KHON2's general manager Kristina Lockwood's journey to the top started with the help of a woman she credits as one of her great mentors, longtime MidWeek executive Dianne Pereira. Dianne gave Kristina her first big break, hiring her at 19 years old, as an account executive. Kristina embraced the opportunity to take on a job she knew little about, and learned all that she could, as she pursued her new career. It was the belief that Dianne had in Kristina that sticks with her today. "Strong women lift each other up," she shared, "I was determined not to disappoint her."
Under the guidance of mentors such as Dianne, Rick Blangiardi (KGMB GM) and Wally Zimmerman (KHON GM), Kristina challenged herself to keep learning and growing in her roles in sales at KGMB, KITV and KHON. During that time she also decided to go back to night school to earn her college degree, one of her proudest achievements. She was already serving as general sales manager at KGMB when she took a position at Cox Media in San Diego, breaking into a new and much larger market. Cox Media also provided excellent training and development opportunities that prepared her well for her role of general manager at KHON2. She credits her rise to general manager at KHON to her natural curiosity, her positive attitude, her relationship building skills, and her choice to always surround herself with people that lift her up.
At KHON2, Kristina knows that the competition in the broadcasting business is fierce. A big challenge at KHON has been having three owners in four years. With each ownership change, the station has been able to adapt and embrace what the new owners have to offer. Her current focus has been to growing KHON's online and social media presence and developing a KHON app. She also believes in serving the community and the advertisers by creating opportunities and long-term programming such as Living 808 and Sam Choy In the Kitchen.
Kristina attributes the station's ratings success to the culture of "yes" that has developed at KHON. She always works on building the morale, relationships and trust among her employees to make KHON not only a great place to work , but a station that truly serves Hawaii.