Q: Was it difficult making the transition to a nonprofit organization from the private sector, where you had spent most of your career?

A: My last job before coming to the YWCA was Broke The Mouth, which I started on O'ahu. It was probably the most stressful two years of my life in terms of managing my own business as a sole proprietor. But that experience probably enables me to do my job better today, because at a nonprofit, you're dealing with that same constraint of resources to an extreme. I think this is the hardest job I've ever had because of its complexity in terms of what skills are needed.

Q: You mentioned the effort being made to change the way people look at the YWCA. What are some of the challenges in carrying out the YWCA's mission?

A: Changing women's minds on leadership is a big challenge. Women have this idea of leadership and say, nope, that's not me, you've got to be this charismatic, extroverted person who works 90-hour work weeks. We're trying to redefine what leadership means for women in this century, and it's not that. It's much more balanced; it's much more of an influencing role. We don't want people to self-select out of (leadership positions).

Q: What is your leadership philosophy?

A: When I look at myself, I thought I'd be the last person ever to be in a position of leadership. I really make the distinction that leadership is not position, title, hierarchy, etc. At the YWCA, our philosophy on leadership — which I embrace wholeheartedly — is that you can learn leadership, that you have to dedicate and commit to it. It's hard work. It's extraordinarily hard work, and it's life-long learning. You don't ever finally wake up and say, "I'm a leader today." You constantly can build your skills, develop yourself, understand what you need to know as a leader, what you need to do as a leader, who you need to be as a leader. All those components are equally as important.

Q: How has the YWCA evolved with the changing times?

A: The YWCA historically started out as a club for young women entering the workforce. We had an employment service bureau helping women find jobs. Now, they were jobs like stenography and how to take care of a household. But we were always involved in economic self-sufficiency and getting women into the workplace. We helped women take their skills and develop them.

We still do that, but we do it differently. The YWCA came along at a time when we were helping women to be self-supporting and take leadership roles, and giving them a venue to do it. As we go forward, our asset is still a place, physically. We still have a role in making connections, providing gathering places, learning from each other, all of which the YWCA thrives on and is still relevant (for) today.

Q: The YWCA runs a summer program called Camp$tart Up, to help young women improve their financial literacy. How is that effort going?

A: We've been really trying to start with young women in developing their money sense. We've run two Camp$tart Ups so far (in previous summers), but we didn't have one this year because we didn't get enough participants. In past years, once the girls got there, they loved it. But getting them to sign up is difficult. It seems too much like school, too much like work. They're saying, "If I'm going to spend my summer at a camp, I want to have fun." We've had other successes in our youth programs, but we're still struggling with the concept of how to teach young women to be savvy with their money.

Q: Are you looking at changes you can make to attract more young women to the program?

A: One of the ways we want to reinvent it is with one of the perks we call "Dollar Diva Day." We thought we would just do a one-day workshop to lower the commitment, and bring in college girls as mentors for the teen girls because they're more apt to listen to someone a little bit closer to them in age. They'll get to pick a career, have a salary and make a budget. They'll get to do all these very hands-on, practical, fun exercises. So hopefully next year we'll run a Dollar Diva Day and see if we can spur interest.