Q. You have a degree in communications. What led you to a career in marketing and advertising?

A. While going to school, I was interested in getting into the advertising world. I interned several years with Ogilvy & Mather and Kandell Advertising. My background is in advertising and I've always had an interest in marketing and I wanted to grow and learn and do different things. With this job I have the opportunity to not only do advertising, but public relations, a little bit of the entertainment side. We have a broadcast department. It's fabulous. It gives you an avenue into so many different worlds and different opportunities.

Q. Did you ever envision yourself in a field that allows you to do all of this?

A. Like anyone, when you start off in a career you really don't know what path you're going to be taking. As you take that journey, you learn different things and one thing leads to another. What I love about this company is it offers so many different areas. We're like a full-service company that really is able to bring to our clients everything under the sun and that's really what I enjoy. We're not the typical company. Yes, we're in business and we want to be successful, but it's not always all about the bottom line. It's about relationships and client service and integrity and being able to provide service in the best possible way.

Q. Your job description is extensive and it seems like you have to do everything.

A. I think that's part of the fun of it. We're a small company and everybody wears many different hats. You're not really pigeonholed into one particular thing. You may have an expertise in one area, but you still have an opportunity to learn and grow in other areas as well. That's the joy of being able to work for a small company like this and we're also one big family. We're truly what a team is all about. Right now we have about 12 full-time employees and we also work on a project-by-project basis with a bunch of other people as well.

Q. In addition to public relations and marketing, what other projects is Hawaii Pacific Entertainment involved in?

A. Our company prints a magazine six times a year. We also do a television show on OC 16 called "Tech Box." Those are some of the ongoing projects that we have. We have a new show coming out later this year. It's a magazine-style show with Jasmine Trias as our host. That is something that we're really looking forward to. It's really a lifestyle show about fashion and fun.

Q. Why did your company get involved in producing TV shows?

A. We have two sides of our company. We have the entertainment side that specializes in client representation, entertainment. We do events, marketing and communication. The other side of our company is technology focused where we have our magazine, we have our TV show. We do two expos throughout the year, one in the spring and one in the fall. We also have a morning news segment on KHON and a radio program on KHVH every week. So as we focused on the technology side and we started producing different shows, we thought it would make perfect sense for us to have something to represent our entertainment side as well. So that's where that came about.

Q. Hawaii Pacific Entertainment is a small company, but you have many responsibilities. What kind of challenges do you face because of this?

A. The hardest part about a career is being able to balance your life, being able to balance work and family. However, something about this place is it's almost as if it is a family. Everybody chips in, everybody works together to make sure a project gets completed. So even though you put in a lot of hours it doesn't feel like a lot of hours. You do it because you want to do it and that's something that I really enjoy and I don't really have a problem with it.

Q. You also were pursuing an MBA. Are you done with that and why did you seek that degree?

A. I just finished in March. I did it for myself. I wanted to create more of a foundation for myself. I'm in the marketing field, but I didn't have a marketing degree and I wanted to be able to learn more about the business world and how the interactions are conducted and how I can gain from that as I grow.

Q. Has it helped you in your career?

A. The classroom gives you a foundation. You learn things that you may never apply to the real world, but it's good to know. You take little bits and pieces of it and you are able to use it in day-to-day life. I took an executive MBA program so a lot of the professors and the other students in my class were from the business world and everybody in the class was somewhat of a business professional. So it was a little bit different than the typical MBA class.

Q. With all that you do, what are your primary responsibilities?

A. Part of my job is I oversee our sales team. So we work on a daily basis in developing new business, working with new clients and figuring out what services we can offer to improve their business. It's all about relationships and being able to help them in the areas that they need assistance in.

Q. Are you involved in community work?

A. I'm on the board of the Hawai'i Advertising Federation. I am on the Metro Rotary and I just recently got involved with Make A Wish. I'm a wish granter, which is great. I'm really excited. I just got a new assignment where I get to grant a wish to a 6-year-old girl with leukemia. As sad as it is, it just makes you feel so good that you're able to do something nice for someone in need. (Volunteer work) is something that our company very much believes in. Everybody in our company is somewhat involved with an organization. It's good to get out there, not only to network, but to be able to have a good pulse on the business community and the industry and know what's going on. Sometimes you're not just doing it for business, but you're doing it to improve the quality of life and what's best for the community.

Q. Where do you see yourself in the next few years?

A. We're really restructuring the company and we're hoping to grow it. We've been talking about expanding to the Mainland. We've looked at franchises of our technology side in other markets. We're also looking at building a record label and a production studio. So there's so many different areas, as if we're not doing enough already, to grow. That's something that I am very excited about and would love to be a part of.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.