Ke Ola Magazine: 10 Years of Sharing ‘The Life’ of Hawai‘i Island
By Fern Gavelek
You’ve read about well-known people such as pacemaker inventor Earl Bakken and landowner/steward Ed Olson. Musicians such as Cyril Pahinui and Kahulani. Artists such as Kathy Long and craft maker Ika Vea have been featured. There have been stories about landmarks, like Hiloʻs Palace Theater and Captain Cook’s Manago Hotel. Cultural topics have included the Royal Order of Kamehameha I: Moku O Keawe and the Myths and Legends of Maunakea. And the list goes on…
The life of Hawai‘i Island’s people, culture, land, ocean, spirit, art, and businesses have been chronicled for a full decade in Ke Ola Magazine, which marks its 10th anniversary with this issue.
More than 850 Hawai‘i Island subjects have been covered in the free magazine’s 60 issues. While Ke Ola’s format has evolved over the years, it still remains true to its vision, to share “the life” of those who live here with those who love it here.
Publisher Barbara Garcia says the success of the magazine is rooted in following that course.
An excerpt from the inaugural issue explains it best: “Ke Ola, in Hawaiian, ‘the life,’ is what this magazine is all about … a magazine not only for the people who live here (or dream of living here), it is brought to you by people who live here … We will seek out ways to reflect our readers’ pictures and stories that remind us of why we live here.”
Starting Out
Ke Ola was founded in 2008 as a collaboration between Barbara and Karen Valentine. The two entrepreneurs, who had worked together at the former Hawaii Island Journal, each had their own dream of creating a magazine for Hawai‘i Island. They decided to join forces serving as co-publishers, with each juggling different responsibilities.
“It was a time of economic downturn, which we thought was an opportunity, because competition was less and we could launch it on a shoestring,” recalls Karen. “There was no magazine that was designed specifically for the local [resident] population, many of whom had moved here from elsewhere and didn’t know the real Hawai‘i.”
Barbara agrees, saying “Hawai‘i Island deserved its own magazine, like Honolulu, Maui, and Kauai all have their own. These stories needed to be documented in print, and the local businesses needed an alternative for reaching new customers.” With a 30-year passion for helping small businesses grow, Barbara wanted to create an affordable platform to help them with a successful marketing outreach.
Karen, a seasoned publisher, writer, and graphic artist who had already founded four successful Michigan publications, said the vision of Ke Ola came to her “as the chance to put my interests of art, people, culture, and sustainability into one magazine.”
The owners divided duties. Barbara focused on advertising sales, marketing, and distribution while Karen took on the roles of editor, artistic director, and print production.
“We found, through the magazine’s reception, that readers welcomed our type of storytelling,” remembers Barbara. “The original reason of providing an affordable means for small businesses to reach new customers was soon overshadowed by the masterpiece of editorial content that filled our pages. I never imagined how wonderful and well received the stories would be.”
Karen adds, “I think we hit a chord, because Ke Ola was embraced by the public, as well as advertisers, who wanted to reach discerning residents. With its beautiful covers, it invites people to pick it up, and many visitors choose to subscribe because it reminds them of the magic they found here.”
It Takes a Village
The saying “It takes a village to raise a child,” could be applied to the early years of Ke Ola when fans of the publication stepped up to help with distribution and marketing. These volunteers dropped off magazines to advertisers and joined Barbara to staff booths at local events. The goal was to introduce the magazine to readers. These efforts helped create awareness about the new publication and those who aided the cause were recognized on the masthead as “ambassadors,” a practice that continues today.
A godsend who has heartily pitched in through the years is Sharon Bowling, who got involved with Ke Ola as one of the first mainland subscribers. She moved to Hawai‘i Island in the spring of 2009 and joined the staff in 2010, working with subscribers and overseeing distribution.
Sharon took on numerous duties: establishing distribution locations, building and maintaining distribution racks, monitoring magazine pickup, proofreading, and doing whatever else needed to be done. This “Girl Friday” also served as a member of the editorial team, which, besides editing and proofreading, plans the magazine’s content and comes up with the front cover themes.
Recently retired, Sharon claims the work has been rewarding, as people she’s met over the years “have been phenomenal.” She made friends with off-island subscribers through phone calls, email, social media, and has even met a few when they visited Hawai’i Island. To date, Ke Ola boasts several hundred subscribers.
Successes and Challenges
The growth of Ke Ola brought a string of accolades starting in 2011 with Barbara tapped as a Businesswoman of the Year finalist for Pacific Business News’ Women Who Mean Business awards. The following year, PBN ranked Ke Ola Magazine #13 Fastest Growing Business in the state, and Hawaii Business Magazine awarded the magazine a Small Biz Success award, as a Best New Business Finalist. Also noteworthy during this time, former Hawai‘i Governor Neil Abercrombie publicly praised Ke Ola to a packed house attending a Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce luncheon. In 2015, Ke Ola was awarded the Kona-Kohala Chamber’s Pūalu award for Culture & Heritage.
With an eye on growth, Barbara decided to expand by adding a Maui County edition in 2013, which continued through 2015, and also debuted the annual Hawai‘i Island Weddings, Honeymoons and Special Occasions magazine in 2012, which has published five issues to date.
According to Barbara, a challenge for a free publication is to enlighten readers that advertisers are financing the magazine and need to be valued by those readers. To help with that effort, Ke Ola profiles long time advertisers in the “Island Treasures” and “Talk Story with an Advertiser” columns, and also includes an advertiser index in each issue.
With pride, Barbara shares that in 10 years, “Ke Ola has always published on time. In September 2018, distribution was a couple of days late due to Hurricane Lane delaying delivery. Other than that, nothing has stopped us from our commitment to publish on time, every time.”
The Magazine Today
With a print run of 24,000 copies per issue, six times a year, it’s important for the magazine to operate like a well-oiled machine. Ke Ola also disseminates information via social media, with more than 9800 fans on Facebook, 1700 on Instagram, and 2100 on Twitter. Today, Barbara serves as the publisher and co-editor, with Gayle Greco filling the position of general manager and co-editor. Karen retired from the publishing role in 2012, yet still continues to be involved as a regular editorial contributor.
Karen, a journalism graduate who is also author of a book about Hilo history, enjoys writing, which she didn’t have much time to do while serving as co-publisher. She details, “Writing gives me the chance to meet new people and continue to learn a lot. Some of my story subjects—kūpuna—are now gone, and I’m glad I had the chance to get to know them and tell their stories before they left.”
Barbara notes it’s important for Ke Ola to continue to focus on her and Karen’s original core values of perpetuating the arts, culture, and sustainability of Hawai‘i Island, saying the stories are “truly about life on the island we love.”
Regarding the reach and impact of Ke Ola’s content, Barbara feels the magazine has accomplished what it set out to do—to document these important stories into perpetuity, both in print and on the web. “We have highlighted so many people and subjects. We’ve been told by many people that sharing their stories was life-changing, and in many cases, helped elevate their cause or career.” Helping create those stories have been 31 different Hawai‘i Island writers, hailing from all the island’s regions.
Looking to the future, Barbara plans to make sure Ke Ola stays consistent to the vision that Karen and she created. To ensure that, Barbara adds, “We are grateful for the many advertisers who have chosen Ke Ola as their primary resource for advertising, some for the full 10 years we’ve been publishing.” Over the years, Ke Ola has enjoyed the support of approximately 600 advertisers. That support is what enables Ke Ola to be distributed free to readers at more than 300 island-wide locations.
Want to Contribute?
Readers interested in submitting future story ideas can do so online via the contact menu on Ke Ola’s website. Themes for front covers are chosen per issue, which are listed on their website. To meet the criteria for being chosen for the cover, artists must live on Hawai‘i Island, and be a professional artist or photographer. Up until now, one of the criteria was that an artist could only be featured one time on the cover, however now that 60 unique artists have been featured in their 10 years of publishing, Barbara has opened it back up for a repeat performance and welcomes all professional artists on the island to submit their artwork according to the themes. ❖
A Decade of Contributors
| Aaron Miyasato Adrienne Poremba Ahren Gunther Aja Hannah Alan D. McNarie Alicia Hanson Andrea Dean Ann C. Peterson Anna Akaka Barbara Bosz Barbara Fahs Barbara Garcia Bob Dean Britni Shock Brittany P. Anderson Bryan Lowry Carolyn Greenan Catherine Tarleton Charles Ruff Colin John Cynthia Sweeney Dan Lappala Danny Akaka David Bruce Leonard Deborah Ozaki Debra Sims Denise Laitinen Devany Davidson Dianne Curtis Ed Gibson Elizabeth Root Emily T. Gail Eric Bowman Fannie Narte Farley Jones Fern Gavelek Gayle Kaleilehua Greco Genevieve Firestone Greg Shirley Grif Frost Hadley Catalano Harry ‘Uhane Jim Ian Hatch Jack Lunsford Jackie Pualani Johnson Jan Wizinowich |
Jeff Keith Jeff Turner Jessica Kirkwood John J. Boyle Jon Lomberg Journal Graphics Judi Mellon Julie Meurice Karen Fuller Karen Rose Kari Waldhaus Kate Kealani Winter Kathleen Akaka Keala Ching Keith Nealy Kim Cope Tait KonaBob Stoffer Ku‘ehu Mauga Ku‘ulei Keakealani Lara Hughes Laura Kinoshita Laura Ruff Laurie Brown Le‘a Gleason Leilehua Yuen Leslie Sears Lindsay Brown Macia Timboy Mahealani Henry Ma‘ata Tukuafu Mālielani Larish Margaret Kearns Mariana Garcia Mars Cavers Marta Barreras Mary Strong Marya Mann Megan Moseley Michael Kramer Miichelle Sandell Mikahala Roy Mike Portillo Myles Mellor Nancy Redfeather Nelson Makua Noel Morata |
Noren Irie Oscar Rigg Paul H. Maddox III Paula Thomas Paula Wilson Peaches Grove Pete Hendricks Peter M. McCormick Peter T. Young Pomai Bertelmann Prana Joy Mandoe Rachel Laderman Randy Botti Renee Robinson Richard Esterle Richard Price Robert Anthony Brown Robert Oaks Ron Haake Rosa Say Russell Paio Sarah Anderson Sarah Hiyashi Scott March Shana Wailana Logan Sharon Bowling Sheryl Hyatt Shirley Stoffer Skylark Rosetti Sonia R. Martinez Stefan Verbano Stephanie Bolton Stephanie Schreiber Steve Adarme Steve Westra Stig Lindholm Susan Cox T. Ilihia Gionson Tahiti Huetter Tammy Sullivan Terri Amaro Tiffany DeEtte Shafto Tiffany Edwards Hunt Tim Terzi Tom Hagan Ursula DʻAngelo WavenDean Fernandes |
For more info: keolamagazine.com
Fern Gavelek
A native Hoosier, Fern moved to Hawai‘i in 1988. Ever since, she’s been writing about what makes Hawai‘i so special. She has extensively covered the state’s tourism, culinary, and agriculture industries and was named Hawaii County’s Small Business Administration Journalist of the Year. Also a public relations professional, Fern promotes a half-dozen Big Island events, several trade associations, and local businesses. The Holualoa resident is an avid community volunteer and was by tapped the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce 2009 Member of the Year. She enjoys gardening, time with husband John and playing with their pup, Sweet Pea.
