Q. What brought you to 'Olelo?

A. I had the opportunity while I was working at Oceanic Cable in its community programming department to be part of Oceanic's transition from managing public education and government access to 'Olelo. I was part of the planning committee that got to create 'Olelo from the ground up. Once the organization was formed, I applied for a position here and luckily got selected to be the operations director. We've been in operation for about 20 years.

Q. Did you aspire to have a career in television?

A. Not originally. Surprisingly enough, like many other college students, I changed my major a couple of times. I originally was interested in accounting, then I switched to chemistry. While I was going to school for both those majors, I was involved in audio-visual and video production work and I realized I really loved it. I changed my major to communication, and that's what I graduated in. I got involved in community media at the University of Hawai'i as part of the Student Video and Film Festival Group, and we used to work with the Hawaii International Film Festival in putting together a student version of that. I got involved in creating a program for Oceanic's public access at the time and had an opportunity to then get work there.

Q. How did you wind up on the administrative side?

A. Early on, the projects that I worked on had to do with creating videos for nonprofit organizations and what was natural for me was the ability to bring these two things that I really enjoy, which was wanting to make a difference and having some meaningful relationship with my work, and helping nonprofit organizations. Just being involved in video production in general was so much fun. The administrative part actually wasn't necessarily something I had in mind, but when the opportunity came along it was just very natural.

Q. 'Olelo is a nonprofit. How much of your time is spent raising funds?

A. It's increasing more and more each time. In the early days of 'Olelo, funds that we received through Oceanic Cable's franchise with the state were collected before we were in full operation. In other words, the seeds were coming, in a considerable fashion before we were in full-speed operation. Now we've had the opportunity to mature. The organization originally had one facility, we now have six facilities. We originally had half a channel; now we've got six channels. So as we seek to expand our operations and really bring to more communities this opportunity, the need for fundraising is increasing. At this point, it's still perhaps maybe 10 percent to 15 percent of my time. But I do see that that's going to be shifting significantly over the coming years. It is much more difficult for nonprofits. I think what many nonprofits are doing — and what we're looking at — is partnering with other nonprofits who have similar desires and similar types of programs, so our resources can be leveraged with each other and we're able to deliver services that we might not normally be able to deliver unless we did partner.

Q. Are those six facilities the "Community Media Centers?"

A. We have six Community Media Centers. We're looking to hopefully open a few more. Our main facility is in Mapunapuna. We have another center at Waipahu Intermediate School. One of our oldest Community Media Centers is at Wai'anae High School, and another at Kahuku High and Intermediate. We have one at Windward Community College and our other is at Jarrett Middle School in Palolo Valley. Many of the schools that we have our facilities in have principals who were eager to have an opportunity for the students. How it works is they make space available for 'Olelo, we bring our staff and equipment to that center, and now have a community media center for a community as a whole as well as the students to use. The students and faculty are able to use the equipment during the day, and the community is able to use the equipment in the evenings and on the weekend. It's a nice way of engaging the community in the school activity and the school life. We'd love to be in more communities.

Q. What direction do you want to take 'Olelo?

A. I've been the president and CEO of 'Olelo for four years now ... and the part that I'm excited about is helping the community get a sense that what we have to offer is really something everyone can use and see it as I would hope, which is a valuable community resource. We're pushing really hard that, although the tools include a video camera, computers for editing and the programs are distributed over cable channels, really our focus is on how can such a powerful community resource be used to make a positive change and shift in our community and that it's really seen as a way of having the community keep itself connected. I see that being much more critical as time moves forward and as we see much of the activities or ways that people communicate also shifting toward the Internet. I'd like to see us move toward being a valuable engagement tool and a valuable way for people to contribute, and I really want to make a difference in the community.

Q. How long do you plan to be with 'Olelo?

A. I imagine that at some point it's always healthy for organizations to have a shift and changes in leadership. I think hopefully one of the strengths I have is because I care so much about 'Olelo, I'll know before anyone else when it's time for me to go because I'll be clear that there will be other leadership needs and opportunities that are going to be critical for the organization to be successful. Hopefully, I'll be very aware of the fact that I might not be the right person to do that. One of the things that we're working on and I'm looking at is making sure the organization is well-prepared for when I leave. I don't see myself here for another 20 years. I can imagine maybe another five years at most.

Q. Then what?

A. I'm beginning to think about that. One of the things that I've enjoyed in our work here and being engaged in the community as we are, I'd like to be able to get my hands more into the actual work of the community. I really enjoy the programs that we have in working with youth. That's an area I'd like to look at, which is working with other nonprofits that are engaged in helping what I would consider at-risk or vulnerable youth because the reality is we don't only have youth that are at-risk, we really have communities that are at-risk.