President’s message from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawai’i: Sarah Moy

Dear Chinese Chamber Members and Friends,

I am third generation Chinese born in a rubber plantation in Malaysia and grew up with traditional values like respecting our elders and working hard. I attended an Irish convent school until I came to the United States for college. I was fortunate enough to get a full scholarship for both my undergraduate and graduate studies at Bryn Mawr college and New York University respectively. Worked on Wall Street after receiving my MBA in Finance, got married and moved from Manhattan to New Jersey and raised two great kids with my ex-husband. Moved to Hawaii almost ten years ago and continued my passion in investments as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley.

Shortly after arriving in Honolulu, I joined the Chinese Chamber as I wanted to connect with the local community and to give back to society. Since then and through my involvement, I have seen that the Chamber is rich in heritage and in culture and I have made some lifelong friendships. I soon became a Board member and subsequently joined the Executive Board and served in various positions.

Now I have the extreme honor to be the President of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and in its 113 years history, I stand proudly to be the seventh woman President! I have this rare opportunity to make a difference to an organization I have grown to love and respect as well as to make an impact on the Chinese community at large in Hawaii. As I start this exciting journey, it will be the most important give back chapter of my life as well as in my personal growth. I know I will make some mistakes, inadvertently step on some toes and will have to navigate through unexpected challenges. A wise past president said to me ‘be respectful, listen to what members need, be a strong leader and do what is best for the Chamber’. I have since leaned on that advice!

Our Chamber mission is tri fold: promoting business, preserving our heritage and culture and providing community outreach projects. At a retreat meeting with my Executive Board, we discussed my vision of ‘Elevating the Chamber’s presence’. We need to advance the Chamber so as to stay relevant and to bring back the ‘glory days’ of the Chamber. We will elevate the quality of our services and attract new members who are willing and able to contribute. That includes creating a new level of membership for businesses. Corporate members will add new leaders and bring many benefits to our current members. We will continue to use technology and social media to communicate with our members and to promote our events. We will provide events to promote net-working amongst our members.

At the start of my term, the Chinese Chamber participated in helping the merchants fill and file claim forms for the damages caused by the prolonged power outage in Chinatown which shut down some small businesses while others incurred monetary losses in lost business, inventory and equipment. We worked with the United Chinese Society and Hawaiian Electric and our collaborative efforts resulted in the businesses and residents receiving courtesy damage funds from Hawaiian Electric. We are hosting a Chinatown clean-up on August 17th whereby volunteers along with the Mayor Blangiardi will work together to make Chinatown a cleaner and safer place.

This is a monumental year for the Chamber as we celebrate our 75th anniversary of the Narcissus Queen Festival. We will kick off the celebration in September with a pickleball tournament and following that will be a multitude

of cultural events including a fashion show. The Queen Pageant will be in January at the iconic Hawaii Theater and the Coronation Ball will be in early February at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. We will continue to play a major role in the Chinatown Choy Cheng celebrations to usher in the coming lunar year of the snake.

In October, I will be leading our 74th Narcissus Queen goodwill tour to Yunnan Province, home of the Shangri La (Dali, Kunming and Lijiang) and end the tour in Zhongshan and Hong Kong. We will be hosting a Quad Chamber event in late August as we continue to collaborate with our Quad Chamber members. Business seminars and membership events will be hosted quarterly.

We are proud of our Chinese heritage and I thank all of you for this opportunity to serve the Chinese Chamber! Hope you will join the Chamber in the upcoming events and provide feedback and ideas so our Chamber will be vibrant and will provide our members with more networking opportunities.

Mahalo and Xie Xie!

Sarah Moy
24-25 President of Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii