Working Girls

Mother and daughter Kathy and Kristi Inkinen are like mirror images. They re assertive. They re fiercely independent. And they both own human-resources companies. Kathy is president and owner of Inkinen Associates, an executive search firm. Kristi is a principal in Remedy Intelligent Staffing, which recruits entry- to mid-level employees. Kathy, 62, was born at the start of the baby boom (1945) while Kristi, 28, born at the threshold of Generation Y (1978), bears both Gen-X and Gen-Y traits. Here are snapshots of the mother and daughter:
Childhood memories:
Daughter: My mother had lots of meetings at night. We always joke that my first word was french fries. Lots of McDonald s nights and evenings with Grandma. She and my father were active business people in the community. My father was in the hotel industry.
Mother: At least once or twice a week, there was a nighttime event. So I d pick her up, have her eat McDonald s dinner and then get going again.

Childhood aspirations:
Mother: Women in my generation wanted to be teachers or nurses. But when I was in high school, I knew I didn t want to do that. My mother once told me, You can be a secretary and go to Honolulu Business College. Instead, I went to the UH College of Business, where there were very few females in those days.
Daughter: When my mother and father divorced, it was tough for us on the financial side. I was 14, and I had Punahou tuition, and college was coming up. I always had a passion for art. As a child, my aspiration was to get a Macintosh and Pagemaker, which had all the graphics at that time.
Mother: I sold a John Young painting from our house to buy that Macintosh and Pagemaker.

Working style:
Mother: My generation was brought up with a really strong work ethnic. Go in early. Stay late. I still work Saturdays. Kristi refuses to do that. She wants to have a balance in life and also work hard. In my generation, we worked hard, and the other things came.
Daughter: I m always attached to my Blackberry.
Mother: I have a Blackberry. She initiated me with one. But I have to be in the office. I feel like if I m physically in the office, I can do my work. We took a vacation together, and she was always on her Blackberry.
Daughter: My mother always says, Don t talk on the phone while driving.
Mother: I would never do that. Only in an emergency, I pick up my phone, even when I m driving. The younger generation is more about multitasking.

Career paths:
Mother: I m a UH Travel Industry Management grad, where we had to do a 1,400-hour internship. I started in the kitchen of the Kahala Hilton in the 1960s. After graduation, I was offered a job doing banquet sales. Later, they had an opening in personnel. The office was on a lower level with no guest contact. We called it the dungeon. I told my boss, I really want to go up to the front desk. He said, No. I didn t fight it because he was my boss. I became one of the youngest personnel directors at Hilton International. That s how I got into HR. Then I went downtown to help a small bank that did not have an HR department and opened my business [Inkinen Associates] 15 years ago.
Daughter: I went to Punahou School and college in L.A., where I majored in marketing and worked part time, but I wasn t happy with the lifestyle. After graduation, my mother and I went to China, and we sat in one of the hotels having afternoon tea pondering what I was going to do with the rest of my life.
Mother: She wanted to do product marketing, but they didn t have that in Hawaii.
Daughter: In L.A., I worked very long hours in the product-placement division of the entertainment industry. Very exciting. But not something I wanted to do. I was already burned out, and it wasn t even a full-time position. I had met my current business partner [Marie Kumabe] a couple of years prior, when my mother received an award. Marie had an HR background, and I was in marketing, so we decided to franchise Remedy Intelligent Staffing, based in California.

Economy:
Daughter: My business partner and I didn t open our doors until after October 2001. A horrible time, even to get a bank loan. No one wanted to take the risk on a new business. We were probably the only people opening up a business at the time. Our contacts were calling us, sending people they were laying off. We had a huge amount of people and no jobs. But here we are, six years later.
Mother: The economy was good in the late 80s. Lots of Japanese investments, business and real estate, so I decided to go out on my own and start my own company in 1992. Then the Gulf War happened, and the economic bubble burst. Hawaii s economy shut down. Kristi and I had similar challenges in the early development of our businesses. I believe adversity makes you stronger. That s why we re surviving.

Fashion:
Mother: When I was at the hotel in the late 60s, we wore hose and pumps with miniskirts. Even now, I still wear hose. I look at Bishop Street today, and most young people don t wear hose. I still wear a suit, but not every day.
Daughter: I always kid my mother because she s so professional at work and casual on weekends. But I m pretty consistent throughout. I m definitely business casual. I love black and white. I m very classic, very BCBG. My mother always tells me to put some color on myself. I m my mother s daughter, and I was always raised to do interviews wearing hose, but it was never done.

Music:
Mother: I m more Johnny Mathis. And we both like jazz.
Daughter: I m a jazz person, and I like Island music and R B.
Mother: Of course, she has the iPod and the whole bit.

The future:
Mother: In my time, women in management were new. Now, more women are in business or in management positions and they share childcare responsibilities with their husbands. That wasn t my generation. We had two jobs. We had a career. And we had a home job.
Daughter: Hopefully, I ll be more successful in this business. We ve had conversations about acquiring my mother s business when she decides to retire, but I don t think it ll be too soon. My business partner and I are looking at expanding to a second office or the Neighbor Islands.

Each other:
Daughter: I owe my successes to my mother because of the drive she had. I m not an angel. I was rebellious in high school. But that s what made me independent and willing to take risks. Seeing the success of my mother helped me to become what I am today.
Mother: She s not book smart but street smart. She takes shortcuts, and she always thinks, How can I do better and faster? I didn t teach her those traits.
Daughter: My mother is a visionary, and I think that s how I try to do my own business, looking to the future.

Additional information :

Working Girls: from www.hawaiibusiness.com