How do you give back to your community?

Professionally, at Watanabe Floral, we embrace our role as a community leader. In fact, we have increased the number of fundraisers we do yearly. This year, we have already completed a monthly fundraiser with the Women’s Fund of Hawaii (March) and the Kapiolani Children’s Miracle Network (May). In July, we’ll be working with Alzheimer’s Association-Hawaii; in August, B.R.A.V.E. Hawaii; and in October, Breast Cancer Awareness.  

We love not only helping to raise necessary dollars, but more importantly help raise awareness for these organizations while instilling in our own team a commitment to the greater good for our community. In addition, we have an extensive list of non-profit organizations that receive excess flowers if/when they are available. We love seeing all flowers help to bring happiness and joy in some way. These flowers have been used in hospitals, care homes, churches, schools and even in prisons to provide activities and a positive environment for healing and nurturing.

Personally, I am on a few boards, coached soccer for many years and led business networking organizations and through these opportunities enjoy the feeling of using my time and knowledge to help others. Understanding that giving of one’s time can bring a smile to someone else! I love what an incredible feeling it is to do for others and make a positive impact wherever we can, and I am inspired by so many in our community that do so much more!

What does giving back mean to you?  

To me, giving back is not a financial thing. It might be where you are able to give financially to benefit organizations or causes, but for me it is more a mindset of committing to helping make a difference in our community. Often, your time and talent are more important to getting things accomplished than your financial ability. I believe this message is so critical because for many, if they can’t donate, they feel as though they are unable to help. That is not true. EVERYONE has talent and we all have time that when used together for a positive cause can lead to incredible results!!

What are some of the biggest challenges facing your industry?

Don’t get me wrong, we are in an industry that is so blessed because we help bring happiness and joy every day! We are also in an extremely difficult and complicated industry. First, we are dealing with highly perishable products with a finite amount of time to move before they are not saleable. Especially here in Hawai‘i, with so few farms left producing flowers, we see over 90% of the flowers used in Hawai‘i coming from out of state and often out of country. For this reason, sourcing, logistics/transportation, climate change, global economic conditions/events all have an impact on how and what we can do. We are in an industry where you can plan everything perfectly, yet one storm in California or strike in South America can prevent all those plans from succeeding. Sometimes, you can feel powerless with many variables outside of our control.

Secondly, staffing is such a challenge for us, but really for the entire state. Finding enough people has been impossible since we pulled out of the pandemic. We are currently seeking 5+ team members for various positions on our team. Without the necessary staff, we are limited in our ability to grow and even do as much as we’d want to do for Hawai‘i. We are so grateful for the support and patience of our guests as we do our very best to share the Spirit of Aloha with them, despite our staffing challenges.

Finally, we are in a very competitive industry. When we were growing up, if you wanted flowers, you went to a flower shop. However, today, if you want flowers, you can get them virtually everywhere. Supermarkets, big box stores, farmers markets, as well as online where national brands like FTD spend millions on advertising. This competition has led to many local flower shops closing over the years. That is why whenever I have the opportunity, I thank the people of Hawai‘i and ask them to continue to support local business and local flower shops whose livelihood depends on their floral sales, not like corporate entities where flowers have little meaning to them other than as a commodity they provide. It may cost a little more to visit your local flower shop, but what you get will be filled with love and passion for flowers and how they make people happy!

What makes you stand out as a leader?  

I am reluctant to use the term stand out, but what I believe makes me an effective leader is my love for people! I love people and try to keep a positive, infectious, inspiring attitude every day! I hope everyone feels that love and enthusiasm and commitment to doing not only what is best for our organization and community, but also what is best for them individually. Also, I don’t hold myself above anyone else in our organization and make it a point to interact and engage with each team member so everyone knows and feels how important they are and how much they are appreciated.  

As a leader, you also must embrace challenges and be able to react, pivot, and move the team forward regardless of the obstacle. You must be willing to stay calm when there is a crisis. The team will sense a leader’s calmness and that will allow them to feel confident everything will be okay, despite the situation we could be facing.

You also must be a great listener, willing to hear what your team is saying and then acting on those things to create positive results. Great leaders are humble enough to be willing to hear not only the good, but more importantly the negative, so they can take necessary steps to correct moving forward. I always encourage feedback, good or bad, and by doing so, you instill a level of confidence in your team to feel comfortable speaking out, suggesting new ideas and providing important information needed to help us be successful. I recognize that for Watanabe Floral to achieve our goals, it takes all our team working together, feeling inspired, appreciated, and enthusiastic! After all, we are Bringing Happiness to you!

How have you grown and pivoted in the past five years? 

At Watanabe Floral, our corporate vision is E Ho‘omau Pono. Ho‘omau in Hawaiian means to continue to last, to be willing to change and perpetuate. Pono, of course, is the Hawaiian term for doing the right thing. When put together, E Ho‘omau Pono for us means, to perpetuate and continue to last by doing things with morality EVERY TIME! With that as a backdrop, there has been no better challenge to our corporate vision than the pandemic. It was hopefully a once in a lifetime situation we will not endure again; however, it was a tremendous opportunity for growth.  

I think everyone understands the pivots that were required by most companies and industries.  At Watanabe Floral, we had to change what we do and products we carry as well as how we did it. But, for me the growth was in the understanding of focusing on the greater good beyond just Watanabe Floral.  

I tried to lead the entire floral industry, working with government leaders, and partnering with the Chamber of Commerce to advocate for the floral and event industries specifically, but also all the business community. It was much more about “us” and not “them.” It was collaboration over competition and finding ways to partner with others to create mutual successes. One example is that to avoid continually being shut down, Watanabe Floral became a food provider, carrying both fresh fruits and vegetables as well as local treats. When doing so, we sought out local providers and partners that were also struggling so that in helping Watanabe Floral, we’d also be helping them remain solvent. I loved the thought of how we can do this together and did not shy away from leading for the benefit of everyone. I am hopeful all of us in the business world and community will resist the temptation to go back to competing at all costs and remember that collaboration and mutual success is an ideal result!