 Everyone, welcome to Think Tech Hawaii. I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough, host of Sister Power. Sister Power guests, June E. Dennis from Arizona is a sister from another mother. We have been close girlfriends for over 20 years. June served on the staff of the NAACP Image Awards, event coordinator of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in Los Angeles, which is the only national touring African-American rodeo, serves to educate all people about the history of black cowboys and currently vice president of Sisters in Power Hawaii. Our topic for this afternoon, the world of junior girls, the art of loving people. Norman Vincent Peale wrote one of the greatest skills in all the world, perhaps it is, the supreme skill is the art of loving people In Corinthians chapter 13, there is a stirring passage that concludes by saying, so now faith, hope and love abide these three. But the greatest of these is love. To live effectively, we must master the art of faith. We must master the skill of hope. We must master the supreme genius of loving people. Please welcome founder of the world of junior girl to Sister Power. Thank you Sharon, it's a pleasure to be here and I'm so excited to be here. You've been doing this show for a while and we've got a long history. And I just have to tell you that the world of junior girl, much like Sisters in Powering Hawaii, Hawaii's foremost women's empowerment organization is founded on the principles of empowering other people to be the best that they can be. That's what the world of junior girl is all about. Now that is truly a compliment and I love your logo. I love the junior girl logo that they're gonna show us in a few seconds here. And tell us more. I just, the world of junior girl is just absolutely wonderful. The art of loving people. Just, well, first of all, before we go into the junior girl, let's just say happy Father's Day to our hubby. Yes, who makes all things possible for my life, that's for sure. And so we wanna say that for Tommy as well. And happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. We got our sons, their fathers, we wanna think and think about them too. Yes, tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, me, myself and I, that's the three of us, I'm gonna tell you about myself based on world of junior girl. Growing up, I was raised in South Central Los Angeles but when I was there, it was just Los Angeles, just a town. And I was taught by my community and my parents. And what I learned was that you are raised by a village. And I think I come from a generation where community was a priority, more so than today only because people didn't have block walls and you walked around everywhere. You went to elementary school, you went to junior high, wherever you went, you were walking. So you met your neighbors in your community. And my community really taught me to be a good citizen. So my parents of course did as well but the community at large was basically moving in that direction and I feel like the world of junior girl was inspired by, as I said, just the empowerment of people but also my mother who, Joan Fletcher, she inspired me. She's one of the most kindest, compassionate women. I'm so blessed to have my mom and to be able to say those things about her. And she taught me how to be kind. And if you knew her history, if you knew the life that she lived, which many of us have difficult lives, you would be in awe of her sweet spirit. And then there's my father, June Etta Fletcher, and he was a wonderful human being. He was the disciplinarian. He taught us to be respectful of authority, to be people of our word. If you say it, let your word be your bond. Unfortunately, he was also an alcoholic so that illness caused him to make some bad decisions. But all in all, what I learned was I found a way to see it and recognize that you can still see the love in people even when it's hidden or just kind of not there, you know? And that was a blessing. And then I had my godmother went about home. She was a socialite. And I was, because of her, I was introduced to arts and culture. And she would always say, you may not be able to change the world, but you can make a difference in your circle of influence. And as a result of that, I've just always been keenly aware of that. And I've always had a heart for people. So, you know, that was the inspiration for the world of Junior Girl. And it just developed really from there. Oh, I love that. You know, I have a saying on my refrigerate, love the greatest medicine. It is. It really is. It really is. And so Junior Girl, you know, we go back 20 years when we have the picture of you and I doing our, look at that. That's one of our first events ever. That's one of our first events. Yeah. At YLI Country Club. When you and I came together and I gave you a gift and you have been by my side, you and I must say, Dr. Patricia Jones, bless her. Yes, that's our buddy. We must bring our girlfriend into this too. But I just want to thank you, thank you, thank you for always believing, always being there because it's not easy doing an event alone. Yeah. So that's why I can't wait to hear more about Junior Girl. Well, I'll tell you, I shared with you who inspired me and then the efforts of, this is a singular mission. Let me just get my thoughts together. This is a singular mission and by that I mean, it doesn't require anyone else. You can do this. You can be kind. You can think about someone else. You can be humble and just kind of look around and see where is that you can be a benefit to people. That's what the world of Junior Girl is about. And I often tell people when you arise in the morning, if you would just, just within yourself, first of all, be grateful for a new day. And if you have a wife, a spouse, a significant other, your children, whoever it is, make it a point to say something good to them. Make it a point to deliver some joy in their heart. Say something that's going to encourage them because when they walk out the door, they're going to be doing that same thing. And the more of that that we do the better because right now the world is a lot of hate and discontent and you can see it everywhere. And I'm not saying that there are tough things going to be happening, but individually, just you, me, just us, we can be changers, difference makers, if we would just consider being kinder to people. And that's what the world of Junior Girl is all about. So how was it developed? Well, let me just check something. I wanted to make sure I tell you the right thing here. Okay, that's fine. Yeah. This is all live and real and wonderful. We're just having fun and talking story. But while you're looking at that, we had a conversation over lunch that I think our audience should always remember. And I said, we want to blame things on the millennials. Yes. And we want to put them down and say they are this and you and I had the conversation, it's a people thing. Yes. It is not that they feel entitled or they are not responsible or they are not courteous. No, people. This is a skill set that we all should want to be kind to one another. And it requires a human being. It's not gonna happen over the phone. I'm not that you can't call and say something good, but technology has sort of diminished our capacity to touch one another. And that's what we need to get back to because we're humans. This is what we do. You cannot get love from the phone. You can't get it from the television. You have to touch someone and love them. And it requires people. And that's a people skill. And we're all born with it. We are born in the world to be with other people. But it's just something that we have to work at and bring back, I think. Because it's just easy to get into your comfort zone and just kind of leave it at that. But you asked me about developing the world of Junior Girl. The truth is it really developed me because somehow I learned as a young girl that I had the gift of encouragement. And I just like people. And I know my mother was like that. My father was like that. I have to share sometimes my husband and I'll be out and I'll just go talk to somebody. I'll just say something and he'll say, you'll talk to anybody. And I will. Now, don't misunderstand. I am cautious. I am aware. I don't try to get into anyone else's space. But I found that most people are nice. Most people are kind. Most people don't mind if you're in the grocery line and you pop over and you say something. I ask people oftentimes, why are you popping on the fruit? What are they trying to do, the watermelon? And they just love telling you the story and usually it has something to do with it when they grew up. And so it resonates something positive and something nice. And when it's all said and done, you just walk away. But I don't know, it just makes you feel good. It really is a blessing. And you don't necessarily know it that way when you do it. But when you touch people with kindness, it really does change the way people feel about themselves. And it helps you feel better about yourself. It does. And I tell people, my girlfriends and whoever I've been speaking with, every morning I put my armor on. Every morning I put my clothes on. And I ask the Heavenly Father, what would you have me do today? Absolutely. That's what the world of Junie Girl, the art of loving people, this is what resonates with me. Yeah. And you know, we all come from something different. I'm a believer, I'm very clear and concise about that. I'm very comfortable with that. But I know everybody's not, but it doesn't mean anything. We have to respect one another because we're all different, we live together. And it's not wrong to be kind. It's the best thing to do to build bridges and to bless people and to help people. I just feel like the greatest equity in the world is the heart of a person. And you just can't buy that and you can't mistreat that. When you mistreat it, as oftentimes, we're all born into a family. Mother, father, sister, brother. When you're born, you're just this beautiful little child. You develop based on what you're being fed, just as you were talking about the millennials. No, we can't blame them for all of this. They're just reaping what we sowed upon them, not everybody, but for the most part, they're just learning in their era just like we learned in ours, just like our parents learned in theirs. But we do have to put forth more effort in being kind and touching people and trying to make a difference in people's lives because you never know where people are. Your smile, you taught me something several years ago when I moved from Oklahoma to Chicago. I told you that I was introduced to a lot of homeless people there. I rarely saw that in the town that I was in in Oklahoma, but I didn't know what to do and I wanted to do something and you and I spoke and you suggested that I just purchased some little small gift cards and Subway McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts. And when the time is right, I could present one. And so I took you up on that and it was a blessing. I would jot a little note and say something good and then I would always introduce myself. I would ask them their name. I'd ask them where they were from. And I just took a few minutes to make them feel human. And I don't know who got the greater blessing, but to me, it changed my world. Absolutely. Yeah. And when we come back, we're gonna continue to talk about the art of loving and the world of Junika. Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My show is based on my book also titled Beyond the Lines and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership and finding greatness. I interview guests who are successful in business, sports and life, which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness. Join me every Monday as we go Beyond the Lines at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha, I'm Dennis Wong, a host here at Think Tech Hawaii, a digital media company serving the people of Hawaii. We provide a video platform for citizen journalists to raise public awareness in Hawaii. We are a Hawaii nonprofit that depends on the generosity of its supporters to keep on going. We'd be grateful if you'd go to thinktechhawaii.com and make a donation to support us now. Thanks so much. Welcome back to Sister Power and our title for today is the world of Junie Girl, the art of loving people and my very, very special guest, my close sister is June Dennis and we're talking about the art of loving people. And my question to you, what would you say to others who wanted to improve their own art of loving people? I would say, find your passion and extend it to others. The beauty of this singular mission, and that's what I call it, because this is my mission statement, but I know that it fits everybody that breathes. So I might be the one that starts it, but I'm certainly not the one that's gonna grow it into the mushroom I want it to be. But what I've learned is that, I'll give you a quote from Philippians 2, 3, and 4, I'm gonna read it to you just to make sure I get it right. But to love is my heart and that's everybody's heart. And to encourage is my gift and everybody has a gift. So Philippians 2, 3, Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4 says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each other esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. That sums it up, the art of loving people. And if I may add, another beauty is that you don't have to get dressed up, you don't have to make an appointment, and you don't need a PowerPoint presentation. You know, it's so simple. If we can just get beyond ourselves, it really is, because it's about us. We must learn that skill, the art of loving people. It is so critical in this day and age, and it crosses all lines. It's like music. Everybody loves music. You don't even have to speak the language, but there's just something that makes you feel good about the music. That's what love is. Love is that way. And you know, there's a picture coming up of the three of us at another event that we did at the Honolulu Design Center. And there you are. I'm in the middle, and Anne Marotta, the marketing genius. And the theme for this event was be phenomenal or be forgotten. And I like the point of, I think Maya Angelou says, it's not what you say is how you make, I don't know exactly how she said it, but it's how, when you leave, how did you make that person feel? Yes, yeah. And that's what love is all about. It doesn't mean that, oh, I'm in love with you, but love can be shown in so many ways. In many ways, yeah. It's a kindness. It's compassion. You know, the truth is, we are all born with it. We really are born good. We choose to, we choose to redirect that, if I can say. But the truth is we're just born with love, but when you're young and you're honing your life, your mother, your father, your sister, or brother, I have to always go back to that. How do you wanna raise this life? How do you want it to blossom? How do you want it to flower? It can be good or it can be bad. It could be negative or it could be positive. It can be all the way or it could be halfway. But whoever is putting that into you, it's their responsibility. And then when you get it, it's your responsibility. That's the reason I emphasize that it is a singular mission. We don't need a 501C3 to push it through. You know what I mean? It's just you wake up every morning and you make the decision to be the best that you can be and look for that in people. And something that I've learned from just listening to other experts, and I don't consider myself an expert, but when you smile, it makes you feel good. When you laugh, it makes you feel good. When you hug, it makes you feel good. I mean, who doesn't want that? So stop fighting. Stop cursing people out. Stop giving their somebody the, you know, that's not attitude. I think that we would think giving an attitude is cute. Yeah, no. It is not. And there is a saying about, there are far more muscles when you frown that you utilize. Then when you smile. And then when you smile at someone. Yeah. There needs to be more emphasis on that. We need to talk more about that. We need to have more of that in the schools. We need our kids to understand that. You know, it's nature. It's just natural for us to, you look at two little kids and you see these on Facebook often. You'll see kids like you'll see a little black kid and you'll see a white kid and you'll see a Hispanic kid and you'll see an Asian. And they're all together. They could care less. They don't know nothing about any of that. They're not looking at them going, oh, I'm not gonna play with you because they just, it's just in their nature and they love. And if we could just get back to that and grow that up, it's like water on this earth. It would change things. There would be great harmony. And speaking of harmony, my husband and I just recently came back from Yellowstone and we did Montana and Idaho and Wyoming. And one of the things that I love so much that I came back feeling so rested was the harmony in nature and so much water. Without water, we don't survive. There's so much water. There's water everywhere. That's what we all have to be to one another. We have to be the love water so that we can grow and nurture one another and be a blessing to one another. It's about blessing others and being blessed. That's the way I believe. I think that people think that extending the kind word or showing love is a sign of weakness. And it really is a sign of strength and confidence. And when you are confident within yourself and you're not afraid to speak to that person, and you may be rejected, but there's so much going on in people's lives. It's not personal, don't take it personally. You just never know, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what's going on with that other person. Just in your heart, you have a desire to just be about, be you as the best you can be, but just be kind, just be kind. You don't have to go out of your way and do anything. A smile, I tell you, I'm smiling at people all the time, and sometimes I get it back and sometimes I don't. And when I don't get it back, I kind of feel sad for them, but I don't know where they are. I don't even know if they can see me. I don't know if they're even looking at me, but it doesn't matter. It feels good and it's the right thing to do. And that's the other thing. We have to get back to doing the right thing, not just because you want to. There is right and there is wrong, and that's the right thing to do. So give us some, you know, towards the end, but give us some words of encouragement that you would like to share with the audience. Well, you know, my dad used to always say, you know, you do what I tell you to do, not what I do. Now my father was an alcoholic, as I said, and that illness caused him to make a lot of bad decisions. But I love my dad. I found the good in my dad. I learned that from my dad. I loved him. How could I not love my father? I mean, I know people can, but I didn't want to not love him. So I had to figure it out. And what I learned is that if you just look at people and realize they make mistakes, you know, humble yourself before them, you don't have to always be the last word or the first word. Just relax, get out of the way, and see what you can do to be a blessing, to be a difference maker in your circle of influence, to be kind and compassionate. Instead of looking at it like, oh no, looking like, well, okay, maybe. You know, just give it a shot. And the first time you do it and you get past yourself, it feels good. It really does. It does. And you know, we have one more picture that marches women's history month. Excuse me. It's about making a difference. And we honored six or seven women and they told their stories and it was just so wonderful. Many proclamations and it was just so much fun. It was so much giving and loving each other. And as someone said, there was a lot of networking going on in that room. And you know, I have to say this too. Being that I visit now, I lived here and got married here, but I visit now. Hawaii without Hawaiians, it's not possible. And there was such a huge population. And the family, the two women that we honored in that family, I can't remember their names. Miliana and Monalani Meyer. And they come from a beautiful family of very smart women, their parents. You know, there was just such a kind, compassionate, humbling spirit throughout that entire room. And it was people, when they left, they were like so happy. Now that's an event. I loved it. I enjoyed putting it together with you, but even more, I loved it that when the people came, they felt like they got, for lack of another word, they got their money's worth. Absolutely. And we're talking about giving. You know, we'd love to give you and I. You're always bringing me something. I'm always bringing you something. But I have a client, Dr. Kimberly Kelly, and I was telling her about you and she wanted me to give you this book. She's been on the show, The Road to Mana, Finding, Healing, Happiness, and Power on the Road to Life. And this is a book that I think that everyone should have. Well, I'm certainly glad that I've got it. Thank you. Thank you. And this is for you. Okay, I appreciate that. From Dr. Kimberly Kelly. Oh, I'm looking forward to getting into that. I have to give you a special gift. It's the Power T-shirt. That's right. This is a special collection. Thank you. Thank you. This is for you. See, if I had known, I could have worn it on the show today. Well, we're going to take a picture together and we're going to show the audience this and this has been just so much fun. Well, I'm just so glad that I could be here and to share that. I mean, you're giving me this opportunity as such a blessing because you don't know who's going to hear you. You don't know who's watching. You don't know who's going to see. You don't know who you might touch today. It's all in the world of Junie Girl. Oh, all in the world. All in the world of Junie Girl. Let's show that logo one more time before we close. The world of Junie Girl. And I love that. And you said the art of loving people. And I want to give credit to my graphic designer, Tanya Leida of Leida Graphics. This is a dear friend of mine I've known for many years. And there again, this is my friend, just like you. We're all connected. And she came up with my logo because she knows me. I didn't plan that. I didn't figure that out. I really didn't do it. She did it. And then I connected with it. And it's perfect for me. She just knew what she was doing. So I'm grateful to Tanya Leida of Leida Graphics. Yeah, I enjoy working with her as well. And Junie, Junie, my dear friend. Thank you so very much for being a special guest on Sister Para. I just totally enjoyed this. And I wish we had more time. More time, always. Let me do one last thing. Let me just leave with a blessing. All right. And I'll just end with this. And this is a Proverbs 11-25. And it simply is, a generous man will prosper. And he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. I like that. Send that to the camera right there. A generous man will prosper. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Oh, I love that. Isn't that nice? I love that. And in closing, Sister Power's vision is that women everywhere will learn to live as sisters, to respect each other's differences, to heal each other's wounds, to promote each other's progress, and to benefit from each other's knowledge. From all of us at Think Tech Hawaii and Sister Power, thank you for spending part of your day with us. I'm Sharon Thomas-Yarvorell.