 My name is Kathleen Lee. I'm the founder of Kathleen Lee Consulting. I'm also a PR consultant and a video journalist. In today's segment, we are going to be talking about business and community collaboration during COVID-19. Today's guest is a dynamic individual who is the embodiment of her name and a good friend of mine. And she is, among many things, the associate editor and a staff writer for the Phil M. Courier, Hawaii's longest-running Filipino-American publication. So I'd like to welcome to the show, Radiant Cordero. Hey, Radiant. Hi, everyone. Thank you, Think Tech, Hawaii, as well as Kathleen for having me on here. I hope everyone's doing well and staying safe. Okay. So let's start off. Let's tell the people out there a little bit about yourself. Tell us about your background, your experiences in both the public and private sectors, as well as your community involvement. Absolutely. Well, hey, everyone. Again, my name is Radiant Cordero. And as Kathleen mentioned, I do work in our local journalism, specifically in the Filipino community. I have written for the local newspaper called the Phil M. Courier. It is the longest-running and leading publication in the state of Hawaii. And it actually runs in my blood. So my mom began a business doing business cards and serving our community in different ways, such as, you know, it was actually a sari-sari store, which is like a little convenience store in Kalihi, and added doing business cards, as well as making souvenir books. And then it kind of flourished into doing a newspaper, you know, serving our community because we have to recognize that, you know, as our community grows, our community still has different avenues of how to be reached out to. And newspaper is not dead. And that's what I feel, you know, newspaper and different ways of communicating. Radio is not dead. And so the Phil M. Courier fosters that. The Phil M. Courier is a multimedia platform. We are on, we live stream as well as on the radio. And so I, although it's on hiatus at the moment, to do a little more venturing into other platforms is, is on hiatus right now. It was called the Philippinex Collective, highlighting stories and especially young Filipino, Filipino and entrepreneurs in our community here, whether they are here on the island or they are now on the mainland. Nonetheless, so that's what the Phil M. Courier is. And what the Phil M. Courier has stemmed from, and what, you know, my family has built the Phil M. Courier to be, is building a community and supporting our community. And so when we talk about in relation to COVID-19, it's, it's no different from that support or building of a community or uplifting of a community. So that, so you said that community runs in your blood, which leads me to our next question. Like I mentioned in your introduction, the Phil M. Courier is one of the many, many, many hats and things that you do. You're also running for City and County of Honolulu City Council for District 7. Sorry, I kind of stumbled onto that, but you are running for District 7 for City Council and tell us what motivated you to make this decision. Absolutely. So Kathleen, like I mentioned earlier, there was the impetus for the Courier itself was to build on community. And because I grew up in that, in that type of environment and that with that, I just drive, I guess, community driven efforts. That's how I started my, my service as. So, you know, I, during high school, even I started working right away and I was volunteering as much as I could while in high school. But, you know, I graduated high school in 2008. When we, when the market crashed, you know, the newspaper was a free newspaper. We could barely sustain ourselves. We had actually two newspapers in one. One was a Philippine business type of a newspaper, but that folded. So I stayed home for college and I, you know, worked extremely hard. I worked about three, four, five jobs even to basically survive through college. Yeah. So, and growing up, I grew up in Kalihi and I experienced in our public transportation. I grew up with a village, you know, supporting our, our, our family and the newspaper and community. And that's how it was. And that's so for what I wanted to do to continue to support the community. I entered the nonprofit world working for nonprofits. And I did that for, you know, working with persons who feel like they don't always have a voice who feel underserved a lot of the times. So I wanted to be someone who could be their cheerleader. And I was their cheerleader for, you know, persons with disabilities who, you know, sought jobs or employment opportunities. And a lot of the times, for whatever reason, they were unable to retain their jobs or they were unable to get those skills. So I was able to play a little role in that, you know. And then I also worked with Artaki. And during that time, I actually had to take, take on more of it when the furlough, when furlough Fridays were occurring in the early 2000s or like, you know, 10, 11 or so years ago. And during the time, I was still going to college and it's still actually with my professors, either doing action or not protesting, but, you know, protesting or doing action and writing letters to our state legislature. And with that, I actually in alignment with my, with my, with my degrees, which was political science, American studies, I was actually trying to get my degree in ethnic studies, but I was just about two credits or two classes shy. And I, for me, I couldn't, I couldn't continue, I, for all the jobs that I was working, it was very difficult to make a decision to continue schooling for another semester, you know. So I was also in ethnic studies and I wanted to make sure that I could get my credits done. So I saw an opportunity to intern at the state legislature. And then I saw how I just, I had a quick glimpse of what can be done, you know, then I came back for another session. And then, you know, the more that you're in there, you can, you have more opportunity to do outreach to your community. And that's what I wanted to do. I wanted, I felt like these people are sitting here making decisions on things that people outside or people who are with me waiting at the bus stop waiting on the, in the bus or, you know, on the bus with me or people just down the street. And how can we include them in that process? So that has always been my goal in any, in anything. So starting from nonprofits, collaborating with schools, collaborating with, with private companies, even like metal gold or other companies to put on programs because nonprofits have, have their role, businesses have their role, government has its role. But what happens if we can use all those strengths and marrying it, marry it together, you know, magic happens, basically. And that's, that's, that's what I've seen. You know, for me, it was never, never, I never doubted that, because I've seen that through my, through my family, and through, and my family's newspaper and the community that they've built. So after that, after working in nonprofits, I of course had to continue working. So I worked in hotels, I worked at Roy Hawaiian and Sheraton like a key. And then I was wavering or not, whether or not to continue and to serve our local government. So I then continued after the nonprofits to, to join the city council as a staff member, doing, doing community communications, as well as, you know, conscious constituent concerns. And I felt like I, I personally really didn't know what the council does, or what the city and counties role was in our lives. And I actually found myself taking a liking to it, I got to say, it also took a while to get used to I was so used to how the state legislature operates. I was so, I was so used to like that, that four or five months or seven months. Yeah, I was like, Oh my gosh, the first, the first three years of working at the council, I was like, Oh, I don't have the stamina for this. But I'm just kidding. But nonetheless, it's, it's, it's a different beast in the, in the council, you know, year-round beyond that, but just the different rules, how it operates, the different ABCs that we have for city agencies. But, you know, I think in my position, from my experience at the state legislature, also nonprofits, as well as in journalism, you know, wanting to highlight people's stories, but also their concerns and issues is to also utilize all that and fight for their resources, fight for the, the other issues that they feel like have not been elevated. And so I hope that I can do that. And yeah, so, so I hope I can do that. And if you have any more questions on that too, I would love to share. Yeah, well, let's let's let's move into the next on that topic. You know, since you have seen a lot of things going on in different sectors, what have you seen and observed so far as new significant issues that businesses and our local government are running into with a COVID-19 pandemic? So right offhand, our, our local, our small mom and pop shops, from the beginning, they really didn't know how to operate when a lot of these times information is shared through press conferences and then after the news. And then, if not, it's explained through the executive orders and whatnot. But a lot of the time, you know, Kathleen, and, you know, everyone who's watching here, we are so caught up in trying to just live our lives. And because we are so caught up trying to live our lives, the resources that are given to us are not always fit for our, I don't want to say understanding, but for what we have time for what we have, you know, just how we can accommodate. So, because some people or many businesses were unable to either accommodate or whether to provide assistance or their employees, we saw that there were major hindrances, hindrances being, being like, you know, when an employee applies for unemployment versus when their business or their former employer helps them do it. You can see that the system doesn't check whether or not it's the same. And that hinders our businesses as well as their employees to get the assistance that they need, like funding or unemployment checks or PPP. And those little, those little systematic, I guess, discrepancies do make a huge difference because it means having to reapply again, having to spend hours or days even to keep doing calls to make the changes at the, at the call center, you know, or to DLR or whether it be DCCA for businesses. Also, I also noticed that a lot of our businesses are considered, you know, whether they have the amount of staff that they have. Some of them were told to apply for PPP. Some of them were told to apply for, you know, disaster relief. Others were applied, were told to apply for, you know, other things. So recognizing that there was that type of a discrepancy as well. So in the very beginning, I got a lot of calls trying to help them get information on whether or not that I applied for the right one. I know it went through, but am I wasting my time waiting to be approved for PPP or disaster or small business disaster relief funds? And so that's, that's what's hard. I think has hit a lot of people hard is just all the information. But how do I know what, what fits right for my business? What fits right for me as an employee who lost her job or me as someone who is an independent contractor? Because a lot of people at the very beginning who were independent contractors very well tied for unemployment insurance, you know, because they too lost their income. But did a lot of us, a lot of them didn't know that, that these gigs or side jobs were unable to be, I guess, yeah, funded through unemployment insurance. And that's just ways that we can work better towards. I think it can come forward from not just government, but a lot of the communications that we are allotted, whether it be through the news stations, through newspaper, but also how we all share information. And we have to be super, super cognizant of that. Yeah. And I really implore everyone to be cognizant of how different people communicate and not just how they communicate, but how they receive information. Because I can be me and Kathleen and can be talking, but let's say someone who's on the outside is like, you're the talking alien to me, you know. So, yeah, just really being cognizant of that. Yeah. Okay. So let's go off of that note then. You kind of touched upon it already. But what are the lessons that you think we can take away from the community's response to the pandemic? So what we can take away from our community's response to the pandemic is that, you know, actually, a lot of people were very, were abiding by a lot of it, but because they didn't know where to seek or they got lack of responses or they just, there was just a lot of miscommunication. I think what the community can take away from it is working, allowing for their, their opinions and their ideas to come forward in the beginning as opposed to, as opposed to just waiting for things to get really bad and say, hey, you know, back in March, I was unable to do this back in April, this happened. And now we have to do to play catch up, you know, but it's also on the community and I know many people have said this before, but to also speak up and say, hey, we need help understanding this. Hey, we need help for clarification on certain things. And I don't want to say just our community. I want to also say our nonprofit organizations are our faith based communities also for our businesses, as well as our government agencies, because with as much of information overload that is going on, it really leads, leaves it up for everyone's interpretation. You know, so I think that together we can form an easier and better system, hopefully in the future, whether or not it's a pandemic, but something else, even, even for natural disasters, even for, even just for any other things that it's mass amounts of information for, for everyone. And you know, even for, I want to say for the, for natural disasters, even with what you read across and how many shelters there are, because there are so many, so many documents from last years or prior years. And I can say, you know, for me, as someone who wants to get information out there ASAP, you know, and so many people either contacting us right away, like, hey, can you clarify this? If we don't get information right away, we are utilizing information that's outdated too. You know what I mean? So being sure that we're sharing the right factual, accurate information as well. Okay. And that kind of goes into my next question that you've been really good at this. Like the next thing is like you already responded to it. And I think that is so wonderful. And so what are some ideas that you have on how local businesses and the community can all work together to move forward from COVID-19? That's a great, that's a great question. And the first thing that I thought of when you asked that question was, you know, a lot of businesses, a lot of organizations, we're used to, whether or not we say it or not, we're used to competing, yeah, we're used to competing for resources, for grants and aids, for nonprofits, because, you know, I used to work in nonprofits and having to apply for grants and all that, and making our case. But honestly, when we are in this type of a of a time, a period in time, we have to find ways to be collaborative in a way where if government is doing one, one, how to say, if government is doing one type of work, and then seven nonprofits, and then two businesses want to do the very same thing, I think what's really good is to collaborate in spite, I want to say certain areas, you know, like, if we were to just think about ahupuaas, if I could just make it a simple example, if we think about, let's say, I'm in Moanalua ahupua, for example. And if we think of all the businesses here, and all the schools here, and they have different plans, I think it, and I don't know who it could be if it could be a business, or it could be government, or whatnot, but I think having a centralized area of like where all the information is, but also coordinating with people, because there are times where people just down the road, and I don't know, like for example, like for something that's happening down by aloha sadia, and then the nonprofit organizations just down the road, don't know, they are doing food distribution or meal daily meals, you know, on the daily, and then so if they don't know about it, it kind of interrupts their their daily service, and also interrupts like who is showing up to their meals. So then kind of one, they might waste food to people who are trying to get to the nonprofits, have a hard time to to get there to begin with, because of what's happening. So I think being able to just, I keep saying communicate it, but really it's just needing a centralized area, and not feeling like we're competing on doing or on providing these services, you know what I mean? So if you, and if we get out of that competitive like business mindset, especially during this time, I think we have a huge opportunity because we've seen it already, so many businesses, so many nonprofits, so much of our government agencies have whoied together to do public-private partnership, do faith-based and business partnerships to really serve our community, and we can see how that works out. And that's, and we can see that, and honestly I just want to continue that, continuing that, but also just making sure it's streamlined so that, you know, people know what's going on, you know, they won't run into the traffic or they won't run into any other issues or duplication, and also it makes it easier for when different people are looking for different resources. Like I said, so many of my neighbors are asking me, hey, do you have any information on food distribution or etc. And sometimes, of course, I go right to the Hawaii Food Bank, which is an amazing resource, but there's also so many other churches that are doing great things, like senior food boxes or even other unions, as well as businesses who are partnering with other groups to do it, but how do I find out, you know? It would be so much easier to share, to information share when it's all streamlined, and I think, I think, I know that's not a real idea, like a new idea about that, but I think a resource could come from, you know, right now, they say that tourism is not existent right now, so maybe if it can utilize the great resources and abilities that, I don't know, I'm just throwing it out there. I don't want to say that they should do this, but I'm just thinking what agencies are really good at collating information, which agencies have really great, beautiful design, and I'm thinking, you know, or tourism agencies, you know, they can collate information, they can streamline it, and it doesn't matter who it is, if it's from government, from city, state, county, and on which islands, that agency has hands in all of our counties, so being able to find that one sweet spot agency or umbrella organization or business that can provide a streamlined service, and if it's our media, so be it, you know, of course, I, being a, being someone who's a writer and also in radio before, I'm very much, I'm very much biased towards that, of course, but you know, very much, so bringing all those resources and strengths together, together, but we need that streamlined for sure. That's awesome. Okay, so you are, you did talk about, well, you talk a lot about your passion, which is awesome, as well as clear communication. So, well, we'll go over what I, let's go over the last question that I would love to ask you, and I would love people to know, is that based on everything that you've said, and what you are planning to do now, which is to continue serving the community, but in the capacity of someone who is running for office, what are your priorities? Oh, absolutely. Well, I don't know if you could tell, but community engagement is one of my top, top priorities, but you know, I was actually speaking to a few neighbors that, you know, community driven, community led efforts to towards solutions, because, and I tell people this all the time, like I feel like, not, not just our neighbors, but our youth have solutions to a lot of our issues, and a lot of them, they grew up, and I gotta say, I grew up feeling like these decisions were not made for my community. And so I want to make that change. I want to see that when communities are impacted that they were part of the deciding factor. And I feel like with my collaborative experiences through nonprofit, as well as in journalism, but also just in volunteering in general, I really want to bring that forth. Next up is, of course, I would not be speaking about anything COVID related right now, if you don't address economic recovery and redevelop development, but I want to focus on the strengths of each community in itself. For me, I also don't really like blanket approaches to certain neighborhoods and certain areas, because I feel like one thing that will work for, you know, IA might not very much work for something in Chinatown, because they all lead different lives have, they do have parking problems, they both have parking problems, but their issues are quite different if you think about it. So with that, with a different, I want to say neighborhood, neighborhood to neighborhood, or neighborhood or town driven, you know, each town's driven purpose, and to build its own economy back and using its own knowledge to do that. So whether or not it's to support local residents, but they're small businesses. So for Kalihi, like, you know, there's a lot of people who have, there's a lot of warehouse businesses, businesses, but in Kamuqi, there's a lot of businesses that are storefronts, you know what I mean? So really approaching it in a manner that is good for that, not good for them, but that is, that fits them, I should say. And a lot of that is also looking to other economies that, beyond our tourism economies, but also what the strengths of our neighbors are. I really love, so I grew up in Kalihi, and I live in Salt Lake now, and a lot of urban gardening happening, you know, and a lot of, a lot of community gardening, you know, sharing of food. So if we want to look at our food security and look at how we can just create a sustainable local economy, we don't have to look just to our rural areas. We don't have to look just to our other islands. How about we look towards our neighbors, even in our urban settings? So also public health and safety along with that, access to health care, access to emergency response systems, making sure that even beyond pandemics, and even in, even in, during tsunamis or hurricane season, mapping out right, defining mapped evacuation systems, you know, I don't even know where those are, the flood zones. And speaking of floods, my top, my number one top priority is taking care of the foundation of our city core services, which is our infrastructure. And infrastructure even means like our technology to our sewer system, to our water, and to our sidewalks, and everything that we use, and how we even communicate with, with the rest of our neighbors in the county. So that's what I feel infrastructure is. I like that. I love how you outlined all that. And on that note, again, we thank you for sharing your ideas and your passion with us. I am Kathleen Lee with our guest today, Radiant Porgero, again, staff writer for the Phelan Courier and Associate Editor, as well as a candidate for at City Council District 7. So thank you for joining us. You can catch this video on ThinkTechKawaii.com, as well as ThinkTechKawaii's YouTube. So thank you again, Radiant, and thanks, everyone, for watching. Bye, everyone. Stay safe.