By LINDSAY PAPE
J Alumni News staff
Courtesy photo, Mary Fastenau
Mary Fastenau lives where many people dream of being.
It took love, a big move to Hawaii and a career change for Mary Fastenau to find her passion. Perhaps a little humor was involved, too.
Fastenau is the president and co-founder of StarrTech Interactive, a Web and strategic communications company based in Honolulu. The business she operates is basically a digital powerhouse, an interactive and Web development company that emphasizes creative Web design, strategic planning, consulting, interactive media and technology planning. StarrTech Interactive, founded in 1995, is a division of Anthology Marketing Group, the largest communication company in Hawaii.
Fastenau received earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UNL in 1980 when most graduates went into newspapers. “I started my career as a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, where I was a Pulliam Fellow,” Fastenau said.
She then moved to The Lafayette Journal and Courier. “I was the education and police reporter at the time and had a publisher who suggested that I might be good at promotions.
“We made a deal that I would try promotions for a year, and if I didn’t like it, he would help me find a reporting job. I soon found out that doing promotions was a good fit for me.”
Reporting and promoting in Indiana
Fastenau worked as a reporter and promotion manager for The Lafayette Journal & Courier in Lafayette, Ind., from 1980 to 1986, and later as the director of marketing support at The Marin Independent Journal in the San Francisco Bay area from 1986 to 1989.
She credits the move to Hawaii to John Flanagan, now her husband. “We both worked in newspapers in northern California until he was offered an editor position for The Honolulu Star-Bulletin,” Fastenau said.
Flanagan was the executive editor at the newspaper from 1987-1993, then editor and publisher until 2001.
“After he took the position in Honolulu, I stayed in California for two more years and then moved to Hawaii because of love. It’s still kind of shocking, but it’s the smartest decision I’ve ever made,” Fastenau said.
In addition to common career interests, Fastenau and her husband also share a taste for adventure. In 1989, they sailed from Seattle to Honolulu. Once they arrived in Hawaii, the 37-foot sailboat became their home for a little more than a year in the Waikiki harbor, an experience that she calls “wonderful.”
Making the move to advertising
The move to Hawaii prompted Fastenau to explore working in advertising, and she worked for agency Starr Seigle McCombs in Honolulu from 1989 to 1997. She was promoted to vice president at the agency in 1990.
“I ended up going back to get my MBA at the University of Hawaii,” Fastenau said. “This is where I really saw the Internet for the first time and just loved what I saw.”
She saw potential for broader marketing philosophies, advertising and public relations opportunities through use of the Internet. The idea of keeping people up-to-date by using the Internet soon developed into a successful career. But it looked like a drastic step at the time.
“In 1995 people told me that I was committing career suicide,” Fastenau said. Turned out, they were wrong. Starrtech Interactive now has 25 employees; 120 total employees work for Anthology Marketing Group.
“The Internet is rapidly changing our thought processes and how we gather news and information. Now, social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook are influencing how we gather information to an even greater extent,” Fastenau said.
Her large client base includes Marriott Hawaii, Bank of Hawaii, Hotels & Resorts of Halekulani, Hawaiian Telcom, Farmers Insurance, Symantec and Microsoft. StarrTech Interactive also has a partnership with an agency that has offices in Seattle and Oakland, which will increase the opportunity to bring in more national clients.
Fastenau was named “Advertising Woman of the Year” for Hawaii in 2000 by the Honolulu Advertising Federation.
Fastenau puts the client first
Dean Fujitani, director of corporate marketing and strategic partnerships at Hotels & Resorts of Halekulani, first worked with Fastenau and StarrTech Interactive in the mid-‘90s, on what was Halekulani’s first website. “Our website actually won Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Max Award in Technology in 1997,” Fujitani said.
Hotels & Resorts of Halekulani has worked with Fastenau on multiple Web development projects since the creation of that first site. “With Mary, it is never about her company — it is about us, the client,” said Fujitani. “More importantly, Mary has always had an extraordinary talent of attracting similar dedicated staff members who have added to StarrTech’s success, expanding her company beyond Hawaii and becoming one of the most effective online marketing firms found anywhere.”
Fastenau credits UNL with teaching her the fundamentals about journalism, things she uses every day. “I appreciate the basic, fundamental, education that Nebraska provides.”
And she has stayed connected to her alma mater as a member of Nebraska’s Alumni Association since 1980 and a member of the Alumni Association’s Cather Circle, a mentoring and networking program for women, since 2004.
Shelley Zaborowski, associate executive director for the Nebraska Alumni Association, helped develop and launch Cather Circle in 1999.
“When I first met Mary, I was amazed that someone from Hawaii had come back for Cather Circle,” Zaborowski said. “She keeps coming back and rarely misses a meeting. She is a great role model for students, and her warm personality makes her very approachable. She is very positive and energetic.”
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