The Life in Business: Paradise Found Realty
After attending college and enjoying traveling to Europe, India and Nepal Lorraine Kohn moved to the Big Island in 1977, and found it was a great place to raise her two sons, Chris and Donny. She became a Realtor in…
The Life in Business: Aloha Business Services
Jeff Turner came to the Big Island 20 years ago. As a CPA who also had real-life experience as an entrepreneur, he found he understood the challenges of business owners better than most accountants. He started serving Kona clients in…
The Life in Business: Down to Earth
Down to Earth is a Hawaii-born pioneer of healthy eating. It was started in 1977, when a group of friends in Wailuku, Maui, turned their vision into a business dedicated to improving the health of Hawaii’s island communities. Since then,…
The Life in Business: Shipman House Bed and Breakfast
What is now the Shipman House Bed and Breakfast Inn has been in Barbara Andersen’s [Shipman] family since 1901. Seventeen years ago, when she returned to her childhood home of Hilo, she says the house “looked like the movie set…
Between a Rock and a Soft Place: Hawai‘i Island Retreat at Ahu Pohaku Ho‘omaluhia
By Cynthia Sweeney Jeanne Sunderland recalls first being brought to the “gathering place of the stones” by her teacher, Kumu Tommy Sullivan, over 20 years ago. They arrived by canoe and were silent as they explored the land. Like a…
Terri’s Vision: Showcasing Native Hawaiian Art
By Prana Mandoe “I want our people to know we can succeed,” says Terri Napeahi, proprietor of Papa Mū Gallery and President of Perpetuating Indigenous Hawaiian Arts, or PIHA, a nonprofit venue for Native Hawaiians to develop and show their…
The Life in Business: Showcase Gallery
Emily Gualtieri and Gary Brown, fine artists and owners of Showcase Gallery in South Kona, moved to Hawai‘i in 1989 and sold their silver and niobium jewelry at local art and craft shows and galleries around the state. Emily descends…
The Life in Business: A Hui Hou Crematory & Funeral Home
Penny Brumbaugh came to Hawai‘i in 2003 to open and manage a funeral home in West Hawai‘i for another company. After a few months the company decided that West Hawai‘i wasn’t a good market for them, and they decided to…
Is It Your Business or Your Life? Big Island Business Owners Find the Critical Balance
By Grif Frost, Life Quality Business Consultant Owning a business should give you freedom. Freedom to set your work hours…to decide what you do (and more importantly don’t have to do). Freedom to earn as much money as you want.…
Daniel T. Set to Change Waimea’s Food Scene: A New Look for a Treasured Old Building
By Devany Vickery-Davidson Any resident or visitor to Waimea has experienced the wind blowing down from the mountains on a daily basis. The winds of change are also blowing in Waimea’s food scene. Legendary chef and restaurateur Daniel Thiebaut is…
Treasures from the Sea: A Unique Farmers’ Market Comes to Kona
By Devany Vickery-Davidson Looking for live crabs and lobster? How about some local sea salt? Abalone? A free cooking class? Get the cooler out and head to NELHA! On the last Friday of each month Hawai’i Island residents are afforded…
The Life in Business: Mountain Gold Jewelers
Mountain Gold Jewelers is a jewelry store and design studio owned and operated by master goldsmith Moses Thrasher. Specializing in diamonds, opals and pearls of all kinds, Thrasher has been a goldsmith for over 35 years and can design and…
The Life in Business: GYROTONIC Kona
Laura Crittendon and Steve Von Hargett started a unique business as a result of their own search for healing a painful injury. In 1999 a major low back injury left Laura bedridden and unable to perform the simplest of daily…
Is It Your Business or Your Life? Big Island Business Owners Find the Critical Balance
By Grif Frost, Business Consultant While a member of the faculty at the University of Hawai‘i Hilo College of Business and Economics I worked with my students to identify the key factors in creating a business lifestyle model that enhances…
Holuakoa Gardens Restaurant and Café: Connecting the Plate with the Planet via Slow Food
By Fern Gavelek Handmade potato gnocchi…house-cured bacon…homemade fresh pasta lasagna… Admit it—the above is not your normal restaurant fare. They can be had, however, in the heart of Holualoa village at Holuakoa Gardens Restaurant. The delicious, labor-intensive delicacies illustrate the…
The Life in Business: Dragonfly Ranch
Barbara Ann Kenonilani Moore’s mission in life since the early 1970s has been to create a nurturing environment called The Dragonfly Ranch: Healing Arts Center. The year 1974 was marked by two accomplishments that were significant to her. She learned…
The Life in Business: Hawaii’s Gift Baskets
Tamarra (Tammy) Sullivan has listened to visitors’ requests for gifts to take home from the Big Island for more than 30 years. “I feel I know what makes people remember Hawai‘i and I want to put it all in a…
Hilo Coffee Mill: More Than Java
By Devany Vickery-Davidson Most people immediately think of Kona when you say Hawai‘ian Coffee. But things are changing in that realm. There is fine coffee being grown on other islands and there are fantastic coffees being grown in Hilo, north…
It’s No Secret: Huggo’s Is Invested in Making Kona a Better Place for Living and Eating
By Fern Gavelek When Huggo’s opened its doors in 1969, restaurateurs Shirley and Hugo von Platen Luder knew they had a prime spot for oceanfront dining in Kailua-Kona. Now in its second generation in the same family and the oldest…
Then & Now: A Country Vet In Kona
By Jolene Head “Doc” McCoy was never one to turn people away and enjoyed giving back to the community of Kona and to the State of Hawai‘i. Before Hawai‘i was a state, Dr. Kid McCoy was appointed the Territorial Deputy…
The Life In Business: Cindy Griffey, RA
Her casual, comfortable style is a signature of Cindy Griffey, RA, and it may explain a little of why she is the top-selling real estate agent with Century 21 All Islands. She helps clients feel comfortable. Cindy has ranked number…
The Life In Business: Devin McHugh Optical
This is the story of a globe-trotting farm boy from upstate New York who became a bartender, a deejay, an insurance agent, a pilot in the West Indies, solar salesman and a thoroughbred horse farm manager. He was working at…
The Life In Business: Douglas H. Dierenfield, DDS
When Douglas Dierenfield, DDS, first came to Kona in 1976, there weren’t many people and very few dentists, he said. “I was commuting to Molokai and Hana, Maui, via Royal Hawaiian Air Service and doing dentistry there a few days…
Hidden Treasures: Hilo Bay Café
By Devany Vickery-Davidson Hilo Bay Café sits in an unpretentious strip mall in a busy Wal-Mart shopping center, and regardless of what the location suggests, they are consistently producing some of the finest and most innovative food on Hawai’i Island.…
Viewpoint: Investment Tips for a Regenerative Future
By Michael Kramer, M.Ed, AIF®, Managing Partner & Director of Social Research, Natural Investments LLC With climate change and peak oil now widely accepted, in the past few years we have witnessed the proliferation of investment opportunities under the green,…
The Life In Business: Eryce Enterprises
The Big Island has always been a favorite location for people’s second homes. And in today’s market, many have turned their second homes into vacation home rentals. Eryce Enterprises is in business to help both. “With the economy being what…
Paris Without the Jet Lag: Restaurant La Bourgogne
By Fern Gavelek If you think Restaurant La Bourgogne is Kona’s best-kept culinary secret—think again. Booked way in advance for Valentine’s Day and other major holidays, the classic French restaurant is abuzz with new and loyal, satisfied patrons dining on…
The Life in Business: Kenji’s House
“Our greatest challenge has been our unique, hillside location in a historic Kapa’au plantation house,” says Catherine Morgan, artist and museum founder. “When Roz, Malia, and I set out in 2006 to create a destination for locals and visitors that…
Mama Mia! It’s All Homemade: House-Cured Meats, Garden-Fresh Veggies and Homemade Breads—in Gourmet Pizza
By Devany Vickery-Davidson In a quiet little corner of Hilo something very special is going on. Not only are great pizzas with locally grown and made ingredients being created, but so are sausages, cured meats and an assortment of bread…
The Life in Business: Trans-Pacific Design
Interior designer Susan J. Moss has found that it’s best not to specialize in one area working in a small market. So, from boats to businesses, hotels and homes, the Kamuela interior designer is able to offer advice and talent…
