Dylan Shropshire ‘06 is a fifth-generation farmer who was raised on the Hamakua Coast of Hawaiʻi Island, where he currently lives. After graduating from Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy, Dylan pursued an education in International Business and Finance. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Dylan is a successful local entrepreneur with several businesses across Hawaiʻi Island, including Vibe Café, a vegetarian restaurant, and Vibe Farms, a USDA-certified organic farm in Hilo. He is an accomplished real estate professional specializing in agricultural properties and serves as an icon agent with eXP Realty and manager of Ag-Eco Properties. In addition, he founded and serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Big Island Grown, which secured one of only eight medical cannabis dispensary licenses in the state and was featured in Forbes magazine for the company’s cutting-edge sustainability practices in the cannabis industry.
Each January, HPA convenes a panel of graduates to share advice and stories about life after HPA with our seniors. This Q&A occurred during our Young Alumni Day 2023.
What was your favorite part of your HPA experience? What made it so unique?
Boarding was the best part of my experience at HPA. The friendships I made at HPA and the connections. I’m from the Big Island, but I boarded because I was from Hilo, and it was too far to drive every day. My friends from Robertson’s, I visited them either during high school or right after. Even now, when I travel, I reach out to my old boarding friends — guys from Japan, Korea, and Germany — I’ve visited all of them. I’m on 34 countries now. Just traveling the world and getting to visit each friend or connection from HPA — and they’re at home, so being able to be welcomed in by their family and getting that authentic experience and being able to see what their life is like when they’re at home was probably my favorite part of HPA and the most rewarding part after HPA.
How did you figure out what you wanted to do as a career?
I started in real estate, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do after college, so I took a job in Thailand teaching English, and that was really fun, but then I decided to come back to the Big Island and help on the farm for a little while. I just like growing things. Farming is what I love, it’s what I’ve done since I could walk… but it was a non-linear path of discovery. I think that as I tried different things, I learned what I liked and what I didn’t like, and I learned pretty quickly that I didn’t want to work for anyone. From there, it was all about trying to start businesses that would catch on, but it was a lot of trial and error and a lot of failing at first. My advice would be: just get out there and try it. Don’t be scared about the money you might make — take an internship, even those unpaid ones — that experience will be invaluable. Find something you love so that you never have a work a day in your life.
What’s the number one attribute that you need to be successful as an entrepreneur?
Perseverance, hands down. Nothing is more important than that. It’s such a long road, and when you start to build something, it feels like it should come so much faster, and so what you’re going to realize is that it’s a long road, and it’s never going to be as you imagined it to be. You’re gonna get punched in the face a few times — not in a literal sense, but in a business sense — and it’s about being able to basically get up the next day and put your pants back on and just go. To me, that’s the number one attribute, nothing else is more important than that. But I’d also recommend getting a good morning routine. Win the morning, win the day. I wish I had started that earlier.
If you were each hiring for a position, what would you look for in HPA graduates?
Someone with a hunger and eagerness to get better and learn. Just 1% better every day compounds into success. That and perseverance. If I can see those skills in someone, it’s a no-brainer because you can basically train anyone who is passionate and wants to learn every day and will persevere in hard times.