Aloha!
My name is Sonja Keala, and I am the owner of Hawai’i Fun. I was born on Kaua’i in 1975, and it has been an amazing life full of culture, being raised on both Kaua’i Island and The Big Island. Growing up a surfer girl with a deep passion for the ocean, my first job in high school was working as a crew hand on the Na Pali boats. This is where I got to know Darshan Wright, who is currently our company’s Director of Guest Services, as she too was working on the boats back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
As young adults, both Darshan and I went on to work in resort concierge roles, which ended up becoming lifelong careers for us.
In the mid 1990s, Susie Chevalier, our Guest Experience Specialist, was on Kauai’s southern shore (Poipu) beginning her career as a resort concierge. She eventually came to work alongside me at Hanalei Bay Resort where we both served on the concierge team. As the years went by and we raised our families, we held steadfast to our concierge careers. In separate instances during that time, both Susie and I ended up working with Gina Vogel, who is a top performer on our team today. Gina’s family became a second family to me – they lovingly took me in as their own in my formative years. Gina’s mom and dad were a big hand in promoting my surfing career, which eventually led to me ranking second in the State of Hawaii for women’s surfing. I took home a silver medal at the 1990 Aloha State Games.
The fourth member of our team, Alexandra Kailani – also a Kaua’i native – worked under Darshan at Bali Hai Villas, a Kaua’i Resort, where Darshan served as the Marketing Director. Alexandra’s passion for guest relations always shined amongst her peers. She excelled in our line of work for many years. Once a position became available on what is now our Hawai’i Vacation Activities veteran team, we welcomed her with open arms.
In addition to sharing the connection between our team members, I also wanted to share the story behind our “Sunrise Shell” logo. Like many of our tour offerings, sunrise shells are unique to Hawai’i, found nowhere else in the world. There was a time in 2011, when I was founding Hawai’i Fun, that I was in deep consideration over which design concept to choose as a logo. One clear October morning I found myself walking the beach. As I followed the shoreline a wave washed over my feet – there, glistening in the sun, lay a beautiful sunrise shell. At that moment, I knew this was it! Just as rooted as I was to the islands, I had found, there planted in the sand at my feet, our ideal logo design.
Like the special sunrise shells found only in Hawai’i, our locally grown customer service team (Darshan, Susie, Gina, Alexandra, and me) can’t be found anywhere else in the world. Our five core members are here to help you create memories of a lifetime with your family and friends. Besides our home in the islands, it’s you, our guests, that we are most passionate about!