![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/03\/mw-cover-030420-girl-scouts-ac-12.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Hailed as dedicated businesswomen and leaders within their professions, Gina Woo Anonuevo, Shelee Kimura and Crystal Kaiulani Rose are this year\u2019s honorees at Girl Scouts of Hawai\u2018i\u2019s 2020 Women of Distinction Dinner.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Girl Scouts of Hawai\u2018i\u2019s 2020 Women of Distinction dinner March 13 will salute three already outstanding local leaders, and it promises to inspire the next generation of female movers and shakers among its 2,530 scouts statewide.<\/p>\n Cookies, camping, crafts and good deeds are on the agenda, of course, but the evening will be steeped in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) \u2014 career fields that are wide open for aspiring young women.<\/p>\n Men also are invited to attend, be entertained, eat well \u2014 and be very amazed.<\/p>\n “I love to analyze and find ways to make things better.” GINA WOO ANONUEVO<\/p><\/div>\n Headlining the annual GSH event are three role models with inspiring stories to share: First Hawaiian Bank executive vice president and chief compliance officer Gina Woo Anonuevo, Hawaiian Electric Co.\u2019s senior vice president of customer service Shelee Kimura, and Kamehameha Schools trustee Crystal Kaiulani Rose, who is also a founding law partner of Bays Lung Rose Holma. All are near the top of their careers with plenty to tell the young scouts.<\/p>\n The public is welcome at the gala benefit, which begins with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. in the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom. Besides the honorees\u2019 talks, there\u2019s a gourmet dinner, silent auction and scout-led activities. For details and to buy individual tickets (through March 10), the public may call 595-8400 or visit gshawaii.org\/womenofdistinction.<\/p>\n All proceeds stay with the Girl Scouts of Hawai\u2018i (GSH), which has embarked on an exciting STEM center project at Camp Paumalu, located on a forest ridge near Sunset Beach, and other initiatives designed to build world leaders out of local girls.<\/p>\n Of the trio, Anonuevo is the only one who didn\u2019t grow up with scouting. Coming from an admittedly dangerous, impoverished neighborhood in Oakland, California, she says she had neither the time nor the money to join a troop. She admits she\u2019s excited to learn that Hawai\u2018i now offers free afterschool scouting at 15 Title I schools and several other youth venues across the state. (There\u2019s even a small troop for homeless girls who meet through a partnership with Family Promise.)<\/p>\n “Don\u2019t let anyone tell you that being a girl is a limitation.” SHELEE KIMURA<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cI wish I could have been in it,\u201d Anonuevo says. \u201cI see their confidence level. But I was bussed across town to school and I took care of my younger sister afterwards while our parents worked \u2026 I went through a lot.\u201d The Chinese American is proud of being self-taught and having \u201cturned out OK.\u201d But she admits that a Girl Scout support system would have helped.<\/p>\n Her personal plan started when she left home at 17, stayed with her boyfriend and got by with part-time work as a bank teller and grocery store clerk. With the help of a wonderful couple who mentored her, she eventually earned a bachelor\u2019s in accounting from Cal-State Hayward and graduated from Pacific Coast Banking School in Seattle. Meanwhile, there was marriage, two sons to take care of, and an eventual divorce.<\/p>\n Anonueva came to Hawai\u2018i \u201cto work hard in a non-government job that paid for performance.\u201d She currently shares a Hawai\u2018i Kai home with her longtime fianc\u00e9 and seven dogs. Her sons are now grown and doing well in the Bay area, and her banking career has taken her all over the world, as she gained experience in auditing and anti-money laundering, and as a bank examiner in California and for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. She leads a team of 43 employees at FHB, Hawai\u2018i\u2019s largest bank, where they work with 2,100 others to keep the bank up-to-date and compliant with all rules and regulations to shield consumers from harm.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody knows what I do,\u201d Anonuevo laughs. What she does is \u201cmake sure that things don\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n “Work hard, study hard and dream big.” CRYSTAL KAIULANI ROSE<\/p><\/div>\n Just like Girl Scouts, mentoring is a huge part of her work here, where she\u2019s lived happily for 14 years. Among many other duties, she visits schools to share FHB\u2019s My Money program (\u201cThey don\u2019t know what checks are!\u201d), she partners with HPD to speak to k\u016bpuna on Safe Banking, and she helps teens earn a Passport Book certificate.<\/p>\n Free advice: \u201cI like the G for go-getter in Girl Scouts. You can\u2019t just sit and let things happen, but you must think of how you can make yourself better. For me, I love to analyze and find ways to do things better and problem solve, find the root cause and how to correct it for the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n A tip for self-comfort, notes the Hawaiian Humane Society board member: Get a dog.<\/p>\n Kimura is a proud graduate of Aiea High, University of Hawaii (as a Presidential Scholar) and the Advanced Management Program at University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School. She is a CPA with a lifelong passion for hula and an abiding love for the outdoors.<\/p>\n \u201cHula has given me perspective, experiences and life lessons that I would not have otherwise had,\u201d she explains, noting that her award-winning halau traveled far and wide, sharing Hawaiian culture, language and dance.<\/p>\n Despite claiming nature as her cherished \u201csanctuary,\u201d a terrifying thunderstorm during a Brownie campout as a child also left its mark. It\u2019s still vivid in her memory because surviving it gave her \u201ca sense of accomplishment.\u201d A few years ago, Kimura also took turns with other busy moms leading a Girl Scout troop for their girls. Daughter Kaelah fondly recalls the troop and the great friends she made.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was fun and hands-on,\u201d the youngster says. \u201cWith my dad, we made first aid kits and learning to do CPR. We did school craft fairs and hiked on Kaua\u2018i. It was a good time in my life.\u201d Kudos, Mom.<\/p>\n Thanks to Stan and Shelee Kimura\u2019s supportive, extended family, she is able to balance her role as wife and mother of three with her career at HECO to promote clean energy, which she views as one way to give back to her home state. Honored for her leadership in the field, Kimura currently oversees customer energy resources, such as rooftop photovoltaic systems and storage, strategy and operations. And she\u2019s proud of what the public utility has achieved.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are changing an entire system \u2026 and as a result of the joint effort of many, Hawai\u2018i is leading the nation in many ways\u201d \u2014 such as the percent of residential customers with rooftop solar on the grid. \u201cMy hope,\u201d Kimura adds, \u201cis that the work I choose to do today will make a difference in my children\u2019s lives tomorrow and the generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Her free advice: \u201cDon\u2019t let anyone tell you that being a girl is a limitation. Being a girl is a strength and you have a place at the table. Just figure out what you care about \u2014 what you\u2019re willing to work hard for \u2014 and choose your table.\u201d<\/p>\n Regarded as tough and fearless these days while negotiating high-stakes legal fights for her clients, Rose is an attorney and proud Hilo girl with Portuguese\/Hawaiian genes who admits, \u201cI wasn\u2019t a cool kid.\u201d The daughter of a Big Island police captain, she first came to O\u2018ahu in seventh grade as a boarding student at Kamehameha Schools. Escalators in the big city startled her at first. \u201cI thought they might eat my toes!\u201d<\/p>\n Not much has scared her since. Prior to her appointment as a Kamehameha Schools trustee last year, Rose championed the case for then-Bishop Estate trustee Oswald Stender to oust Lokelani Lindsey, which led to major reforms to the school trust. She\u2019s led bank merger fights, high-profile land and construction disputes, and is on the boards of several prominent companies and nonprofits. While strategic thinking and impacting the community are definite highs, Rose also likes to garden in her Kahalu\u2018u yard, loves Thin Mints, teaches lei-making to Girl Scouts, plays Legos with the keiki at Kamehameha\u2019s Kap\u0101lama preschool, mentors young lawyers, hangs out with current boarders at her alma mater and earned Girl Scout badges in cooking and gardening. (\u201cI have a sash somewhere \u2026 \u201d)<\/p>\n She calls her spouse of 30-plus years, engineer Rick Towill, \u201cthe string to the balloon\u201d and credits him, their two grown sons and extended family with enabling her to pursue her career and serve as a \u201cbeacon of hope\u201d to Pauahi\u2019s keiki. Rose also was the first in her family to attend college on the mainland (Willamette University and UC Hastings School of Law).<\/p>\n Rose is excited about the Girl Scouts\u2019 STEM initiatives, partly because she loves math, her brother is a math teacher, and both her husband and one son are engineers. \u201cI want to help girls find their voice so they can conquer the world and make it a better place,\u201d she declares. And a bit of advice for all of tomorrow\u2019s female engineers and scientists from someone who has been there\/done that: \u201cWork hard, study hard and dream big.\u201d<\/p>\n GSH is definitely dreaming big with its Stem Center for Excellence. Thanks to a two-year partnership with the Defense Department\u2019s Innovative Readiness Training Program, the center is nearly 50 percent complete.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were one of only four projects selected nationwide for the IRT partnership,\u201d says Shari Chang, the CEO for GSH since 2014. \u201cThat\u2019s 50,000 man-hours (and woman-hours) of work, equating to a $2.5 million donation in military labor. We are in the middle of a capital campaign to generate the last $3.2 million.\u201d The March dinner will help boost funding to finish the job of rebuilding and modernizing the aging North Shore campground.<\/p>\n In upper-level laboratory spaces, both scouts and non-scouts can explore and experiment on everything from cybersecurity to physics to environmental stewardship. The lower level will offer leadership training, a dining hall, commercial kitchen, health center and more. (The 135-acre camp\u2019s lodge and grounds are closed for now, but other island sites serve campers.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe have 45 new badges for STEM-related projects,\u201d adds Chang, a lifelong Girl Scout and strong STEM advocate whose own scouting daughters have embraced the movement, too. One is an engineer and the other an international attorney.<\/p>\n And they also used to sell cookies. Chang herself now prefers the new Lemon-Ups to Thin Mints. The new cookie is the shortbread kind with a lemon glaze, and it\u2019s printed with motivating slogans, of course. Glad you asked: I am Strong, I\u2019m a Risk-Taker, I\u2019m a Leader, I am Bold, I\u2019m an Innovator, I\u2019m a Go Getter, I am Creative.<\/p>\n Scouts follow the proven theme of Courage, Confidence and Character, including Ellen W., a teenager who aims to take mechanical engineering and Air Force ROTC in college. \u201cTen years from now I\u2019ll be a short-distance airline pilot,\u201d she declares. She\u2019s working on her Gold Award (scouting\u2019s highest achievement), which will provide accessible searches for teens\u2019 college career interests. Her troop also made pillowcases and pillows for homeless people. \u201cThere are new opportunities every month!\u201d Ellen takes both high school and college classes meanwhile, and is currently doing booth cookie sales on weekends. Her favorite flavor is Thin Mints. (Public booth sales began Feb. 22 across the state. For digital orders, go to cookies@gshawaii.org).<\/p>\n Madison F., who prefers the Samoa cookies, already earned her Gold Award in career exploration and job opportunities \u2014 matching what a girl wants to do with how best to get there. \u201cThe perfect college is important too,\u201d she points out. \u201cIt\u2019s a waste if it\u2019s the wrong one.\u201d As an Ambassador Scout, she also mentors younger girls in skills needed for \u201cmore successful cookie sales,\u201d among other tasks. Madison plans to be a Navy surgeon and officer.<\/p>\n Rylee B. has set her heart on earning her Gold Award via a trip to Kenya. She\u2019s already made two mission trips there with her dance studio, and she\u2019s traveled across the U.S. seven times. Now Canada and Paris are on her list. Meanwhile, \u201cI really love traveling in general, and camping and cooking over a fire.\u201d Creating new cheers for new cookies (Lemon-Ups for her) is also fun. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll be a flight attendant.\u201d<\/p>\n Hawai\u2018i girls are truly taking action, according to Chang. Other Gold projects she likes: a STEM enhancement initiative, financial literacy, donating comfort pillows to terminal cancer patients, a proposed law to have Epipens and trained staff in all Hawai\u2018i schools, a hydroponic lettuce garden at a scout\u2019s church, a map and self-guided audio tour for Hawaiian Humane Society visitors.<\/p>\n Plus, through next fall, there are a dozen STEM activities planned for scouts around O\u2018ahu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hailed as dedicated businesswomen and leaders within their professions, Gina Woo Anonuevo, Shelee Kimura and Crystal Kaiulani Rose are this..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":95301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover-story"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/03\/mw-cover-030420-girl-scouts-ac-16-300x450.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/03\/mw-cover-030420-girl-scouts-ac-17-300x450.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/03\/mw-cover-030420-girl-scouts-ac-19-300x450.jpg\")