Letter From the Editor

A letter from the editor

Thank you for sharing your time with us and reading through our publication ELEVATE.

The origin and intentionality behind our name, Elevate, is simple: When women elevate women, we elevate the potential for all to succeed. Each publication will have a specific focus. At the same time, we have our feet planted deeply in our views and vision of helping other women in their endeavors.

This issue focuses on the Rising of the Female Power coming out of COVID. We see progress with more strength in numbers, and we must increase our strength in support of each other exponentially. We all are a story at every junction in our lives and have information to share. I am arriving on the 7th anniversary of the launch of my studio, Kua Body and while my studio was shut down in 2021 I pivoted and launched a digital design company VAAI to support businesses. I am riding this journey with all of you.

In this issue, you will get to hear how a new entrepreneur took the leap times two and hear about decades of experience with women in business from Abby Ahrens. The latter went from being the daughter of a fashion designer to a hotel owner.

And through all of this, our group keeps a focus on wellness. We are only as healthy at work and our decisions as we take care of ourselves, so we learn even how to breathe in our interview with Deborah Dooley. A woman who went from questioning herself to applying her knowledge in helping others throughout the Silicon Valley.

And that leads me to another Elevate goal. We want to be your gateway to the Silicon Valley. We are working with Google, Inc. and many other companies in the area to help you gain from their knowledge quicker and easier. Check our website for updates on our ongoing online series of workshops with one-on-one time to ask questions that might be entering your business arena.

We would also appreciate you sharing ELEVATE with others to support our business community.

Lastly, we are open-armed and welcome any comments and critiques you may have as a reader. Letters to the editor are also highly encouraged. Please email me at welamarketingteam@gmail.com

Talofa tele lava,

Upuia Ahkiong

I am a first born generation Samoan-Chinese American raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. I am the owner and Founder of Kua Body, massage studio; WELA, a women’s entrepreneur group; and now VAAI, digital design company. I earned my M.S. in counseling psychology at Chaminade University of Hawaii and spent over 7 years in education as a school counselor and teacher. I was one of the first massage therapists at Google, Inc. and spent over 10 years helping to build their massage program.