 Hello, everyone. Welcome to Think Tech Hawaii. I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough, host of Sister Power, our title for the Sister Power episode with timeless elegance and whimsical treasures bang or lie. Sister Power guest is our very own Think Tech Hawaii guest at the Crossroads Keisha King. We will be discussing Sisters in Power in Hawaii and Keisha King Foundation hosting an event that celebrates beauty and elegance at our exclusive guided tour of Shangri-La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture, and Design with 25 illustrious and influential women. Keisha King again, welcome to Sister Power. Thank you, Sharon. It is always a pleasure to be anywhere with you, but especially here. Likewise. Likewise. We had so much fun. Oh, didn't we? It was so beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. This was our first event to work together. Yeah. And this set the stage at the Shangri-La. I think so. Yeah. I think so with such a beautiful home. It was someone's home, Sharon. It was just remarkable. I spent the entire afternoon simply breathless. Absolutely gorgeous. And it had over 2,500 objects from around the world, from Morocco, Syria, Africa, Asia. I mean, you felt it was like a trip around the world, but you did not have the, you didn't have to leave Hawaii. That's right. You didn't have that experience of jet lag and waiting and TSA, but you did feel like you were right there in the location for which most of these items were either made there at that location or brought here and made here. So it just felt beautiful. Well, let's start, tell our viewers how we started the day. It was on, on a Saturday. That's right. And the date was April 13th, April 13th, 2019. A beautiful way to start your Saturday morning. We got together at the Honolulu Museum of Art, which is where you need to go in order to catch the travel arrangements to go to the Shangri-La. Well, we have a video that we'll start. Let's just walk our viewers through it. And when you first come in, you see the beautiful waterfalls, the Honolulu Museum. And the first one was a gift from my friend Dr. Joanne LaToya. What a beautiful gift. Yes. Beautiful, beautiful gift that she said everyone should leave from. So thank you, Dr. Joanne. And we started off having lunch at the Pavilion Cafe with the, as we said earlier, 25 women. And this piece right here, the 16 feet tall. Yes. That's right. That's what we're looking at right there. It's absolutely gorgeous. The entryway from the front door to the back. It's full of color, beauty, life. As you can see, those are some of our participants, some of our lovely guests who were able to attend. Look at that. Oh my goodness. It was just beautiful. And they, there was 25 of us, as I said earlier, and they broke us up into two parts. That's right. So we had two fabulous guided tours. I mean, were they knowledgeable or what? Look at the artifact. How beautiful. That's the one. That's the one. That's her jewelry. If you believe it or not, that's the jewelry that Doris Duke donated. This was her home here in Honolulu. That's right. Oh my goodness. And we're almost at the end of the video. But look how beautiful that the artwork came from so many various, the Middle East, South Asia. It was inspired by Duke's extensive travels throughout North Africa. That was her bedroom. Yes. That bedroom and bathroom, simply stunning. There is so much information in each room, so much to be learned. And just, I was fully inspired by, as we've mentioned, how knowledgeable our guides were. But then we also had a participant who was a wealth of knowledge as well. We did. Yes. So we were able to share, look at that, just everything. Again, I am breathless each time I look at these pictures and just gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. And look at the smiles. Yeah. There we are. There we are. I hope they ended it with us. That's right. And what I loved about it, each of the women who attended were accents of white. Yes. Well, you and I were all white. Yes, we did. The whole of us, we were all white. And it was just, the lunch was wonderful. It's a pavilion. Right. That was the start off. That's right. And then they even, they were so wonderful. They know how when women lunch, we talk a little more. Yes, we do. So they gave us an extra 10 or 15 minutes to gather our things before we travel through the gift shop. And then we boarded the bus. That's right. And did we have fun on the bus? Yes, we did. Yes, we did. You know, it's so funny. I'm not sure how many of the women knew each other prior to their arrival. But once we got on the bus, once we boarded the bus, we were as if we were old friends from years gone by. And it was a wonderful trip. We played a game. Oh, yes, we did play a game. We did. Each woman at the table had these beautiful cards. And each lady had a, it was a question on the back of the car. Now, you didn't have a chance to, to read your card. We wanted our guests to have a chance. So I'm going to give you a chance to read the card and then you give me, give the viewers your answer. Okay. So this says, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be? Oh, give me a good one. Honestly, honestly, I have to say, if I could live anywhere in the world, anywhere, anywhere, I would choose Hawaii. Oh, I would. It, as soon as I, I've been living here for years. And as soon as I arrived, I felt like this was home for me. Coming from the East Coast, I have traveled to various places outside of the country. I've enjoyed every place I've ever been, but Hawaii is home. So if I could live anywhere else, I would live right here. That's good. And you know what I love too? They gave us, once we exited the bus, they gave us these fans. Yeah. And it just made us feel like queens. Yes. And we were able to span ourselves with the Dankalife fans. That's right. As we strolled through this billion dollar estate. Oh my goodness. You know, this is the Islamic arts and museum. It was built in 1937. And my takeaway last month was Women's History Month in March. That's right. So we carried it on you and I, Kisha King Foundation, assistant part of Hawaii, along with Sister Power. We extended it to Doris Duke, the heiress of this, of her home. And her taste as such a young heiress. That's right. She became an heiress, a billion dollar heiress. If we looked at the money she inherited and put it in today's, it was the equivalent of nearly 1.6 billion dollars as a 12 year old child. So to grow up with that type of money and develop such quality case, I was thoroughly impressed. But I think that's what happens when you become a world traveler. Yes. And you have the means to do so. Anything she wanted to do, she did. And I was empowered just by knowing that of her story. And what I enjoyed about our tour guide, she was so personable and so knowledgeable, but she said something that made sense. Not everyone who has a lot of money has paid. I mean, I've been someplace beautiful, gorgeous, gorgeous home. But she had exquisite, she had the eyes. She worked with various decorators from around the world. And then when she broke it down to us about the 16, was it 16? Yes, 16 foot. It was a 16 foot. Mosaic. Mosaic, exactly. And how they had to break it up into pieces. And then how many years did it take to travel across the world? I think it took them an extended period of time because of the time frame for which they were traveling because they believed there was a war going on. Yes. They were very concerned about that. There was I think Pearl Harbor had taken place. She was concerned about those issues. So it's not like Amazon was around. So she had all of those shipping concerns that we don't face now. And yet she still accomplished every goal she wanted to have in her home. It was amazing. And each part of the home, the chandeliers were actually gorgeous. Yes, yes. There were chandeliers the size of a bedroom. Yes. They were gorgeous. They were the most detailed pieces of art. They were the one I liked the most was the one that was in the back room near the terrace. It had red and green and white in it. Remember that one? Brilliant colors. It was so vibrant. I just thought, wow, who comes up with that? I know. And then they took us to the backyard where architects or speakers come. And they called it the Playhouse or what was it called? The Playhouse? Oh my goodness. Something like that. And I just thought, I'd love to play there. It was gorgeous. They had some of the most world-renowned artists there. And they had at least two or three swimming pools in that area. And then of course, the backyard is really the beach. I mean the most scenic beaches I've seen here in a, well, they're all scenic. But that one was stunning to have in your backyard for your guest house. For your guest house. And then she explained how the window with the elevator, it wasn't an elevator. It was some type of oceanfront window that would glide down to the bottom of the floor from the top to the bottom. Yes. Because there's three buildings. Right. Which was also amazing. I thought, wow, what innovative ideas she had to really just put it all together so well. So many people in her life who gave her every detail of what she wanted, what she needed. She didn't even know that she wanted. But they put it together very well. They did. And I love how they explain the shipping of it all. Right. Now, things could happen. We think, oh, how can we make it without mats and without our airplanes, without FedEx? But it happened. And the people were so dedicated to her wish of beauty. And what I loved about the heiress, she wanted to share her wealth with the public. And we're going to talk more about that, Pisha, when we come back. Okay. All right. Aloha. This is Winston Welch. I am your host of Out and About where every other week, Mondays at 3, 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 3 o'clock on Monday afternoon. Aloha. I'm Jay Fidel of Think Tech. Our flagship energy show among the six energy shows we have is Hawaii, the state of clean energy. It plays every Wednesday at 4 p.m. Come around and see us. Learn about energy. Keep current on energy on ThinkTechHawaii.com. Welcome back to Sister Power. And I'm here with my special guest, Pisha King and our title for this episode with timeless elegance and once ago treasures Shangri-La. And we were just talking about our guided tour and we had lunch at the Bavillion Cafe with 25 women and at the Shangri-La. Absolutely beautiful. Yes, it was. It was beautiful. Yeah. And I think that the heiress Doris Duke sharing her home with us. My takeaway was sisterhood. The 25 women came together. We came together as if we're sisters. We've known each other for a very long time and the love was there. The joy was there. The happiness was there. I agree. You know, the women, as I mentioned earlier, some of them did not know each other, didn't know anyone there. Maybe they knew you or myself, but they really didn't know others. And I love how we were at the Hall and Lulu Museum of Art and the tables were set up and they could select anywhere to sit within our group. Right. And at each of the four tables, there were women who had never known each other, but by the time they left, they left as sisters and perhaps we'll do business together and other opportunities for sharing. And I think that's what these types of events are intended to do to bring people together and to help them discover each other's strengths and empower one another, learn about each other's businesses and perhaps work together. And I thought what a wonderful experience. There were so many emails. First of all, I think Sharon, between the two of us, we received about 650 pictures. And thank you for being the one to have to sort out a few pictures that we have. And we have more to show here that the audience can see 600 photographs. And there's Doris Duke, the heiress to the Shangri-La. Look how lovely and elegant she's sitting in her place enjoying her home. How gorgeous is that? Loved it. Oh, this is the actual entryway to or exit to the outdoors that looks over the guest home. And then, as you can see, that's part of Diamond Head there. Simply gorgeous. I love the colors. And did the girls have a good time? And they were dressed in their white. And look at the chandeliers, the one that we were speaking about. That's gorgeous. We have such a good time. Networking is never, ever out of style. And look at the beautiful bar. Isn't it gorgeous? It's beautiful. So now this is one of, I believe, sick. And I believe, characters came from other museums and they saw one and they thought, how marvelous is this? And then if you recall in her living room, he had about six of them, one of which she used as a lamp. And that's luxury. That's wealth. When you have something that is a very rare piece such as that and you use it as a lamp, I just thought. We couldn't believe that. She used one of the one of the most valuable pieces. That's right. And put a lampshade on it. As if to say, oh, it's just, you know, you know how women say, oh, it's something I had in the closet. Right. And we have a couple more pictures that we want to show our audience. This was one of my favorites. And this was our tour guide, Miki Yamashiro. Excellent, excellent, excellent. This piece, when she explained to us how after they put everything together, they had to break it up again. That's right. And reassemble the pieces. That's right. And how people had to dust it off. There we are in the red room. Gorgeous. Absolutely exquisite. I recommend that Shangri-La is one of the places that if you have friends or family coming to Hawaii, this is one of the places that you should put on your agenda. I agree. I agree wholeheartedly. This should be on the top of the list of places to see when you visit because it simply takes your breath. When you think Hawaii and you enter this home and you go into the backyard and you're on the terrace, you see the beautiful mountains. You see the ocean right there. That's what Hawaii should feel like. And it does feel that way. And it made me appreciate where we are and what we have in this place and time. Yeah. I'll tell you a takeaway that I walked away with. I was very surprised to hear that she recently passed in 1993. Yeah, she did. So she wasn't a woman that was so long ago, centuries old. This isn't an ancient story. She was right here in our modern days and time. So much so that the picture that we showed of the camel that was at the front door. Yes. Remember when Mickey told us she bought those at a local discount store? Yes. She was so modern and down to earth. Yes. Wanted to share on 4.9 acre property. Yes. Yes. Imagine. Just she had the space, the time, the money, the ingenuity to put it all together and make something grand. And that's exactly what she did. And I want to remind the remind our our viewers that through the heiress's extensive travels throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and South, no, South Asia, South Asia and reflects architectural traditions from India, Iran, Morocco, and Syria. So we had the chance to see from every part of the world, various gorgeous, beautiful pieces that the decorators, they thought it through and said this piece belongs right exactly where it should be. Right. Each piece in the home was strategically placed. And it was all very apropos. And I couldn't imagine anything that was there that would have never been there before. Meaning seeing it there just felt right. And I couldn't imagine it without it. No. Yeah. And I loved also the couch in the living room. It felt very 1970s, but it was made in the 1930s during the time of the Great Depression, just as I think it was there since the home was there. So about 1934 or so. And I just thought she was ahead of her time then. And it's still very stylish and sophisticated now, very clean lines. Yes. And they told us that the lines in the couch were placed strategically so that the room still had the same feel. The continuity was there all the way through. You just felt peaceful. And we were surprised that we were able to just sit down and relax. And she said, oh, no, I said, okay, well, I can take my fan and sit and relax. And there was a water break. That's right. And then overlooking while you were taking the water break, then you would overlook the ocean and then the stream of her pool. Yes. Her infinity pooled. It really felt like it was going on for infinity. And for a moment, I think we all felt like we were an heiress too. I did. I know I did too. And I know plenty of the ladies did too. Queen for a day. That's right. I'll go back again. Oh, they're asking us already, when are we going to coordinate another tour for there were so many women who wanted to attend. And one lady emailed me and she said the words that I can explain for that day simply magnificent. Those are the same words I've received both via email, text, Facebook, just beautiful or magnificent or absolutely marvelous. And they all just they had the same thoughts and expression all across the board. Everybody's really happy. I can't wait to do this again. I just I'm just loving this. Had to talking about it. Yeah. And I can't wait for us to plan our next venture. And that we're going to really the bar is raised quite high. I think we can do it. I know we can. That's right. I know we can. Well, Keisha, thank you so much for being my this is such a perfect partner to work with. We're very easy to work with. We had fun. It was organized. The ladies had a good time. And this one more thing tells a little bit about at the crossroads before we go because you are I think that close here as well. Well, you know, at the crossroads is a show that talks about conversations that are real and relevant. We have a lot of fun. We've had actors and artists from various parts of the world. We've also had a few musicians. We've had lots of locals who are right here doing great things. We've had ordinary folks, moms, stay at home moms, teachers, you name it. We've had it all at the crossroads. And we simply want to help as many people as we can talk about the things that are going on in our lives right now. I feel like if you're at a crossroads in your life, we want to help you get from where you are, where you need to be. That's what we do. Oh, I like that. Well, here's sister power. We would like we'd like to leave our viewers with just a little nugget of information and inspiration and motivation and empowerment. And in closing, being rude is easy. It does not take any effort and is a sign of weakness and insecurity. Kindness shows great self discipline and strong self esteem. Being kind is not always easy when dealing with rude people. Kindness is a sign of a person who has done a lot of personal work and has come to a great self understanding and wisdom. Choose to be kind over being right. And you'll be right every time because kindness is a sign of strength. I hope to continue to be the voice that says women must not be overlooked and undervalued. From all of us at Think Tech Hawaii and sister power, thank you for spending part of your day with us. Every other Thursday, I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough.