 Welcome to Tough Love with Loretta Chen, where Hawaii's changemakers talk tough on the islands they love. Now, I guess today is a CEO, an inventor of those, why didn't I think of that products? She's also a human trafficking activist, a motivational speaker, a live coach, and author of Jumping Jack, a preschool book to address hyperactivity. And new to Hawaii, she's currently an early college counselor for Loret Community College, a Philly native. She believes youth should be encouraged to take advantage of the opportunities in their communities to achieve their dreams. Please welcome, Sirita Washington. Hello, good morning. Thank you for making it here in crazy traffic. Aloha and Mahalo. Thank you so much for this opportunity to share about these important topics we're going to address today. I met you and I thought, gosh, you're so much spunk. You know, people have often spoken to me and said, my God, Loretta, your resume is so eclectic. And then I meet you. I mean, your resume is so diverse, right? I mean, I thought I was a multi-hyphenate until I met you. So share with us what's it like being you for a day? I mean, juggling all these like 20,000 things that you're doing. Well, you know, that's so interesting because I tend not to think that mine is such a unique perspective. So many people have to work more than one job or have more than one revenue stream. As a matter of fact, there were recent statistics about that reporting that there are 13 million individual citizens throughout the country who are working more than one job. And we know that number is even higher here in Hawaii. Now, for me, it's kind of started out as a necessity, right? Thinking about how to make the bills kind of come together. But also thinking about what are the best ways to use your talents to do so so that you're not wasting time. You're actually working on self-improvement and empowerment, which is really important to me. No, and I'm with you, right? But, you know, do you think that sometimes people will judge and people always judge, right? And that's why these programs are important to dismiss those myths. Do you think that sometimes people tend to take you less seriously? Because they're like, oh, she's a jack of all trades or Jill of all trades and a mess or mistress of none. Thank you for that correction. Yeah, it's very easy for someone to say, how can you do all of these things and do them well? And the fact is, when you find ways to spark that creativity for yourself and you're doing things that are within your realm of skill set and your interest and in a spiritual kind of way, something that you feel called to do, then you're likely to be successful. So let me start with my background is mental health. And I've worked for 20 years as a mental health professional specifically working with youth and children in foster care as well and families. And so when we talk about the first multi-hyphen, my book that I wrote, Jumping Jack, I wrote it out of frustration. And a lot of what we're going to talk about today comes from kind of wanting to share with the world. So when we think about multi-hyphenate things, I think it also comes from this idea that you feel called to share something of yourself. Which also means you're multi-frustrated about many things. And you turn that adversity and that frustration into creative energy. There you go. Because either you can sit there and do nothing and be frustrated about it or you can do something. So the question to ask yourself always is what can I do to address this issue? Yeah, and there's so many people that want to go out there and do what you do. But I think it's tough love. It's a program that addresses tough issues. So share with us some of the challenges about getting those products out there. I mean, there's R&D, there's product development, there's warehousing. I mean, share with us the dirt. Okay, so let's start with even going back to the book. The book that I wanted to write is about a rabbit who may be hyperactive, may have a diagnosis of ADHD. But we never mentioned that in the story because I was frustrated that so many parents were bringing their kids to me for therapy saying fix him. He is ADD. Number one, your child is not as diagnosis. Number two, we don't even know if that's a diagnosis. Number three, let's take a look at what strengths your child has. So how to put that all in a book. But then when you write a book and there's so many women out there who have ideas for books and for stories and getting into the publishing industry used to be really hard. Now, of course, we have self publishing that makes that makes that a little bit easier. So when we talk about research and development, where do you find an illustrator for a book? How do you put it together? How do you make sure that it's a message that will be well received? But when you have that idea and you do the research and the information is out there. This is a beautiful part about living right now. You and I were in college. If we wanted to research something, what do we have to do? Oh my goodness, it would take forever. You go to the library. You've probably got to go talk to people. I mean, you literally got to go pound the street. Exactly, exactly. It's just so much more hyper connected. Do you remember having to get out the yellow pages and flip through the yellow pages to find something? I have no idea what the yellow pages are. Exactly. So here with YouTube University, where you can find a video about almost anything, where you can find a podcast about anything. There's no reason to be uninformed. So that leads me to the development of my product and my company. Another frustration. So one day I happened to be in the shower. Taking a shower. And I had two shower caps on my head. Two. One in the front, one in the back, because I had all this hair. So my husband looks at me. He's like, babe, why do you have these two shower caps on your head? And I said, because I can't find one that will fit all this hair. And he said, what are you talking about? What do you mean you can't? But if you look at the average size of a shower cap, go to any hotel, any spa, any location, you'll find that it's the traditional plastic small, you know, if you have a larger head circumference, it won't fit or just thicker hair. And so he said, you know, that looks like something that's just a problem. I said, it is a problem. And he said, well, why don't you fix it? Yeah. I thought about it for a minute. And I thought, maybe I should fix that. So let's talk about this. So how did that start? Because obviously I want our listeners and our viewers to know that it's not easy. You don't just think of an idea like, oh, it just happens. I watch a video and it happens. Tell us like how that process is like and make it grueling. So we know that it's not easy. There's some trial and error, definitely. So prior to that, again, thinking about multi hyphenates and multi revenue streams, my husband and I looked into starting a private label company. Let me explain what private labeling is. So private labeling would be if you come up with a product idea that you'd like to kind of tweak. It already exists. You don't have to file a patent for it. Our first product that we came up with was a bath pillow. It would be like if you want to kind of lay back in the bathtub and support your neck and have a luxurious experience. Now that already existed, but the thought is how can I make this better? What can I do in order to make this a more enjoyable experience for the customer? And so we researched it, YouTube University and podcasts and books and everything else. And we jumped into the private labeling business, which involved finding the right manufacturer for the product. It involved figuring out a name for the product, how to market the product, how to make sure that that product can get from the source of the manufacturer to we sell on Amazon. So Amazon's warehouse. Amazon has a self-fulfilling warehouse where we don't have to ship out our orders to our customers. They will ship our order for us. And so figuring out that whole system. And I can tell you that that first product, while it was manufactured well, it was also a failure. It was a failure because... We like failures. We like to learn from our failures. Definitely. How did you learn? Definitely. So it was called the Serenity Now Bath Pillow. Why? Because I watched too much Seinfeld. And so George Costanza would always yell Serenity Now. And so I thought that was great. And again, very well manufactured, but it was heavy to ship. And so because it was heavy to ship, then that left us with an exorbitant shipping fee, which means that we kind of priced ourselves out of the market with regard to the product. And so we learned a lot through that experience, thinking about if we come up with another product, we have to make sure that it's something that's transportable. But we also learned our strength. My strength being that I can write the heck out of an ad, you know, for a product. My strength being that I know that it's important to give your customers something in exchange for their purchase. So I always include a free gift with almost every purchase that I sell. And so we learned a lot, but that was actually a failure. It was not easy. Sure. It was very easy to give up. If you don't see the results, especially now, this is the problem also with podcasts, YouTube and all of this. It'll be the people who are all I'm making $30,000 a month selling on Amazon, right? Do not. That's marketing. Exactly. Do not fall for the hype. Because while they may be making that now, the fact of the matter is they probably had one or two stumbles along the way. One or two is a huge understatement. Exactly. Before they came up with their thing. And so it was during this phase that we were developing the bath pillows that I had this frustration with the shower cap. Now, mind you, this turned out to be our most successful product. Wow. And it was born out of frustration and the need to solve a problem. Right. We say necessity is the mother of invention. Oh, yeah. No kidding. Look at that little cow. And that's the second product that I came out with. That is my sleep bonnet. And that came from my customers. So it's called listening to your customer feedback. So my shower cap that I developed for all of that hair that you see in front of you that would not fit inside the... I never have that problem. I like limp Asian girl hair. Look at that. No, but your hair is gorgeous. And I got to tell you how I'm addressing that population as well. So initially it came from my own frustration with what was available on the market. But then I also had to do my research. What's the problem with plastic shower caps? Well, they're carcinogenic. Plastic is carcinogenic. And it is not good for the environment. And it doesn't last long. And if we're looking for something sustainable that will be sustainable that people can keep for a longer period of time. And I want to be a good steward, a good citizen in our global environment. And that's very important. So I thought about the material that it should be made out of. We came up with vinyl. Vinyl is very sustainable. And then I decided, okay, what's the other problem? Well, a lot of times your hair comes out. A lot of times your hair can get frizzy. If you have an updo for a fancy wedding. And let's say the wedding is Saturday, you get your hair done Friday. What are you going to do in the shower? So I lined it with satin. And then the last thing is your hairstyle changes. Your hair may be straight today. And then tomorrow you may have all of these curls in your hair. And so I wanted to make it adjustable. So thinking about what it is that you can do and how your idea can be different from what's on the market. How does it solve a problem? Right, exactly. And that was my question. How can this shower cap responsibly solve a problem? So just very quickly, I mean, I just cut you in there because we're just going to go for a brick movie. You've set up an e-commerce company, right? And we all know now that brick and mortar stores are on its way out. But what do you think as an entrepreneur, what do you think is the future of retail in like 90 seconds? Yeah, the future of retail in 90 seconds. We know that it's becoming more automated. You can go into Whole Foods now and just, you know, check yourself out and walk out with using your Amazon account. You don't even have to go through the checkout line anymore in some stores. And so this idea that definitely we want to support our small brick and mortar mom and pop shops because they need that support. We don't. They have a place in our community for sure. But at the same time, there's a space for entrepreneurs like me who say, hey, listen, I can't open up a whole store to sell one shower cap, but you know what I can do? I can create a space online for that. And so I think as a society, there's a place for both. Yes, are we moving more towards the I need to get it now kind of model for sure. But definitely there's a place for our support for our small mom and pop shops. Yeah, no. And we have so many other interesting topics to get to. Because one of the other things I really want to chat about too was about this idea of, you know, how it was out of necessity, right? There was just no products out there for girls like you. And we're going to talk about how like in today's day and age, we now have a little bit more of that room. Yeah. But also the other thing I really wanted to address is also the fact that you're human trafficking activists. And when we come back from a break, I really want to address those issues because of late in the news, it's been dominating headlines about the recent human trafficking incident in Essex in London. So I wanted to get your take on that. So stay tuned everybody. We'll going for a break and we will be right back. Hi, I'm Rusty Kamori, host of Beyond the Lines. I was the head coach for the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years. And we're fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championship. This show is based on my book, which is also titled Beyond the Lines. And it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence, achieving and sustaining success and finding greatness. If you're a student, parent, sports or business person, and want to improve your life and the lives of people around you, tune in and join me on Mondays at 11 a.m. as we go Beyond the Lines on Think Back Hawaii. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Keisha King, host of At the Crossroads, where we have conversations that are real and relevant. We have spoken with community leaders from right here locally in Hawaii and all around the world. Won't you join us on thinktechhawaii.com or on YouTube on the Think Tech Hawaii channel. Our conversations are real, relevant and lots of fun. I'll see you at the Crossroads. Aloha. Welcome back, and we're speaking with multi-hyphenate CEO, inventor, human trafficking activist, motivational speaker, live coach, author and early college counselor at Leeward Community College, Therida, Washington. So welcome, welcome, welcome. We're still facing with human trafficking issues. I mean, the public service ad that we did was for sex trafficking. But I just, I know you're a human trafficking activist. So let me just share with you, I mean, in what mid-hitline news recently was this high-profile humanitarian tragedy that saw 39 people dead in a refrigerated lorry trailer in Essex about three weeks ago. Most of the victims were from a province in Vietnam and authorities are investigating obviously a human trafficking ring, smuggling Vietnamese people to Britain. And I share it with you during the break that I spent time volunteering in this child sex trafficking center in Cambodia with goals between the ages of 8 to 18. Some of them are younger because they're children of sex trafficking. And one of the things that's heartbreaking that I learned was that when I first got there, I thought, oh, the barbed wires are there to keep the bad guys out. Duh. But then I soon learned it was also to keep the girls in because they felt like that was your only, it was the only trait they know and they would rather go out and do that again. It's the same thing that cap those young men and women taking on this treacherous journey going on that lorry trailer knowing the perils that they might face and they're still doing it. Right. So I'm not going to ask you for a solution today because I know it's rough, but tell me how it is for you as a human trafficking activist. I mean, where are we now? I mean, we've been talking about this for years. Where are we now? Well, where we are right now is that we need more education. Point blank period. You would think that most people are aware, for example, of the difference between sex trafficking and labor trafficking, but they are not. You would think that we are at a point where we can address our biases with regard to individuals who are a sex traffic. So for example, it's much easier for me to be prejudiced against you if I think you're a prostitute versus a victim of sex trafficking. For labor, yeah. And so, yeah. But even if you think about labels and titles. So again, there's a judgment that comes with the word prostitution and it suggests that you're a willing participant in the work. And while there are sex workers who do participate in that work, for the most part, individuals who are in that line of work are actually being taken advantage of and they are victims or survivors of sex trafficking. So there's a psychology to human trafficking, overall labor trafficking and sex trafficking that we just don't understand as a society. And so that education, understanding this psychology of it, how does a so-called pimp get someone to go along with what it is that he's proposing? I mean, when I went to Cambodia, some of them gave an anecdote. I mean, I want to get your take on it. But a lot of it, I mean, there's so many reasons, but a lot of it is truly poverty and ignorance. One of the things that I learned was, you know, I went to ask them and they said, yeah, usually some of these pimps, right, they will sort of spy upon the village. They know that, okay, this villager, for example, has two pretty daughters. So I would typically strike after there's a typhoon, a disaster, go to this, you know, old gentleman or woman and say, hey, you know, let me give you some money. I'm going to give you a loan, a little microloan, you know, and then you pay up. And of course, the young, that old farmer person says, okay, sure. They'll say, okay, sure. And then after that, they're unable to pay. As always, the interest goes up. And the next thing they know, a couple of months later, the same guy comes and says, hey, you can't pay the interest. I beat you up, you know, or I'll go to take your daughter and she's just going to go work. So a lot of it is so institutionalized and it's a whole cycle. As a human trafficking activist, like how do we begin to unravel these institutionalized systems where we need to eradicate poverty, we need to educate people. We need to eradicate ignorance. How do we begin to unpack that? What are some steps that we can take? I mean, give us steps that we can take. Give us a roadmap, a guideline. I wish I had the answer. You know, the step that I'm taking is by providing education to the community. We understand that it's a global issue and a local issue. That same story that you shared, we would find parallels with a young girl right here in the city if we were able to talk with her about how she's, you know, basically doing this because she feels like she has to in order to survive. And so there's looking for parallels and not just saying, oh, that's them over there doing that, but saying, no, this is a global issue and we're all responsible for it. The other thing is that there are nonprofits and programs. So there's one called Kiva that provides legitimate microloans to women who are trying to start businesses in other countries and you can actually provide donations to this organization to allow for that. So looking for nonprofits that are legitimate, that are supporting women in business, just like what we're talking about here, starting off with a textile company or starting off with something small, making crafts, creating a way for a woman to be economically empowered so that she doesn't feel like she has to use her body in order to support herself. Right, exactly. Exactly. And, you know, I teach Indian word as well and I serve the Waianae community and, you know, my students tell me that, you know, they have had to be in a sex trade as well because, you know, to make ends meet, I mean, like you're saying, it's right here in our community. We often like to think that it's somewhere else, some foreign exotic country, but it happens usually right in our backyard. Yeah, and actually the most vulnerable victims of human trafficking include foster care youth. Yes, absolutely. So youth who are aging out of foster care and don't have necessarily the means or the understanding. And again, the psychology of those who prey on them. Yes. You mentioned the man in the village who's looking to see who might be a target. Oh, yeah. Same thing here. There's somebody looking to see who might be vulnerable. They're looking for, you know, girls who might have dad issues. They're looking for girls who don't feel attractive. They're even on social media looking to see if you're not getting enough likes on your photo. That's right. And then they'll creep into your direct messages to say, hey, well, you didn't get enough likes on that picture, but I think you're gorgeous. It's just starting out in these small, insidious ways. Yes. So as a community, it's important that we're informed about it. And so I use my background in mental health and social services to try to get back to the community in this way with regard to human trafficking, educating about the difference between labor and sex trafficking. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, just before the break, I mean, one of the things that you raised, too, was that as an African-American woman, you just felt like, you know, there were just not enough products that addressed your needs. I mean, today, Rihanna's Fenty Makeup Line is just making a blast, right? All the AMH is like, I think, collaborating, acquiring her line. I mean, it's about time that people said, hey, there are, like, populations of the community that we need to look at. And I always found the term, you know, woman of color or man of color a really funny term because isn't white a color? Like, why am I off color and you're not off color? Like, you're transparent. I just found it weird. But the point is, where do you see this taking us, right? I mean, it's exciting time. Yeah. How do we get more women and men alike out there to go out there and say, we want to go create products for us. We only want makeup for our skin. Yeah. We want makeup that suits us. How do you feel going up? Yeah. When you have no makeup shades, that would fit your skin? No. You're right. I mean, I remember buying my first foundation. I was so orange, I probably looked like a muppet. Like, it really was not something that matched my skin tone at all. I couldn't find pantyhose. Remember having to wear pantyhose? Oh, my. I couldn't find any that were flesh-colored, right? Even for me, right? What are nude or flesh-colored pantyhose? I always looked a little dusty or gray. And so, this idea that you can go into even a store and buy any big box store, walk in, and look for hair care products for black women, specifically. Yeah. We might get three shelves in Walmart to support our products. And again, it's very difficult. But that creates opportunity. Exactly. Do you know that, for example, the dishwasher was invented by a woman? There had been dishwashers before, but they used scrubbers. A woman came up with the idea that we need high-pressure water in order to solve this problem. Right. And the little diaper was invented by a woman. And she went to men to pitch the idea and they thought it was stupid. And so, she kept going with it and then sold it directly to Saks Fifth Avenue. And so, it has to do with believing in your dream. You know, this is my shower cap and I use it every day. I love it. And so, I believe in my product. It's actually very easy to put on. I put all my hair in it. I can actually take it and, you know, adjust it the way I want. And it's cute. And guess what? My customer contact me who had the shower cap over a year and say, hey, listen, I'd like to get another one. You have a warranty. Can I get another one? And we certainly would, but I've had customers keep their shower cap for more than a year. So, talk about giving back to the community, making it global, but also coming up with ideas that you feel support your vision. And so, from that shower cap, I was able to, as I mentioned, listen to my customers. I developed a sleep bonnet because I had some customers sleeping in their shower cap. It's a shower cap. But I've read my reviews. My reviews said, can I sleep in this? I said, no, but let me make something you can sleep in. I came out with that, but it also has to do with how you design your product, how you design your packaging. I could just put this in a piece of plastic, but does it look like something that you'd want to spend money on? Now when you get this in the mail, you're thinking, oh, I have, what is this? This is a little fancy. And it's a sleep bonnet. It's nothing, you don't have to come up with something that's earth-shattering. Right. Because the day-to-day is to solve the day-to-day issues rather than here and now. And just like 60 seconds or less, I'm always challenging my guests to share with us something that will take away from us. In 60 seconds or less, tell us if there is one thing you want us to remember, but you being an entrepreneur and a human trafficking activist, what is it? What's the key takeaway that we'll walk away today saying, yeah, I'm going to remember that. That's a good thing to remember. You with these gotcha questions. Now it's like 30 seconds. All right. So the one thing I'd want for folks to take away is the idea that you should feel empowered to make change for yourself and for your community. If you have an idea, really look into investigating it. If you have an idea about giving back to the community in some way, look into investigating that. But do not feel ashamed that you have to have more than one revenue stream. Instead, tap into your inner strength and your resources and have that revenue stream work within those avenues and realms. That's right. And never to give up, especially when it's hard. I mean, that's exactly what you're saying. You got it. Especially when it's hard. Well, thank you all so much for watching Tough Love with Loretta Chan because you know what? Tough times don't last. This girl here definitely walks a talk. But tough people do. So join us next week where we speak to mayoral candidate Kimberly Pine. See you next time.