She helps local businesses take advantage of the digital world.

Kaya Waldman, founder @ Keālia Media and Senior at UH West Oʻahu

What would you buy for $10,000? 💸

Kaya Waldman was looking for a company to provide website design and digital media services for her first business, Kaya’s Vegan Express.

She spoke to a company that could do it.

For $10,000.

At the time, Kaya was 17 years old. She could barely even afford the refrigerator she would need to run her vegan food business.

To her, that price was absolutely crazy.

So a few years later, Kaya took matters into her own hands and started her business, Keālia Media, to provide web design and digital media services to small businesses in Hawaiʻi.

Here is her story.

Born and raised in Kapaʻa on Kauaʻi, Kaya always loved the ocean (more on that later). Entrepreneurship wasn’t in the plan, at least not at first.

But her entrepreneurial journey started at Kapaʻa High School when she took a college-level management class offered for credit through Kauaʻi Community College.

Her teacher told her she could apply for a business incubator contest sponsored by KCC, so she submitted a business plan for Kaya’s Vegan Express and pitched it to a committee of business owners.

And (spoiler alert) she won.

Pretty soon, with the support of the college and ABC Stores, she had her own temporary storefront at Coconut Marketplace—Kaya’s Vegan Express.

Here’s what it looked like.

Kaya was serving healthy food to her community. She realized how much she enjoyed running something of her own while helping people at the same time.

She told me the best part was the outpouring of support from people in the community and other business owners.

Eventually, the temporary storefront closed and Kaya went back to school.

Then came Keālia Media

After COVID, Kaya asked herself some important questions:

“What can I do? How can I make money? And how can I also help people?”

At the time, some of her friends needed websites, so why not give it a try?

She built her first website, then her second.

From there, friends referred her to their friends, and eventually other businesses.

Pretty soon, Keālia Media was doing business, named after her favorite surfing spot on Kauaʻi. She offers graphic design, copywriting, and marketing services to local businesses.

“I wanted to bring all that together and make it a one-stop place where a local business owner can come and I can just take care of them and help them reach their goals.”

As a student, she currently runs Keālia Media as a small-scale operation, but wants to grow it in the future.

3 Takeaways from my conversation with Kaya

1.  Identifying problems is important.

In Kaya’s situation, the problem she saw was crystal clear because she experienced it herself. That gave her inspiration.

Her equation looked a bit like this.

Problem

Small local businesses cannot afford expensive website development and digital design.

⬇️

Solution

Kaya provides that service using her skills at a lower cost

2. Good things come from getting out of your comfort zone.

Kaya is a big wave surfer. Don’t believe me? Have a look.

Yeah, not for me.

But, I loved Kaya’s story about her experience as a surfer. For her, surfing is a way to push her limits—to go beyond what is comfortable. When she is on a wave, her thought is simple.

“If I can survive this, the rest of life will be a little easier,” she said.

That helps her when she encounters obstacles with her business.

3. She genuinely wants people to succeed.

Speaking with Kaya, you could tell that she is grateful for the opportunity to do something for her home.

“It gives me the opportunity to connect more with the community—like see what the issues are and to help people with their businesses. The most rewarding thing is to see people focus on what they are most passionate about.”

K  🤙 🤙

John Vierra