest Event, Honolulu, HI

February 22, 2014: Facilitator: Introduction to Design Thinking, Hawaii Small Business Fair, Honolulu, HI

February 22, 2014 Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Hawaii Small Business Fair, Honolulu, HI

January 2014: Board Member, Wahine Leaders of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI

2013

December 18, 2013: Speaker, PSI Seminars Guest Event, Honolulu, HI

December 13, 2013: Chief of Staff, PSI Seminars Basic, Honolulu, HI

November 26, 2013: Speaker: PSI Seminars, Honolulu, HI

October 12, 2013: Team Leader: Pacesetters Leadership Development, Honolulu, HI

October 12, 2013: Top Enroller: Pacesetters Leadership Development, Honolulu, HI

October 2, 2013: Emcee: Principia 40th Anniversary Luau, Clear Lake, CA

September 29 – October 6, 2014: Attendee: Principia, Clear Lake, CA

August 8, 2013: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, YWC Center for Business and Leadership, Honolulu, HI

August 2013: Digital Media Director: Ikaika Anderson for Hawaii, Honolulu, HI

July 23, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Reno, NV

July 12 – 14, 2013: Chief of Staff: PSI Seminars Basic Class Honolulu, HI

July 17, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Honolulu, HI

July 9, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Oriskany, NY

June 18, 2013: Panelist: Business Leaders Presentation, Honolulu, HI

May 9, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Oriskany, NY

May 7, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Kalispell, MT

May 2, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Helena, MT

April 30, 3013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Billings, MT

April 24, 2013: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, ASTD Hawaii, Honolul, HI

April 9-10, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Baton Rouge, LA

April 6, 2013: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, ADK Growth Conference, Honolulu, HI

March 13, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Beaver, WV

March 12, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Dunbar, WV

March 7, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Shoshone Bannock, ID

March 5, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Boise, ID

February 27, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Lewiston, ID

February 20, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Miami, FL

February 18, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Plantation, FL

February 14, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, St. Augustine, FL

February 2, 2013: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Leeward Community College Business Fair, Honolulu, HI

January 31, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Highland Heights, KY

January 28, 2013: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Richmond, KY

January 25, 2013: Facilitator: Introduction to Design Thinking, Rotary Global Peace Forum, Honolulu, HI

January 16, 2013: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Alaka’i Network Roundtable

2012

December 6 – 9, 2012: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Oriskany, NY

November 29, 2012: Facilitator: Introduction to Design Thinking, Bank of Hawaii

November 27, 2012: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Honolulu, HI

November 19, 2012: Facilitator: Introduction to Design Thinking, Bank of Hawaii

November 15, 2012: Facilitator: Introduction to Design Thinking, Bank of Hawaii

November 7, 2012: Facilitator: Introduction to Design Thinking, Bank of Hawaii

November 5, 2012: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, University of Hawaii College of Engineering

October 30, 2012: Facilitator: Introduction to Design Thinking, Bank of Hawaii

October 25, 2012: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, University of Hawaii AMA Club

October 13, 2012: Speaker: The Art of Personal Branding, Hawaii Small Business Fair, Honolulu, HI

October 3 – 5, 2012: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Madison, WI

September 28, 2012: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Hau’oli Mau Loa Foundation, Honolulu, HI

September 21, 2012: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, Rotary Club of Downtown Honolulu

September 17, 2012: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Portland, OR

August 9, 2012: Keynote Speaker: American Marketing Association Guam Chapter, Tumon Guam

July 13, 2012: Speaker: The Art of Building Communities, West Honolulu Rotary Club

June 29, 2012: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, Rockledge, FL

June 27, 2012: Instructor: Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, West Palm Beach, FL

June 8, 2012: Panelist: 2012 Hawaii Food Industry Association Convention

March 29, 2012: Speaker: PACOM PAO Conference

March 24, 2012: Speaker: Delta Kappa Gamma Hawaii

February 14, 2012: Panelist: PubCon Paradise

2011

November 30, 2011: Speaker: Hawaii Nonprofit Conference

October 29, 2011: Speaker: “The Art of Building Communities”. Hawaii Small Business Fair

October 28, 2011: Speaker: “Excite, Engage, Educate using Social Media”. CTE Conference

October 19, 2011: Speaker: “The Art of Building Communities”. “International Forum of Visual Practitioners Conference

October 19, 2011: Speaker: Hawaii Social Media Summit 2011

September 29, 2011: Speaker: “Excite, Engage, Educate” at Pearl Ridge Elementary

September – December 2011: Instructor: Pacific New Media

September 2011: Speaker: Search and Social w00t Conference Kauai, Hawaii

June 2011: Panelist: HSAC Conference Maui, Hawaii

June 2011: Speaker: “Building Communities using Social Media” for Pacific New Media

May 2011: Panelist: PCATT ITSummit 2011

April 2011: Speaker: HMAUS Springfest

March 2011: Panelist: Hawaii Pacific University

March 2011: Panelist: Association for Fundraising Professionals

March 2011: Speaker: The Nature Conservancy

February 2011: Speaker. First Tuesday with Envision Hawaii

January 2011: Speaker. Mac Monday Mania at HMAUS

2011: Member of Executive Committee for TEDxHonolulu

2010

November 2010: Community Builder at Oceanit Laboratories, Inc.

February 2010: Social Media Director. Neil Abercrombie for Governor Campaign

December 2010: Guest Speaker. Pacific New Media. “Creating a New Media Campaign”

2010: Live stream support and co-host of Mix It Up! for Special Olympics Hawaii “Over the Edge” fund raiser.

2010: Social Media Consultant to Congresswoman Mazie Hirono CD-2 campaign

2010: Social Media Director for Sesnita Moepono for City Council Campaign garnered enough votes to advance to general election.

June 2010: Panelist. TechHui Conference “Social Media and Web Marketing”

May 2010: Keynote. PCATT ITSummit. “How to be A.L.I.V.E. in Social Media”

2010: Panelist. State of Hawaii Department of Health, “Using Social Media as a Marketing Tool”

2010: Guest Speaker. Pecha Kucha. “20 Hawaii Traditions”

March 2010: Panelist. Social Fresh Conference Portland, OR “The ROI of Community Building”

2010: Social marketing for Chef Roy Yamaguchi’s ‘Extending Aloha to Haiti” sold out event.

2010: Social Media Director for the Neil Abercrombie for Governor campaign. Nominated for PRSA and Pacific Edge Magazine awards in the social media categories.

2009

2009: Speaker. PRSA Hawaii “How Alltop built an online community”

2009: Panelist. Global Entrepreneurs Week. “Young and Hip Entrepreneurs”

2009: Curator. TEDxHonolulu conference.

2009: Co-Organizer. [re]Think: Hawaii conference.

2009: Panelist. BlogWorld Expo “Case Study: So Much More Hawaii”

2009: Community Liason. “So Much More Hawaii Tour” for the Hawaii Tourism Authority

2009: Panelist. ICSC Hawaii “Introduction to Social Media”

2009: Social marketing for Servco Toyota Hawaii “Prius Experience”

2008

2008: Speaker. PodCamp/WordCamp Hawaii “Evangelizing Alltop”

2008: Speaker. Kamehameha Schools EdTech Conference “Alltop in the Classroom”

Building Communities, Forming Partnerships

In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission finalized its Endorsement Guides which in a coconut shell requires bloggers to disclose business relationships with advertisers or companies that provide free products.  I’ve done my best at disclosing my professional relationships in blog posts, bio descriptions, and currently on different pages in the Communities section of my site.  But, if I do forget, it’s unintentional and will follow-up with an update.

Disclosures and Relationships

Note: In the event this list is not updated, I use the hashtag #client in my social media content to disclose my professional relationships.

• I am the Community Developer of Pono Media, a human centered, data-driven solutions company.
• I am CEO and Community Developer at entrepreneurial accelerator, Pono Networks, LLC.
• I own and blog on Pono Life. Pono Life will relaunch as a subscription based, lifestyle clothing and accessories brand in May 2017.
• I am a Co-Founder of Holomua Institute.
• I am the CMO of N² Data Solutions.
• I am the CMO of Kupono Esthetics.
• I am a Community Developer for Oceanit, Hawaii’s leading R&D firm. In June 2012 I transitioned from full-time employee to project based contractor.
• I blog at A Taste of Social Media about building communities using social networks and media publishing tools. In 2012 I closed that site.
• I am the Chief Evangelist for Alltop, leading news aggregation site.
• I am the Social Media Director for the Neil Abercrombie for Governor campaign. My contract ended December 2010 and in 2014 I chose to become the Community Developer for the David Ige for Governor Campaign.
• Here is a list of my affiliate marketing relationships.
• I am a Mentor at Roosevelt High School.
• I am the Digital Media Director for the Ikaika Anderson for Hawaii 2014 campaign.
• I provided strategic consulting to Turtle Bay Resort.
• I facilitated Introduction to Design Thinking Workshops for Bank of Hawaii.
• I facilitated Introduction to Design Thinking Workshop for the City and County of Honolulu Information Technology Department.
• I facilitated an Introduction to Design Thinking Workshop to Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate IT Department.
• I provided social media marketing and strategic consulting to the Kirk Caldwell for Mayor 2012 campaign.
• I provided social media marketing and strategic consulting to the ‘Aha Wahine organization.
• I provided strategic consulting to the Mazie Hirono for US Senate 2012 campaign.
• I provided strategic consulting to Gil Kahele for State Senate 2012 campaign.
• I provided strategic consulting to Heather Giugni for State Representative 2012 campaign.
• I provided social media marketing and strategic consulting to the Lantern Floating Ceremony.
• I provided social media marketing and strategic consulting to Servco Auto Centers.
• I provided social media marketing and strategic consulting to the Hawaii Island Beacon Community.
• I provided social media marketing and strategic consulting to Blue Planet Foundation.
• I provide social media marketing and strategic consulting to the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival.
• I am an evangelist for social media marketing tool ObjectiveMarketer. I receive a free account, I share my satisfied experience. Emailvision acquired ObjectiveMarketer in 2011 and merged with their products. I found another solution.
• I provided social media marketing consulting to Para Hita Todu.
• I received two free tickets to the Freestyle Invasion concert.
• I received two free tickets to the Fil-Am Comedy Jam 7.
• I have provided social media marketing services for Servco Auto Centers.
• I have provided social media marketing services and consulting for McDonald’s Restaurants of Hawaii.
• I have provided social media marketing consulting services to MobiPCS.
• I have provided social media marketing services for Chef Roy Yamaguchi.
• I have provided event planning and coverage for Grass Shack Events and Media.
• I have provided social media marketing services for Our Public Schools.
• I was invited to a tasting for Hawaii’s Fried Musubi an the food was so delicious, I blogged about it.
• I was paid to provide articles to So Much More Hawaii blog.
• I received a free Juiciest and find the product to be a cool idea.  So, I promoted it across my different networks.
• I received four free tickets to the Polynesian Culture Center’s HA Breath of Life show.
• I received two free tickets to the Cohiba Cigar Grazer.
• I received four free tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s Alegria.
• I received five free tickets to the Haunted Lagoon.
• I was the Social Media Director for the Sesnita Moepono for City Council campaign.
• I received a free meal from Good to Grill restaurant and shared it with Tutu.
• I received a free ticket to the Macanudo cigar event.
• I was able to test a MiFi device for a week from Road Runner Mobile.
• I received free food from Hula Grill as a co-host on Mix It Up.
• I received free food from Burgers on the Edge as a taster for their contest.
• I received two free tickets to ZAP Spring Tour.
• I received two free tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco.
• I received a free Farmer’s Series Dinner at Alan Wong’s, in return I promote his events.
• I appeared in a television commercial to promote The Good Table campaign for Meals on Wheels. We were able to sample the food that was featured for free.

Memberships and Associations

• I am the original Curator for TEDxHonolulu introducing the TEDx experience to Hawaii in 2009.
• I am a member of HMAUS.
• I am a member of the Hawaii Society of Business Professionals.

Advertising

If there is any advertisement on my site, it’s because I believe it provides value to the community.