Entrepreneur in Residence Spotlight: Meli James ’00

James serving as a final judge of the 2025 Hospitality Business Plan Competition. Photo credit: Heather Ainsworth.
If Silicon Valley could build an innovation ecosystem, wondered Meli James ’00, why couldn’t Hawaii? So, she set out to make it happen.
James is a co-founder and general partner of Mana Up (meaning “level up”), a company dedicated to expanding economic opportunities in Hawaii. Through its business accelerator, venture capital fund and retail platforms, James helps Hawaii-based brands build businesses rooted in culture, community and place. “I love every day of this work,” she says.
Mana Up’s six-month accelerator program focuses on leadership development, scaling operations and increasing revenue so that entrepreneurs can take their companies global. Once they complete the program, companies gain visibility through House of Mana Up stores, e-commerce and global sales opportunities, including events like Aloha Market pop-ups in Tokyo and Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Mana Up’s venture capital fund provides growth capital to Hawaii-based product companies intending to scale globally. To date, 105 companies have been supported by Mana Up; together, they have created 1,100 jobs and in 2025 generated $115 million in revenue. “It’s been incredible to see not only the quality and scale of companies we’ve invested in, but also the outside capital they attract,” she says. “It’s been neat to work alongside some well-known investors — some big companies — and show that there is real opportunity here.”
As a student at the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration, James was focused not on entrepreneurship, but on hospitality and sustainable tourism development, particularly in her native Hawaii. Like many Hotelies, she took all of the wine classes. “I really loved them,” she says. “And so, when I started my first company, it was in the wine space.” James co-founded Nirvino a comprehensive online wine database with pairing advice, in 2007 after having worked for W Hotels and the San Jose (California) Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“Although they were great jobs, something was missing,” she says. “I felt in my gut and in my heart that I wasn’t on the pathway that was my pathway. Starting Nirvino pulled me back into a lot of the things I loved.” Once the iPhone and App Store came into existence, Nirvino built an app to replicate its website. It became the top-rated wine app, a Top 100 app in the Apple app store and a Top 10 lifestyle app. “It solved a problem we all have — finding good wine at a good price,” she says.
After stepping away from Nirvino, James started a few other companies in Silicon Valley. Then she felt a pull to return home. “My goal was to help build or grow an innovation ecosystem because I had fallen in love with entrepreneurship,” she says. “I love the concept of being able to take an idea, bring it to life, create a business and provide jobs, opportunity and revenue in your community.”
James moved back to Hawaii in 2012, bringing her startup experience to Blue Startups — a state- and investor-supported entrepreneurship accelerator — and the University of Hawaii’s venture accelerator. In 2017, she co-founded Mana Up.
“Companies were getting seeded here, but they weren’t staying,” she says. “I asked myself, ‘What’s Hawaii’s competitive advantage that can create a baked-in reason for a company to not just start here, but stay and thrive?’ And it was the brand of Hawaii. We have one of the most recognized brands in the world, yet having traditionally relied on tourism and the military as our economic drivers, we lacked the infrastructure to support these new companies.”
Mana Up focuses on consumer brands with at least $100,000 in annual revenues that elevate the brand of Hawaii. “We wanted to work with companies that were far enough along that they could take advantage of scale,” she says. “Our big hairy goal is to help grow 100 companies headquartered in Hawaii that reach $10 million or more in annual revenue — adding $1 billion to the state’s economy.”
In 2016, James was one of five people recognized by Entrepreneur magazine on its “Women to Watch” list. In 2017, she was one of eight women profiled in the magazine’s “Women Leaders Who Are Disrupting Entrepreneurship” feature.

James, who has been an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at the Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship since 2015, is the institute’s longest-serving EIR. She was introduced to the institute after one of her interns, Max Tave ’15, nominated her as a judge for the 3-Day Startup Competition.
While on campus, James met with Pillsbury Institute officials, who invited her to become an EIR. Since then, she has served on roundtables; judged the Pitch Deck Competition and the Hospitality Business Plan Competition; returned for Celebration Ezra and Hotel Ezra Cornell; and given the HEC keynote address. “The access to founders and operators that students gain through the Pillsbury Institute helps bridge academics with real-world experience and expand what’s possible,” she says.

As an EIR, James enjoys mentoring students and offering feedback and direction. She advises them to “leverage your hospitality mindset in both entrepreneurship and leadership. Put people first, build strong teams, solve problems with empathy. Lead like you’re taking care of guests, and growth follows.”
James also enjoys being reconnected — and reconnecting classmates — with “this fantastic school, which continues to be best in class.”
Other Nolan School ties include speaking in the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series and serving as president of the Hawaii chapter of the Cornell Hotel Society.
“At Mana Up, our companies are now integrated with hotels, with airlines,” she says. “We’re creating regenerative tourism. I’m totally back in hospitality. This is what I learned. This is my passion.”