West Oahu Roundup
Bryan Balisacan of Pearl City has joined Prudential Locations as a firm partner. He has nearly 10 years of experience in the real estate industry and has received a number of professional recognitions for his service, including being named a Presidents Circle Awards Winner from 2011 to 2013 and recognized as one of the Top 100 Realtors® in Hawaii in 2011 and 2012. Prior to his career in real estate, Balisacan utilized his degree in hospitality and tourism at Imperial Hawaii Resort in Waikiki, where he worked his way up to assistant resort manager. In 2003, he took a position to help open Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club, where he worked for four years managing several departments.
Aiea’s Kendra Okihiro has joined Prudential Locations as a firm partner. She has earned numerous accolades within the real estate community since entering the industry in 2009, including the 2014 Chairman’s Gold award, ranking her in the top 2 percent of Prudential agents nationwide. In 2013, Okihiro closed the most transactions within Prudential Locations and was named among the Top 100 Realtors® in Hawaii, along with other prestigious recognitions.
Former state Rep. Blake Oshiro (District 33, Halawa and Aiea) has rejoined Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing as director of counsel, practicing in the area of government relations. He returns to the firm after three years as deputy chief of staff to Gov. Neil Abercrombie. Prior to that, he served as majority leader for the state House of Representatives, where he held office for more than a decade. Oshiro’s areas of practice also include commercial litigation, employment law, government contracts, entity formation and governance, and environmental law.
Aiea High School graduate Obie Woods (2008) has been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, after successfully completing the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program and graduating with a bachelor’s degree from University of Hawaii at Manoa. Woods will be branched to a specific corps in the Army to serve on active duty, or in the Army National Guard or Army Reserve, and will attend an officer basic course relating to his particular military occupational specialty/job. Afterward, Woods will attend basic officer leadership courses for career progression purposes to complete his advanced training.
Lisa Ching of Aiea has made the dean’s list at George Fox University for the fall 2014 semester. Ching, a senior psychology major, is a student of Kelly Chang (our very own Carol Chang’s daughter). “Lisa Ching has taken a few classes with me,” said Chang. “She is a wonderful student and represents Hawaii well with her thoughtful manner and intelligent contributions to class discussions. I am not at all surprised she is on the dean’s list.”
Two West Oahu women have earned spots on the 2015 Narcissus Queen court. Aiea’s Nicole Chong and Ewa Beach’s Carly Young are first and fourth princess, respectively. Chong, a Hawaii Baptist Academy graduate, works as a physical therapist at Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. Young was homeschooled and attends University of Hawaii West Oahu, where she is majoring in business administration. She is an entrepreneur who owns Tribal Airbrush, and also works in sales and social media for Hawaii Tents & Events.
Waipahu’s Petty Officer Franklyn Vasquez has been honored with an outstanding volunteer service medal in the Navy. The award covered his exceptional personal commitment and dedication to various communities across the world, including Bahrain, Japan and California. Vasquez’s unselfish support in working with and teaching children, and the disabled, collecting food and assisting a number of charities and events reflected great credit upon himself, the Seabees and the Navy.
