Sabrina Weaver is among this year's honorees of Pacific Business News’ annual Inno Under 25 awards. To see the other winners, click here.
Sabrina Weaver
Age: 22
Sabrina Weaver recently graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a degree in marketing and a minor in fashion merchandising. During her time at UH, she was a standout student leader at the university’s Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship at the Shidler College of Business, where she was part of the PACE Leaders program, in which students design and execute programming and activities for other students. She was part of the pilot program and continued on to its inaugural cohort at the Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center for academic year 2023-2024.
As a PACE Leader, Weaver managed social media channels, mentored fellow students, conducted student mixers and promoted PACE programming on and offline. Weaver often has dedicated herself to helping other students. For instance, when two groups of PACE students were competing in a national competition, she helped them strengthen their presentations and refine their messaging, with one of the groups going on to the semifinals. A published author, Weaver has also hosted a self-publishing workshop for other aspiring writers.
In addition to her campus activities, Weaver has worked as an English tutor and is currently an executive assistant at an AI writing company. Earlier this year, she launched her own portrait photography business called Hotshot.
What accomplishment are you most proud of to date?
At the age of 7 years old, I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Empowered to advocate for those diagnosed with JRA, I became an advocate with the Arthritis Foundation as a representative speaker at fundraising events and galas. I am proud of the advocacy work I’ve done through raising awareness, telling my story and having the platform to connect and inspire others through these opportunities.
What is your favorite part of what you do?
I work a full-time job in tech, but I also have tons of creative hobbies! My favorite thing about what I do is being able to channel my passions into a huge range of different projects – from sewing to winemaking to photography, I always have some kind of art that I’m learning and diving into.
How do you envision the future — what is next for you, and what is your ultimate career goal?
My ultimate career goal would be to work as a creative director for a brand. I have a huge passion for storytelling. … Ever since I was in elementary school, I loved to write, and when I was 17 years old, I self-published my very first book of poetry and short stories, called “a collection of almosts, maybe, and ex-somethings.” In recent years, I’ve been exploring visual storytelling more, especially through photography and styling. I’d love to be in the position where I can narrate a brand’s story and breathe life into it!
The “brain drain” has long been an issue for Hawaii. What do you think the state needs to retain its younger workforce?
I think we could invest a lot more in educational and training programs. For example, when I was going through school ... I had no idea what it took to get from the degree to the job.
Hawaii has such a unique sphere of talent, and I see … how richly Hawaii shapes you when you grow up here and are integrated into the land, the culture, and the people around you. It’s a degree of empathy and mindfulness that you don’t really see elsewhere. I’d love to see our islands retain more of this workforce – the people birthed in Hawaii are the best to nurture it. I think if we had more professional development programs integrated into our school systems, especially prior to secondary education, we could really provide our youth with actionable steps towards viable careers in the positions they hope to step into.
