Kauai Woman Magazine Fall 2005
|
|
|
|
Kauai Woman Magazine Fall 2005 |
|
|
At
the Pinnacle Kauai women who populate the upper echelons of the island’s hospitality industry enjoy the view from the top
By Pamela V. Brown
|
|||||
|
The women general managers of some of Kauai’s most beautiful and exclusive hotel and timeshare properties appear so comfortable in their roles that it’s hard to believe that these dynamic and charismatic Kauai ladies weren’t born to their positions. To a woman, they all worked their way to the top by recognizing and focusing on what they wanted, finding confidence deep within themselves and by viewing apparent obstacles as challenges to be overcome rather than as excuses to fail. Above all, these strong yet remarkably warm and friendly women didn’t see themselves as pioneers paving the way for other women – though they acknowledge in many ways that’s what they have become. They worked their way up their respective career ladders free of an “I’m female” chip on their shoulders, and that might have been what helped them succeed. “I never felt there were any barriers being a woman,” said Angela Vento, who became the Sheraton Kauai Resort’s first female general manager last fall. “With my mother’s |
 Kelly Hoen |
||||
|
As the new kid on the block at the Sheraton in Poipu, which has 413
rooms and encompasses 20 acres, Vento, 41, who first came to Hawaii 16
years ago, said that there may have been some concern among staff members
when she stepped into her role, but that it likely had nothing to do with
her gender. “Change always creates apprehension.” Like other general managers who spoke to Kauai Woman, Vento knew early on in her career that the hospitality business was for her, though she may have gotten a head start on her Kauai colleagues when, as a second-grader she was enrolled in a class called “White Gloves and Party Manners” in which students were taught the niceties of hostessing. “At seven, I was very serious about everything being perfect,” she said. “The hotel business was a perfect job for me because it allowed me to welcome people and be a hostess.” |
|||||
|
Of course working one’s way up to the general manager position requires considerably more skills than hostessing, but Hawaii-born Kelly Hoen, general manager of the 18-acre, 252-room elegant Princeville Resort, had the same epiphany early on in her career that she loved the industry. “I started at the front desk. I just really found it fascinating, every aspect of it. There are people you get to work with and develop, support and coach,” she said. ”With guests, you’re creating an experience that just blows people’s minds. I just love that about this business.” Hoen noted, laughing, that it’s a bit easier to impress guests when your property is a Kauai resort rather than a city hotel.
|
Angela Vento Photo by Pam Brown |
||||
|
From the front desk, Hoen, (pronounced hayne), 47, moved through different departments including night audit – where many future general managers seem to originate – through food and beverage including working the night shift at a 24-hour restaurant at the Illikai Hotel on Oahu, and eventually into sales and marketing. At some point she declared her intention to become a general manager by age 40. In 1999 she was named Kapalua Bay’s (Maui) general manager. “I had to move away from Kauai to get my career goal,” she said. Three years ago Starwood Hotels & Resorts, then-owner of Princeville Resort, called her back home to Kauai.
|
|||||
|
Kelly Hoen Photo by Pam Brown |
|||||
|
Though Hoen’s rise through the ranks sounds smooth and
effortless, she was a single mom and faced her share of challenges.
“I’m probably tougher because I did it. I didn’t see it as awful,
difficult or challenging,” she said. “I just said ‘Here’s what I
need to do to make myself available at the hotel and to make sure my
daughter was well taken care of’ without family members helping me.” When she was asked by Starwood Hawaii executives to join the company’s diversity council about two years ago, specifically to promote the cause of women managers, she was a little hesitant. “I don’t see that distinction,” she said. After studying sobering statistics about the scarcity of women in higher hotel management positions and talking with some “strong women in business,” Hoen agreed to serve on the council. One study she reviewed indicated that when a job position opens up, women typically won’t apply or put their names in the hat until they believe they have 90 percent or more of the skills required, whereas men were statistically more than twice as confident that that they could learn the necessary skills while on the job. “So we need to recognize people’s skills and talents and draw them out,” Hoen said. “It’s allowed me to say ‘Yes, I will champion women.’ But I would say I champion people. If you have other diverse areas not being represented, we need to champion those too.”
|
|||||
|
Home-Grown
Talent Anahola-born Jamie Panui-Shigeta began dancing hula in hotels at age 14 and has been in the hospitality industry ever since. She’s now general manager of the lush 22-acre, 219-room Embassy Vacation Resort at Poipu Point, driving there from her Kapaa home every day. Her first job beyond entertaining was as night auditor at the Aston Kauai Beach Villas, working under Sandy Kato-Klutke, herself a Kauai icon and general manager of the Aston Poipu Kai. “Once I got there, I realized that was exactly what I wanted to do. It was always my goal to become general manager, from the day I entered into the night audit position,” Panui-Shigeta said. “It’s a great way to meet people from all over the world.” |
 Jamie Panui-Shigeta Photo by Pam Brown
|
||||
|
Though the Embassy has almost completely converted to a timeshare
property, Panui-Shigeta, 42, said it operates just like a hotel, including
a 24-hour front desk. Always learning something new keeps her mind
engaged. “One area that I’m still learning because I wasn’t that
familiar with is housekeeping. It’s got the most employees,” she said.
“There’s always so much to learn from pinpointing how long it takes to
clean a room, what the wages are, the benefits, ordering supplies.” She
recently oversaw an extensive remodel of the property which included
transforming the lobby from something rather East Coast-ish into a
welcoming, casually elegant Kauai entry. Moving up through the ranks required Panui-Shigeta to do a little risk-taking, something she has in common with her general manager colleagues. “Every time there was an opening, I took the opportunity to apply for it,” she said. “People would be very surprised how many people at the higher levels, how much they want to teach what they know. As long as you’re willing to learn, there’s always someone willing to teach you.” For a local girl, one of 12 children whose mother passed away when she was 9 years old, she’s found that her career was nurtured being on Kauai, where she’s had lots of support from family and co-workers, and where people know the values with which she was raised. “I don’t know that the mainland would have that same feeling,” she said. |
|||||
|
Kato-Klutke, Panui-Shigeta’s first boss, was also raised on
Kauai, began working in the hotel industry in 1980 and became a general
manager for the first time at Aston Pono Kai. Though there weren’t too
many female general managers at the time statewide, Kato-Klutke’s
predecessor at Pono Kai had been female. “If the opportunity arises, you
cannot say no,” she said. “It’s a chance to step up, to learn more.
You need to say ‘yes’ to get where you want to be.” Even in the early years of her career, Kato-Klutke, 62, said that she didn’t feel like she was in competition with men. The hotel owners for whom she worked “looked at what we could do, looked at our skills” Kato-Klutke, a graduate of Kapaa High School who is now active in many community organizations and is also a Kauai County planning commissioner, said she’s proof that students from any school can reach any goal |
 Sandy Kato-Klutke Photo by Pam Brown |
||||
|
they desire. “You can become
whatever you decide to do. It’s not an unattainable goal,” she said.
“It’s just keeping focused.”
Focus is one thing Marianne Martin has in spades. After years of risk-taking – she moved solo from Canada to Oahu many years ago – she landed her first general manager position this spring at Whalers Cove, a luxurious 39-unit ocean-front condominium complex in Poipu. |
|||||
|
Sandy Kato-Klutke Photo by Pam Brown
Martin, who won’t disclose her age but who is fresh-faced and
appears youthful, worked part-time at Whaler’s at the front desk and as
property manager for four years while simultaneously working full-time at
Aloha Beach Resort in Wailua as director of sales and marketing. “It was
difficult working seven days a week,” she said, but it was with the end
result in sight. Good thing Martin is energetic and absolutely loves the Whalers property because she’s got her work cut out for her. “I’m learning more about sandblasting, electrical, elevator packing, plumbing, roofing, landscape and sprinklers than I ever knew before,” she said. “And that was just my first week on the job.” Martin said she’s worked hard all her life and it’s paying off. “You have to be self-motivated and ambitious” in order to get where you want to go. “We have an amazing set of very unique, successful talented women on the island,” she said. |
|||||
|
Laura Richards, general manager of Hanalei Colony Resort, a 52-unit
oceanfront condominium complex in Haena, joined that group of skilled and
spirited women when in 1987 she accepted a back-up position to fill in
when the Hanalei bridge closed and employees south of the bridge
couldn’t get to the property. Within a week she became front office
manager, became assistant manager the following year and took over as
general manager after Hurricane Iniki in 1992. Though she has an associate degree in hotel and restaurant management and had worked in resorts since she was 18 years old, she’d been a mid-wife for 13 years before coming to the resort. It was quite a change but she was ready for it. “I take everything as a challenge,” Richards said. “I don’t think I would like my job if I came in and everything was the same everyday.”
|
 Laura Richards Photo by Pam Brown |
||||
|
Richards believes doing good for others is one of the ways to give
thanks for her good fortune. She’s Hawaii’s ambassador for Rotary
International’s Rotaplast, a program that provides free reconstructive
surgery and treatment for underprivileged children worldwide, primarily in
Third World countries, who have severe cleft palates and lips. She’s
traveled twice with Rotaplast to the Philippines – on her own dime –
for surgical missions and is going back again this September. |
|||||
|
Contact Information: Pamela V. Brown (808) 651-3533 cell (808) 821-1027 fax |
||
|
"Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Proverbs in Prose |
||
|
© Copyright 2004 Write Path, an L.L.C. and Pamela V. Brown All material, pictures, concepts, intellectual property and rights reserved. |
© Copyright 2004 Magical Concepts §©ª¨ |
|
