Wendy was born at Tripler hospital in Honolulu and grew up in Wahiawa. Her father was raised in Pepeekeo, Hilo, in a sugar cane plantation home; and was the third oldest out of nine children. He enlisted in the Army when he was very young and met Wendy’s mother in Japan when he was stationed in Japan during the Koren War. They had two sons in Japan and had Wendy when they moved back to Hawaii when her father was stationed at Schofield Barracks.
Wendy graduated from Leilehua High School and went to University of Hawaii and received a BBA in business. Her first job was working for a manufacturing facility, Frito-Lay of Hawaii in Halawa, as a cost accountant. Her job was to manage quality control and calculate how much it cost to make a bag of Fritos, Doritos, and Lays potato chips. Then, she received her MBA at Chaminade University of Honolulu, passed the CPA exam, and worked for KPMG in Honolulu preparing tax returns. After a few years, she decided to go to law school at Seattle University, formerly known as the Puget Sound Law School in Tacoma, WA and graduated in 2000. She decided to come back to Hawaii to take the bar exam and work in Hawaii.
She worked for Sterling & Tucker, LLP for 13 years specializing in Estate Planning, Elder Law, Trust Administration, Probate, income tax preparation and estate tax planning. She found her passion when she started working with Ms. Sterling on Medicaid planning cases in between tax seasons and eventually decided to stop preparing income tax returns and focus on assisting seniors plan for their long-term care. Many seniors worry about whether they have enough money to last their entire lives. Wendy assists seniors and their families develop a long-term care plan and assist them navigate through all the government benefits such as Medicare, Medicaid, VA benefits, and Social Security.
Her experience and knowledge in Elder Law became very helpful when her parents were in their 80s. Her father was a veteran and was living at Hale Ho Aloha nursing home for 6-1/2 years and was receiving VA Service-Connected Disability. The VA paid for her father’s nursing home cost, since he was deemed 100% disabled. Concurrently, her mother was in assisted living at Mililani Plaza for 6 years. Her mother had long-term insurance to pay for 3 years of her stay in the assisted living facility.
About seven years ago, she moved to Bend Oregon with her husband to explore and find a cheaper place to live. Her practice in Oregon included Estate Planning, Trust Administration, Probate, Medicaid Planning, Guardianships and Conservatorships and Oregon Estate Tax preparation. She began to miss her family, friends, and her Hawaii life and decided to move back home to help families in Hawaii. Helping people solve problems and giving them peace of mind is her passion.
Wendy spends her spare time training with her friends for triathlons and marathons and spends time with her chocolate labrador retriever, Hoku. She completed the Boston Marathon in 2014, 2015, 2023, and 2024 and completed several Ironman triathlons. With such endurance and perseverance, she supports and assists families during a long-term care crisis and financial difficulties.