Every new business needs a tag line that expresses what it does in as few words as possible, and outgoing KHON-TV anchor Olena Heu has chosen three words for hers.
Dream. Focus. Achieve.
The periods between words in her tag line as she presents them are evenly spaced between the words, but newspaper editors have fairly rigid guidelines about such things.
Her last day on KHON’s "Wake Up 2day" is Friday, and come Monday she will officially launch Olena Heu Communications.
As one of her first unofficial acts, she pitched to your columnist coverage of a public service project being undertaken by a friend of hers. However, because the work includes a rather large nonprofit and she is not officially involved, that coverage will have to wait for another column.
In addition to Heu’s social media consultancy, she will offer services including media training for business owners or others to help them prepare for media interviews, or consulting on and helping to coordinate news coverage.
She already has a media consulting customer in the wings. A local family requested a couple of sessions for an entrepreneur family member to help boost his confidence, she said.
The social- and new-media consultancy will include getting clients introduced to and trained on how to use social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook, on which they can promote their businesses. She also will join growing numbers of specialists who earn money posting content to social media venues on behalf of rosters of clientele.
Representing a pet shop, as she will, is going to be a no-brainer. "Everybody loves cuddly-animal pictures," she said.
As for her own business, "I did the website myself," she said. Naturally her company also has a presence on Facebook and Twitter, as OHcommunications. Even that name, aside from bearing her initials, conveys what someone says when they understand what is being communicated.
Heu’s services also will include event planning and coordinating, and either separately or in addition to such event-related work, she offers mistress of ceremonies services.
Her goal in serving as an emcee is "doing my part to make sure everything runs according to plan" and making a client and their guests feel comfortable.
That is something attendees at the recent webcast-only Daytime Emmy Awards likely wish acerbically comedic host Kathy Griffin had done.
Your columnist has never met Griffin, but it’s fair to say Griffin and Heu are nothing alike.
"I’m emceeing a wedding this weekend and have several other events coming up this summer," many of which are simply an outgrowth of working in broadcasting. Just about everyone in radio or TV has been asked to serve as an emcee for this or that event, from family functions to big-time stuff at Aloha Stadium, but not everyone who does it has turned it into a business enterprise.
As for categories of clientele she will represent in any aspect of her business, "I’m pretty much open to anything … though obviously I would like to do something I support or believe in," she said.
She has had preliminary talks with a spa, an organic facial products line, a business centered on nonchemical cleaning products, the aforementioned pet shop and organizers of an upcoming street festival.
"I’m pretty passionate about things that impact the community, things that have to do with animals and bettering the community overall," she said.
Heu’s successor at KHON-TV, also as reported in this space, is Diane Ako.
Honolulu’s media industry is in itself a small town, and their paths have crossed since Heu worked as an intern at KHNL-TV, where Ako was a reporter and anchor. They also spent time together covering Hawaii visits by President Barack Obama, and while Ako was director of public relations for the three hotels of Halekulani Corp., the two often worked together on coordinating morning show segments for KHON.
"It’s interesting how that all panned out," Heu said.
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
