 and welcome to At the Crossroads. I am your host, Keisha King. It is such a pleasure to have you all here again for this week's episode of At the Crossroads. We are still in the month of March, where we are honoring Women's History Month. It is always a pleasure to meet with you right here every Wednesday, live at five. You can always find us on thinktechhawaii.com and on Facebook at the thinktechhawaii page. And after the show, you can catch us on YouTube at thinktechhawaii and follow the playlist for At the Crossroads. Every week, we try to bring you real and relevant conversations that are for us here in Hawaii and across the country. This week is no different. I am so honored and delighted to share with you a dear friend and everyone's sister, my personal mentor, and the most illustrious woman I've met on island. None other than Sharon Thomas Yarbrough. She is a host here at Thinktech with her very own show, Sister Power. You get empowered and energized every week when you watch her. It's every other Thursday, so please be sure to tune in. I know you already do. I don't even know why I'm saying that. But let me just tell you a little bit about our special guest. From humble beginnings to following her passion, daughter, event planner, co-author, wife, sister, aunt, stepmother, friend, sister-in-law, and select-o-wearing woman, she continues to map out her journey to help empower, motivate, inspire, and educate all women. She has more than 20 years of combined experience in planning fundraisers, retail, power lunches for women, book signing, and the list just goes on and on and on. I have a half an hour, but I probably need a lifetime to share with you my dear friend, please join me in welcoming Sharon, Thomas, y'all bro. Aloha, thank you, Keisha. What an honor to be here at The Crawl Trolls with you. Oh my goodness, it is, the honor is all mine. I look forward to all of our get-togethers anytime, and to have you here is truly an honor and a privilege. So thank you for being here today. Thank you. There is so much that we can talk about. I wanna step into the areas of sister, sisters empowering Hawaii. I wanna talk to you and ask you, how did all of that come to be? Sisters Empowering Hawaii, Hawaii's foremost women's empowerment organization, and our mission is to motivate, educate, and empower all women. When I first moved here, there wasn't, I should say, a group and organization that I could go to and I could find out, where can I go get my hair done? What about a gynecologist? What about a church that I can attend? So I decided to organize a very, very small group that when people are coming from the mainland and people here in Hawaii, it's a networking organization. All you have to do is show up with a smile, pay the admission fee, have lunch, have fun, and that's how it started. It came into fruition. Well, when jump started, I was the chief fundraiser for the American Red Cross. So I was able to get my feet wet and meet so many wonderful, wonderful people. So that's how I started the network and that's how I started my mailing list. Okay, so it sounds as if you were on a mission to help other women with needs that all women typically have, especially coming from the mainland. Oh, yes. It's different here. It's so beautiful and wonderful and you see a rainbow every day. The sun kisses your skin every day, but there's those needs that women have that we want to connect with one another. So this is why Sisters in Parang Hawaii was started. I started off with 10, 15 women. We would meet for lunch and each year it would grow and my girlfriends would come from the mainland and some very accomplished girlfriends and they said, we'll come and help you out. Just put something together for us and I'll be your guest speaker. And we'd love to lunch, ladies love to lunch. So that's, I just have to give a shout out and thank my mainland girlfriends for helping me start this mission and it's been going ever since. Wonderful. So I've read and I've witnessed that you have some of the best networking opportunities for women, but I've noticed just from your extensive bio that you've had book signings, business mixers, charity fundraisers, community relations, conferences and event plannings. Can you talk to us about some of your most exciting accomplishments in those arenas? I know there has to be a lot. There are many, there are a couple that stand out. I did have one connecting the dots. Okay. It was a business mixer at the Honolulu Design Center. My girlfriend, Connie Evans, is the executive director of AEO and she was in town and I said, would you please Grace's and tell us about micro business. That's the name for business. So we were able to get together and out of that business mixer, so many women and men were able to connect and ask her questions about their businesses. And another one was fun, be phenomenal or be forgotten. Whoa, stop right there. Okay. So I heard it, you heard it, be phenomenal or be forgottness, right? I love that. We did too. I bet you did. Yeah. What happened? The title gets you ready for the event. When you read the title on the invite and what I would like to also let your viewers know that sisters in power and Hawaii is inclusive. It's not exclusive. So we're, you know, just come. That's right. Just come and learn and meet and greet. Yes. And I did not want to turn sisters in power and Hawaii into a membership kind of organization. And we have the lovely sororities here. They're already doing wonderful, great things. We work every day. You know, we have our own businesses that we're working with. But I wanted sisters in power and Hawaii to be the type of affair that would leave a memorable imprint. And there's so many, you know, the book signings are always fun. Yes. But the last one that I really enjoyed since March is designated as Women's History Month my second annual Women Making History book signing and lunch and event at the Wildlife Country Club. And what I enjoyed about that, you had a chance to see the men. They escorted their daughters there. Oh, that's so precious. It really is. It's so precious. And they're sprouting out. And I think this is how I learned to do lunch. I mean, my mother would say, come on, you're coming with me. I'm having tea with my girlfriends. So this is how you learn. Yeah. By inclusion. That's right. Yeah. That's right. Now, I also have heard, I know that I first participated or attended an event with you for your becoming high tea, right? Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes. Let me tell you, that was so exclusive. I've thanked you a thousand times for the invitation. I can't thank you enough. Thank you. That was so first class. So beautiful. Tell us all about that. Well, we aimed to please. We aimed to please. You know, we're so blessed to meet and greet. And then when you combine it with women of accomplishments, that you're able to sit at the table with, for instance, we aren't, I've aren't at 13 women so far. And I can come back and speak about the Royal Tea, but we're talking about Women's History Month. Yes. And we've aren't at 13 women from the Master General, Suzanne Lum, at the former police commissioner, Dr. Maya Satura Ng, and Vicky Holtakamane. And I mean, the list goes on and on. And I said, we can honor women right in our own backyard because they've accomplished so much. And getting back to the Royal Tea, fortunately, Maya is a dear friend of mine. And so we were able to... So what did we do that day? That was so special. It was so much going on. It was so special to me. We had a personally autographed book by Michelle Obama. It was about becoming. Yes. Her book is about the bestselling book out now, becoming, and we auctioned the book off. I remember. For a scholarship. Yes. To mentor the ladies to help school girls with whatever it needs. And that was so much fun. And we had bookmarks also for the women. That's right. And I still have my bookmark. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Yeah. I was in awe the entire day because every guest, I felt out of place. Every guest was high powered and just totally experienced and qualified on all levels. But it was women from every walk of life. Yes, yes. And then not only did you have that book that was signed by the Michelle Obama. Yes. But you had scholarships for two very deserving students. One who has her own production company. Do you want to speak on that? This is what Sister's Empowering is all about. It's about mentoring. And fortunately, we're mentoring a 16-year-old, Lauren Bonco, and she's a videographer and a photographer. I think she'll be going to USC for the summer, some type of intern. This is what we as women need to do more, is reach out, pull up, and mentor more girls. Sisterhood is something that I don't remember coming up so much that we had. There was some type of sisterhood, but it's different now. Women are accomplishing so much. For instance, hidden figures. Yes, yes, say no more. You're exactly right. That's it in a nutshell. And I think that exposure is what really helps our young girls and women, right? Yes. That exposure, that movie was phenomenal, but I think it's more important when it's tangible. When the person is right here and you can see them and they invest time and energy to share with you, I think that's what makes it so much better for us as women. For example, that day at the Royal Tea, I stood and declared, this is my mentor. I don't know if you were ready, but I just decided that moment. That's what it was going to be. But the looks on those young girls' faces when you presented them with that scholarship, priceless. It really is. It makes you feel wanted. And I tell women, position yourself to be appreciated, not tolerated. I love that. Yeah, absolutely. And we're not our circumstances. And that's another thing. There's so much that we can learn from each other. Each one of us brings something to the table. Yes. And I'm loving what you're bringing to the table today. It's absolutely phenomenal. Tell us, what did you do this morning that I have declared you a superstar month? It was so much fun this morning. I was on Living 808KHON2. This is Women's History Month, and we were able to show many pictures of so many fun times. And Women's History Month started in 1978. So long ago. Not so long ago. And now we have an entire month that we celebrate, which we should celebrate each other every day. That's right. But it's just like having February is Black History Month, and we have happiness day. International happiness day is today. Today? Today. I'm so happy. That's why we're happy. That's why we're happy. I'm so glad. School is never out. That's right. I love that. I thought that out today. So that was so much fun sitting there and chatting and meeting. I tell you, the young people today are the high tech knowledge that they have and then they're teaching you and we're learning from them. I'm appreciative. We can talk more about that. I can go on and on. I love it. Well, we're gonna come back and we're gonna talk a little bit more with the illustrious Sharon Thomas-Jarbaro. She is definitely the founder and president of Hawaii's foremost women's organization, Sisters Empowering Hawaii. We'll be right back after this. Hi, I'm Rusty Kamori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My show is based on my book also titled Beyond the Lines and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership and finding greatness. I interview guests who are successful in business, sports and life, which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness. Join me every Monday as we go Beyond the Lines at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha, I'm Wendy Lowe 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 gonna be talking about. Whether it's spiritual health, mental health, fascia health, beautiful smile health, whatever it means, let's take healthy back. Aloha. Aloha and welcome back to At the Crossroads. I am your host, Keisha King and today we are celebrating with our very own sister power sister and founder of Sisters Empowering Hawaii, Sharon Thomas-Yarbaro. Welcome back with me, Sharon. Yay, this is so much fun. Girl, it's always fun when I'm with you. I'm loving it, I'm loving it. So far we've learned all about Sisters Empowering Hawaii. I've heard you mention and others the great things that you've done over the past 20 years in our state and I wanted to just take a time, a moment to say thank you. Thank you because what you have done has made a huge impact on our state and I think it's just wonderful that you saw a need and you reached beyond yourself to help fill that need for so many people. I can imagine you were probably always that type of person. Well, my father was a minister. Okay. My mother a school teacher and later on a principal. So it was just instilled to give back to the community and that's what it's all about. We've given hundreds and hundreds of backs for Valentine's Day for veterans. We've done that and all the ladies would get together and we would wear red and we would distribute goodie backs to all the veterans. That was fun. We've also received so many various proclamations, November 6th to stop the domestic violence against women and children. That's a big issue that we as a country we're dealing with the domestic violence and it's just all about healing each other and working with each other's differences. And I always tell women, let's not compete with each other. Yes, say it again for the people in the back. Let's not compete with each other. Okay. Let's work together. Yes. What you do, I can't do. What our sisters do, I can do. When we bring it all together and we stir it up and we just make that beautiful chocolate chip cake. Okay. And it's wonderful. We slice a piece here and slice a piece there and there's a little bit of what you do, what I do, where our sisterhood is doing and it just comes out so amazing. I love it. You see why I call her my mentor? You see why I love her, right? So I was thinking Sharon does all of this stuff for everybody else. And she does it with such sophistication and class. She's very eloquent, but most importantly, she is a giver. She gives from her heart, very genuinely. So. Oh, thank you. Thank you. We have a wonderful surprise for you. I know. I know you have no idea. But we're gonna show you a video clip of someone with their cell phone that wants to say thank you. So if you will look at the monitor right here, there is a video clip of someone who wants to say thank you. Our production team is gonna pull it up for us right now. Hi. Hi Sharon. Can't believe the artist. Why? It is with great honor and gratitude. And what is she saying? She's so beautiful. She is. She's gonna show you something you'll be able to hear. Ah! Rise reminds us to rise to our power. Rise reminds us to rise to our highest potential. And this is what you have helped us to achieve. Congratulations with love, peace. It's so helpful, you know, Kimberly, let's go back to my first annual Women Making History. And each honoree will receive a crystal award. Oh my. And also Tiffany was one of my sponsors. All right. So the honorees will receive that, you know, we all love that little turquoise box. Yes, we do. Kimberly was the first artist that displayed her artwork, Michelle Obama, that is now, I'm sure it's in almost, if it's not, it should be in almost every household. Okay. Yes. Wonderful. She was the artist who shared that painting. Wow. And I think one of the ladies purchased it that day. At your first? At my first annual Crystal Awards, Women Making History. Women Making History. Women Making History. I love it. And so you have had that award ceremony almost every year? Almost every year, excluding this year. I wanted to give back by supporting other events. Yes. And so this is how Sister-in-Part, we, Sister-in-Part Hawaii, Sister-in-Power, Sister-in-Part Hawaii, and just support the many various events that are going on this year. And also Sister-in-Power has had wonderful women on the show that, real women who tell their stories. Yes. And that's what I love about Sisterhood now. Yes. We're just embracing each other. That's right. And I love that movement. And in fact, I think we might have another video that we wanna share with you, but before we get to that video, they're gonna cue that video now. Okay. And then we're gonna show it because there might be something else. Oh my goodness. That we want to share with you. We want to say thank you and present to you on behalf of the Kesha King Foundation, the Supreme Achievement Award for 2019, presented to you, Sharon Thomas-Charbrough. So this is yours, but I'm gonna show it here. Take a look at that. Now I wanna give you the exact title for that, for this statuesque. Okay. It is the Kila-Kila, as the name suggests on the front. And it is for the virtuous, powerful, let's see. Let me give it just right, virtuous, majestic, tall, and strong. And we believe that is what you are. So on behalf of Kesha King Foundation and organization, and so many others, we want to say thank you and honor you with our very own Supreme, because you are so royal and so supreme, Supreme Achievement Award. Thank you. Mahalo. You're welcome. Gracias. Mahalo, Nui Loa. Now I know the feeling of other women when sisters in Parang, Hawaii is presenting them with awards. And, you know, I'm almost speechless and I'm rarely speechless. This is so beautiful. Isn't this the painting that Kimberly Keys, she painted? Yes. This? Yes. And she is presenting that paint. You couldn't hear her at this time. You'll hear her later. She's presenting that painting to you. And we have a video if we're ready that we'd like to share with you. Oh. Oh, my goodness. That's Dr. Joanne Williams-Lazoya. Oh, fun. That was a top. Lovely. First woman. Pat Luncheon and Amarata, the marketing genius. Police commissioner Lorraine Akiva and Diane Washington. We work together in Paris. Willis Sparrow. Oh, art forever. First lady, ever president. Oh, Tidia Rice. Oh, this was at the African-American Film Festival. There you are supporting. There you are. Yeah. That's the present. And my darling husband. And my girl Kimberly. Come on, you and we were there this morning together. How do you get these things so fast? Oh, Daphne, civil rights attorney of the year. We honored her. That's right. There she is. There she is, sharing her things and my hollows. Once a woman was there. Kimberly Pine. Celebrating. So thank you on behalf of all of these wonderful people. Thank you and thank you again. Thank you and thank you again for everything that you've done through sisters empowering Hawaii and sister power and most of all you, Sharon. Oh, I just love you. I just love you. I do. We've known each other 20 minutes and we've been inseparable. Ever since. Ever since. And that's what sisterhood is all about. Indeed. Embracing and loving each other. And thank you so much for this. You're welcome. It's totally my pleasure and honor and privilege. You are so deserving. Thank you for watching At the Crossroads. Again, I'm your host, Keisha King and today we honored the most deserving, Sharon, Thomas, Yabro. We'll see you at the Crossroads. Mahalo.