 Aloha, and welcome to Small Adventures in Small Business, a collaborative effort by the SBA Small Business Administration, VBOT Veterans Business Outreach Center of the Pacific, SBDC Small Business Development Center of Hawaii, and MCBL, the Patsy Teeming Center for Business and Leadership. All great partners. I'm Terri Funakoshi, and I'm your host today. And I'm so excited to have Julie Arakaki with us today. So Julie, I'm going to have to read your title. It's so long. She's such a great entrepreneur, owner of Hawaii Wedding Style magazine, the best Hawaii wedding and founder of Wedding Week Hawaii. So Julie, tell us about your background. So I'm actually a journalism major with a speech minor from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. And immediately after school, I started working for a photographer, where I picked up the photography trade. I had moments, memories, photography for about 10 years, where I was professional wedding photographer and portrait photographer. And then in 2006, we were given the opportunity to purchase Hawaii Bride and Groom magazine at that time, and from the original founder, Bridget Adams. And so at that point, my brother-in-law, who's also a graphic artist or designer, asked if we wanted to purchase this publication. And I said, hey, yeah, no problem, because I was an advertiser with that magazine for my wedding photography, and knew that it was a really good resource as far as advertising. I had a lot of success from that, so I thought it would really be a good opportunity for us to do so. 2006, no, I'm sorry, 2006, we purchased a publication and pretty much learned as we went along. Wow. That's great. But tell me about you too, Julie. I know you have a beautiful family, and it's kind of a family business, you just said, right? Right. So my brother-in-law is my business partner. My husband, Keith Aragaki, you know, he's not in the business, but he does give me moral support, and he'll give me advice every so often. And then we have our two children, Arian Aragaki and Aston Michael Aragaki. They're actually 25 and 28, so they're not babies, but they're still our babies. Oh, great. I've known you for a few years, so I know that Julie has a wonderful supportive family. So it's hard to be a woman entrepreneur and everything, so family support is important. Yes. It's just being the fact that you're the mother, and you're having to make sure that the house is running properly, and then also being able to run the business. It is a little bit challenging, but you have a good support team. It just makes things a whole lot easier. Right. Right. So tell us a little bit about the magazine. So the magazine, when we took it over in 2006, we actually gave it a little bit of a makeover. What we do is all of the content in our publication are Hawaii weddings. We don't feature anything outside of the islands. And for us, it's really, really important for us to promote our industry in Hawaii. I don't know if you know, or a lot of people know, but the wedding industry worldwide is about $220 billion. So basically, out of that $220 billion, our islands or our state will be fighting for every piece that they can get. And so what we need to do is we need to make it easier and for people to understand what it is that our incredible wedding specialists can do here in the islands. So we highlight real weddings that have taken place throughout the state. We want to showcase the talented wedding professionals that we have in our state. And to really elevate our industry by showcasing what Hawaii has to offer and that we can compete with Los Angeles and New York, because we have the talent here. We have beautiful weather and amazing beaches. And yeah, so I mean, it's just everything is perfect for a destination here, wedding here in Hawaii. I know. And I was looking through the magazine. I noticed, like you said, it's all about Hawaii, and there's so many Hawaii vendors in there. I mean, the wedding industry supports a lot of small businesses. And just in the wedding industry, I mean, I always tease you that you're the queen of weddings. So I mean, yeah, Tos, how many vendors are actually comprised of this wedding in Hawaii? The wedding industry here in Hawaii, I mean, we have hundreds of businesses. And because if you think about it, it's your photographers, it's your caterers, it's your florists, it's your venues, it's your videographers, your wedding coordinators. So in each of those categories, you have a lot of vendors to choose from. So it is a big industry. But a lot of people also don't realize the fact that our industry really plays a huge role in the tourism economy here in our audience. Because we'll use the Japanese weddings, for example. So for every couple that comes to Hawaii to get married from Japan, they on average bring in 12 and a half bodies to our state. And so that's affecting our hotel accommodations. It's affecting the shopping, the dining, the activities. So it does play a huge role in the tourism economy here in our islands. Great. And I know that you are talking about, because you've been in the business so long, it kind of spurred into another business, you know, the, can you tell us about that? Yeah. So I think for me, whenever I do something, I have to be passionate about it. I always tell myself, if I'm not passionate about something that I'm currently doing in 10 years, I don't think it's right for me to do it just because it wouldn't be fair for the people that we're servicing. And then it also wouldn't be fair to me. But we found that there was a need. So we created the best Hawaii wedding. What that is, it's a company that actually markets and manages smaller venues. So as a smaller venue who maybe like has an owner that has like one property, he really doesn't have the resources or maybe even the manpower to market and then manage the weddings that take place on property. So that's where our company, the best Hawaii wedding comes in, where we actually do all of the marketing with our platforms, as well as manage weddings on those properties. And so what we do is we utilize the advertisers that we have in our magazine to be able to, I guess, provide services for those weddings. So we try to kind of loop everything together and connect everything that way. But yeah, I mean, we want to make it easy for people to find a venue if they're planning a destination wedding or even someone here locally. But to find the venue and being able to make sure that they're confident that they'll be able to show up and they'll have this wedding that they've always dreamed of because, you know, most of the times it's a once in a lifetime event. So great. So you have business to consumer. The magazine is to consumers, business to business. You help the wedding, the venues, you help the businesses find the venues. So what kind of venues are there in Hawaii that you're working with or featuring? OK, so for the Hawaii Wedding Style magazine, what we do is we actually help all of our advertisers. So it could be hotels. It could be individual properties. It could be companies that are coordination companies that maybe have a venue that they work off of. But we also do have, I think, eight properties that we have for the best Hawaii wedding. And so it ranges anywhere from a chapel, chapel locations, private homes. We also just picked up the Vitamia. So I think we have a photo of that. So the Vitamia is a very historic boat. I think it's been around since the 1800s. Louis Vuitton rode on that boat. Elizabeth Taylor would actually rent the boat out while she was on vacation. So it does have a huge history of people that have been on it. But it was just actually recently certified with the Coast Guard to accommodate a larger party. So now we're able to do a 38 people wedding party on that boat. What we do is we take it out, dock it in front of Diamond Head, and then perform the ceremony there. And then they can also have their small cocktail party or a little reception in there. So romantic. Yeah, no, it is really romantic. And if you did it on a Friday night in front of the Hilton, you'll get the Hilton fireworks. So yeah, so we try to do things that are innovative, that things I guess you wouldn't really think of as far as wedding locations. But we want to try to provide that for somebody that wants something a little different. Oh, that's great. So we have the magazine. We have the venues and helping the advertisers. And then you have another portion, right? Yeah, so we just came up. Two years ago we launched Wedding Week Hawaii. And Wedding Week Hawaii basically is a project that I thought we needed or our state needed to really bring our industry together. Like I always believe in, yeah, that's a photo of our team. I always believe that it's really important for people to work together. A lot of times people view others as competitors. And yes, they are. But I feel like if everyone can work together, there really is a lot of business. And you can't do all of the weddings. Your company can't do all of the weddings. So it really helps to kind of get together and form a unity. And so Wedding Week was created two years ago. And what I wanted was I wanted to really bring our industry together. I wanted it to be easy for wedding planners, wedding coordinators for destination weddings. And anyone wanting to plan a wedding easier. Because working with the coordination side the best Hawaii weddings, we were actually able to listen to and learn what brides or wedding planners struggle with when planning a wedding, a destination wedding here in the heavens. And so what we wanted to do is we wanted to make it so easy that it would be a no-brainer for them to come here. So that's what we did is we reached out to our fellow wedding specialists. And you'd be surprised. There were a lot of people that stepped up and really felt that it was a need. And basically it's a love project. So everyone volunteers their time. We all unify. It's a week long of events that we do throughout the state, actually. So we have participation on Oahu. We had participation last year from Maui and then the big islands. So eventually we want it to be really statewide and really bring our state together as far as highlighting Hawaii as the premier wedding destination. Wow, that's a great big project. So I know it's a week long. So can you tell me some of the lessons learned? How did you guys debrief? What's going forward? Yeah, so what we've done is I think we've made huge progress in two years. And we're all really proud of that. We've started working with the Hawaii Tourism Association and the individual, so Oahu Visitors Bureau, Kauai Visitors Bureau, Maui Visitors Bureau. And we're working with them to see what it is that we can do to make it more beneficial to everybody. And so one of it being that because we're trying to bring in wedding planners and travel partners from all over the world, we want to kind of now consider doing it on a low season. So whether hotel rooms are a little bit less. So people, it's more affordable for people to come to wedding week. And so for 2019, we're actually going to be moving it from February to October. And so I don't know if you know, but I think engagement season starts in November like about Thanksgiving. Oh, I didn't know that. OK, so there is kind of like an engagement season. But it's around Thanksgiving and it ends on Valentine's Day. And so immediately after that is kind of when everybody starts ramping up for wedding planning, right? So what we wanted to do is we wanted to give the travel partners out there the opportunity to know what we have to offer as a state and to be able to get them ready to help all of these people wanting to plan a destination wedding, the resources for them to do so. Wow, that's great. I'm learning a lot. So we're going to take a quick break one minute. And when we come back, we're going to learn more about the wedding industry with Julie Aragaki. Thank you. I'm Dave Stevens, host of the Cyber Underground. This is where we discuss everything that relates to computers that just kind of scare you out of your mind. So come join us every week here on thinktecawai.com, 1 PM on Friday afternoons. And then you can go see all our episodes on YouTube. Just look up the Cyber Underground on YouTube. All our shows will show up. And please follow us. We're always giving you current, relevant information to protect you. Keepin' you safe. Aloha. I am Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Cold Green Force, Thinktecawai. I appear every other Monday at 3. And I have really, really exciting guests on the exciting topic of energy efficiency. Hope to see you there. Welcome back. We're with Julie Aragaki. I'm just going to call you the queen of weddings already, because I'm learning so much today. So Julie, for the business side, people watching wanting to get into the wedding business or they're already in the business and they want to move forward, can you give us some tips, suggestions on what they should do, how they should take those challenges? So I really believe, again, working together. So coming up, it's good to work with a variety of people. But find people that you trust and that you work well together. Because when you think about it, it's not just one person helping somebody at their wedding. It's a team or a village of people that actually have to come together and work cohesively to give a bride and groom their dream wedding. So if you find that there's people that you work with, because in everything, you always have people that you can work with. And for some reason, you just mesh and just everything flows really, really nicely. So I encourage people to get out there, maybe join some of the professional wedding associations. Every island has a chapter. There is Oahu Wedding Association. There's Maui Wedding Association. There is the Hawaii Island Wedding Association and the Kauai Professional Wedding Association. So each island has a chapter. It's a good way to network that way. And I noticed that a lot of people are doing like little pop-up events. So they're doing little mini wedding weeks, I guess. So I think Kahala Hotel is having one in, I think, September, October. But it's a showcase. And what they do is they open up their property and they have all these wedding specialists come and showcase what they have to offer. And again, it's like their little unit that I think they feel comfortable working with. And that's kind of what they do to really help showcase what that property can do. So a lot of people are doing that. But I really believe it's just getting together with other professionals in the industry to see what's out there, see what you can do, see, do innovative things to elevate our industry. Volunteer for Wedding Week, it's really, really good. The positive comments that we've had from Wedding Week is the fact that if it wasn't for Wedding Week, they would have never worked with this other vendor. But because you have to work together to execute a week-long worth of events, it takes a lot of people to do that. So we depend on a lot of people. And I think friendships have been made and business relationships have been made. I think the special thing for our islands is because we all have that aloha spirit. You're born and raised here, and that's how it is. And to help one another out, I think, is really, really important. And on the Hawaii ride side, if you want to join our, we call it our Hawaii Wedding South Family, we'll be more than happy to help you and showcase your work. We do a lot of collaboration. So when we put our editorial layout together in the magazine, we actually reach out to our current advertising pool, and we ask them to collaborate. And so a lot of times, they're working with people that they normally wouldn't have collaborated with before. And so that's my whole thing is, I feel like I was put on this planet to bring people together. I feel like I'm a roller-deck, so the wedding queen connector. I'm just putting people together that need help. I think this person would be a great fit here. And so I feel like that's what my role is, and that's what I was put on this planet to do, to connect people. And I know you also, for the business side, for business help, what would you recommend if they need help with their business, or legal matters, or anything like that? Well, I mean, it's not a plug or anything. So I really believe that the Patsy Mac Business Center is a really good resource, especially for women entrepreneurs. I mean, I don't know if that's true, but I feel like you have to balance your family, and then you're trying to run this business. It's hard, and I think having the support, even knowing that you just have this support somewhere, that you can kind of call on them any time that you have a question, or you need legal advice, you can always just pick up the phone or email and just reach out to someone at the center. And they'll give you helpful advice. And sometimes if you have to consult with your attorney, it just kind of adds up. So by having your resource, I feel like it really supports the business women entrepreneurs. And I think just having that relationship and just knowing that the friendship and the support is really, really important for anyone that is trying to maintain a small business or starting up a small business. So in the wedding industry, is it mostly women, or do you know what the breakdown is? I don't know what the percentage is, but I want to say probably more majority women than men, but we do have some. We have Jezz with Jezz Events. He's a male wedding coordinator. So we have a lot of men in the industry and your videographers and your photographers. But I want to say it's a little bit more skewed to the female. Because I remember saying a lot of women entrepreneurs feel needs. So I think we know what we want for the wedding, so we've got to make sure it's there. And that's how a lot of coordinators get started. They plan their own wedding and they said, OK, well, that was fun. And they don't want it to end. So they become wedding coordinators so they can be at a wedding every week. And that's a good thing about weddings. I mean, it is a stressful day, but I feel like you're actually part of someone's life. You're making, in your own little way, you're kind of making a huge difference in someone's life. And at the end of the day, it's a really happy occasion. And it's so awesome to be able to be a part of that 365 days of a year. So should I ask you how many weddings have you been involved in? Well, I guess if you added up all the businesses, I really can't tell you. No, I think you're not so happy all the time. I think that the photography part of it, I was able to directly interact. Because I think coordinators and photographers spend the most time with the wedding couple. And just having that relationship and being able to interact and seeing the happiness and joy of making a difference means so much to me. Well, I know you have a really good eye because I've seen all the work you've done, and it's tremendous. Thank you. I know everyone who's worked with you is only good things. Aw, thanks. So on that, I want to know, how do we get involved? I know you said you need volunteers for wedding week. What does that look like? Can anybody volunteer? Yeah, I mean, we actually have help from the UH Business School, the Marketing Association. And then we also are going to be working with the Tim School, so Travel and Industry Management School. But we want volunteers. I mean, we need models. We need people that are helping us plan these events. We need just somebody just looking over volunteers. I mean, really, the more help that we can get, the bigger that we can grow wedding week, and hopefully generate more income for our wedding industry, but also to help with our tourism economy as well. Well, that's really great. Can we give them a website where they can get in touch, or any contact information? Yeah, so my personal email address is julie at hawaiibride.com. They can always go to hawaiibride.com, which is our magazine website. We have the best hawaiiwedding.com, which is our marketing and venue management company. And then we also have weddingweekawaii.com, which is my wedding week. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Julia. It was a pleasure having you here today. Thank you. And so please stay tuned for Adventures in Small Business every Thursday at 11 o'clock. I'm Terri, and thank you for joining us.