 from our studios of Think Tech Hawaii in downtown Honolulu and from my home office in Waikiki. Today I'd like to introduce you to Andrea Kaplan but everyone calls her Andy. Andy is Hawaii's Mrs. Hawaii America's United States reigning queen, a mother, a wife of a Navy SEAL and a community servant. Let's welcome Andy Kaplan. Hi Aloha. Aloha boy look at how beautiful you look. No wonder you have this story to tell us about today that you got that crown and you're you're going to be representing Hawaii. I'm so excited to hear your journey. Thank you. So as we get started Andy, share a little bit about yourself and your family, please. So I'm currently Mrs. Hawaii's America's United States. I am married to a retired Navy SEAL and we have a son Austin who's 23. We have a small family but a my family. I'm just really proud of my family so much. My son Austin who you seen in that slide that just popped up. He's 23 years old and he just came back from a missions trip serving in Argentina and Brazil. So we are very strong Christians and in our faith and so he decided to take the leap of faith and to go with YM and spend six months doing mission work. So he's back now and he's going to school to be a firefighter at HCC and my husband who just recently retired. He opened up Trident Adventures. He owns that which is a scuba adventure company. So he took the fun parts of being a Navy SEAL and he made a company out of it so everybody can experience something off their bucket list or an extreme adventure and have a great time while doing it and we got two adorable poodles and a horse freedom but I guess since I'm the only one that rides horses that horse would just be my horse. Wow what an exciting adventure some life that you need and one day I would love to talk to Austin and maybe we can get around the show to share from a young man's point of view the mission field in those countries. He must have some incredible stories. I can't wait to see his stories and he would love to do that. I would love to have him on so please connect me up okay. I love his journey on because I love mission work and in those countries life changing. Yes I would love to. That was life changing for them and it was life changing for him as well. Yes so powerful. So let's carry on. You were recently crowned Mrs. Hawaii America's United States. Why did you pick that system and what does having the title of Mrs. Hawaii America's United States mean to you? So this pageant system kind of just found me there's so many pageant systems out there and all of them are absolutely incredible and having a pageant system that is platform based was so pivotal to me because I started a foundation called Operation Hero to Heroes which is what my platform centers around which is veterans and their caregivers to provide caring resources to them. So with the platform and the five pearls of wisdom that this pageant represents which is to encourage your other sisters by leading to be personable to be a role model those are all characteristics that I you know have and that I think that you know that we see so many days you know that on the news that are just you know lacking just being kind to everybody encouraging one another. So with this crowned I treat this crown as a doorstop to get me in to the doors that I need to get in to make a difference for our veterans and for our caregivers. It's not about putting on this crown and having the opportunities that are being presented to me it's about giving those veterans and those caregivers the opportunities that they're really entitled to but they've been lacking for so long and to be able to shine that light to be a light of encouragement and a source for these individuals that have given up so much of themselves so selflessly for so many years. Well you picked the right pageant being platform driven that's incredible and as I was sharing with you earlier having going through a pageant as a Mrs I think it's a lot more rewarding and because you have a life experience behind you that you can share and passions that you can already utilize in your platform or that you are utilizing in your platform so it comes out with even more of a passionate part and I can hear it in you so I'm so excited and I just wanted to ask you is this you know you're married and you have a child and you know your pageant needs are done but now we have the Mrs so is this your first pageant that you ever run in? Yes so I never grew up doing pageants and I never thought about doing pageants because it kind of goes back to what you're saying as we're younger we really don't know who we are what our identity is. Some people are partly lucky and they they know that I didn't I was more worried about what other people thought of me than I was more about what I thought of me and what I thought of me so when COVID hit in 2020 I decided well this is going to be now is the time to start doing things that I was always afraid of doing that I always thought that I couldn't do so I entered a pageant and I that's when I started riding horses actually too and started training for my first rodeo. Wow that's exciting I mean so you know COVID it was a dark time in many people's lives but you always have to look at the silver lining and for you redeveloping or emerging yourself as or maxing out who God created you to be I think would be the most valuable gift that you got out of that period the last two years so God bless you and to shade to you for you need to realize that so you know being that that was your first pageant and you know I've done pageants for the last 25 years so I have a lot of experience with you young ladies and just trying to mentor you and and then like for you you you probably didn't need anyone to be there with you because you probably are a mentor to so many so it was pretty much I think a easy journey for yourself but I want to ask you what was the most challenging segment of your passion that would be to put there aside because like I said you know going through growing up for so many years I grew up in a fear which isn't healthy because it creates a lot of stress on you and just knowing that I felt that I was called to do this and that God called me here for a purpose I really had to put that in the the front of my mind and and nothing else because there was a lot of people saying why are you doing this why you know they they see pageants more as a negative thing as a beauty versus you know you're going up there you're being judged by your interview and your platform for what you want to do to make a difference not necessarily how you look at your trust or what your how much you spent for your designer dress it's so putting that was the most challenging I think aspect of me was to put the voices aside of all the naysayers that were out there and just to just focus on my why and why I was doing this and why that was going to make a difference well and again congratulations for being able to tune out all the negativity and like we have to do that in life so many times and we know that God chose you to run and you know that was my role for the last 25 years is that when a gal wants to run my role in her her journey is to match her out a cool God created her to be and try to develop in an earlier stage of her life and also to give him all the glory once they're putting that second crown on her head give him all the glory even before giving mommy and daddy that mahalo mom and dad you give all the glory to him so and then also you being the door stopper of course that opens every door with this crown believe it or not it does and you get a little bit more attention and then then you can penetrate into the hearts of the other young ladies the young girls and all the other wives who may have been struggling with many different issues but now because who you are and what you achieve there your the door is open and they feel very safe to talk with you it's amazing what that crown represents and if you take it in that content you've done a great job you're going to do a great job and it's just beginning so would you recommend otherwise to enter this pageant absolutely I would and I've actually been encouraging my friends to join and to enter and a lot of them you know they're shy because like I said they have this stigma of what pageants are all about and I think if they were just to put that aside and realize that you're already crowned with perfect just your second crown that's going to be going on your that you can do anything and when you get out on that stage people are going to see the light and what you have to offer and it's amazing just what that can do even to some you know women and wives you know that are you know struggling or they're stressed or they're trying to figure out you know who they are and to get that confidence in what their purpose is what a pageant can actually do to just give them that extra step to figuring out you know their why so it's so powerful I'm so excited that you were chosen he chose the right one and you have a big mission on your hands and I know that you will not let him down and that you'll fulfill every bit of what your purpose is for so I'm so excited that I got to meet you and and hear your heart on this and just it just warms my heart so I'm excited so you've already touched me so yeah so anyway we'll carry on your husband Steve is a retired Navy SEAL yes yeah wow I imagine that you have seen him go through many challenges what was that like and how did you get through the daily stresses of deployments and managing a family and a career while he was gone and I'm sure he must have endured some injuries at some point maybe not but would you share all that with us Steve yeah so Steve is a great man of faith too so we know that if our foundation was strong and rooted in God that we would be able to get through anything because being a military spouse let alone a SEAL spouse it comes with a lot of challenges they're deployed they go through a training school workups and so they're gone constantly so there was times a period where there was one year I saw him one weekend out the whole year so us just having the faith and knowing you know what our vows meant to us is what God has through the day today so when I didn't get the phone calls when he was deployed and you didn't know where he was at when he was coming back I knew and I trusted that God had us and the palm of his hands and our marriage in his hands and that God called him to do this he was going to keep him safe and his story is probably one of the most beautiful amazing stories of why he became a SEAL and I'll have to share that with you on another day when we have more time but for me I've been a group fitness instructor for about 20 years now so what I would do like each and every time is I would give myself goals so I would teach classes and I would give myself an educational goal I ended up getting free master's degrees in the course of the time that he was gone because that was my way to stay focused and you know so I wasn't constantly worrying about him and he's been blowing up a lot there's times where we would get those phone calls and he would be in the hospital and we didn't know even when we're out here the SEAL foundation actually flew us out because it was pretty bad we didn't know if he was going to be alive when we got to the hospital when we got off that plane so there's been a lot of that and God's really just challenged and you know stretched I guess the limits you know of like our marriage you know going through the ups and the downs you know for better for worse for sickness and in health you know we have been you know through it all but what got me through that and managing it was my son was very active and he was in sports we would you know I would make sure that my health and my nutrition was always you know first and foremost making sure that I was exercising making sure that I was involved in the community the SEALs have a huge support group we have the wives club is amazing the SEAL foundation does a great job to provide resources for the deployed service members and their spouses even when we come back we do a lot of family retreats together so to get through that was a lot of a prayer it was a lot of faith and it was a lot of just making sure that I put you know but taking care of myself you know through health and through fitness as well well I'm hoping that this this thing that Kauai show we can reach more wives that and for sure many of them who didn't have the guidance and the faith like you do and the strength to just go another day I'm praying that they can reach out to watch this and then maybe reach out to find you and what you're doing with the yeah the foundation that you're going to be sharing with us in a minute but powerful information and real real life story and I'm just praying that it will it will and I know it will touch many and it will help many two things times where you are but you can bring light when they're in this darkness in their lives but right now I would like to just say mahalo to Steve your husband and the Navy SEAL Steve yourself and your son for just loving our country and serving our great nation because as much as Steve serving the wife and the children on the side and in his heart while he's serving that drives him to do a great and better job for our nation so thank you so much Andy Steve and Austin we appreciate you and we mahalo you thank you so you have a passion for our veterans and their caregivers because you are and will be so please share your platform Operation Hero to Heroes and how that came about yeah I started Operation Heroes to Heroes Foundation because my husband is a veteran and I've had an opportunity to talk and be around a lot of veterans and their caregivers and we're all caregivers and you know a sense whether it's a small something so small or something so big where the spouse you know is in mobile they can't do anything so just seeing everything that my husband's gone through for so many years just being out of the military and he I can go on through many many stories and just sitting at the back the VA hospital that you know we have here we we do need to be a hospital in Hawaii and we do need more and right now we have clinics so what's happened is our veterans are they're being part of a failed system they're not getting the care the specialized care that they need my husband is actually one of them just a few months ago in March he lost feeling from the waist down he has strength but he has no feeling they can't figure out the why he needs specialized doctors to be able to find out the why but the VA they're too busy they can't help so how many more people that are like my husband that are out there to individual that I saw at the VA throwing up all over the place going trying to get to his chemo treatment and they wouldn't let a man because he wasn't able to wear a mask because he was just vomiting and so they denied him his chemo treatment how many more of our veterans are part of the system that is inadequate because the VA is not putting the doctors in place or the specialized care in place to give these veterans what they need so operation heroes to heroes came up for that because our veterans need to get the specialized care whether it's raising money through fundraising to give them the doctors and the treatments that they need and to be able to send them off island where they need and for the caregivers like myself who are left with the emotional and the financial impact of trying to figure out the why and to understand how to care for their veteran or their loved one when they don't even know what's going on and to how to handle that situation so that's why I started Operation Heroes to Heroes and that is why my platform is so important to me because I want to be that doorstop to open the doors to get in there and say hey we need to fix things as a state as a nation we need to start giving more time and attention and putting more money and resources in the basin if you're not then it's up to programs like Operation Heroes to Heroes Wounded War and Steel Foundation to pick up the slack where they're dropping the ball. Wow so this Operation Hero to Heroes is it just here in Hawaii or is it nationwide? So I started here in Hawaii but it's global and I just started this foundation this year and I partnered with Gimmia Break Foundation which is actually in the windbird ball here in Hawaii and their mission is to is the caregivers so I'm collaborating with them to bring more of our veterans into their organization so their caregivers to be could be able to get the outlets that they need so they can recharge their batteries to care for their loved ones. Sounds like you like every non-profit you need a grant writer and people to go find you some funds for this because of course if we were to just say hey Mr. President this is so needed yeah you know and of course they should fund things like this because if they're not finding the time or the desire to take care of our men and women who served our country that they need to at least fund some of these organizations like yourself so that you can put your energy more towards getting results for the veterans and their families because Steve is very blessed he has a family behind him he has you a lot of them they don't have that they had it but they end up with not and then they're all alone and they can't advocate for themselves so you know you your this operation is so badly needed and this is also very close and dear to my heart so I will commit to working with you and seeing what we can do because yeah I mean I don't understand and yet we have all these other funds allocated funds that are helping everyone else and here we are with our men and women and their families and their caregivers yes you need help you need to get more funding so your organization can reach out in and touch more and make more positive differences in the lives of the lives that matter to making America free and it's so important so I hear you and I'm sure we're going to talk story about this even though I just met you I hear your heart and your passion and I know that God chose the right voice as sweet as it is but as powerful and as accomplished as it is so I'm just just blessed to be a part of this right now so thank you so much so okay you mentioned you are an instructor and you're very physical and you did all these great things to get yourself through you know the times when Steve was abroad and on duty so I know that you're an instructor at the cross-center here in Hawaii how long have you been in this industry and what got you into it and why is it so important for caregivers of loved ones and veterans to focus on their health like you do yeah so I started I became an instructor about 20 years ago now so I'm really aging myself aren't I I've always loved running and exercising it's always been important to me I played soccer but being um just going through the deployment cycle and everything I kind of I got more involved with it because of my aunt Sandy um she was going through chemo treatments for her cancer and I was there um in my early 20s just helping her along and taking her to her appointments and she had bought me this um turbo jam video from the beach yeah I want to borrow it yeah so I fell in love with it and I actually became a turbo kick instructor after that because I loved it so much and that's what got it you know kicked off and then from there yeah boom boom but it was so good and it was such a you know a good outlet you know just to like sweat get the endorphins flying and so I started teaching at the croc center and at other gyms and just seeing you know people just going through you know and I'm teaching more for them because I'm making a difference in their life because most people like that is their outlet that is their only new time and as caregivers working out and having that physical endurance is so important because it takes a lot of endurance physically and emotionally to care for your loved one and if you're not caring for yourself through proper nutrition or even getting out there for that walk to have that mental break you're not going to be able to be as efficient for your loved one as you want to be so it's so important and as hard as it might be for caregivers just to say I need to take 10 minutes for myself or even 60 seconds just to go and meditate you have to do that so you can be effective and be able to care for them and when your spouse your loved one sees you taking care of themselves it's amazing when you're healthy and you're feeling good how much that energizes them to you want to feel healthy because they're already you know sad and depressed and you know so they need something that's just going to give them that extra you know what I can do this too and you could possibly do that why on why they can do that too totally agree and you know you hit it on the nail too because um it's you're the caregiver and the most um you know overlooked but as a caregiver or even as a wife as a person we all need to make sure that we ourselves are happy and healthy and I that would be my secret to why I can be so busy is that I always make sure Wendy was happy and healthy and I I could function at a highest level because when I was down or if a caregiver or a wife or person is down how can you look after anyone if you yourself are down you know because you yourself need help but so you you got to maintain a healthy body spirit and so mind body and soul and you know keep yourself focused on all the right things that you need to do in your lives that you can like you said it can exude into the others your energy will lift them up and energize them and it's the light that we have within that God has placed into our our souls so that we can make a positive difference in our lives for them so so so important Andy are you still teaching at the crock center um I am actually I teach every Wednesday and Thursdays in the evenings okay and when you have your you know your your base your client base do you are you able and do you find the time that you can personalize the work when the class is done you talk story with them and and really just go one on one with encouraging each all the time okay all the time after class and yeah and you know kind of like hairdressers you know there people sit in the turrets therapist you know that's what we are you know as instructors too it's not about us getting a workout it's about you know the patron that's right in front of you because you don't know their story and why they're right there well that's so critical and plus you can see the difference in in movement and uh level of activity because you're in the front and you're they're watching you and you're watching them so you're I mean like a physiotherapist you know you could just see and watch and like hey you know hey Wendy I noticed that your arms aren't going up as high and it seems like you look a little bit fluggish today what's going on you know yeah wow very important role and I know every every step of your life is a purpose and so continue to focus on that and I know the rewards will come back as you just change one person's lives or or just bring one more smile to one more person I think this is so critical I'm excited for you thank you I was wanting to ask you you know what are some of the health issues that are most common in you know the veterans and their families as you do notice so um one of the things that I noticed the most it's it's the emotional stress that they have stress as we know is a silent killer and when individuals are under stress what happens is they don't eat they don't sleep and so to be able to take those mental breaks it's so critical um even as you know the veterans that are going through this I've noticed that it's the sleeping and it's the eating and most of us we can't prepare meals I mean I can't even do like a lot of meal planning that takes like a lot of time but to be able just to make sure that you you know take that time to hydrate sleep and to make sure that you have good good choices in your your house it's it's it's critical and if you are stressed there are so many places like give me the break foundation operation a hero to heroes and I can give a list of so many more organizations so that the crocs and our go and go find Andy she'll get and come work out with me come take my cycle and light workout I promise you yes yeah and you'll get more than a workout you'll get a mental dump and a mental stimulation and just love and light and that's what they need to get to these yeah and that's what they need they need that hugs so if you know a caregiver and you or you know a veteran just hug them smile you know let them know that you know it's gonna be it's gonna be okay because it is going to be okay because there's yeah me and many other advocates that are in their corner and we're going to fight so they can be okay wow so then I have to ask you what resources are there out are there out there for caregivers of loved ones and veterans to utilize here in you know in Hawaii yes so give me a break foundation I highly recommend to anybody that's a caregiver to anyone to include special needs kids um wounded warrior um honor watch foundation um is another big one as well as a Navy sail foundation but for Hawaii the top two I would say is um honor watch foundation operation heroes to heroes and I'll give you three and give me a break okay and real quickly are there any upcoming events that people can support yes so on the 23rd we're going to be doing a 1.5 mile walk um at the windward mall with giving me the break foundation so you can go on the link and join my team operation hero to heroes it's a $25 suggested donation to walk and join support this good cause and um we're going to be doing a um um hire a veterans day it's at the end of the month so um that's going to be down at the windward mall to at the beginning of break location and we're going to be doing a dress for success and helping veterans that are looking for jobs you know get jobs as well so call me up or I'll call you up and I'll come out and help I'll write it down on my schedule sounds good so Andy we run out of time for today I want to just say mahalo to you Andy for your dynamic journey and inspiring us to take our health back and once again mahalo to Steve Kaplan for serving all of Hawaii would like to wish you and the best of luck in your upcoming pageant in august and we'll be back everyone in two weeks with taking your health back with Wendy so mahalo Andy mahalo thank you for having me and hello everyone thank you so much for watching think tech Hawaii if you like what we do please like us and click the subscribe button on youtube and the follow button on vimeo you can also follow us on facebook instagram twitter and linked in and donate to us at thinktecawaii.com mahalo