Hawaii Launches New Women of Asphalt Branch

Newest Women of Asphalt Branch Provides Mentorship, Education in Paradise

Hawaii has officially launched its own Women of Asphalt (WofA) branch. On Nov. 19, 2024, the WofA branch held its inaugural event, which included an educational opportunity and a business meeting that continued a years-long journey to begin the island branch of the national organization.

Foundation! To round out the luncheon, Executive Director Jon Young presented the business of the day, helping launch the new WofA branch and put structure in place.

Pre-Covid

Hawaii Asphalt Paving Industry (HAPI) Executive Director Jon Young said members of the state’s asphalt community had considered launching a chapter of WofA in 2019 when the national organization had begun forming branches. There are 27 such branches throughout the United States and Canada now but the one in Hawaii didn’t quite get off the ground after an initial meeting in January 2020, pre-COVID-19. Fast forward to 2024 and it was time to try again.

Lima showed the inner workings of the aggregate testing room at HDOT’s lab.

WIC

The Hawaii chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) held its August general membership meeting Aug. 22, 2024. The NAWIC Hawaii Empowered Connections event at the BSIDE Lounge celebrated the diverse industries women work in while offering networking opportunities for attendees. Presenters spoke to the audience on a variety of topics, including a pair of students from the University of Hawaii College of Engineering: Wãhine Connect Program. Young also spoke, giving a three-minute presentation about the national WofA organization and suggesting the state had the opportunity to start a branch there in Hawaii.

By the end of the evening, he explained, three women from Grace Pacific LLC approached him to say they were excited at the prospect of launching a Women of Asphalt branch. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

In the mixture testing room of HDOT’s lab, Bituminous Mixture & Binder Supervising Technician Brandon Lima discussed several testing and sampling protocols with the first WofA Hawaii group members.

“We are excited to announce that a Hawaii Branch of the Women of Asphalt was established in September 2024,” Young wrote for the HAPI October newsletter. The branch’s mission will mirror that of the national organization of “empowering women in asphalt industry careers.”

The goal of a branch, Young provided, is to establish a partnership between WofA and the state asphalt pavement association (SAPA) to provide a mutually beneficial partnership. This partnership will provide value to the industry by advocating for women in the workforce.

Branch Details

Young shared the initial plans for the Hawaii group include conducting two meetings per year, in conjunction with the HAPI lunch meetings, and to host a couple of in-person and/or virtual events for the purpose of education and networking. HAPI will maintain the finances of the branch, which, by the third year, staff intends to be supported through sponsorships.

The officers of the branch will be elected in June by the branch members for the upcoming fiscal year allowing the vice-chairwoman to serve a one-year term before serving the following year as the chairwoman. At this time, the chairwoman is Kaipolani Chang and vice-chairwoman is Sheila Sunio, both of Grace Pacific LLC. The duties of these two elected positions will be determined as the branch grows. At this time, Young is maintaining the branch’s webpage at the hawaiiasphalt.org site and coordinating registration for events.

Twenty women registered for the first WofA Hawaii branch meeting, held in November 2024.

For example, the inaugural event in November had a limit of 20 registrants and began with a tour of the asphalt lab at the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) on Likelike Highway and culminated in a presentation of the WofA Hawaii branch development so far. Young offered thanks to Brandon Lima, the bituminous mixture & binder supervising technician and bituminous materials section (HWY-LB) for the State of Hawaii DOT, for hosting. Lima is in the highways division, materials testing and research branch and perfectly suited to guide the group through the inner workings of the different testing rooms, as seen in the photos.

For more information on joining the new WofA Hawaii branch or to get information on upcoming events, visit the website or reach out to Young directly at jon@hawaiiasphalt.org.