Makoa Leis · Family business
Turn a family tradition into a working Shopify business.
My wife and I started Makoa Leis to share our Hawaiian roots, celebrate meaningful milestones, and give our kids a chance to help build a small business.
Celebration, heritage, and a family enterprise.
Makoa Leis began with leis our family made for graduation celebrations. We saw an opportunity to offer locally made candy, gift-card, and money leis to families marking graduations and other milestones.
The brand centers on “Wear the Celebration”—a simple promise that connects the product with the emotion of the occasion. Building it with Kristi and our kids makes the project both a business and a practical opportunity to learn entrepreneurship together.
A storefront needs more than product photos.
I helped shape the brand and build the Shopify storefront, connecting product descriptions, school-color choices, bundles, and celebration-focused messaging with the buying experience.
The operational details matter too: local pickup, shipping options, customization notes, payment setup, and customer notifications. The work connects brand strategy to the practical decisions that help a customer place and receive an order.
Own the customer experience from story to fulfillment.
Makoa Leis is a hands-on example of consumer branding and ecommerce execution at small-business scale. It combines product presentation, merchandising, family storytelling, and the operational details behind an online order.
The project demonstrates a working storefront and an evolving family business; sales and conversion results can be added as the business develops.
Explore more consulting and business-building projects.