Domonic Vespoli keeps Hawaiian Electric’s power plants and his ukulele tuned up

Maintenance Manager Domonic Vespoli grew up in Waianae. He said he would always pass Kahe Power Plant and be curious about what happened behind the gates.

In 1999, his high school woodshop teacher encouraged him to apply for Hawaiian Electric’s former School to Work program in which high school students spent six weeks at the power plants receiving minimum wage, school credit and experience in different areas of the plant.

At just 15 years old, Domonic clinched one of the positions and it was there he found his rhythm in life. “Interning at a young age, I realized that I wanted to work in this kind of industrial environment,” he said.

The internship gave him an overview of the work at the plant. “While I was there, I worked with all the different crafts. I spent two days at a time working with the different employees and I got to see the different types of jobs. It gave me some insight,” he said. “Some of the guys I’ve worked with when I was 15, they’re still here.”

Domonic said sometimes the benefits of internships are about exposing yourself to a variety of experiences that help you refine your goals.

“You might say, ‘Oh, this is not what I want to do.’ Maybe it’s not your cup of tea. You don’t waste a lot of time and effort. You can really focus on what you want to do,” he said, recalling how he struggled when it was his turn to weld a piece.

Domonic is grateful his woodshop teacher, Curtis Goya, took an interest in him and steered him toward the internship.

“I called him my dad at the time, because he was really looking after me. He wanted me to learn and grow,” Domonic said. “One of the guys I ended up supervising on the travel crew, his name was Owen Goya, and his cousin was Curtis, the teacher that I had.”

The internship culminated with a presentation by the students about what they learned and how they could apply that to something they are passionate about outside of work. Domonic did his presentation about his budding ukulele career, weaving in lessons about about work ethic, plans for his career path and practicing his craft, which would lead to his goal of recording an album.

He used those tools to achieve musical success in high school by spending his free time mastering the ukulele and learning to run a sound system under the guidance of his musician uncle, who took Domonic on his weekend gigs. Soon after, Domonic formed his own band with cousins and his brother.

He joined with friends from school to win musical talent competition Brown Bags to Stardom at Waianae High School in his junior year. The next year, he won the school competition as a solo ukulele artist. His Waianae High School group, Kaena, recorded an album in 2004.

Domonic worked at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard after his junior year, graduated from high school, and was hired as an engineering intern at Tesoro, working as a draft person. This led to a full-time job at Tesoro, which he juggled with his full-time school schedule at community college.

At one point Domonic said he applied for a job as an operator at the power plants but didn’t get the job.

“That kind of opened my eyes. I wasn’t really ready to take it on at a young age, so I worked on my electronics degree, and it helped prepare me,” he recalled.

“Two things have to happen in order for things to work out. I can be prepared but not have opportunity, or I can have the opportunity and not be prepared. They both go hand in hand, and when opportunity arose to get into Hawaiian Electric, I was prepared for it,” he said.

After about five years, he returned to the company as a control mechanic. Over the last 15 years, he’s risen through the ranks to become Maintenance manager in 2022. It was the same year his current band, Ryze, recorded an album.

The band is still a family act with two of Domonic’s four sons on keyboards and drums, with his aunty and her husband and daughter filling out the rest of the act.

The band plays at church and events for friends and family, plus the occasional gig, but it’s more about spending time with his kids and instilling the lessons that music teaches.

“We practice typically once a week, even if we don’t have gigs,” Domonic said. “It’s more to always being prepared for the opportunity when it comes. They can relate that to anything in life: Be prepared, work hard, practice, good habits. Probably most important, it keeps me sane.”

Over the years, Domonic has also found ways to support his community through his music, inspiring the next generation as an ukulele teacher and writing the song “Leihoku Pride” for his alma mater Leihoku Elementary School in Waianae.

As a KoAloha sponsored artist for 14 years, Domonic said people often ask why he doesn’t give up his Hawaiian Electric job to play music full time. But Domonic loves the way his two careers have brought harmony to his life.

“My answer to them is, I love working at Hawaiian Electric. I love doing what I do, just as much as playing music,” he said. “I understand that what we do here is super important for the community and our islands, so I love being a part of that.”

“Just think about those things we could be, continue to be trendsetters, providing the most reliable, sustainable energy to the islands. And I can say I was a part of that,” he said.

If you know someone who would make a good candidate for Hawaiian Electric’s college internship program, applications are open for summer 2026 on the Careers page.