 I'm Rusty Komori, welcome to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. We broadcast on Mondays at 10 a.m. from the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This TV show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about achieving and sustaining success, leadership, improving your life and the lives of others, and finding greatness. Today's guest is Alicia Michioca. She is a former Miss Hawaii USA and the owner of the Miss Hawaii USA pageant. Today we are going beyond the crown. Alicia, thank you for joining me today. Thank you for having me. I want to know about your early life, the beginning of Alicia. Can you share me? Yeah, I don't know. A simple country girl born and raised on Kauai lived a pretty simple life. What schools did you go to? I graduated from Kapa'a High School. Yeah, but pretty much lived there until I graduated and then moved over here to Honolulu to attend Hawaii Pacific University. But I'm a country girl at heart. And my entire family is still in Kauai, so every time I get to go back to Kauai, my whole entire family is there. What does your parents do? Well, my mom has been in food and beverage industry. She's also worked with animals and horses, so she's managed several different ranches on the island. My dad is a master photographer, so he's actually a photographer that did a lot of weddings. He was actually the first photographer in the state of Hawaii to shoot a digital wedding. Wow, wow. And if you go to Kauai, another interesting tip about my dad, and I'm super proud of, but when you go to the Kauai airport and you go down the halls, you'll see just a bunch of beautiful photographs of kahiko hula dancers. And my dad was commissioned by the city and county to shoot all of those pictures, frame them. So the entire airport on Kauai is decorated with my father's artwork. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah. Now, what kind of activities did you do on Kauai when you were growing up? Gosh, besides jumping off of trees and running around on the beach. There's really not a whole lot of stuff, so you have to be resourceful and you have to be outdoors. So I grew up hiking, jumping off of waterfalls, just adventuring. Surfing? Not a whole lot of surfing. I've tried that. I'm not good at it. And I mean, I don't wear rosy colored glasses, so I know when I'm not good at something. So that's definitely one hobby that I decided, no, that was not for me. But definitely spend a lot of time at the beach. What's your favorite childhood memory? Gosh, so many. But I just really loved just going to the beach in the summers. I remember those summers where there wasn't a whole lot of things to do. So we watched a lot of MTV. I don't remember that. Oh, yeah, I do. You know, like the dance parties. Of course. So we'd have like our own little dance parties in our living room and stuff. But those were my summers and I mean, gosh, it was so much fun. And nowadays, I mean, I have two kids now and I see their summers and it's just so much more complex than it was so easy back then. Riding our bikes and really not a whole lot of worries. MTV, that was, I mean, those were the days. I mean, there's... If I asked my kids what MTV, if they knew what MTV was, they'd be like, what's that? I asked them yesterday, do you know what a cassette is? And they're like, and my son, Brock, he goes, is it something you plug something into? And I'm like, no. I think our viewers kind of get that you're very outgoing, you're very extroverted. Were you always this way? Well, believe it or not, I wasn't. I was actually very shy. I never realized that I was shy. But I would say maybe about a year or so ago, I found some old VHS tapes of some dance performances because I grew up dancing with Jolteam Hawaii. So I was out of performance. And I was watching myself in this video. And I'm like, why am I trying to hide behind the girl in front of me? I'm dancing, but I'm hiding that I didn't want anybody to see me. Like, gosh, I was really shy. It was almost kind of more embarrassing for me to watch the video because I couldn't believe how shy I was. How many years were you on Jolteam Hawaii? I danced with Jolteam for five or six years. So I'd say maybe about fifth grade and sixth grade through high school, actually. So I stopped dancing my junior year in high school because I moved away. I actually spent my junior year in high school in Japan as an exchange student. Well, how was that experience? That was amazing. I wish I could go back and do it all over again. But it was really a great once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do that at such a young age. Yeah, to go to Japan and have that kind of experience early. What was your first job? My first job was at the Kapaa Fish and Chowder House. I was a hostess when I was 14. And it was funny, someone told me, you should be a hostess at a restaurant because it's going to really help you to step outside of your comfort zone and just talk to people. And I think it was true because after around that time, I feel like I kind of overcame some of my shyness. So that was my first job. I can't believe you ever being shy. Although I was shy myself when I was growing up. Yeah. It's weird. I think I'm kind of, if this makes sense, but I think I'm an extrovert with introvert tendencies. Yeah, I can see that. So, I mean, everybody needs to be a little bit introverted at times. Now, you told me a story a while back about when you were, I believe, 20 years old and you were working for a flower delivery company. Yes. And you got kidnapped for four hours. Yeah, it was about four hours. And it was just really one of those, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I had, it was, it wasn't like it was two o'clock in the morning or anything. It was like six or seven p.m. And I had just delivered some flowers to one of our restaurants that were one of our clients and walking back to my car. And that's when the abduction took place. And it happened really fast. So the man pulled you into his car? Yes, yes. It was, I think we talked about this, but it's just a lot of really, and I always say, be alert. Be aware of your surroundings because there were so many things when I look back. Red flags. I could have easily ignored this person, but this guy pulled up and was asking for flowers. He was late for a wedding and he needed flowers. And I just wanted to help. I'm like, oh my gosh, well, what do you need? I'm standing there talking to him. Well, first of all, who is going late to a wedding at six or seven p.m. and needing to bring flowers? Usually there's already flowers at a wedding, right? Sure. Bring flowers to a wedding. So that was one red flag right there. And then it started to rain. And because we were so talking, I opened the car door and I kind of leaned in. And that's when he pulled me in the car and drove off. I see. And I really think that I was lucky because he held me for about four or five hours. But I talked my way out of the situation, which is what most people would not do. Most people would probably try to fight their way out of the situation. But I clearly recognized that he was on drugs and was smoking cracker, ice or whatever in front of me in the car. And I'm like, okay, okay, this guy is obviously not all there. So I need to find a way to make him believe that I'm on his side. I'm his friend. And he eventually let me go. So I was very, very lucky. But I do realize that there's a lot of other situations and cases where the outcome is not so lucky. So going through a terrible experience like that, how did that experience impact you? Gosh, after that experience, I feel like we all are faced with those moments in life where you have a choice to either turn it into something good or you can sit and dwell on it and make it a whiny kind of a situation. And you know, why did this happen to me? So I use that situation to become involved with the Attorney General's office and the Missing Child Center, as well as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. So I sat on the board for that organization for about five years. I was able to produce and host a show with John Walsh from America's Most Wanted. Oh, yeah. That was a local show. For sure. There's a lot of missing kids' cases here in Hawaii, and there's so many of them. And it's not just, you know, a stranger abductions like what happened with me. I didn't know who this person was. There's a lot of kids that go missing due to parental or custodial interferences, too. And then of course there's runaways and, you know, human trafficking, which is also another issue. And all of that is kind of classified as missing persons. Interesting experience. Well, you turned it into something positive. And so many good things came out of it, you know, helping to raise money for the Missing Child Center. We also were able to use some of that money to buy two bloodhounds for the police department, one on the Big Island and then also here. So I was a part of that. I also was a spokesperson for the Miley Amber Alert Program, which is Hawaii's version of the Amber Alert. Yeah. So all of these great things came out of it and gave me some experiences and got to meet some incredible families and, you know, other victims that have gone through the same thing. And it, you know, it's sort of one of those things. If I could go back and do it all over again, I probably wouldn't change anything because I don't know that I would have gotten that involved. It wouldn't have been so personal. Sure, sure. Now, if we shift to Miss Hawaii USA and Miss Teen Hawaii USA, you entered the Miss Teen Hawaii USA, why did you decide to enter that pageant? Well, I think I was like every little girl who grew up watching Miss Universe and saying, oh, one day I would love for that to be me. So I was always enamored by the glamour and the beauty of beauty pageants. So of course I wanted to try and I entered Miss Hawaii Teen USA. I did not win that year. And I continued on for several more years. How old were you when you first entered? I was 14 when I first entered Miss Hawaii Teen USA. So that was my first experience. I got first runner up. Oh, great. So I still did very well. And I was just hooked after that. I just fell in love with pageants. And ultimately I credit the pageants for helping me to overcome a lot of my shyness and a lot of my insecurities that I had. And a lot of women similarly have the same insecurities. So what did you like and what else did you learn about that experience being in that Miss Hawaii Teen USA pageant? Well, I learned a lot about myself. It also forced me at a young age because I entered when I was 14. It forced me to take a look at what I really want in life. So it makes you take a look at goal setting. It teaches you how to put together a bio and a resume at such a young age. And I'm like, you're 14 years old. Why do you possibly put on a resume at that age, right? So then I'm like, well, geez, I need to get some accolades to put on here because otherwise it's boring. It doesn't look good. So yeah, it kind of forces you to kind of take a look at what you really want to achieve in life. So that's where it started for me. It's a huge positive experience. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think pageants like anything else in life can be what you make of it. You can really reap all of the rewards and benefits from it. Or you can just enter a pageant just to enter a pageant. Or you can walk away with so many other experiences. A lot of my best friends that I have today are girls that I met when I started in pageants 20 years ago. Oh, great. 20 plus. Yeah, I'm not going to date with you. I'm going to ask you this. So after the teen USA pageant, when did you enter the Miss Hawaii USA pageant and why did you choose to enter that? Well, naturally because I was hooked, right? And I didn't win the teen pageant. And then I got too old. So I turned 18 and I'm like, OK, I can't run for teen anymore. So I need to run for Miss Hawaii. So I actually tried for Miss Hawaii America first. And I was one of the youngest contestants. I was 17 that year that I won Miss Carn Isle and then I went to Miss Hawaii. So I tried for Miss Hawaii a couple of times before I decided to try for Miss Hawaii USA. How many years did you compete in the Miss Hawaii pageant? I can't remember. It was a couple of years. Yeah. What about the Miss Hawaii USA? Well, someone convinced me said, hey, you didn't win Miss Hawaii this time. So why don't you try Miss Hawaii USA? I'm like, OK, why not? And I ended up doing a lot better in Miss Hawaii USA. So I ran actually three times for Miss Hawaii USA. So the first year I made the top five, the next year I was first runner up, and then the following year I won. Awesome. Now, a lot of people are confused. They have different perceptions about the Miss Hawaii pageant versus the Miss Hawaii USA pageant. Can you explain the differences to everyone once and for all? Sure. You know, there's a division one and there's a division two. We're going to talk about sports, right? So it's sort of like we have Miss Hawaii and then we have Miss Hawaii USA. One goes to Miss America, the other one goes to Miss USA and Miss Universe. And the major differences between the two are actually the criteria for the competition. So the criteria is a little different. So in Miss Hawaii America, the girls have generally a platform or sort of like a cause that they speak upon. They also compete in a talent and it's also a scholarship base. So what they're competing for is scholarships, whereas Miss Hawaii USA, which falls under the Miss Universe organization, it's a beauty pageant. So you're competing, there's no, there's no platforms. You're basically competing and selling yourself. It's beauty. There's swimsuit, interviews, swimsuit and even gown. That's pretty much about it. Well, that makes sense. It's clear to me now. And obviously I did much better in Miss Hawaii USA because in the Miss Hawaii program, I mean, I just really realized I didn't have that great of a talent. I was like, you know, I sang for talent, but it really wasn't that good. Although nowadays, you know, we go to the karaoke bar, which you know we do sometimes. I sound really good. Yes, you do. I've seen that. And that's when I sing and I'm like, oh my gosh, the more I drink, the better I sound, right? And I'm like, I need a recording contract. Oh, you're making me laugh again, Alicia. Well, we're going to take a quick break. You are watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my guest, Alicia Michioca. We will be back in 60 seconds. Hello, I'm Dave Stevens, host of the Cyber Underground. This is where we discuss everything that relates to computers that's just kind of scare you out of your mind. So come join us every week here on ThinkTechHawaii.com 1 p.m. on Friday afternoons. And then you can go see all our episodes on YouTube. Just look up the Cyber Underground on YouTube. All our shows will show up. And please follow us. We're always giving you current, relevant information to protect you. Keeping you safe. Aloha. Everyone, I'm Andrea Gabrieli. I'm the host for Young Talent's Making Way here on ThinkTech Hawaii. We talk every Tuesday at 11 a.m. about things that matter to tech, matter to science to the people of Hawaii with some extraordinary guests, the students of our schools who are participating in science fair. So Young Talent's Making Way every Tuesday at 11 a.m. only on ThinkTech Hawaii. Mahalo. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines. In case you are just tuning in, my guest is Alicia Michioca. She is a former Miss Hawaii USA and the owner of the Miss Hawaii USA pageant. Alicia, you won the Miss Hawaii USA pageant in 2003. You're not supposed to say the year. You need to be proud. You should be proud of that. I'm proud of that, that you won that. That's okay. But there's a unique situation that involves your family. Your sister Justine won Miss Hawaii USA in 2004. That's right. Tell me about that experience. Well, I mean, it's a really, I mean, I can't say that my parents were too excited about it because it was a very expensive two years for them, but my sister won the year after me, so I was able to crown her. And we're the only two sisters to win any state pageant in Hawaii back to back like that. Incredible. So we both got to compete at Miss USA two years in a row, and my parents were excited when I did, but then when my sister won, they're like, wait a second, does that mean we have to fly to the mainland again and haul the whole family there? And I'm like, yep. Of course, of course. Pretty much. I want to know, you're the owner of the Miss Hawaii USA pageant. How did you become the owner of the Miss Hawaii USA pageant? Well, you know, it's really funny because the year that my sister won, I said, you know, it'd be really cool one day to be the director of this pageant. And exactly 10 years from when I said that was when I got the franchise for the state pageant. And, you know, what an honor. And I look back now and I'm like, gosh, I think I wanted to be the director for the pageant longer than I actually wanted to win the pageant because it was 10 years. So I'm like, wow, okay. How many years has it been since you... This is my sixth year producing the pageant. Well, how's that experience been for you so far? It's been amazing and very rewarding. And, you know, despite what most people think, it's not a glamorous job at all. I mean, being the director of the pageant. I mean, there are some perks. I'm not going to lie. I mean, it is a lot of fun. And we do get to go to fun events and do some great things and meet celebrities and other important people. But it's really not that glamorous. I mean, I'll be, you know, pulling pieces from the stage and running around barefoot. And I mean, if you see me before the pageant actually starts, my hair is all over the place. I have no makeup on. Literally till right before we let the people in the doors. So it's rewarding. It's a lot of hard work. It's definitely a labor of love, that's for sure. I've seen you. I can attest to that because I was a judge in your Miss Hawaii Teen USA pageant a few years ago. And it's amazing to see you behind the scenes doing what you do. Now, I also know that being a judge, everything's done completely fair because I've gone through that experience. Good. Thank you for saying that, trust me. Yeah, I never knew, you know, how it's done. And going through that, it's completely fair and it really comes down to the judges and what they're looking for. Absolutely. I mean, you can have a ballroom full of 1,500 people that feel one girl should win, but at the end of the day, it's up to five people. It's five people's opinion. So that's the part about pageants, which is very challenging. It's hard for me because I get to know all of these girls as the process, as we go through the process. And sometimes, you know, I obviously connect with certain girls, but at the end of the day, it's up to these five people. And, you know, it could be completely a different opinion from what everybody else in the ballroom thinks. Exactly. No, I can see that. Now, people often have misperceptions about pageants. How does pageants help young women and their personal development? You know, I think that when girls think about running in a pageant, it's totally common for them to feel like, I'm going to enter the pageant because I just really want to win and, you know, I like being on stage. I want to get dressed up. I want to get pretty, but what, and also parents don't realize is that this is a personal growth opportunity for young girls. And I can promise every single girl and every single parent that if you embrace the process, these girls are going to walk away with entrepreneurial skills, with confidence, just with a lot of gratitude for their community and sponsors and other businesses. So there's a lot of great things that anybody, any participant, not just the winner, any participant can walk away from. And because when preparing for a pageant, the girls need to get sponsors. They need to raise money. Well, guess what? It takes a little bit of sales and entrepreneurial spirit to do that and to do it successfully. So we do workshops and we train them and we give them tips and how to overcome objections and, you know, not take it personal. If someone says, no, like I don't want to buy a ticket to the pageant, so. So all of these little things, we're really preparing the girls and setting them up for success. And I tell the girls after this pageant experience, you can go interview for any job and you will nail that interview. I can't promise you're going to get the job, but you'll nail the interview. That's for sure, especially with you guiding them. Now in recent memory, how often does a contestant win on their first try? Actually not quite often. However, the last two winners, so not our current winner, but two years in a row prior to that, we had girls that had never been in a pageant before. So Chelsea Harden and Julie Kuo, both first time entered, never been in a pageant, both embraced the process. And Chelsea's a great example of that because she really was like, tell me what to do. She's so coachable. She's an athlete, right? So I think athletes have that quality in them that just tell me what to do and I'll do it. And I mean, look at, she ended up first runner up at Miss USA. She almost won the whole thing. And I mean, we just love her. She's a great example. But it's not very common that girls win on their first try. More often than not, girls try multiple times. For example, Julie Chu, who is our current winner right now, she ran five times. So she won on her fifth try. Emma Wu, I think she ran two times. So many other former times, I ran three times, ran a couple times before actually winning. Okay, wow, amazing. You know, in my book, I talk about how good leaders have followers, which is fine. But great leaders ultimately build other great leaders. And you are a leader for hundreds of these girls. What do you focus on when you're mentoring these young women? You know, sportsmanship is also a really huge thing for me. And I tell the girls, I said, hey, you know what? Be kind to the girl next to you because you have no idea that two, five years from now you guys might be working at the same place. You guys might know each other. You might have to call on each other. You might be colleagues in something I don't know. But be nice. You know, yes, it's a competition, but we don't have to be nasty. You know, that's not going to help your chances in winning. So just be nice to everybody. And like I said, some of my best friends are girls that I met through running in pageants. Yeah, being nice. I mean, the world would be a better place if everyone's just nice to each other. I know, well, peace. Now, who has been your mentors along the way on your journey? You know, I've had a lot. I really, really want to personally thank all of my directors that I've had in very indifferent pageants, you know, from Miss Garn Isle, you know, and Matta, who used to be the director for Miss YUSA the first year that I ever ran in teen. I mean, I learned so much from her. She became sort of like a second mom to me. Then my directors, Eric and Takeo, who I basically took the pageant over from them, they ran the pageant for 15 years. Wow. And I learned so much from all of them. Yeah. And they've really inspired me on how to be a better director and how to really give back to the girls and how I can be the best at my job that I have for the time that I have it. Well, I've seen you over these years and all these young women that are contestants in the pageant, I mean, they're very fortunate to have someone like you leading them as the owner of the pageant. Now, I want to ask you, you know, you're a mom of two boys. Yeah. You actually own your own media production company called New Media Production. Mm-hmm. You're also the manager for digital media for KHON2. Right. So you're the owner of the Miss Hawaii USA pageant. How do you do it? Yes. How do you do it all? I don't think I just do. What do you do? How do you do it? You just do it. And I think that the busier people are often more successful because you just have to do it and you know you only have so many hours in a day to get it done. So it's really the challenges being efficient with your time because we all have the same amount of time in the day, right? What are you doing with that time and time managing? So that's always a challenge and I think it's a big challenge for most people out there. And I still struggle with that. I have times where, you know, multitasking sometimes can be sort of like, you know, you're at Keeley's Hill and like hurt you but oftentimes it does help me because then when we get really busy, especially during the pageant, those, you know, it helps me with handling the stress of like go, go, go, we need this, this, this and you know, Nicole, my assistant looks at me and she's just like her head just spinning sometimes and I'm like, did you get that? And she's like, uh-huh. Well, you've definitely accomplished a lot in your life so far. What's been your biggest accomplishment? What would you say? You know, I think, you know, really my kids and because it's the hardest job that I have, I'm not going to lie out of all the things that I do, the kids are the hardest and you can't control people in general. You can't control people and it's even harder with children trying to guide them and then they just ask a million questions but why? But why? And I'm like, oh my gosh, don't ask why, just do it. Yeah, but why question always comes up? I mean, that's my biggest accomplishment. I know it'll ultimately be my biggest accomplishment when they, you know, graduate from college and then they get, you know, great jobs then I'm going to look back and say, okay, that was success. Now what, if you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself 15 years ago? You know, I think that there have been incidences in my life where I wanted to be unique and I've wanted to reinvent the wheel or do something different but I've realized that, you know, the best copycat wins sometimes, right? And, you know, follow what other successful people are doing, look up to them, lock arms with them, sort of, you know, mirror what they do and copycat, you know, if they'll say and, you know, and just kind of make it your own and don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just do what other people have done to be successful. Well, that's good advice. You know, I really had a great time having you on my show today. I want to thank you and thank you for providing insights into, you know, pageantry and what goes on in front and behind. So I appreciate you being on my show today. Thank you. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. Until next Monday, aloha.