What was your first job, and what did it teach you about people?
My first job was at Nielsen Media Research, cold-calling households across the country to recruit them for the national TV ratings. It was a crash course in humility. When you interrupt someone’s dinner to ask them to log a week of their TV viewing, you learn quickly that you can’t talk at people from a script.
You have to listen, figure out what matters to them in that moment, and speak to them like a person, not a telemarketer. Most people hung up on me. The ones who didn’t taught me that behind every data point is a real person with their own habits, preferences, and motivations. That job is also what first got me interested in audience measurement and consumer research, the idea that you could actually understand who people are and what moves them.
It’s a curiosity that never really left me, and it still shapes how I approach every campaign. Good marketing goes far beyond the message itself. It’s also about understanding someone well enough to reach them in a moment when they’re genuinely receptive to you.
How did your background in the agency world prepare you for this role?
More than anything, my agency years gave me discipline and range. I spent years in media planning and buying for global brands across various product categories, negotiating with media partners, managing massive media budgets, and using audience data to inform where every dollar should go. That work teaches you to move fast, think at scale, learn a new audience quickly, and let research rather than instinct drive the strategy. That’s the foundation I draw on
every day now.
What misconception do people have about your role?
When I tell people I work for Cirque du Soleil, the first question is usually whether I perform in the show. I do not, and everyone is better off for it! The real misconception is subtler. People assume that in a place like Waikīkī, with millions of visitors a year, an attraction like ours just fills itself. It doesn’t. It’s also more fragmented than people think.
We’re reaching very different people at very different moments: affluent travelers planning months out, couples already here deciding how to spend one of their few nights, locals choosing somewhere to go this weekend. Each decision happens in a different place and on a different timeline. The seats don’t fill themselves. Filling them, night after night, is the actual job.
How do you protect your peace during high-pressure seasons?
What keeps me grounded is being deliberate about how the day starts. Every morning, my husband and I sit down for coffee. He works West Coast hours and is already a few hours into his workday, but we protect that time anyway. No phones, no television, no emails, just a few minutes before the day takes over.
Then I have a beautiful early morning walk to work through the heart of Waikīkī. After years of chasing the next big thing, starting the day this way reminds me how lucky I am to be here. Left alone, work will take every hour you give it, so guarding those first few quiet minutes is what keeps the rest of the day in proportion.
What has it meant to build ʻAuana from the ground up?
Helping bring ‘Auana from concept to opening night is something I’ll never take for granted. On the marketing side, I shaped how the show was introduced to the world: developing our key visual, directing photo shoots and ad campaigns, and more recently launching our official soundtrack.
Getting to work alongside such talented artists, designers, and cultural leaders has been a real honor and highlight of my career. The other reward has been the challenge itself. ‘Auana is Cirque’s first resident show in Hawaiʻi, so there was no playbook, historical plan, or comparable show to study.
Every decision was a first, made in real time and adjusted as we learned. Opening night was a thrill, but it was the easy part. The harder work is making it last, growing our audience alongside our partners at the Outrigger Waikiki Beachcomber, who gave the show its home, and staying connected to the community that embraced us, not just selling to them. The launch was a proud moment, and making it last is the work I’m most committed to now.
