 This is Carol Monly on Think Tech Hawaii series, Community Matters. I'm here today with my guest, Trisha Dang, who is a young entrepreneur who founded her own business called Tritison. And we're going to talk to her a little bit about that. If during our show you have any questions, do call us at 374-2014. So welcome, Trisha. Thank you, Carol. Thanks for having me. So tell us a little bit about your business and why you founded it. I know you've been out of school and you have a master's for how many years? I have my master's in urban planning from the University of Hawaii and also my MBA from the University of Hawaii Shidler program. So I also have been working full-time for various businesses, small, medium, publicly traded, private companies for the last 12 years. And I started my business three years ago, exactly. Okay, and what kind of business is it? And so what I call it is a full-service program and facilities development firm. And what it is, it's looking at, and I'm going to step back. And it's related to the fact that every single one of us here occupy space or homes or businesses or parks, whatever it may be. We rely on physical space to share our lives and to experience our lives. And so I'm taking part of that, taking part of that and helping people from strategy and concept thinking of what you want out of your physical space, whether you're a landowner, a business owner, you work, you're a large business, whatever it may be, small or large. And helping them think through what you want out of that space. So I come in a lot of times at the very beginning to strategize, plan. I'm a planner by nature. And then through that process, project manage, design teams, whether it's architects, engineers, various consultants that go along with physical development. And then once I help through the entitlement permitting, I also do construction management. Okay, so give us an example of a project and maybe some of the clients whom you've worked with on this kind of a... So my most recent client, actually, it's heavy on the construction side. So it was with Hawaiian Airlines. And they're rebuilding their cargo hanger and their maintenance hanger. And you can see it's by the federal prison. It's a big one, right? Too big, yeah. And so they brought me on to... As a consultant? As a consultant. As a project manager. Project manager, okay. And so I was really responsible for working with, I would say, 60 plus individuals at Hawaiian Airlines to figure out what they wanted and what they need to operate and then implementing all of that. So it's information gathering. It's the planning, putting it all together, coordinating, communicating, herding people and putting it all on one succinct plan and then executing that plan with all the various vendors and contractors that are specialized in installing all of these operable, operational related facilities. So how long did that project take? About five months. Five months? That's all. Yes, I didn't sleep. Now, were you... So why would Hawaiian Airlines ask someone like you, an outsider, right, to do this rather than one of their in-house engineers or... Great question, great question. So this comes back to my business. So you mean think of yourself, your home. How many times in your lifetime are you going to rebuild or renovate your home? Maybe once, maybe twice. You know, and the same with these businesses. How many times are they going to invest that much capital to rebuild or renovate? Maybe a couple times and maybe once even in the lifetime of the leadership there. And so to ask in-house people to say, hey, go manage this project. That's just mind-blowing, you know, and so it's really hiring consultants like myself, project managers, architects. But the hard part is if you're asking someone in-house to do a lot of these things, they are now like the central hub, like an octopus managing all of these different vendors and if they don't have the background in doing it, it's very stressful and it's very inefficient for the company to do that. And your background allows you because you have this expertise in all these different areas. And so Hawaiian Airlines hired me because I spent almost four years with McDonald's corporate. So I was the development director over here in Hawaii and Guam and I oversaw all of those renovations you see in town and all the recent new buildings. And so I was the real estate team here. So I spotted out, you know, I used to have my birthday parties at McDonald's. I'm like a lifetime McDonald's person right here, but I haven't gone for a while in my college years. You don't bring your daughter there. Now I do. Now I understand why parents, now I understand why parents take their kids to McDonald's. She gets the yogurt, the apple slices, the apple juice, maybe like one bite of nuggets and I'm like, I'll just see the rest, right? But anyway, worked for McDonald's and that experience was just this deep dive in management and getting projects done. I mean, we renovated 70% of the 80 McDonald's in Hawaii. And then I also built six new restaurants in that short period of time. And so you're managing the real estate, maybe we should build it here and this is why. And maybe we should lease land here and this is why, all the way to the construction and grand opening. So the Hawaiian Air Terminal is similarly finished now. Yeah. And the terminal, the hangar where they fix all the planes. It's finished now and that was actually the starting point for the whole airport to redo. They renovated. So that's why their timeline was very strict to finish at the end of the year so that they could knock down the Aloha area, you know where the small cargo planes were. But my experience was based on that experience with McDonald's and being able to just drive projects. Right. But you know, listening to that, I know that you also had as one of your clients the Polynesian Voyaging Society. And yet I don't think of them as building other than they're a gigantic project. Yeah. It was a huge project management. So I actually worked at Kamehameha Schools in commercial real estate. So during the Kakako master plan era in 2005 to 2008. And Nainoa Thompson was a trustee at that point. And I think it was about in 2008 his trustee ship ended and he wanted to show the Kamehameha Schools Kauaiaha Plaza staff what he's truly passionate about versus just meeting him in the boardroom and him asking us very poignant questions about how many Hawaiians we're serving and what is the purpose of our projects. So I went over to the San Island where Hokulea is based out of and they talked about experiential education, traveling the world. Experiential education. Explain that to us. Experiential education is getting out into the world and seeing what others are doing and getting those hands-on experiences and learning through doing. As opposed to in the classroom. Right. Like sitting there taking notes. Right. I'm very tactile. I'm very tactile, tangible, literal person. So these things really speak to me. And during my college and grad school time I did a bunch of study abroad and research abroad. So many of the destinations that Nainoa was suggesting and presenting I have already been there. And I was studying Indigenous knowledge. So for example, we're trying to find this coral. Where is it? Are we going to use science and data? Or is the local guy steering our canoe going, it's right there guys. So it was really interesting to go on these research trips and understand the Indigenous knowledge and how scientific knowledge go together. And your business was able to bring that information to the— And I apply a lot of that. And I think a lot of my clients like Polynesian Voyaging Society or the Public Charter Schools, the Native Hawaiian Public Charter Schools that I work with, that's what they're about. Project-based, place-based learning. And so it all very much aligns. And so going back to the Voyaging Society I started volunteering. And that's how the Voyaging Society operates. Volunteers willing to commit their time and dedicate themselves to learning. And so over time I spent—I was there training as crew. But I'm like mother-age, so I want to start a family. So I can't be voyaging, I wanted to start a family. And so my skill set really would be behind the desk for PBS. And so PBS is Polynesian Voyaging Society. And so Nainoa raised $12 million. Nainoa and his fund-raising, $12 million. You're going from this tiny organization, you have $200,000 in revenue. And you're going a $4 million a year. Nainoa needs to manage and be accountable. And that's what I do. So they brought you in. Right. And are you still doing work? I do some work with them. So I still consult as needed. I write grants for them. I do a lot of the reporting. And then when they're starting to discuss a lot of the strategies and plans, I input my comments here and there. So how many clients do you manage on a regular basis? My sweet spot is five. It's just me. I always think about growing. I'm not in that place right now personally. Do you work out of your home? Yes. I have an office. And so I love it. I mean, the only thing is when you walk from your bed to the kitchen to your office, you're not exactly getting steps in for exercise. And so I walk my daughter to school. But it's great. Everything I need is there. And it's interesting. It's very different. Like, my parents don't understand that. So you're sitting at home working and everything's on email. You're writing documents. You're doing analysis research. And then I go to meetings. You mean go? I physically go to meetings. Go to someone's office. Yes. Okay. I roll down the hill. So sometimes, why did you start this form of business rather than continuing working as an employee for someone else? I like to be nimble. And I like variety and diversity in projects. But commitment schools, for example, they're so awesome because you can be involved in anything at commitment schools, education, environmental conservation, commercial real estate. You can manage shopping malls. So like when I work there, I could insert myself in a lot of these places. And it's so special. But being able to be able to judge which projects I want to be part of and meet people like yourself from the community and find out what they're working on. And knowing that I can help and play a role in making a tangible idea come to fruition is amazing. And so I also find that when I'm not attached to any one particular business organization, again, I can be nimble. And I can cross lines and boundaries that typical staff cannot. So give me an example. Well, examples are like in larger businesses, people work in silos, right? You have your accounting. You have your real estate. You have your nonprofit. The department. Right? And it's like, why are you in my department for? Why you don't have enough work in yours? But as a consultant, they see what different skill sets you offer. And then the gaps in where each department needs support can be filled. And with my skill set from a planner, with my business background, and my various experiences with larger developments and commercial developments, I can play that role. Do you find that you're accepted by the employees in these departments as an outsider, a temporary outsider? Or is it something that you have to struggle with in terms of getting the information you might need or the support you might need? It just depends. People are so, everyone is different. And so I get the whole range. A lot of times when I do my intro meeting with different departments or individuals, I tell my story and I share about my background. And when they start hearing my experience background, it's like you see them open up a little bit more and more and more. And then I also work very hard. And so I deliver on things I'm going to say I'm going to do. I give them examples of exactly what I'm going to give them. And so I earn their trust. I know on your website, you mentioned that you really focus on shaping the community, using your background and your experience and your interest in helping to shape the community. Have you been seeing that transition that you've been able to make those differences? It's interesting because, of course, because I work on physical projects, it's really fun to see. And I'm not the kind of person I was telling my husband the other day. It's like, I didn't tell you, but do you know I worked on this project? And it's just part of my DNA. And I've always loved being involved. I mean, you could say I'm Niele, I'm nosy, whatever. I want to get involved in a lot of things. But part of having a background in community and urban planning and development is your life reflects this community, this diversity. And I think a lot of people who are used to working in silos or in just in one area really don't understand that. And they think, oh, you're just bouncing around all over the place. But everything relates back to community and how everyone interacts with it. So even if I did work on commercial projects or on McDonald's, you know what? The new McDonald's are very welcoming. It's all about choices when it comes to food and how fast you need it or how hungry you are, whatever it may be. So your choice is there. But it's a very comfortable place than something that hasn't renovated for 30 years. With a 30-year-old kitchen. Now you have a brand new kitchen. Or when I worked at Kamehameha Schools, I would have never in my life thought they would build those condos as quickly as they did. When I was at Kamehameha Schools, I used to tease this as my mom. I'm like, I'm not working on anything that's older than myself. So I'm born in 1981. And I'm like, I am not using a plan from the 70s. I'm sorry. And so every decade, probably since the 60s, there was a Coca-Cola master plan. So it's amazing that they got all of that done. But it's also a refreshed place that people can enjoy. Great. Well, we're going to take a short break on that note. This is Carol Mon Lee with my guest, Trisha Dang, who is the owner and principal of Tritison, a business that helps with the community. And we'll be right back after this short break. Thanks, Carol. Hi, I'm Pete McGinnis-Mark. And every Monday at 1 o'clock, I'm the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Research in Munna. And at that program, we bring to you a whole range of new scientific results from the university, ranging from everything from exploring the solar system to looking at the Earth from space, going under water, talking about earthquakes and volcanoes, and other things which have a direct relevance, not only to Hawaii, but also to our economy. So please try and join me at 1 o'clock on a Monday afternoon to Think Tech Hawaii's Research in Munna, and see you then. Hello, I'm Dave Stevens, host of the Cyber Underground. This is where we discuss everything that relates to computers that just kind of scare you out of your mind. So come join us every week here on Think Tech Hawaii dot com 1 p.m. on Friday afternoons. And then you can go see all our episodes on YouTube. Just look up the Cyber Underground on YouTube. All our shows will show up. And please follow us. We're always giving you current, relevant information to protect you. Keepin' you safe. Aloha. Welcome back. This is Carol Monly on Community Matters with my special guest, Trisha Dang. Hi, Trisha. Hello. So we've been talking about her company Tritison. And before we went to break, we talked a little bit about why you started the company. And I'm wondering whether the fact that you are a businesswoman who's well educated and well, a lot of great experience, but chose to start your own business. And if anything, any factors relating to gender had a place in all of this. Oh, of course. Of course. I mean, OK, there are so many factors. When people ask me why I start my business, I kind of have to make some assumptions about where they're coming from. And then I decide what pieces I'm going to tell them. There's so many reasons. And we talked about it earlier about just being nimble and being able to work on diverse projects. But other big factors are, you know, Hawaii's job market and the pool of opportunities are so small and narrow. And people are constantly coming home from big cities with fancy titles. And big salaries. Big salaries. And they dive into those leadership positions and everyone working their way up just keeps watching. And so that's one issue I see. So I'll give you an example. McDonald's is amazing. They always promote from within. This is their culture, right? And within the state, rather than bringing in from other McDonald's staff. So the former GM, she worked her way up from hostess before there was drive-thrus. All the franchisees were high school, college, or young employees that worked their way up. You don't see that a lot of times. And so meanwhile, a lot of colleagues are still in their same position. You're a graduate. You're friends from high school and college, right? Or colleagues, you know? And it's like 30s, 40s, 50s, you know? And there's only one spot and we're all, you know, there's a pyramid. So it's, you know, it doesn't go the other way. So one, upward mobility is really difficult. And then two, the pay gap. It's laughable. It's obvious. It's absolutely clear in every job I've ever had. OK, so give us some numbers. I've always made 75% of what you're. And a lot of times, people are making more than me with less experience, less education. It's just the norm. And you know what? It's all related to asking. It's all related to negotiating. I was just happy to get a job. You know, so the number you give me, I'm like, great. I have a job. But then when you settle in the job, you compare, you see. But does that make you want to then work on communicating and raising the salary for all other women so that they're not facing this? Those behind you are not going to be facing this issue. Have you seen a change or an understanding and appreciation of the issue in the businesses that you've worked with? I feel like as a woman, there's a lot of just known factors. And I think it's a very personal issue. You know, like, I love the fact that government salary is transparent. You know, I love that. Otherwise, in the private sector, no one's asking each other that I know of what you're making. It's a very personal, personal issue. And then if one person's going to lose out and they're going to feel horrible and then having that tough conversation with managers and managers having the tough conversation with HR and no one wanting to budge because of the times we live in, it's a very intimidating discussion. And it's interesting because a lot of things I've read, right, a lot of times, men, it's approaching it like a conversation, hey, I do this, this and that. My record show, you know, I've accomplished all these things. You know, can you please help me out? You know, or here is some data. This is what my colleagues are getting paid. It's a very tough conversation. Have you seen any movement in Hawaii at all? Long, more parody salaries? I got out of it. So that's why you're on your own. I don't know, you know, and again, it's a very private discussion. And I think when people, so this is when it happens, when people leave companies. So if you leave a company, like, wait, wait, wait, we like you so much, here it is. If they don't like you, then, you know, sorry, you have to come out of luck. Or you say, I'm going to leave. I'm not into that kind of bluffing. That's not my style, but it works. I know other people have done it. So on your own now, you can charge what you want and. Right, and I would like to be fair because as a being on the other side, I see how much vendors charge and I see the amount of work or the deliverables and I see, you know, how much that costs the company. So I like to give my clients options, what works for them. A lot of times if projects are very unknown, I'll charge outwardly with a cab or, you know, or if it's a very finite deliverable, I know how many hours it takes me. I can do it in this much. Great, fabulous. Well, let's talk a little bit about technology and how that's affected or helped you and where you see the future is with technology and other businesses like yours. Right, so technology plays a huge role. I love it because the nearest young person, people are like, you know how to do this. So I've always loved technology and new programs. You were in the beginning of what? I was still in the Oregon Trail. Oregon Trail, right? My email, my first email was when I was a junior in high school and I didn't have a cell phone until I worked for McDonald's. I didn't have, sorry, a smart phone until I worked in 2011. So we're kind of in that weird cusp. So I'm not attached to it, but I love technology that helps me do my job faster. And what have you found that helps you in your business? So a lot of my work I do is analysis related. And I think I mentioned this to you once. I once had a talk with Paul Brubaker a long time, probably like a decade ago, because every year people's websites are being updated or refreshed. They weren't putting as much data online or it was really hard to find the data I used to use. And maybe for your research for your projects. Right. And so it's that issue of privatizing data or having websites that kind of bury the information and nobody's gonna find it unless you know exactly what you're looking for. So you know, but nowadays the city, the state, they have really great mapping softwares. So GIS, Geographic Information Systems. So you can see a map and you can plot things. So the latest one I was on was the HPD crime. Really interesting, right? You can actually pinpoint your home, whatever location your office plays. And you say, send me emails about crime that's occurring within this radius. 50 feet, one mile, two miles, whatever. So I can get emails. But it's really interesting because now it's publicly accessible to map things. And then rather than just talking about, I feel like there's a lot of crime. I know there's a lot of crime. Actually, the data shows there's no crime right here. There's crime right there. And so I really appreciate the public availability and not needing special expensive software to access it. And so things like city DPP, you can find. City DPP. The city's Department of Planning and Permitting. And so you can find land use issues, land use data like zoning, or you can find special management areas or where they flood, areas that are known to flood. And then also FEMA has maps. So after the flood a few months ago, it was interesting I went online. You could see exactly the places that they said were flooded were in flood zones. Perfectly, like to the T to the street. Really. And so all this helps you in terms of your gather information and provide that to my clients. So if you want to do a development there, maybe here's the things you should know. You have a long permitting process ahead of you. Here's, you're in the flood zone. Of course this is all public information. So they could themselves find it, but they don't have somebody dedicated who might understand how to read the numbers. And they will take three days finding that map. And so again going back to, it's not something they do every day. And I mean they could typically go to a planning firm or architecture firm and they do that. But a lot of times those firms are so specialized that they're gonna start running down a path before that client might be ready. We talked about your business. Is this something you see as a growing field in terms of young entrepreneurs, educated people who want to instead of stay in the middle, large company, rise up the ladder and maybe have all the great benefits, instead have the independence that you have to work in your pajamas at home. I know I'm in my pajamas. So is that something that you see that's growing and where is it? Yes, you know a lot of- Is it something in Hawaii or something nationwide? And how can we be better use your services? I can't speak to a nation. Maybe it's also a generational thing. A lot of times people do approach me. I wanna start my own business. It's tough. I have to think about how I'm gonna pay my rent or mortgage every month because you're not getting a consistent paycheck. And so around late summer, like now, I'm thinking about who are my clients in 2019? What am I gonna be working on? You know, so I can solidify at least some kind of cash flow, right? Or which projects I'm gonna work on. But you're kind of a business, you don't need a lot of overhead, right? Since you're doing it out of your home. You don't, as long as you have your own technology, computers, laptops. But it's more related to having the network, having the drive and motivation and just doing it every single day. Like I'm working every day. I'm working more hours than a full-time job. And I'm my own accountant, my own, you know, whatever. Marketing person. Marketing person, my own web designer and up theater. I mean, yeah, I can pay someone to do that. But I like technology. So I like doing a lot of these things to myself. Do you see yourself growing where you would have employees at some point? Yeah, it's tough. You know what I actually see it as. And I hate using all these jargon and vocabulary words of the time. Gig culture. What's gig culture? Gig, or the gig society. Take a project here, take a project there. It's true. I do have projects ever here and there. But so does every other consulting firm. So everyone's in the gig culture or the gig society. Every consulting firm is in the gig culture, right? Otherwise, whatever. You know, and so I can see it being that I would love to have other people like-minded in terms of work ethic and values-based working with me. But we're all independent, but cross-pollinating in the sense of sharing projects. Everyone get their own project. You need help. Here's my, I have time, you know? And knowing that we have all different skill sets and be able to collaborate and work on projects together, yet be self-sufficient and not reliant on one person getting the job. Yeah. Well, we've only touched the surface, Trisha, because I know you do so many different projects and different types of clients. This half hour has gone by very quickly. But you know, we have a couple of seconds you'd like to look into camera four and tell our viewers how they can reach you in case they wanna contact you regarding possible services. Right, yeah. I'm happy to talk about projects. My website's just the best bet. I mean, it has pretty much everything if you wanna know what I do, clients, services I offer, past projects. My contact information and email is there. Great. Well, thank you so much, Trisha. Thank you, Carol. I enjoyed. This was fun. Thank you. This has been Community Matters with my guest, Trisha Dang. We've been talking about her community-based consulting business. And we'll be right back on another show on Community Matters. And thank you so much for joining us, Aloha. This is Carol Monly.