Malia Okita

As an undergraduate at San Jose State University in California, Malia Okita studied Hospitality Management and Business Administration, two disciplines that would serve her well in her chosen career in hospitality. While she pursued her degree, she was simultaneously working as the Assistant to the General Manager of San Jose's Hotel Montgomery, where she gained a great deal of practical experience in the industry by working on the various reports, data collections, and diagrams that allowed the hotel and the events it hosted to run smoothly. Malia Okita also developed the contracts for event space and sleeping rooms for the boutique hotel's SMERF (Social, Military, Education, Religious, and Fraternal) market, a critical source of revenue for the hospitality industry.

Shortly after graduating in 2006, Malia Okita moved to Freeman, the well-known nationwide exposition, convention, and conference company. In her position as account executive, Okita was responsible for acting as liaison between current clients and the numerous departments at Freeman dedicated to meeting clients' needs, both in the pre-event planning stages as well as in on-site execution. In addition to maintaining and enhancing existing client relationships, Okita was also responsible for attracting new business. In this capacity, she booked more than $50,000 of new business during her first six months on the job.

Promoted to National Account Executive in 2010, Malia Okita assumed multiple new responsibilities. She now works much more closely with designers during the concept phase of events, continuously preparing and analyzing budgets as the planning process progresses. Also as part of the planning process, Okita works with clients and venues to anticipate and prepare for logistical challenges. She bears responsibility for each event's budget, including substrates, custom pieces, travel arrangements, equipment rental, and other items.