Biography
Sustainable Initiatives principal Andrea Dean, MBA is a SocioEcoPreneur who partners with communities, businesses and non-profits on initiatives that enhance island environment, economy and community.
Sustainable Initiatives works on a broad range of projects and provides services which include: community organizing, community education initiatives, feasibility studies, project management, grant management, facilitation, new media and traditional media communications.
Current projects include: Ho'oulu ka 'Ulu- a project to revitalize breadfruit for food security in Hawaii; the formation of the Hawaii Alliance for a Local Economy (HALE), a local chapter of BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies); and the North Kohala Eat Locally Grown Campaign.
Andrea Dean's business and non-profit clients have included Volcano Island Honey Company, Varroa Mite Steering Committee, Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, the Kohala Center, Maui Film Festival, Waimea Community Development Plan Committee and the Kona Earth Festival.
Andrea is also a writer, speaker, podcaster and occasional performance artist with a focus on telling Hawaii’s sustainability stories. Her writing has been published in many Hawaii-based magazines including: Honolulu Weekly, Ke Ola Magazine, Innov8 (the go! in-flight magazine), Honu Guide, and Hawaii Island Journal.
Andrea has been a featured speaker at the Kuleana Business Conference and Trade Show, Hawaii Island Food Summit, Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce Environmental Conference, Kohala Trash Bash, The Greatest Show Off Earth at the Kahilu Theater, Waimea Rotary, Waimea Middle School, Hawaii Preparatory Academy Student Congress on Sustainability, and many other school, business and community events.
Andrea holds an MBA from the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has taken certification courses in permaculture, grant writing, and coaching, and is an alumnus of Ulumau- The Hawaii Leadership Series.
A native New Yorker, Andrea currently resides on Hawaii Island (aka the Big Island), and previously lived on Maui from 1989 - 2002, where she was the Program Coordinator for the Center for Entrepreneurship at Maui College and a Program Manager for Island Incentives, Inc. Prior to that she worked independently on projects for businesses and non-profits. Her professional career started on Maui in 1989 as an environmental educator and junior member of an environmental consulting firm.
Andrea is dedicated to personal as well as planetary health and is a healthy, local foods eater and mildly obsessive exerciser. She likes to run, swim, dance, meditate, chant, and read.
