Rebuilding My Confidence: Maui Mayor's Exceptional Small Business 2026
How a bow tip, a hard stretch in Evansville, and a Mayor's award taught me I'd gotten my confidence back.
Several years ago, I replaced the tip on a bow using casein and ebony. It took me months to get through. Every step felt like a question I couldn't answer. I second guessed my cuts, my fit, and myself.
This month I did the same procedure again, on the very same bow when it came back in for a rehair. It took about five days.
The bow belongs to a good friend and colleague with the Maui Pops Orchestra, and it's historically significant, what we believe to be a Vigneron bow stamped Paul Jombar à Paris. Having it on my bench both times made the difference impossible to ignore. Same bow, same procedure, same hands. The knowledge and technique didn't change that much. What changed is that I trust myself again.
Where it went
I lost my confidence while teaching in Evansville with EVSC. It didn't happen all at once. It happened through consistent negative feedback, week after week, until it wore me down. My lesson plans were torn apart and I was told I was ineffective, despite students receiving excellent marks at city contests. In my very first week, I listened to a fine arts director talk down about the colleagues I was about to work beside, and I remember thinking this was not a place that believed in lifting people up and it certainly was not a place in which I could flourish. Resources I was promised either never came or took years to arrive. When you hear often enough that you're not good enough, and the support never shows up, you start to believe the doubt is just who you are.
I carried that with me 4,250 miles when we moved to Maui, and for years it quietly shaped how I approached new challenges.
How it came back
I didn't get it back through one big breakthrough. I got it back through repetition and small wins, and through building a life where I'm allowed to learn out loud. I started out driving to students' homes in 2021 with two students and a violin in the back seat while still working for the Post Office. I refined my bow rehair technique and bow restorations and founded the Maui Community Orchestra. (Next concert is Friday, Oct. 30th at 6 pm at Iao United Church of Christ in Wailuku. Come in costume and bring the kids.) The studio grew from 150 square feet into 2,000 square feet at Fujitomo Hall where over 70 students walk through the door each week. Each step was proof that I could figure things out.
Then, on October 21, Maui School for Strings was honored at the 2026 Mayor's Small Business Awards as Exceptional Small Business of the year. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about Evansville for a moment that night. Eight years ago I couldn't have imagined standing in a room full of Maui business owners while my community told me this school mattered, that my ideas and teaching are making an impact.
Bow repair is a good teacher about all of this. Casein and ebony don't care how you feel. The fit is either clean or it isn't, and you either have the patience to do it right or you don't. When I finished the bow and the new tip sat perfectly, I realized that I was back.
What I want the school to be
Confidence grows in places where people give honest feedback with care, share what they know, and follow through on what they promise. That's what I want Maui School for Strings to be for every teacher and student who walks through the door. It's why our studio offers free or reduced-cost rehearsal space to Maui Pops, Maui on Stage, ProArts Theater, Maui Community Orchestra and other local arts groups, and why we keep scholarships available so a child's chance to play doesn't depend on what their family can afford.
None of this was done alone. Thank you to Nicki Barsamian, who nominated the school, and Karen Lewis, who wrote a letter I'm still moved by. Thank you to the teachers who share our space, to my husband Patrick, and to every parent and student who keeps showing up.
If you're in a season where you've lost your footing, I want you to know it can come back. It might take longer than you want, and it might come from somewhere unexpected. But keep showing up to do the work.
Mahalo nui loa,
Roy
Congratulations!!