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Hawaiian activist, business executive and attorney Beadie Dawson credits the Junior League of Honolulu with keeping her job skills honed when she was a young mother staying at home to raise four children. Dawson honored
By Pat Gee
for volunteerism
and advocacy
pgee@starbulletin.comThe league recently honored Dawson, who has been a member for 35 years, with its Laura Dowsett Award for demonstrating the spirit of volunteerism, the effectiveness of advocacy and the qualities of leadership.
She has been in the public eye as a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services & Housing from 1971-78 and deputy attorney general from 1982-96.
She was involved on the ground level with a protest march in 1997 and a lawsuit by the parents, students and faculty of the Kamehameha Schools Ohana that led to the reformation of the Bishop Estate.
But her work as an environmental activist calling for quality growth began in 1994 with the formation of Dawson Group Inc., of which she is currently chief executive officer and general counsel.
"The Junior League helped me very much. It provided extensive training" through classes and serving on boards and committees for utilizing her talents and allowing her to "contribute to the community while tending my obligations as a stay-at-home mom," Dawson said.
"Many leaders will tell you their work was guided by the training they received in the Junior League. ... It was not a social club."
As varied as her professions have been, Dawson's current focus is on being an advocate for what she calls "Growing Smart" -- developing Hawaii's economy and its community without "shooting ourselves in the foot as we have already."
"We can no longer think of growth in terms of superlatives -- being the highest, the biggest, the most. We need to deal in comparisons so we are better. We need to measure success differently -- not in superlatives, but in quality," she said.
A surefire recipe for disaster would be to raise visitor counts to "stratospheric" numbers to get an immediate effect in boosting the state's economy, Dawson said.
The current economic crisis following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks more than illustrates the foolishness of "putting all our eggs in that one basket (tourism), and we are paying dearly for that now," she added.
"We were a long time in creating the concrete jungle that overwhelmed us. It will be a gradual effort to correct ourselves; it will take years to do so. But with the technology and brilliant talent we have here, we could do it in record time. I believe we can overcome the disaster that has fallen on us."
As an example, she cited the Mediterranean resort of Majorca, which was also overbuilt and losing tourists.
The Majorcans declared a moratorium on building, then implemented a buy-back plan to restore beaches, parks and Spanish architecture, the result being a flourishing tourism industry, she said.
"We need to begin to think in native Hawaiian terms: replace, replant and plan for tomorrow," Dawson said.