I have never met a craft I didn't like and now I've actually moved it into a business. Aloha Alaska Designs is an accumulation of years of trying multiple disciplines and now has allowed me to create some incredible jewelry using mixed media. Truly Wearable Art! With high stress, high analytical jobs like I have I find breaking out into a creative side only makes me more efficient all the way around. It allows me to work that other side of my brain !

Managing a successful employer benefits program requires not only a comprehensive understanding of benefits but also the knowledge of how to integrate it with human resources and operations. With more than 18 years of human resources management experience working with multi-national, Alaska Native, non-profit, union and non-union corporations, I have an in-depth knowledge of the benefits field. My tenure in human resources has allowed me to thoroughly understand the needs of my clients, helping them take a proactive approach to any issue. I aspire “to be the benefits advisor I wished I had when I was an HR Manager.”I was born and raised in Hawaii, and have called Alaska home for 21years. With a master’s degrees in Public Health Administration/Planning (MPH), and Bachelor of Arts in Economics (BA), as well as certifications in Senior (SPHR) and International (GPHR) human resources, I understand that benefits cannot survive in a vacuum. With the increasing complexity of compliance and economic issues, my multi-faceted education, background and experience makes me uniquely qualified to deal with many of the challenges that today’s employers face. I assist them at finding solutions so they can continue providing competitive benefit packages in an increasingly expensive and complicated environment.

Paying Forward. I look at this phrase as more than just words, but at as a philosophy for my life. One of the great ways of doing that is being an expert matter specialist teaching the ASHRM Education Program for the Human Resource Certification Program. Another way has been participating on the Board of Directors for Anchorage Chapter of SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management). I've held several different seats, currently President-Elect, Previously Director of Governmental Affairs, VP of Membership and Director of Workforce Development. Our Board is dynamic and involved. I invite anyone in HR who loves to be part of an exciting team and make a difference to join us.

Although I was born and raised in Hawaii, my mom didn’t take us kids to the beach much, instead she would pile all of us into her Ford Futura Convertible and take us to tour the newest subdivision on the island. You could almost say that real estate runs in my blood! What other job allows you go into people’s houses and look into their closets and they are not offended? Seriously though, coming from the perspective that real estate is not just an emotional decision but a financial one. Our family not only sold real estate, but invested in it. Early on I learned financial leveraging and creative financing within the law’s constraints. Putting this experience to use and helping folks into their dream homes was both fun and rewarding.

8 Subsidiaries, 500 employees across the US to Hawaii to Barrow, Alaska – no HR office at the subsidiary level when I arrived, and only myself as staff… What could be a more exciting challenge? Then add instead of having to deal with just one general manager, having to deal with 8, all with very specific goals and personalities. Wow! The companies included construction, roofing, electrical, engineering, oil and gas support services and telecommunications (including military). Throw in that the owner of all this was the most northern city in the Northern Hemisphere, the City of Barrow, home of the proud Inupiat people with a strong set of values of Land, Family, and Integrity. This was fabulous experience allowing me to utilize all of my HR skills from creating a 16 hour training for over 80 supervisors, foremen, managers and project staff; streamlining the hiring process; upping the bar on compliance in federal regulatory arenas; dealing with and eliminating prior legal challenges; moving the benefits program into compliance; clarifying the process of setting up new government contracts (SCA) in the HR/benefits functions; supplying advice and support to all the subsidiaries, and setting up fundamental processes within the organization and HR department.. Combine this with learning about and working with the Alaska Native people, their organizations, and their shareholders, and this job was both rewarding…. And never dull.