At Marianas Variety News & Views, it found three siblings, Laila Younis Boyer, Amier Castro Younis and Salam Castro Younis who continue to contribute their talents and careers to a crucial community service their parents, Abed and Paz, started half a century ago.
Laila Younis Boyer
<p class=”p1″><em>”From helping to collate newspapers at a young age, or watching your father come home from a grueling day at work still smeared with ink, to getting the writing bug, a family business has a way of finding its way into the next generation.”</em>
Eldest daughter out of six children, Laila found the joy of writing at an early age and by high school, knew she wanted to be a journalist at Marianas Variety News & Views after college.
After attending universities in Nagoya, Japan, Haifa, Israel and Hilo, Hawaii as a major in International Communications and Mass Communications, she returned to Saipan in 1997 and began her career as a news reporter.
“I loved every minute of it. We had an incredible, fiery news team, and I was assigned the Education and Community Beats.
I had two pages called Around the Islands and filled it with stories, photos, poems, and on the street interviews. I’ll never forget the first time I had my first front page story and the others after that—I completely understood the notion of when you do what you love, it’s not really work,” said Laila.
Marianas Variety’s expansion into Palau and Guam, however, as part of its mission to provide more regional news, called Laila to fill the roles of Operations Manager, then General Manager and soon after, President and Publisher over the next 23 years.
“My notable contributions over the years boil down to the impact of two major factors: the transition from print to digital technology and the severe decline of the CNMI’s economy. The newspaper still stands today because, as a team, we were able to navigate through one of the toughest times for our industry and our region,” she said.
“We launched our first interactive website, all our social media platforms, streamlined our operations, suppliers, developed creative marketing and networking as well as new products and services, focused on our employees—the heart of any company—and continued to be an active community partner,” said Laila, who also served on several nonprofit organizations.
Laila’s husband, Laurence Boyer, also joined the family team in 2012 as Operations Manager for several years, helping to create efficient production, inventory and supply processes as well as developing safety protocols in the company’s divisions and other business ventures.
“I’m so glad he ignored the usual ‘don’t work with your wife’ warning and took the plunge with me,” laughed Laila. We made a great team, making the difficult ride much more manageable, and I am so grateful.”
Laila’s other siblings, Banny, Farah and Suaad have also been a part of the family business, serving in different roles over the past several years in the newspaper’s parent company, Younis Art Studio, Inc.’s Board of Directors.
“Our family, along with our resilient and dedicated staff and teams, our new and longtime subscribers, advertisers, partners, and supporters, is this incredible milestone able to be achieved,” she added.
“We extend a heartfelt thank you to all of you and know you all played an important role in ensuring our islands had a responsible, credible and reliable voice in media for the past 50 years and for the years ahead.”
Amier Castro Younis
<p class=”p1″><em>”Hands down, the best part of working for the company is our staff. It is truly a family business—our staff an extension of our family—as the amount of respect and recognition that goes both ways is the ultimate blessing.”</em>
Currently the President & Publisher of Marianas Variety News & Views, Amier decided to return home after graduating with a degree in Business Administration while working for the University of Washington Business Office at the urging of the late founder and his father, Abed E. Younis.
The fast-paced excitement of building a business from the ground up on Guam enthralled Amier, especially after living in Seattle, so he went right to work there as Operations Manager in 2001 after working a few months in Saipan.
In Guam’s competitive environment, Amier put all his business talents he could muster, successfully ending Guam’s newspaper monopoly and providing the local community with an exceptional source of local and regional news for 15 years and albeit, with a new owner, continues to this day.
“My most notable contributions, as a measure of impact on the business, is my research, sourcing, and integration of various products and business partners throughout the years. I introduced accounting, graphic design, network, and software,” said Amier.
“I also sourced out new suppliers of our raw materials with more favorable pricing and production lead times. I studied our operations and found solutions to create efficiencies, boost productivity, and reduce expenses altogether. To this day, I continue to review our operations and procedures and seek solutions to improve the products and services we offer,” he said.
What he enjoys most about plugging away for the family business is collaborating with the teams.
“Hands down, the best part of working for the company is our staff. We have staff who have been with the company for over 30 years, dozens of staff over 20 years, and so many more who have made careers out of working for the company. Most of them remember when I was still a little boy running around the office. It is truly a family business—our staff an extension of our family—as the amount of respect and recognition that goes both ways is the ultimate blessing,” said Amier.
As Marianas Variety turns golden, Amier believes there is a bright future ahead.
“A lot of people believe newspapers will be a thing of the past. Most said the same about radio. But newspapers serve a purpose in every community, and it is not just the dissemination of news. It serves as a matter of record, a snapshot of what will soon be history, a tangible resource unable to be altered or deleted. Newspapers will continue to evolve with technology and its community, and Marianas Variety, as the only independent media organization in the CNMI, will be at the forefront.”
Salam Castro Younis
<p class=”p1″><em>”We will continue to adapt with emerging technologies and media platforms that continue to shape our community, while providing that space where news, ideas and opinions are shared.”</em>
The youngest of the family, Salam was pursuing his interest for the environment through a degree in Natural Resources at the University of Washington, when Paz, co-founder of Marianas Variety, requested him to help the family business, he changed his degree to Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and moved back to Saipan in 2003.
Salam dove right into operations, handling Circulation and Warehouse, streamlining the company’s inventory and supply processes, eventually becoming Operations Manager to 2012 and now sits as Board Vice President.
“We went through so many financial challenges, had to find areas where we could cut expenses and yet, still deliver the quality product we have been doing. The decline of tourism, fall of the garment industry, federalization of the CNMI labor system, rolling blackouts and a decline in the local and foreign population as people were leaving for greener pastures were so daunting,” said Salam. “There were a lot of tough decisions made from downsizing to reduced hours. Despite these challenges, we have always been able to adapt and come out stronger through establishing new systems and protocols. Even with the most recent challenges of the global COVID pandemic and labor and economic issues, we continue to push through.”
His first love found him at full circle as the proud owner of Caravan Restaurant in Garapan and Younis Farms, creating one of the CNMI’s truly farm to table culinary experiences with recipes from Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Along with his strong business acumen and resourcefulness, Salam was able to turn around the family’s farm and restaurant business as a self-sustaining and environmentally friendly model, attracting a strong following for those who enjoy fresh, clean eating and a similar love for nature and its resources.
With eyes on the horizon, Salam believes Marianas Variety continues to provide the service it started with to the community, while adapting to the future.
“We will continue to adapt with emerging technologies and media platforms that continue to shape our community, while providing that space where news, ideas and opinions are shared,” said Salam. “We are, after all, a news family.”
