 Hello and welcome to Finding Respect in the Chaos. I'm think Tech Hawaii. I'm so glad you guys have joined us today. I'm here with ready for this everybody sitting down Miss United States you guys this is big. Amanda Smith is here with me today and I want you guys to welcome her. Thank you so much for coming today. Thank you so much for having me I'm excited to talk about what I do and what's going on. I love having inspiring stories to share with you guys here. And as most of you know this is a safe place for survivors of abuse to tell their stories and a place for advocates to share important resources and more than anything to show other people out there that there's hope and healing on the other side of abuse and you can overcome with the right help and the right resources. Everyone can overcome this you are not alone. So we have an amazing story and let's get right to your story Amanda so excited to share this with you. Could you tell us just a little bit about your past if you wouldn't mind. So we get a little bit of a background and we can really appreciate all the amazing things you're doing now. Yeah so when let's see where should I start when I was a kid. I fell in love with the food network. I remember watching it on the TV screen. And I was fascinated by all these chefs who were able to cook these amazing dishes. Not just that a lot of them had sustainable foods they were using foods from farmers markets or they would talk about it so I was getting a lot of that knowledge through actual food network which was really cool. The second thing was I was I had bad allergies growing up. I had dairy allergies I was constantly bloated I was always getting sick. So if I eat a bunch of sugar. My dad always said when you were young you know you would eat all that stuff that we'd feed you and then you get an ear infection. So I always knew that I had something that was different like I wasn't like my sisters who could eat hot dogs and hamburgers or Taco Bell the time. And that's what we ate you know every typical kid would eat something like that. I always knew I had to be different when it came to food and at that age you know I always had I was told myself I want to be that person who helps others you know connect with food and you know you don't have to have allergies all the time right I mean at that age I was probably 12 when I realized okay I need to tell my parents I can't have that kind of food and I started just kind of eating what you know like the vegetables my mom would serve or you know different things in the house. I would still eat the junk you know I wasn't 100% all there of course I'm 12. But I was really inspired by the food network to push forward and to to look at what kind of ingredients they were using and I would sneak peek whatever my step mom was cooking at the time and my grandma cooked a lot when I was a kid we used to go down there to LA I was raised in Bakersfield California, but born in Torrance California. My grandparents lived in the LA area in Carson California and we'd always go visit them on the weekends or when we could for the month and my grandma had tons of Filipino food. That was my favorite right all the good yummy stuff and my favorite thing was beef in broccoli. That's all I would eat with her. But yeah that's the humble beginnings of when I really realized that I love food. I absolutely love it. And so I know you've got and I can't wait to start talking about the men who be chef that you start your school age kids but can we. If you wouldn't mind sharing just a little bit more about some of the things that happened when you were younger that has sort of brought you to the place that you are now. Yeah yeah so when I was a kid my parents were you know about three years old they became divorced you know they were I don't know what their problem was all I know is that one cheated on another or supposedly. Or you know my mom was 16 years old when she had me and didn't really understand the dynamics of having kids and you know that's a young age and. You know she had a second child maybe at 18 closer to 18 years old and now she had two kids at 18 and there was a lot of shuffling or not watching us or you know leaving us in different areas that weren't really safe. Then there was you know the divorce you know I had to stay with my mom. My dad was still working and trying to make it you know you know financially and my mom just got into really bad relationships so it was always you know. One thing after another drugs it doesn't matter alcohol you know abuse she was abused. You know there was some of that we seen when we were young I don't remember it per se but it happened and my dad ended up marrying an alcoholic and a drug addict. As well and she was mentally and emotional there's different types of abuse obviously and mentally and emotionally and then there was physical sometimes as well where you know anybody like that it's like walking on eggshells and not knowing you know I was the people pleaser. I was raised to be that way like how do I you know get food on the table or how do I make sure I have a next meal or I want to feel safe and so I would always do things for people I over gave. And that trickled down into my adulthood which I had to have a lot of therapy for and to realize. Oh that's why I was doing what I was doing and not stepping back and taking care of myself and getting into bad relationships right. So I mean the point of this is that you can become resilient. If you realize what the problem is and get the help you need and don't be afraid to ask like if you feel something in your gut isn't right. It probably isn't right. Right. So I. Yeah it took a lot of lessons. A lot of bad relationships alcoholics people who were you know drug like I said drugs I thought it was normal. This was normal to me that relationship would include drugs and alcohol. Wow well you certainly have overcome all of that and went on to be an amazing well Miss United States which I think you definitely deserve the honor so I'm very glad that you got it. The title because you definitely deserve it. And now you did you start men and honey chef before on your pageant stuff or was that after your pageant stuff. Actually it was before and it was right before I ran for the Mrs division because I was previously married been divorced for five years. That kind of led into when I had my kids. I became more inspired to want to cook healthy for them because I remember when I was a kid not feeling good when I would eat super bad so I literally I literally created this program for schools. I wrote a curriculum and I just taught it and filmed it and got my kids involved and it just became super popular. And I thought well I might as well put it into the pageantry because it's a great platform and you know worldwide not just for my kids or the schools here in Hawaii. It's great for everybody around the world because we can use sustainable foods and so many honey chef literally means little chef and so I teach kids and families how to cook with sustainable foods grown in the Hawaiian islands. Now I'm starting to it has now expanded not just to my kids in the local community, but now to the Department of Education at Chief is Kamakahelei I teach the after school program there. You know teaching kids how to cook with sustainable foods partnering with other programs and you know getting really close to the community at large right and now that I have a global platform I'm able to. Now I'm shifting and pivoting into online classes so I'm creating an online course. It's a six module course for people to join in it doesn't matter if you're in your family or in a classroom. All they would need is the supplies supply it click online, do a quick donation and you've got your whole curriculum ready to go where everything is. As you want to go flow through on our little platform or online and that's it you know and then if you want to subscribe to the you know this is kind of how we're doing it if you want to subscribe to it. We'll give you monthly updates on what's next and what's coming up you know with mini honey chef as far as recipes and new techniques. Sure so okay so Miss United States will be the United States pageant company I don't know what it's called program. It's under Misses United States so originally the we've been around where the second we've been around for a long time maybe 35 years. So they've been around and how it all started was you know we have you know this wonderful woman. She started this program to highlight people like me who are excited about sharing platforms like this or businesses or things that they run. You know in their own local communities and she wanted to highlight them put them on a platform and say hey look look what they're doing they're empowering themselves but also other people around the world with their platform. And so that was the main purpose I knew I had entered the right pageant when they talked about platform all day and that's what I do so it's it's pretty phenomenal I really love this system they've been extremely supportive of my platform. You know whatever I needed they were there and we've done tons and tons of interviews and now they're actually helping me and backing me on this whole new project on what can we do to help you know how do we promote you and so we've got people around the world joining in so this is going to be amazing. Again mini honey chef the online classes are going to be launched in October. So look out for that. Until then I'm just doing a private cooking lessons. So great. And you know this actually gives you that sort of in with kids too so that if there's further services that these kids need. They're seeing you sort of on a personal basis. Because we're talking about something so intimate as food and how you eat right so that you they're going to be more likely to open up and talk about other things that might be going on in their lives. Bring that educational you know community in with you to help about right. So that's amazing I love that now you're on on the island of Kauai right. That's correct so I'm on the island of Kauai. I'm 36 years old and I live on the east side of the island. That's awesome I love that we're talking to each other from two different islands. That's so great. Well so often we kind of get stuck in our own little bubble right. And I think who has been all of Hawaii right and I know I've got a no no across the ocean that way is you know Kauai and over there is Maui and I remember that we're all one state here. That's right we're all family. One big family and when we can get that like you are right now all joined together. Then we can move out from there to and start to influence the mainland and other countries and and all of that. And I think that's an important factor that you're doing that. I've always known that Hawaii is has been a huge highlight because we are the the state in general that is kind of like we're we have to be modeled by does that make sense like we are our sustainability like if everything were to crash down over there. And in the mainland we would still be running because we have running water naturally we have the capability to actually supply food for people here in Hawaii. And as much as we think that we can't we can we can grow food extremely easily here we can share it easily we've always done it. And that's the beauty of Hawaii. I agree. One of the reasons I moved here was for the better the healthier food the healthier lifestyle. All of that with a lupus and Crohn's disease so all of my autoimmune has been a tough fight for a lot of years. And since I've been here I have been healthier I eat what grows across the street you know I walk over to the fruit stand and grab a few things and come home and I hardly ever cook because most everything I eat is live food. Fruits. Closer energetically I think people don't realize that and this is why I've started many chef is that energetically we're all made of that substance called energy right. And if we're eating from plants and for eating you know things that are sourced from your land or anything that's around you. You're ultimately going to be super healthy it doesn't matter. And you know that's the beautiful way we can go outside and pick our own food and forage. And so if we're not learning how to cook with it if you feel a little lost my job is to make you feel comfortable doing it. And that's why I created mini chef is so people feel comfortable teaching their kids how to cook comfortable with farmers market finds that they don't get so stuck on the the whole thing of I need to go to Costco today. Does that make sense. Oh yes. Absolutely. That's what I meant by I don't really get a lot of stuff at the grocery store so much anymore. I mean it's great it's a great luxury right. It is a really good luxury to have but I mean cleaning products and paper products and things like that. But to be honest I get most of my food across the street. We are so abundant and you know I think of abundance as what we're growing outside. If you want to become abundant what people think it's about money it's really about what's your growing in your yard and how you're actually fulfilling yourself with the really good food right we want the good healthy food around us. Right. Absolutely. My my last guest was that was on is a girl I went to high school with who is removing landmines from the earth everywhere in like 30 different countries and replacing it not just pulling the landmines out but replacing it with agribusiness so that farmers are able to go out on farm their land again and they are and now they've got a business and they can sell. Incredible. I love that. That's the best story. People who are doing extreme things deserve praise. They deserve you know the the footage the the knowing that you're changing the world. You know one step at a time and that includes the farmers who work their butt off like people don't realize how hard it is. You know when I visit these farmers. I see people working out there in that hot sun. And they're dedicated that's their way that's their their light to shine to give back to humanity is to plant the food you know wait for it to harvest pick it for them and then share it you know it's not really about money for them it's about the passion. And you know everybody has a gift to share doesn't have to be famous you know we're all not all famous we're not going to be there but what we can do is serve our people and that's enough right that's enough if you serve other people that you're living in your purpose. I absolutely agree with that about 100%. Yep, and we don't realize and we don't give farmers enough credit, I think. Monsanto came in and sort of know mega organized everything and put with this big. I don't even know how to describe it exactly but we know that Monsanto has his hands and so many things, although he's not over on Kauai didn't you guys like Monsanto have GMO companies here and a lot of these lands are made for testing they're testing the corn they're testing the different things that they can grow. I can see where they're coming from again we have to have perspective on everything and stepping back and using our observer. The testing is really about you know did the plants become resilient to this chemical or this right or these elements and can we grow food and become resilient on food. You know there's all kinds of different factors I get where they're coming from I understand it isn't needed. No and they know that. So, but see that's where I turn and I say no pivot because that's not what our lands are really made from if you look back into history. People survived off of food off the land for many, many years without having a GMO company do it for us. You know, the whole thing is that we need to produce mass amount of food, we're actually wasting food. And so people don't realize you know when it comes to sustainability, it's not just about the food people kind of like oh become sustainable it's more than that it's the land you're working with the animals it's the packaging it's where the fuel comes from right. And so all of that those are all factors we really need to look into. And now more than ever with COVID-19 and this whole scare going on with all these colds people are thinking of different ways how do we become sustainable now because we can't rely on the government anymore right. We can financially but what are we going to do how are we going to pivot our lives to become better and to rely on ourselves versus becoming entitled to America. Absolutely. So can you give us a few tips on how you and your family you and your kids have sort of been making it through all this lockdown low school home school stuff. Yeah, so I have, you know, 5050 with my ex husband. And so it's been actually kind of cool because the kids get tired of being one spot in the house all day or, you know, well, over here I live by a bike path. And so I'm taking them biking I'm taking them hiking I'm taking them out. There's no people around us. We're just adventuring here on Koi so of course wearing masks and we're keeping social distancing because I do think that there is obviously a virus going around people so the protection is is to make sure your kids are living and going outside and still being a kid and not keeping them cooped into the house, making sure that they're reading, making sure that they're learning something new every single time. Not just that they're learning practical skills about cooking and that's what mom does so I'm teaching him that we've been doing a lot of videos on sharing recipes with farmers market finds. Malama Kauai you heard of them Malama Kauai. I have not know they have supported me since day one they've been giving me CSA bags farmers market finds and said hey, can you post a video and share with us and what you're doing for the recipe and I said absolutely. So I was doing that so that way it perpetuated information not just to my kids or anybody who knows me to the whole island themselves so that way they can see kids cooking and then they can feel more comfortable with you know sustainable food, but it's just a way to give back. I think that's an important distinction to that you're making here that you're not just saying here kids, we're going to give you this food. It doesn't matter how we need it or where we got it from, but it's good for you take it right right right and the thing is the stigma, the stigma is is that parents get a little scared and I want to talk about this they're like well I want to do this recipe but that's so detailed and I'm getting a little nervous I said well and I talked to a group of moms the other day and I said, tell me what makes you nervous when you cook with your kids they said well a I don't know how to teach them and be I don't know what I'm cooking. So even if they are healthy they're like well how do I create healthy dishes because our generations including ourselves, we've been given ding dongs like you said or you know hot dogs and things that are easily accessible food. So how do we change the dynamic the dynamic for people and the way to do it is to actually teach people to feel comfortable and to know that it's okay you go to the fires market takes five minutes take your kids go to the house. Look up the vegetable and start cooking like just let them participate that's the number one thing and allow them to use knives that's another thing nine line knives on Amazon.com. There, they were 595 I bought a whole kit and the kids actually learn right and so if you want to learn more information on how to cut with a nylon knife or if you want to get more comfortable with eating sustainable foods, then you're going to go to many honey chef.org, you're going to find out. I love that. I know my kids used to say that whenever I would go away for a conference or something, they would go yay we can watch forbidden movies and eat forbidden food, because they couldn't eat it when I was home right and be stuff like pizza and all that kind of junk food. I'm not saying get rid of it all I'm just saying you know pull back a little bit and teach a practical skill and become comfortable, your kids are going to want to eat what you're cooking it doesn't matter if it's super healthy or broccoli or whatever. They're going to want to try it I've seen kids do it nine times out of 10 filming them, even though they don't like it, they'll spit it out they're trying it. And so that makes me happy it doesn't matter my son has done it so many times I'm like nope keep it raw. We're not taking that out we're not going to fluff anything with many honey chef it's all about being real and sharing that hey look he tried it he spit it out but you're going to try it to watch. You know so it's it's a it's a cool thing too right so yeah so the whole thing the practical math skills you're going to learn practical math. You're going to get some confident kids who are comfortable with using knives and also parents. Right. I know that my kids have both grown up well three all three my boys have grown up to be chefs. One of them is a professional chef even, and he's all about it's got to be healthy it's got to be good I'm not going to give people a bunch of junk and I think. Now why did you have that attitude when you were younger. But not so much they would still be hungry so if you only give them one thing they're going to eat it because they get you know so. I love it yeah and then so you know with many when he chef of the platform I took it into 2015 I started running and you know the Mrs division all the way up till before I got divorced and you know I would always get first runner up and you know I just I like the idea of being able to advertise what I'm doing. On a bigger stage so when I joined in one last time after I got divorced I was like okay I'm going to try to see if I can make states at least and as a divorce woman. And lo and behold I became Miss Hawaii and on a walk who I flew out there with my daughter. We won and I was so happy. Then I had to prepare for nationals and I was like well I'm just going to play it by year I'm not I had no intention of winning. And so, by the time I got to Las Vegas, it was July or August when I was out there last year. I remember going there was a day late and I didn't get to meet all the girls I did that on purpose because I don't want to feel nervous. I was a little scared, but then I went into, you know, the whole meeting that I was supposed to go to pick up our packets and all that. And then I felt oddly comfortable, which was not like me because I'm very shy with other people. And, but I love doing TV hosting and all that right by the time we got to the center stage we're doing prelims and all that. I was a little shocked because the next day they were calling out the numbers right like okay, we're at top five and once you hit top five, you have to give a speech, right. So I was up there, I was up there and I was like, I did not prepare these girls are nervous or sweating. And I'm like, whatever, I'm just going to do what I do and talk about it and if they don't like it that's okay because I'm already used to being first runner up right. Yes. And so by the time I got to top three and then top two, I was like, is this really happening. And then I won eventually. I'm glad you did because you definitely deserve it and your platform is just amazing and the fact that changes for kids is what's so important. I'm all about let's teach the kids, let's teach them young about all of it about, you know, no more abuse for kids, no more, no more bad food, no more, you know, bad eating and even those kind of things alone. Just those two things alone can radically change the life of a kid and they progress into adulthood. Yeah, you're teaching life skills for a lifetime. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um, we've only got a couple minutes left. So I want you to go ahead and tell everybody that you're sort of closing arguments, if you know what I mean. Yeah, things that you want us to know that we didn't have a chance to talk about yet. Yeah, so if you guys want to follow me you can follow me on Facebook at mini Hoonie chef M E and E chef. Or you can go to my Instagram. It's under sustainable you Hawaii. That's pretty easy to remember. You can follow my journey there. But I just want to say thank you guys for inviting me and I hope that you know what we're sharing is inspiring kids and families out there. Oh, I know that it is and I want to thank you so much for coming on Amanda and I'm going to keep an eye on you so I'm going to invite you back in October after everything gets up and running and we'll see how it's all going and you'll have to come and share with us. Maybe October. I'll meet you in October. There we go. Sounds like a wonderful plan. I like that. See you later. Take care and I want to thank everyone for coming and joining us today for finding respect in the chaos here on think tech Hawaii. Please join us every other Wednesday at two o'clock. We'll see you then.