Page 20 - MidWeek - Feb 10, 2021

20 MIDWEEK FEBRUARY 10, 2021
FROM PAGE 13
willingness to take the first answer I get,” states Shin, who some may remember from her days as a re- porter at KHNL-TV.
To her, an effective leader doesn’t worry about being the most knowl- edgeable person in the room, nor does she reject assistance when others are perfectly willing to help shoulder the load.
our employees, but have balanced that out with making sure we’ ve been able to serve our communi- ty,” she says. “At the beginning of the pandemic, no one knew how this virus was spread. It was a tough balance, but I feel like we prioritized the right thing. We chose to have open and transparent communication with our employ- ees, and whether things were bad or good, we made sure they always knew what was happening.”
But after a few years in the jour- nalism field, Shin decided a change was in order. She accepted the po- sition of senior vice president at public relations agency Bennet Group, where she learned, among other things, the value of strategic planning. Later, she served as chief communications officer at Hono- lulu Board of Water Supply, where she made it a point to embrace the intricacies of the entire municipal operation.
“I’m a big believer in surround- ing myself with people smarter than me,” Shin explains. “You can’t do everything yourself. When you get into a position of leadership, as much as I want to do everything, there are only 24 hours in a day. At some point, you have to trust in your people.”
hen Shin was 5, her fami- ly emigrated from Korea to Hawai‘i. Her father, only
“If you don’t understand the business, you can’t be a valuable contributor,” she explains. “That’s where I really started digging into kind of the workings of the orga-
Trusting her team is one of the many lessons she’s learned from a host of mentors, including the person whom she replaced at Ha- waiian Telcom, John Komeiji.
33 at the time, had suddenly and unexpectedly died in his sleep, and as a result, her mother wanted a new start elsewhere for Shin and older brother Jae.
nization beyond the surface level. That’s when I realized what I re- ally loved: problem solving, and working together with people while trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B.”
In accepting to lead roughly 1,200 employees, Shin acknowledges that her respon- sibility “is big and huge.” But to her credit, she hasn’t shrunk from her obligations, and is particular- ly proud of how Hawaiian Telcom has navigated its way through the trials of COVID.
Shin recalls the family lived in a small apartment “across the street from Ka‘iulani Elementary School and above a TV repair shop” for some time before they were able to find residency at Mayor Wright Homes.
Shin’s story has one more aspect that deserves brief mention, and it involves three other members of her family.
If anything, Shin discovered that she doesn’t have to be a super- woman to run Hawaiian Telcom.
“We’ve prioritized caring for
“I’m really the product of all of the social services that you hear about,” she says. “We had food
Yes, even Hawaiian Telcom’s leader needs speed each day to bridge the digital divide.
“He hired me and encouraged me to expand my role beyond corporate communications into marketing, then promot- ed me to chief of staff when he took over as president,” says Shin, who joined Ha- waiian Telcom in 2013 as its director of corporate com- munication. “I learned so much about leadership and
“My mom’s sister was living in Hawai‘i at the time, and her husband had a Department of Defense job,” Shin recalls. “They sponsored us, and that’s how we ended up here.”
Gathering for a family celebration are (bottom row, from left) mother Chung Hee Spell, daughter Kayla and husband Dan Meisenzahl; and (top row) brother Jae, daughter Maya and Su Shin. PHOTO COURTESY SU SHIN
Shin is responsible for overseeing approximately 1,200 employees at Hawaiian Telcom.
PHOTO COURTESY HAWAIIAN TELCOM
The transition to the islands had its share of difficulties. For one thing, none of them spoke English.
Despite the financial challenges, Shin’s mother, Chung Hee Spell, was determined to have her chil- dren receive a quality education.
“Dan is so amazingly support- ive. Even when the kids were lit- tle, we both had really demanding careers,” she shares. “But I always felt it was an even split. You al- ways hear people complaining, ‘Oh, my husband doesn’t help with the kids and the house things,’ but I definitely feel like we’re partners.”
stamps; we received welfare pay- ments.”
ters, Maya and Kayla — manages to find the happy balance between their professional and private lives, according to Shin.
“Obviously, education was the top priority for her,” says Shin, adding that she inherited her cre- ative and problem-solving traits from her mother.
the importance of employee engagement from him, and I literally would not be here without him.”
For another, the family had very little money and would come to rely upon government assistance to make ends meet.
Hawaiian Telcom’s top execu- tive pauses for a moment before continuing: “Sometimes we talk about the American dream and immigration. Our story is the ex- ample of what can happen with access to education.”
One thing Shin is admittedly still coming to terms with is being an empty nester. Her daughters are students at Boston-based colleges, and whenever they’ re on the East Coast, she can’t help but “miss them terribly.” But she’s grateful that today’s “wonderful commu- nication tools” allow her to better cope with the separation.
In 1997, she married Dan Meis- enzahl, the former KITV news an- chor and Hawai‘i Department of Transportation spokesman who now works as director of Univer- sity of Hawai‘i’s Office of Com- munications. Despite their busy schedules and highly visible jobs, the couple — who has two daugh-
“It’s great to be able to talk to our daughters daily, even if it’s just for short touch points like saying ‘good morning’ or ‘good night,’ ” she says.