Wahine Forward panelists

AAUW Honolulu Work Smart Team

Anne Abaya
Anne Abaya is a retired Global Human Resources Executive who is a graduate of UH Mānoa, and earned a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management from Pepperdine University. Anne worked for the Department of Defense in Human Resources in Japan and in the U.S. before joining General Electric (GE) Company. During her 28 years at GE, Anne worked in several manufacturing and financial services businesses as well as corporate organizations in the U.S. and Asia. In her latter years at GE, her focus was on growing GE’s global consumer finance business, leading the HR activities of an organization with approximately 50,000 employees in 50 countries. She especially enjoyed the coaching and development of the company’s Asian Leaders. Anne was the first multi-cultural woman to be elected a GE Company Officer in their 100+ year history. She was a founding member of the GE Women’s Network as well as the Asian and Pacific American Forum. Anne returned to Hawai‘i to retire and has been a member of AAUW. She also volunteers at the YWCA’s Dress for Success Program.

Hope Bennett
Hope Bennett is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford University School of Law. Before taking time off to raise her three young sons, Hope was an attorney with Goodsill, Anderson, Quinn & Stifel where she specialized in employment law. Prior to her position with Goodsill, she was a Judicial Extern for the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins in the District Court of Northern California. Before launching her legal career, Hope worked for the I Have a Dream Foundation in San Francisco, California as an Americorps Vista Community Outreach Coordinator, and also as a Marketing Manager for the historic Yale Club of New York City. Hope now is actively involved in community endeavors as a mediator with the Mediation Center of the Pacific, a career coach with the YWCA’s Dress for Success program and a Board member of AAUW Honolulu. She is fluent in Spanish and devotes her time and talents to helping women advance their careers.

Valerie Lam
Valerie T. Lam holds a Bachelor's Degree in international relations from Bucknell University and is currently an MBA candidate at the Shidler College of Business at UH Mānoa. She has over 15 years of experience as a paralegal, in a breadth of practice areas ranging from intellectual property to labor and employment law. As part of her career shift, Val was a participant in AAUW Honolulu’s first Wahine Work Smart Forum, and joined AAUW Honolulu’s Work Smart Team in late 2019. She was the Business Development Coordinator for Pacific Gateway Center, a non-profit working with Hawai‘i’s immigrant community and was the Marketing Director for a local, family-owned restaurant. A transplant from Washington, DC, Val and her spouse (along with their cat) moved to Hawai‘i five years ago.

Beverly Munson
Beverly (Bev) Munson is a retired Human Resources Executive whose career spans a multitude of industries including banking, healthcare, software development, internet platform, government and several not-for-profit organizations. She is the former owner of Human Resources Contracting Services where she worked with clients focusing on HR Department Infrastructure and Operations, Recruitment, Legal Compliance, Workplace Investigations, and Litigation Consulting. For the former publishing division of the Council on Education in Management, Bev authored several books on Human Resources Management and Employment Law compliance. Bev is a graduate of Fresno State University, and holds a Master’s Degree from San Francisco State University. With her husband Lee, also a Human Resources Executive, she co-developed and launched the Human Resources Administration Program at Santa Rosa Jr. College. In retirement, Bev volunteers with AAUW working on legislative advocacy and other programs that focus on workplace equity and economic security for women. In 2018 she was appointed by Mayor Kirk Caldwell to the Honolulu Committee on the Status of Women, and currently serves as Vice Chair of that Committee.

Entrepreneurial Women

Maile Au (moderator)
Maile Au is an alumni engagement specialist with 12+ years’ experience in increasing community engagement at local, state, and international levels in higher education and non-profit settings. She joined the UH Foundation in 2008 as director of alumni engagement for the Shidler College of Business and was promoted to director of alumni engagement for UH Mānoa in 2016. In 2019 Maile was promoted to senior executive director of alumni relations where she leads a comprehensive engagement program for UH alumni around the globe.

She is a proud UH alumna and earned her MBA from the Shidler College of Business at UH Mānoa and her BS from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

Hilary Hartling
After spending 15 years marketing movies from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Touchstone and Dreamworks, helping launch multi-million dollar franchises and managing global brands with fiercely loyal fans, Hilary Hartling has a deep knowledge and innate skill in growing and leveraging strategic brands. Hilary made the leap from corporate to founding her own brand strategy business to help others create unforgettable brands to inspire their audiences. She’s on a mission to help visionary entrepreneurs make an impact by translating their brand vision into aligned strategies and clear messaging that resonates.

Hilary is a proud UH alumna and earned her Bachelor's from the Shidler College of Business at UH Mānoa and her MA in Global Marketing Communication & Advertising from Emerson College in Boston.

Karen Krasne
Karen Krasne is the owner and executive pastry chef of Extraordinary Desserts and the best-selling cookbook author of Extraordinary Cakes: Recipes for Bold and Sophisticated Desserts, which is in its third print.

Krasne was a featured dessert chef at the James Beard House and has been named one of the top ten pastry chefs in the country by Forbes magazine. What makes her desserts showstoppers are the touches of fresh fruits and flowers, gold leaf, Valrhona chocolate, and striking flavor combinations. Inspired by her worldwide travels, Karen frequently introduces new desserts and flavor profiles, offering guests new and exciting options to try amidst her long list of signatures.  Her desserts and dishes are as delicious as they are beautiful.

She has trained extensively and annually with French masters at the Cordon Bleu, LeNotre, Valrhona, Pierre Hermes, and Bellouet Conseil.

Shaiyanne Dar
Shaiyanne Dar is the Owner of Dolkii Hawai‘i, an online boutique that has become known for its soft graphic tees, featuring island inspired designs. In the spring of 2018, Dolkii launched the WAHINE Collection in partnership with Women's Fund of Hawai‘i (WFH), a local nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls statewide. A portion of sales from all Wahine tees sold are donated to WFH, and since its launch, Dolkii has donated over $15,000 to support the continued efforts of WFH.

Shaiyanne is an Aiea High School alumna, and graduated at the age of 20 with a Bachelors in Finance & International Business from UH Mānoa. She later continued her education at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles where she specialized in apparel manufacturing and merchandising. Shaiyanne has 10+ years of corporate + startup experience in retail planning, allocations, buying and Ecommerce.

Leading Women

Amy Hennessey (moderator)
Amy Hennessey serves as the senior vice president of communications and external affairs, providing strategic counsel to Ulupono Initiative’s internal team and external partners. She oversees all areas of strategic marketing and communications, government affairs, and community partnerships in support of achieving the mission-driven firm’s goals and objectives. Amy is also responsible for building relationships with focus-area leaders and other internal and external partners. She is a member of Ulupono Initiative’s management team.

Amy has lectured at UH Mānoa and has more than 20 years of experience in corporate, nonprofit and agency public relations. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism/Public Relations from UH. Amy is an accredited member (APR) of the Hawai‘i chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA Hawai‘i) and has served as the professional advisor to the UH chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America since 2002. Amy holds the distinction of being a 2007 member of Pacific Business News’ Forty Under 40 class and a 2008 Pacific Century Fellow. She was also named PRSA Hawai‘i’s 2012 PR Person of the Year and a Woman to Watch in the 2015 Pacific Business News “Women Who Mean Business” Awards.

In addition, Amy is actively supporting her belief in access to education and healthy communities through her service on the board of directors for Helping Hands Hawai‘i and the University of Hawai‘i Alumni Association, as well as the Regents Candidate Advisory Council and a co-organizer for the annual Mānoa Forum.

Kathryn Ko
Kathryn Ko, MD, MFA, FAANS, graduated with a BA from the University of Hawai‘i and finished medical school at the John A Burns School of Medicine. Dr. Ko completed Neurosurgery training at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and earned a Master’s of Fine Art in 2012 from Academy Art University. Her neurosurgery practice and art studio are located in New York City. She is the Artist in Residence at the Living Museum and served as the inaugural Artist in Residence for the American Medical Women's Association. Her paintings, drawings, cartoons and videos can be viewed on Instagram @doc_ambidexter.

Camille Nelson
Camille Nelson has long been an outstanding member of the legal community. Prior to her appointment as Dean of UH Mānoa's William S. Richardson School of Law Dean Nelson served as Dean of American University Washington College of Law (WCL). Prior to her appointment at WCL, she was the first woman and person of color to serve as Dean of Suffolk University Law School in Boston. She was also a Professor of Law at Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, a Dean’s Scholar in Residence and Visiting Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, and a Professor of Law at Saint Louis University School of Law. She has taught Contracts, Criminal Law, Torts, Critical Race Theory, Comparative Criminal Law, Transnational Law, Criminal Procedure, and Professional Responsibility. Prior to entering academia, Dean Nelson was a litigator at McCarthy Tétrault (a large Canadian law firm), and clerked for Justice Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Dean Nelson’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of critical race theory and cultural studies, with particular emphasis on health law, criminal law and procedure, and comparative law. She has published many impactful articles, chapters, and essays that have appeared in publications such as the Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law, Yale Journal of Law & Feminism, New York University Review of Law & Social Change. She recently served as a co-editor of the Journal of Legal Education of the Association of American Law Schools.

Her scholarship and leadership in higher education has been recognized through a variety of awards and honors. She was recently named among the Top 35 Women in Higher Education by Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine, and was listed as one of the “Most Influential People in Legal Education” by the National Jurist. Dean Nelson also received the Paul Robeson Distinguished Alumni Award from the Black Law Students Association of Columbia Law School in 2017. In recognition of her leadership in diversity and inclusion, Suffolk University Law School’s annual diversity award has been named in her honor. During her time at Saint Louis University School of Law, she was recognized as both Professor of the year and with a Faculty Excellence Award.

Recently, her professional service engagements include serving on the Executive and Steering Committees of the Association of American Law Schools, the board of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, the board of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE), the President’s Advisory Network on Global Legal Education for the Law School Admissions Council, the board of the Avasant Foundation (with a mission to improve lives and communities by empowering youth in emerging economies through education, employment and entrepreneurship), and the Overseers’ Committee to Visit Harvard Law School. Nelson completed a three-year term on the American Bar Association Center for Innovation, where she chaired the Fellowship Committee. Dean Nelson has previously been appointed to the Senator Warren and Senator Markey Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Judicial Nominations.

Dean Nelson holds a BA with high distinction from the University of Toronto in Administration, a magna cum laude law degree from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, and an LLM from Columbia Law School.

Shelee Kimura
Shelee Kimura is responsible for customer service for the Hawaiian Electric Companies, which includes the strategy and operations for customer relations, customer solutions, field services and revenue management. She also oversees customer energy resources which is a critical component of Hawaiian Electric’s strategy to achieve 100 percent renewables.

Shelee previously served as Senior Vice President of Business Development & Strategic Planning overseeing the areas of business development, corporate strategy, renewable generation procurement and contracts, demand response and electrification of transportation. She provided leadership for the development of Hawaiian Electric’s strategic transformation plan, co-led its Transformation Program and led several of its strategic initiatives to create more options for customers, integrate more renewables and create new markets.

Prior to joining the Hawaiian Electric Companies, Shelee served as manager of Investor Relations and Strategic Planning at Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI). She previously worked as HEI’s director, corporate finance and investments and prior to that was a consulting manager at Arthur Andersen and its successor firm, KMH LLP.

In 2016, the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) program led by the U.S. Department of Energy, in collaboration with the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy and the MIT Energy Initiative, awarded Shelee with the C3E Business award for her leadership and achievement.

Shelee was honored this year as one of three women selected for the 2020 Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i Women of Distinction, an award that recognizes the achievements of women who demonstrate courage, confidence and character.

Shelee graduated Summa Cum Laude from UH Mānoa with a bachelor of business administration degree and was a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship. She is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Shelee is an Omidyar Fellow and serves on the boards of the Hawai‘i Institute for Public Affairs and Na Kama Kai, the Kamehameha Schools Audit Committee, and the University of Hawai‘i Outreach College Advisory Council. Shelee has three children with her husband of 21 years.

University of Hawai‘i Alumni