About us
Sutada Hesse is originally from Thailand,
where she attended one of the top-10
schools in the country and received her
business degree, with a major in marketing,
from the hands of the King of Thailand himself.
“It was a very proud moment,” said Hesse, adding she worked
hard for her degree, but failed the first time around. Her friends then
helped by tutoring her, and she finally made it.
It was an important
lesson for her, who said she would not succeed without support, and
this goes for everything else in life, including school, business and
relationships.
Hesse later moved to California to attend graduate school, and
it was there that she met her ex-husband. They moved to Kaua‘i in
November 1992, a couple months after Hurricane ‘Iniki, and opened
Hesse Flooring. After divorcing her husband, Hesse continued the
business on her own since the early 2000s.
Asked if she had any advice for women who are in business, Hesse
smiled and said, “they’ll make it, women are tough.” In fact, times
were difficult during the downfall of the economy in 2008, when
“everybody had a hard time,” she said, but the business survived
thanks to her resilience – and a promise to her late father-in-law.
“I learned a lot from him, he was a very successful man,” Hesse
said of her father-in-law. “I didn’t give up because of him. I promised
him at his funeral I’d take good care of his grandkids no matter what
happened. So we got through the recession, even though I struggled.
I made it through because I kept my promise.”
Besides being a business owner and a contractor, Hesse is also an
animal lover and a certified diamond jeweler.
Sutada Hesse
Owner
