 Aloha and welcome to Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We'll show the broadcast every Thursday from 2 to 2.30 from the very high tech studios of Think Tech Hawaii here in Halalula Hawaii. We broadcast out of the Pioneer Plaza here in downtown. We're a show that focuses on success stories of businesses in Hawaii, as with most locations in the country. There are challenges of doing business here, but we have some very successful people that have overcome those challenges. They have created very successful companies, and they have also become successful themselves. We also bring on the show, occasionally, organizations that help support the small business community and to help the owners become more successful, which is today our program is the Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals. Emily Kleiner has been on the show before, and so she's a recurring guest, and we're always glad to have her here. She's the Vice President of Programs for the Young Professionals at the Chamber, and then we're lucky to have, after two years of effort, I might add, to have Jacob Noah on the show today, who is the incoming chair of the YP program, or the Young Professional Program at the Chamber. So, Jacob and Emily, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you for having us back. Ladies, first, you do the Young Professionals as kind of a volunteer type of thing, and you've been a member there for a while, but in real life, and the way you pay the bills, is you work at the Pacific Business News. I do. I'm the Director of Events and Promotions at PBN. So, we handle, you know, Pacific Business News has a very large events program. We do about 50 a year. So, I handle that as well as some of our community partnerships, some of our marketing. It's a very busy schedule. You know, doing one event a week is huge. Just about. We actually have an event tomorrow, our Best Workplaces event. So, I'm constantly busy. It is, and I guess that doesn't show any signs of slowing down. PBN is known for doing these events. However, you've got a little change coming up in your life here, too. I do. As you know, my husband's in the military, and as a result, we are actually being moved to Washington State. So, unfortunately, that means I'm going to be leaving Hawaii in a few months. Right, and you've been here for a while, though, right? I have. I moved here about four years ago. I've been extremely blessed to be working with PBN, and I'm really disappointed that I have to leave. I love Hawaii. The community here is unlike really anywhere else. The business community, the nonprofit community. It's just a wonderful place to work and live, and it's really unfortunate we have to move, but I'm sure that I'll find some new adventures. Well, I'm sure. Washington is a big place, and I'm sure there's a lot going on. And does the owner of PBN have an operation up there, too? We do. So Pacific Business News is one of 43 journals across the country. So we have a similar sister publication in most major cities, one of which is Seattle. So there might be some opportunities to collaborate there. Well, if they were really smart, they would make an opportunity available for you. Thank you. So we'll keep our fingers crossed for you. Now, Jacob, you've been involved with young professionals really pretty much from the get-go, right? Since 2011. It's been about six years now. So, yeah, you've been there. You certainly know the program. Yeah. And you have been involved. You've kind of moved around, and you've taken different roles. And now you're actually in line to take over and be the man. Yeah, definitely. Really excited, actually. As the incoming chair for 2018, I got a lot of shoes to fill and a lot of expectations to meet, but I'm pretty excited. Well, if anybody could do it, you can. I mean, you just got done being involved with the membership, right? Yep. So I've been the membership chair for the program for about, I think, two years. We grew from 140, and now we have about 270. Wow. And our goal is to hit 300 by... So you've doubled the membership then under your umbrella during your term that you were there? Well, it's definitely the team. The team at the YP program has put together. We are pretty strong, and our foundation is definitely... It's been a motivating factor for that growth. Very good. Yeah, Jacob's been just wonderful at the program and really engaging the members. So it's been really great to watch him work. That's good. And that's what it takes to build and keep those members, is to get that engagement going and to buy in and make it really valuable. But just for a second to close a loop on Jacob, you also do something in real life to pay the bills. What is that? And that's something new, too, right? Yeah. For almost four months now, I've been with Simplicity HR by Altress as a consultant there. So we strive to solve a lot of issues and problems with employers, with their payroll, workers' comp, HR, and benefits. So it's been a new environment, but it's something that I've been comfortable with within the past six years, again, when I started with HMA about six years ago, I was kind of in the same capacity with dealing with a lot of employers and managers and owners. So it's something that I'm very comfortable in, but yet very excited with my new employer now. Well, it's a great opportunity because as a small business advocate, I can tell you that the HR and the payroll and that whole area and all the reporting requirements and all the laws, I mean, it's a big challenge and it takes a lot of effort for those business owners to stay on top of it. So everything you can do to simplify that and make it easier for them has got to be of great value. Yeah, of course. So, but very good. Let me go ahead and just ask how and why did you both get involved in the YP program at the Chamber of Commerce? I mean, you've been there a long time, Jacob. You've been there for about four years? I started as a member of the Chamber of Commerce about three years ago, actually. The Chamber had been, I think the program had been going on for a few years at that point and I'd found a lot of value in attending. One thing that I think young professionals really want and really strive for is that networking connection and some of those leadership training opportunities that you can't find in your organization, as you know, the state of Hawaii is mostly small businesses. And so a lot of companies don't have the opportunity to have a lot of these impactful trainings that large companies might be able to offer. For their employees. Exactly. So there's going to be some younger employees that go to work for the companies and they're going to be limited to what they can learn in those companies, but this provides a platform for really growing that. Absolutely. So when I joined the YP as a member, I found that the programs were extremely helpful. There were topics on leadership, public speaking, networking, all sorts of different topics that young professionals can really use in their day-to-day work. And then about a year later, I joined as a steering committee member running the professional development series. Those are small classes that are designed to teach you some of those skills and they're taught by leaders in the community. This past year, we launched our mentorship program, which I run as well. That's been a very successful program where we bring in about 10 to 12 executives for one-on-one mentoring over a five-month period with our members. Very good. And so how did you personally benefit from being involved and active in the YP? In numerous ways. One of which, though, was, of course, the networking. I was able to meet individuals in industries that I would not normally meet in my day-to-day life. It was really eye-opening to meet some of these people and really able to make connections on a different level than I would at even a typical Pacific Business News event or another industry event because these are so focused on young professionals. So there's this added layer of calm for when you're interacting with everybody. Well, and some of the programs you've done are not huge numbers. I mean, they're small, they're boutique-type, where there's more interaction possible. It's very true. Our typical event, well, it depends, of course, on the style, but we have events that range for as small as 5 to 10 people to as large as several hundred. But that allows you, if you're someone that's new to the community, you've just moved here, maybe you're a student or this is your first time working in the business community to get in and start having these trainings, start meeting people in a much less high-pressure situation. Now, Jacob, you've been involved for six years and you've worked your way around different organizations and I know that for full disclosure purposes, Jacob and I used to work together at HMAA and we were a big supporter of the young professional program from the chamber when I was there. So I used to go to a lot of these events with Jacob and the rest of the YPs. But you joined for what reasons and what value did you get out of it? I think for me it was really important to find a connection and when it comes to starting, whether it be starting a new job or being in a new work environment, I think it was really important for me to put myself out there and I think for anybody at any age putting yourself out there is pretty nerve-wracking. So being a part of an organization that, whether it be age-wise or career-wise that are very relatable, it made me very comfortable in meeting new people but also setting higher expectations for myself when it came to growing in my career and also my personal life as well too. Do you feel that you've grown personally as a result of being engaged and involved? Yeah, definitely grown in many ways, I think, since the younger years. But it's definitely enhanced my ability to really see the future not only for myself and my workplace but also the business community in Hawaii. I think seeing a lot of my friends, I'm a local boy here, you know, I was born and raised here and I haven't really lived far, for much too long, so I've been around this area for quite some time and I do see there being a need for people in my demographics or my age range even similarities in workplace as well to connect and be involved and be engaged with a program. Any program, whether it be cultural or business-minded, I think it's a huge leap for anybody. And I think there was also an opportunity for you to, you know, I guess, sharpen your leadership skill, your management skills a little bit because you're involved in trying to coordinate the activities of many people and groups and that's something that maybe, you know, in your job you wouldn't have been able to learn as quickly because you may not have a lot of managerial responsibilities early in your career so getting involved in an organization like this where you do have to coordinate activities and people, it gives you that added experience. I'll tell you this much, being a part of the program has really inspired me in more ways than one. Not only inspired myself when I meet executives, CEOs, presidents and owners of businesses, but also to see the memberships that come through, the type of members that come through our program has really been inspiring for us to, you know, see bigger and better for our program similar as Emily, that's why I decided to not only be engaged, but also give up more time in volunteering for the committee members and I went from events and now chair elect for next year in 2018. Congratulations, I think it's about time. Yeah, thank you. You're going to be leaving here soon so there's, you know, meaning in a month or two or three, you know, however that falls into place. Who knows? But is there anything that you're going to try before you go? Is there anything in your bucket list that you want to take care of? Yeah, I mean, what we talk about specifically with the Chamber, of course, there's a lot of programs that I've been really honored to be a part of that I'm very excited to see the direction they're going. We're very lucky to have a really great steering committee and so I have no doubts that the programs will continue to thrive. We do have some great plans in place, you know, we knew always that and so we certainly plan to have all of the programs planned out before I leave for the entire 2018 through 2019 year. So that would make it easy for someone to come in and kind of take over that role and just kind of execute what you've already set up. That's the idea and, you know, I would say for young professionals that are looking to get involved, joining a board or working with a non-profit or something like the Chamber and we do have opportunities to have a really great way, like you were saying, to get some great leadership training that you might not get in your company. You'll be able to make some really impactful decisions that involve programs that you can see with your own eyes but things that you wouldn't necessarily get to deal with in your own company. So I would really recommend for young professionals to get involved when they can. Well, and here's a sidebar comment and we're going to have to go on a break in a minute here but then we'll be back but if I was going to learn how to do something new and maybe not be that good at it, maybe screw it up a little bit, I'd rather do it somewhere other than my job if that makes sense. It does. It's an opportunity for people who don't have the experience to come in and learn and get that experience and not, you know, be too intimidated that, you know, if they did something wrong, they got fired over because it is a volunteer organization and it's not going to be perfect and a lot of people got to get that experience somehow. It's very true and you're not working in a silo. There's a wonderful committee there so you would be working with people so if you do make a mistake that there's always somebody there to kind of help you figure through it. Well, we're going to take a short break right now. This is business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We're talking with the young professional group over the Chamber of Commerce the two leaders over there and when we come back we're going to drill down a little bit more into the YP program and talk specifically about some of the programs and what a new member of the program might be looking for. So we'll be right back in about 60 seconds. This is Think Tech Hawaii raising public awareness. Guys, don't forget to check me out right here at the Prince of Investing I'm your host, Prince Dykes each and every Tuesdays at 11 a.m. Hawaii time I'm going to be right here from some of the best investment minds across the globe in real estate, finances, stocks, hedge funds, managers, all of their great stuff. Thank you. Hi, I'm Pete McGinnis-Marck and every Monday at one o'clock I present Think Tech Hawaii's research in Manoa where we bring together researchers from across the campus to describe a whole series of scientifically interesting topics of interest both to Hawaii and around the world. So hopefully you can join me one o'clock Monday afternoon for Think Tech Hawaii's research in Manoa. Aloha and welcome back. This is Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. This week we're talking with the young professional program with the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. We've got the chair-elect here, Jacob No, who's in a chair-elect position right now but we'll be taking over the chairmanship next year I think in June or July. And then we've got Emily Kleiner here who has been running all the programs for a while and has been very active and is going to be passing epiton here shortly to somebody who hopefully will just be able to carry that on for a while. So we've talked a little bit about your background, some of your experiences, how you got involved, but let's move into the program itself. Now Jacob, could you describe how the young professionals at the Chamber is structured? I mean what is the hierarchy and what are the different positions that are there and some of the different programs that are going on? Well, the YP program is one of the Chamber's programs so the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii has decided about six years ago that they wanted to extend an arm to help out the younger generation or younger demographics who are not yet ready to step up into the Chamber's actions and some of them may be a little bit hesitant to do so so the YP program was created to kind of allow them to feel comfortable and sooner or later step up to the play. And what's that age range that you need to be a young professional? So a lot of people have gripes about the word young and I hear from both ends the younger side and the older generation but we do have an age range of 21 to 39 for our program and I think that fits well in Hawaii. People or individuals within that age range are within their first stages of their career, maybe middle management, looking for a way to get some leadership and some help. We do have a lot of executives and some entrepreneur owners that are part of our YP program as well because the demographic fits to them but we really are a resource for a lot of individuals out there who are looking for that assistance or looking for that type of outreach. And some of the organizational structure is you've got a chair you've got a chair elect and you've got different directors that kind of fall into this all responsible for different areas of the program. Right, so we do have our steering committee which Emily and I both sit on currently Anyung Nakata with the Schuyler Foundation is our current chair then we have our chair electors myself and starting June of 2018 I will step up to the plate of Anyung's big shoes to fill. Now didn't she just get like a hundred million dollars from somebody? Yeah, I've got to hang out with her more often. She actually has a large event tonight too. Schuyler has their Hall of Honor awards this evening at the Sheridan so she stays busy for sure. Well I was just going to say see the young professionals can definitely be positive for your career right? I mean a hundred million dollars is not easy to find. Yeah and we touch up again on our areas to get back to the structure. We also have a community outreach chair. We also have an events chair professional development class chair so you know and a few others as well too so we do come together as a really strong team to create you know a program that's going to afford you know the best resources and the best benefits for our members and also the employers of these members as well too. That's right if it benefits the YP person it also benefits the employer as well so that is a good synergy there. And then I guess under this organization is you've got the members and then the members of the organization could also volunteer and participate at the committee level. Yes. Right and so is there a lot of engagement at that level? Does that happen quite often? I think we I think the program itself and as new members become more interested in putting themselves out there as I said before they become inspired to be a part of that change and I think it challenges not only themselves but it challenges their you know their boss or their managers to see that hey they're looking to grow they're looking to become better and you know what not better than to have someone with that type of mission and that type of effectiveness in the workplace. Absolutely. I mean there's always those opportunities in any of our committees for participation so I would recommend that if there's a member interested to go ahead and email anybody on the committee member all of our contact information is on the website because there's definitely ways to get involved. What is the website what's the address? It's www.cochawaii.org backslash Y.P. program. Alright well that's not too hard. Not too hard at all. So and they go to the website and they can find out all the information and can they also sign up to be a member there as well? Definitely. One of the benefits to a Y.P. membership as well that we haven't touched on is the price point it's actually quite a bit lower than a typical chamber membership so if you are maybe a young entrepreneur a young business leader it's kind of a good way to get a taste of the chamber programs without such a large investment we also have rates available if your company is already a member so certainly something to look for if you work for a company that you think already participates in the Chamber of Commerce. Right I guess the chamber is very accommodated to try to get you know both the members active and as well as get the employers and the businesses involved now with that in mind I want to ask a question that it'll be interesting to get the response. Have you ever had a like meet the employer night for example if I was a Y.P. and I was active and I was involved and I wanted my boss maybe to see how all this is working and how amazing a program is has there ever been an opportunity for me to bring my boss with me to a Y.P. event and take a look and see what it's all about? Yeah definitely I mean for one there are certain events that are Y.P. events where we open it up to non-Y.P. members so for all of our events you'll see a Y.P. member rate and then a non-member rate and there's some events that are probably better than others to maybe bring your boss which certainly we can help assist in determining what those are but there's also a lot of great opportunities for you to bring your employer bring your boss to see what it is that you're learning at these events. I think that's very positive I think if you want to get the support of the boss to you know continue to pay membership and allow you the time to participate it'd be good for them to see you know how professional and how well done this is now as you said there's probably some events that are better than others to see this because I know the Y.P.s also they have a lot of fun sometimes. We do. We try not to have too much fun. Fun on a professional level. Yeah but I think you know we do really bring in a lot of ammunition when it comes to what our generation has to offer and really our membership of 270 strong we have a plethora of really great outstanding leaders out there soon to be leaders and community leaders you know we have a lot of nonprofits that are really engaged with us we have a lot of private small to large businesses too so to see that our program can assist anybody in any industry and any capacity of their workforce it's again another motivating factor to make sure that we're on top of our game as a program that's really going to afford those benefits. Now I know you had mentioned earlier that the age has got to be 21 up to 39 but if there was somebody that was going to college about ready to graduate and they're in that 2021 range I mean how hard is that 21 do you have to actually be 21 to show a birth certificate or could I be 20 and a half and about ready to graduate and still be able to join. Well we keep our membership to that age range so that we're able to provide enough for those that are currently members of colleges we have done a lot of partnerships a lot of MBA programs and business clubs out there and there's a lot of opportunities in the future for sure but college students are definitely an opportunity for us to inspire them at the moment of graduation and also in Hawaii as a business community we want to keep them local we want to keep them here and hopefully they find really great jobs and really great employers that are willing to offer again this type of leadership and this type of programming benefit on the side of their job. Let me through a little bit about you know let's just say somebody graduated from college they just started their job their employer is a supporter of the YP program now what do they do how do they get involved who do they talk to they can go to the website they can fill out an application but does somebody there to help them walk them through the process and maybe guide them a little bit. There really is there's actually a new program that Jacob had launched that maybe you can speak on called Morning Buzz. So the Morning Buzz is really casual coffee talk you know it gets the weirdness out of the way for those individuals that were thinking about it and heard their friends are a part of it and what it does is it makes sure it signifies that we're able to be there and answer those questions or answer those worries and make sure that it's not a kind of a awkward moment of stepping up to who you can be and you know there's a lot of whys out there why should I join an organization like this why do I want to you know spend my time going to a class or a networking event instead of doing Paul Honda with my friends you know and in all in all retrospect you know they have to answer these questions themselves and the why has to be there but we're definitely there to engage with them and to show them that there's massive potential within themselves as the years come it all takes time timing is everything as well too but we're not a crowd that's going to scare anybody away that's for sure you know and you're right I think it's not for everybody everybody's priorities are going to be a little bit different they're going to want to do and achieve different things in life but for those that are at least wanting to explore you know the business side of things and a career side of things there's probably no better way to do this I mean the exact connect that you mentioned earlier I mean this is a great way to meet some very successful people in the community and find out how they did it and what they're doing and you know exact connects a really great program we run because it is for YP members only and there's no cost to attend we hold them about once a month and the format of the event is we have three executives from the business community here in Hawaii they come you have lunch you select who you want to be paired with and it's a small table just you that executive it may be you know seven or eight other YP members and you're able to talk story get to know them really engage with them and for a lot of our members this might be your only chance to be in a one-on-one type situation with a real you know head business leader yeah and it can be very revealing because I think some people can be intimidated and talking to some senior person has been in the business for 20 or 30 years and I have some high position but you find out that wow they're not that much different from me they just have more experience and getting experiences part of what this is all about right yeah and I can tell you there's a lot of CEOs that I've gotten feedback from presidents that I've gone feedback from owners you know really excited to see this new generation putting themselves up front and connecting with them and wanting to learn more and I think that's something that we are really proud of is bridging that gap between those that have already have already reached success to those that are you know working its way up there you know we're really blessed to have a lot of wonderful executives that participate in our program and they really get a lot out of it too and they like to see this great initiative that the young professionals in our group have and that really is a benefit to them very good well we're going to have to wrap up it went very quickly as always every time so you know but there's what's the website again Jacob you're so good at that it's www.cocoid.org backslashyp program we do have our holiday end of year event December first I believe and we also have a morning buzz if you want to find out some more information about us again log on to the website very good well congratulations on moving up into the new position and congratulations on your upcoming transfer to Washington so this is a business in Hawaii with Reg Baker we broadcast live every Thursday from 2 to 2.30 from the ThinkTech studios in downtown Hololulu I want to thank the excellent staff that we have here today handling all the technical side of the show until next week aloha