 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond The Lines. We are broadcasting live from the beautiful Think Tech Hawaii TV studio in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book which became available just over a year ago and it's also titled Beyond The Lines which is about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. Today's special guest is an actor, a popular radio DJ on 94.7 KU-MU and some years ago he was the youngest state legislator in Hawaii. He is Devon Nakoba and today we are going beyond radio. Hey Devon! How's everything going? That was clever. That was clever. That was nice. I like how you worked that in. Let's go. I know you for many years. We've known each other for good many years. Some of the things we can talk about and some of the things we cannot talk about. But those things we can't talk about are the things that bonded us man. That's right. Now I had no idea you grew up in the mainland. Yeah, actually I was born in San Francisco. My parents, both from here, but they met at San Francisco State University, got married, had me and then when I was about three years old, the riots happened and my dad said we're moving so we actually relocated first to the big island where my parents were teachers and then we ended up making our way to Kona. So I grew up my formative years fishing and doing all that stuff in middle of E and yeah going to Kona Waino and then when I was 11 we moved to Oahu because my dad was actually working for Gene King at the time. So what schools did you attend when you were on Oahu? I went to Maimai Elementary. So graduate from Maimai. Also went to Mid-Pacific, went to Kailua Intermediate and then Kailua High School. You played any sports? Yes. Well, okay, played like I was on the team or played as in I actually did something specific that got me recognition on the field. Both. Okay. Woo! Okay, well there's two different things then. No, I played football. Most people go, really? So I played football JV Varsity and I was like left bench and right bench and then I played soccer as well and I did track because if you played football you had to do track and play basketball, you know, pick up games with your friends and stuff like that. And what college did you end up going to? Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, which is very, very cold right now. So I'm glad I'm not there even though our basketball team is awesome. I think we're number three right now. So either two or three I forget which. But yeah, so I went to the school of Gonzaga, got a degree in public relations and came back home and said, okay, just stay here. So Devin, what was your first official job that you ever had? My first official job was as a classroom cleaner in the school. Really? Yup. At where? Sucked at it. That was terrible. At what? Where? Carlos High School. My mother was actually the counselor at the school. And so I got a job there because she said give my son something to do, so he's not under foot. And yeah, I had clean classrooms and I thought I was good, but apparently I was not. Years later my mom's like, it is going to fire you, but they did it. And I was like, oh really? I thought I was good. They're like, no, you were horrible. You're terrible at that job. So I felt kind of bad. And then when did you get married? I got married in 2005, and I've been married 13 years now. And we have two kids, a girl who's 12 and a son who's 10, and yeah, married a girl from Hawaii. She's a teacher. What schools do they go to? They actually go to Waimado and they go to IAEA, Intermediate. Wow. That's great. They keep life interesting. Keeps you really busy? Yes. Yes. There's a lot of shuttling around and keeping them busy and doing stuff, yeah. Now you know what a lot of people don't know is some years ago you were the state's youngest legislator. Yes. From 1992 to 1996. Yes. So why did you get into politics? Because my dad said you need to have a job. I'm not even joking. He was like, you need to have a job and a guy who's our representative right now, he's going to be, he's going to run unopposed. So you need to do something. My dad's been involved with politics for a very long time and so I said okay and I went and I ran and my dad controlled everything so he figured out the colors and the things and we did this and we did that and I kind of went, all right, I'll do it. There's a lot of waving signs and shaking hands and all this stuff and then I didn't win and when that happened I was like, oh, I actually got to go close so if I actually worked at it I might actually win. And then he went up, it's Winnie Anderson. So he moved up, went to the Senate and when he went up then that space was open. So I ran and I won and was in for like four years. So what did you learn during that time as a state legislator? Not to be a politician, I'm kidding, I'm totally kidding, I'm totally kidding. I mean, yeah, to be honest, that politics is a, it's a calling for some people. It's something that you have to feel you want to do because there's going to be sacrifices you're going to have to make on a personal and a professional level in order to achieve what you want to achieve and you got to be comfortable with it because if you're not, it's going to eat you alive. It's also difficult because if you're a people pleaser, it's difficult to be in a position where you know you can't please everybody. You know somebody's going to be mad at you about something and it'll eat away at you. It's hard. So, yeah. And then Devin, so when and why did you start acting? I started acting when I worked with Mr. Bright, actually, Ron Bright from Castle Theater. He and George Kahn came to my classroom at Kallo High School and they said, hey, we're going to do this program called the Castle Complex Performing Arts Program and it was pulling kids from Kailua, Kala Hill, Castle, and King Intermediate, so we're going to put you guys all in a room and we're going to have you guys do a show. And I said, oh, I get out of school for this. Okay, I can, I can do that, sure. So I went auditioned, I got in and that was kind of the beginning of it because working with Mr. Bright and learning about acting, I realized, wow, I really love doing this. I mean, I love doing this. And that sort of started the ball rolling for me. I kept doing it in college. The interesting thing about Mr. Bright was, you know, Mr. Bright is kind of known as being the mentor for a whole bunch of people in Broadway, I mean, his own kids and all that stuff. And the conversation I had with him my senior year, I said, hey, Mr. Bright, I'm thinking of staying. And he goes, no, no, no, you should go. He said, you should go to college, get your degree. If you really want to do theater or acting or whatever, you will do it for the rest of your life. It's going to be there for you. So the thing to do is to have something to fall back on. Because acting is a tough, it's not the easiest job. It really isn't. There's a lot of, there's a lot more rejection than there is acceptance. So you, and you have to have a thick skin for it and not everybody has that. So he said, no, go away for college. And what's funny was, when it happened, I thought he was telling me that because I wasn't talented enough to do it. And I was like, oh, man, my feelings. But then within the, I don't know, like within the last three or four years, I actually spoke with some of the really successful people that Mr. Bright has mentored. And when I told him that story, they went, oh, no, he told me that story too. I just didn't listen to him, I kept doing it. And I went, wow, because I think for him, that was, that was the key. That was his thing to say, OK, if you're willing, when I tell you your mentor tells you, don't do this. And you go, no, I got it. Then you really must want to do it. And if that's the case, then go ahead. Yeah. And that was cool. And I literally didn't find that out until, yeah, like three, four years ago. You know, you know, what's funny, Devin, is out of all the things you do, I had, I had no idea that you're also a TSA supervisor on Hawaii Five-O. Yeah, thanks. How was your experience on Hawaii Five-O? Hawaii Five-O was a trip because, again, lots more rejection than you get acceptance. And when I went and sat in the room, I literally sat down. It was me and a whole bunch of tall, howly guys. And I went, why, why am I in this room? What am I doing here? Seriously. And the guy's name was Myers. So I thought, there's no way. And then I got cast and went, oh, cool. And then the week following, oh, look, there we are. And then the week following, they called me again and said, oh, hey, we need a TSA agent. So we want to have you come on and do this role again. And I went, oh, okay. And then so I got to do a total of four times on Hawaii Five-O. And I haven't died yet. So, hey, Hawaii Five-O, anytime you want to have me back on, you feel free. Because you can have recurring roles. I'd love to be hanging out with LL Kujie again. Alex McLaughlin, that'd be really cool. So just saying, I'm still here. You know what's interesting is, I had a small speaking role in season two of Hawaii Five-O as a tennis pro. I know. And there's a lot of pressure when the director goes lights, camera action. And you see all the cameras and all the people that's there. I mean, you don't want to screw it up. Well, and for us too, I realize talking to a lot of the Hawaii actors, we feel even more pressure because we're from Hawaii and we want to represent. And I think that's something that a lot of people from Hawaii have. We have this desire to show the world that we can do it just as good as anybody else. It's almost an inferiority complex, I think. And I know the same thing was true of Taylor Wiley. When I met with him and talked story with him a little bit, he's saying, yeah, I got to make sure I'm on my stuff because I don't want them to think that all these guys from Hawaii, he can't do the job. So that part, I'm very proud of that they actually ask people from Hawaii to do that. Yeah, they're awesome. Because you know, you personally know all of them. So it's a huge deal for you. Hanging out with Daniel De Kim and Marcy O'Connor and Alex. And, you know, so. Well, they're all nice guys, you know. Oh, they're super nice guys. Yeah, really, really nice. Now, you also do a lot of acting in plays. Yes. And you were in four plays this year? Yeah, it was not by design. Generally, I try to do a summer show, which is usually something by Lisa Matsumoto. So it's this past year was The Princess and the Isopina. Yeah. And then right after that, the Ron Bright Foundation did The Wiz. So I got cast in that. So I started doing The Wiz. And then there you go. We have In the Heights, which I was also in. I played a dad because all the people in that picture are all younger than me. But that was that was an amazing experience. And then now we're in Allegiance, which is a show about the the internment of the Japanese Americans in World War Two, which is a really, really important story. And it's I'm really looking forward to people seeing it on stage. So. And Devin, a lot of people, I mean, they know you through radio. How how did you get into radio? Gonzaga. I my senior year, I needed to get a credit and I didn't know what to do when I said, oh, radio class, I can do that. I'll pass that one easy. So I took the class and when you took the class, they sprung on us that they had just started a college radio station. And they said, OK, if you're in the class, then you have to be on air. And I went, oh, OK. So they gave each of us an hour to be on air. Yeah. And this is way back when. So it was carts, which look like eight track tapes. It was records. It was not even not even CD players at the time, I think, really. And so I learned the basics of radio that way. And then when I came back home, my dad actually knows Randy Hudnall. And again, he's the same thing. He said, my son needs a job. He said, oh, yeah, well, why don't you come in? It was funny timing wise. It just worked out that the FM 100 was just starting when I came in. And so I was able to learn under Randy Hudnall and Bill Van Osdall and all these just amazing giants of radio that taught me a lot about about the the job of radio. But that's where I learned it from. And now you're on a kumu. Yeah, you're at ninety four point seven kumu. And I've been there for like twelve years now. What's what do you feel is like the best part of doing radio? Um, I'm I get paid to work for five hours a day. I mean, I'm kidding. There's I mean, there's other stuff that are involved with that. But I just I love music. I love music and I love talking with people. And it allows me a chance to perform while wearing shorts and a T-shirt. My shoes, which is cool. And yeah, you know, it's just it's a great medium to work in you. And then you do all these live events and stuff. So you meet people, we do all that kind of stuff. Yeah, it's a great job, man, if you can get it. And then pay great. But no, and, you know, you, you, Michael and as me, I mean, you guys have great team chemistry on air. Yeah. Why do you think you guys have such great team chemistry? We're friends first and foremost. I think it's something that we tried to establish very early on. We needed it to be friends because it's it's hard enough to do the job without getting each other while you're on air that would suck really badly. But we, yeah. And like as me has been with us for four years, Michael, I've known for eight years. But as me, I've actually known as a friend for twenty five, almost 30 years. Yeah. So yeah, we've known each other for a long time. And there's a certain amount of shorthand with that. There's a certain amount of comfort level when we talk to each other. And that's really important. So we try to do that as much as possible. We have a we just have a good time. You know, it's we like to call it our digression. Because we tend to talk about one thing and then we digress into something else. Oh, well, whatever, we just keep talking about that. OK, that's where we're going now. All right, right on. You guys talk about a lot of a lot of stuff. Yeah, we go all over the place. We we have just yeah, we just try to have a good time because we find that when we have a good time, the audience has a good time. And then the show goes faster. So, Devin, you know, let's talk about boys to men real quick. You know, I don't want to bring that. I heard we're going to miss that. I heard a commercial. I heard that boys to men, they were like really excited and ready to meet you. Devin, they're actually more excited than me, my wife, pretty than I am. So did they ask you to sing? No, they would never ask me to sing. Three years, just me. You you would have been a good harmony with them. No, no, really not. Yeah, really not so much. Not so much. It was it was a great time meeting them. They were very cool guys, very cool. And it was nice to know that there are people who are that who are that like big in the world and they're actually your height. Because everyone I meet is usually taller than me. So that was kind of cool. Devin, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to continue going beyond radio. Oh, we're not going to talk about you? No, no. All right, fine. You are watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest, Devin Nekoba, we will be back in 60 seconds. Aloha. This is Winston Welch. I am your host of Out and About, where every other week, Mondays at three, we explore a variety of topics in our city, state, nation and world and events, organizations, the people that fuel them. It's a really interesting show. We welcome you to tune in and we welcome your suggestions for shows. You got a lot of them out there. And we have an awesome studio here where we can get your ideas out as well. So I look forward to you tuning in every other week where we've got some great guests and great topics. You're going to learn a lot. You're going to come away inspired like I do. So I'll see you every other week here at three o'clock on Monday afternoon. Aloha. Aloha, I'm Wendy Lo and I'm coming to you every other Tuesday at two o'clock live from Think Tech Hawaii. And on our show, we talk about taking your health back. And what does that mean? It means mind, body and soul. Anything you can do that makes your body healthier and happier is what we're going to be talking about, whether it's spiritual health, mental health, fashion, health, beautiful smile, health, whatever it means. Let's take healthy back. Aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My special guest today is the very popular radio DJ on 94.7 Kumu, Devon Nakoba. I swear, I got to give you the money, man. We are going beyond radio. I don't know if I got the five bucks, hold on. Yeah, give me the five bucks. No, Devon, you know, my book Beyond the Lines, it took me two and a half years to write it. And in the book, I talk about mindset and resiliency and controlling everything that you have control of. As an actor, you know, going to auditions, you often hear the word no, like I said earlier. How do you deal with disappointment? I drink. No, I'm totally kidding. No, I just I just learned to try to let it slide off my bag. You can't you can't let it be personal. I go to speak to schools and stuff and you always try to tell them the same thing that it's not you necessarily. I mean, technically it's you, but it's also not you because they want a specific look. They want a specific thing. They, you know, it's not just you on stage. It's you and then somebody else and then somebody else. And then the same thing happens with theater as well. If you just don't match the look that they're going for, they can't use you. And it's nothing personal. But that's just how it goes. And so after so many years of doing this, you just kind of go, all right, well, didn't get that one. Oh, well, the only part that sucks is that you don't get it and they don't tell you anything. So you audition and then you go. OK, I guess I didn't get it because nobody's probably back for anything. So, yeah. So it's similar to like girls doing pageants because the judges might be looking for something specific. Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think I think it's a little bit of that as well, which makes it hard because it makes it sound like it's a beauty contest and you're just supposed to be pretty, which I am not, which would explain why I don't get more jobs. But, oh, well, yeah. Devon, I have to ask you, what's one of the most important things you've learned in your life and important lesson that you've learned? To be true to yourself and treat people the way you'd want to be treated. It's because it's not an easy thing to do. It's hard to live your life trying to think about other people and trying to be kind to other people. It's easier to sort of be dismissive and be be callous and be cruel. I think nowadays, especially, we're spending more time on our phones and on our tablets and stuff than we are actually conversing with people. I got teased before because people were saying, hey, why do you like to call on the phone? Why don't they talk to me on the phone? I go because then I'm actually hearing somebody, right? Everybody's doing texts and everybody's doing emails and stuff. And it's so easy to A, be misconstrued and B, just sort of let stuff out there. You don't really think about what it does to the other person. Whereas when you're having a physical conversation with somebody, it's easy to hear rhythms and what they say. And I don't know if it's because I'm in radio or because I've done because I do media stuff, but that part is important. So yeah, I just, I don't know. You're the same way. That's why you're not friends because because when we walk in a room, we try to make we try to make things be more positive than when, you know, when we leave, we try to make it more positive than when we came in, if possible. I mean, it's not always possible, but you always try to because why would I want to bring a room down? Why would I make want to make people feel crappy? Yeah, we don't want to we don't want to be a bump on the law. You don't be like, oh, no, it was rusty. Give me a drink, you know what I mean? And then you're you're definitely like not like that. I mean, it's it's I think it's again, it's one of the reasons why you and I became friends because we'd see each other and I go, hey, before we even really knew each other, it's rusty, it's nothing, how's it going? So it was this real mutual admiration society going on. It was really cool because I was because this is before I knew you were, you know, the winningest tennis coach in the history of sports. You know, this guy that writes inspirational books and stuff. I was just it's rusty. Why sit the barn? I'm like, dude, what's up? You know, and I could spend, you know, I could spend 20 minutes talking story with you and feel like we connected and that we're friends and that it's actually friends. And those those relationships are hard to hard to foster and hard to keep. So, so, Devin, what makes you happy then? This right here, man, I'm loving this. No, I am. I just try to be generally a happy person. It's just I know your family makes you happy. But what else makes you happy? Disneyland, Disneyland, having gas in my car, having a paycheck, being able to pay bills. It's just it's these very simple things. I mean, it's also nice. It's kind of like a column B column, right? So a column is do I have a do I have a roof over my head? Do I have a family that loves me? Do I have kids that are healthy and happy? Do I have a job that fulfills me? All those kind of things, right? And then you've got this B column that that is a little more nebulous and it's a little hard to get a hold of. It's do I feel loved? Do I feel like I can love somebody? Do I feel like I'm making an important an important difference in people's lives? And those are really kind of abstract things to think about. But they but they are as important as this stuff. I mean, this stuff, having this stuff set is allows you to be able to get this stuff done. But not everybody has a chance to do that. And that's why their lives get all funky. And it's hard to be happy because you know that there's something off kilter about your life, but you don't know exactly what it is. So I like your example of the two columns like that. Now, Devon, I want to ask you what what's been like your biggest adversity that you've dealt with in your life so far? OK, I don't know if we got enough time to do this story. When I was a freshman in the legislature, we had I was in finance and we had a hearing and one of my fellow legislators came in and at the time the legislators would get an allowance, a five thousand dollar allowance for the office. But because it literally was just a check, you got a check and you had to pay taxes on it. So guys, people would take it and they go on vacations and they do all this other stuff. I was brand new, so I wanted to use that money to set up my office, get a computer, do all that stuff. One of my fellow legislators came in and said, you know what? He said, we don't really need that thing. We don't really need a raise. We don't need all these things. And I was like, what? I just like I just got here. I don't understand why are we not earning our money already? Yeah. And I tried to explain that to him and tell him, look, I want to work for every single dollar that I get. I want to work for my community. And in some of those things, I need to buy with this money, a computer and stuff so I can keep in contact with my constituents. Then he said, well, you can get another job. And I said, yeah, but I'm a recent college graduate. Nobody's going to hire me. You crazy? Like they just go, oh, you want any more experience? So I told him, I can't. He is a lawyer. He makes a hundred thousand dollars a year. And by and large, the legislature's made up of people like that. They all have these other side jobs that make them tons of money. So they don't care. It's not a big deal. Whereas for us who are, for me, at least, I was like, OK, the only job I can get is working like at a fast food place. And they're not going to let me leave for four months to go be in the legislation and come back. It doesn't work that way. But what happened was when the media got ahold of it, it became representative of the Colbert doesn't want to work in fast food. And all the hate mail I got, thank goodness, there was no internet because I would have gotten just roasted a lot. And yeah, it was it was really, really bad. I got I mean, stacks and stacks of hate mail. People were really pissed off. And I get it because at the time, at the way that they couched it, it made it look like I totally didn't care about anybody else. And for me, it was all about, look, I know how hard these people work. There is no way I could I feel I'd be doing a disservice. If I worked in an industry where they need me every day and I can't be there and I have to say, oh, bye, because then you got to fill my space. And then I can't just come traipsing back after four months. I go, hi, I'm back. Doesn't work like that, right? I mean, the regular jobs that we have, they don't work like that. But that point didn't get across. What came across was, OK, you suck because you're dispoiled, bad of a guy. And that was that was really hard. And then once I was out of the legislature, I had to go get a real job and I went and waited tables at Scoozie's. And people were like, aren't you the legislator? Like, yeah, they're like, why are you waiting tables? Because I'm not in office anymore and I need to have a job. Um, it was a very tough time, but it was a very good lesson, because it showed me that I am not above anything. There is nothing that I cannot do to provide for my family, to make a life for myself. There's nothing that I won't learn and can't learn off of whatever job I get. So, um, it was it was a good, it was a good pride lesson. Yeah, it was a very good pride lesson. Oh, definitely a good learning experience there, too. You're right about, you know, if social media was happening then, that would be like really bad. But we'd be having a completely different discussion. Devon, how come you suck so bad? I mean, like that. So yeah, I'm glad that wasn't happening, but it was still very difficult. Yeah. Now, you know, you do a ton of stuff and you're very successful at everything that you do. I want to know, Devon, what is your definition of success? My definition of success, just being happy, being you. Being happy where you are, being happy with your doing. It doesn't mean that you cannot strive to achieve things. Yeah. But if all you're doing is thinking about what somebody else has or what somebody else is doing and that you're not doing that, you can't live your best life because all you're doing is thinking about other people and you need to think about yourself and what makes you happy. And that's the same. It may come down to the same thing. It's the column A and the column B. Now, for you, the column A stuff is the stuff that's going to make you happy. Then go ahead. But at some point in time, I guarantee you, you're going to come back to column B and that column B is going to and that column B is going to become important to you and it's going to become important to you at the moment where it's probably least probably least convenient for you. Yeah. Right. And then you'll be stuck and you'll be lost and you'll be like, oh, so work on both if you can. And then that will make you happy. That will make you feel successful because I, I don't know. I guess I'm successful, but I'm also Japanese. We're not allowed to feel successful. You know what I mean? Because you're the same way. I'm half Japanese. I know, I know. So half of me is like, yes, I'm the man. And then I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not successful at all. See, I get the whole thing. So my resolve is that and that and I've got the Christian upbringing. So forget about it. You can't I can't be proud of anything. Devon, before we wrap up, you also do emceeing for parties and events. How can people get in touch with you? Probably email the best, dnekova at hotmail.com. Great. Yeah. So Devon, it was great having you on the show today. You definitely go beyond the lines. You make my cheeks soar because you laugh so much. No, dude, we're coming back. I want to interview you, you want to interview you for the show next time. We're going to be so rusty. Tell me what makes you happy. It'll be good fun. Devon, thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. And a special thank you to my clothing sponsor, Ilani Incorporated. For more information, please visit my website, RustyKamori.com. And my book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all Costco stores in Hawaii. I hope that this show will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.