Meeting Vicki, USO PTA's Unsung Hero

If you’ve spent more than five minutes at USO Pohakuloa Training Area, chances are you’ve met Victoria Genna—though she’ll quickly tell you, “Just call me Vicki.” She joined the USO family in June 2024 as the Center Operations Specialist, bringing with her more than 20 years of publishing and marketing expertise, plus a lifetime of supporting her Army veteran husband. After all that, choosing Hawaiʻi Island as home was simply the next brilliant chapter.

Vicki didn’t have much time to ease in. Soon after she started, she was tossed straight into a massive training rotation—her trial by fire. One especially hectic day, I checked in and asked how she was holding up. Her legendary reply, now etched into USO Hawaiʻi history: “They ate everything!”

2024 wrapped up as a full-blown Center Operations Specialist learning marathon—USO PTA ended the year with 22,550 in center traffic visits and 4,123 program participants. But Vicki wasn’t discouraged. Instead, she made a promise heading into 2025: “We will be innovative and we will do better!”

And wow, did she deliver. The moment 2025 stormed in, Vicki was already five steps ahead—brainstorming, resourcing, executing, and at times ‘frankensteining’ programs together with sheer willpower and creativity. Some succeeded spectacularly, others… well, we learned from those. But every single one made PTA stronger. She even launched the USO PTA Instagram page, racking up over 65 posts plus countless updates on Facebook. Social media guru? It’s in her resume.

But that’s not all. Vicki is also a devoted dog mom, and the second she heard about the K9 program, she was off recruiting like she was assembling a powerhouse team. Today, Adaka, Paka, and Lincoln are center celebrities—service members practically sprint just to get those K9 scratches in.

And then came the Haunted House. Vicki’s innovation hit new heights as she planned, resourced, and executed USO PTA’s first ever haunted house after a request from a Training Rotation Senior Enlisted Advisor. How did it go? Well, let’s just say Vicki had to stand in line like everyone else—and waited over 45 minutes to go through her own haunted house. If that’s not success, what is?

Her dedication to the USO mission and to our service members never wavers. Thanks to her drive and creativity, USO PTA closed 2025 with 44,032 center visits—a 95% increase over the previous year—and a stunning 14,324 program participants, a 246% jump from 2024. Those numbers tell a story, and the story is Vicki.

Her hard work amazes us every day. Vicki doesn’t just make USO PTA successful—she lifts the entire USO organization with her energy, passion, and heart.

Fun Fact: Vicki filled out her Center Operations Specialist application the very night she first arrived on the Big Island. It reached us one night before the closing date. Talk about timing—lucky for us, fate delivered her right on schedule.