A small, locally owned business on Oʻahu’s east side is shining a spotlight on Hawaiian honey. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumna Shiyana Thenabadu, who graduated with her master’s degree in communication from the College of Social Sciences in 1994, recently opened a storefront for her venture, Kailua Honey.
“I think we need to have a brick-and-mortar store for people to take us seriously,” said Thenabadu.
She credits her connection to the community to her student days at UH Mānoa.
“It was a fabulous experience. I got to meet so many people from different parts of the country…and we really felt the aloha spirit in our classes,” she said. “I was a foreign student, so it wasn’t easy, but [my professors] made it easy for me to assimilate and do well, basically.”
Inspired by bees
Her journey began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she left her job as a teacher for McKinley Community School and began reading about the challenges bees face. Inspired, she decided to start a hive and try her hand at beekeeping.
Her hobby soon grew into a small business, beginning with sales from her front yard and local deliveries by bicycle.
“We source locally as much as possible. We want to help Hawaiʻi agriculture, Hawaiʻi farmers, and we want to help other small businesses,” she said. “We know it’s not easy to survive and I think collaboration is where it’s at, not competition.”
With this new venture, Thenabadu is also looking to give back and support other women entrepreneurs.
“If there’s anything I can do to help other women entrepreneurs who might want to start their own business at UH, I would love to talk to them and give them a hand,” she said.
