 our special guest joins Maui, Judge Bowers. Bevan Bowers was appointed per diem judge in the district and family court of Hawaii's second judicial district on December 20th, 2021, becoming the first black female appointed judge in Maui County. She has served as executive director of Maui Mediation Services since May, 2015, a 501C3 nonprofit organization that provides alternative dispute resolution, facilitation, and training to residents of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai. He is a member of the Maui County Bar Association and the African American Law Association of Hawaii and a member of the Alpha Kapa Alpha sorority. Most recently, Judge Bowers was the guest speaker of Sisters in Parang, Hawaii. Your vibe attracts your tribe. Power Lunge in for Women in September, 2022 event. Here comes the judge. Welcome, Judge Bowers. Oh, thank you so very much, Sister Sharon. First of all, thank you Mahalo Nui Loa for extending the invitation to have this conversation because any time that I get to talk with you is a grand time. And also thank you for making me feel so very welcomed at that September event. And to give me the opportunity to meet with so many amazing women. No, these ladies are still talking about it. They're still, you know, the word on the street is when is she coming back? You know, the word on the street is whenever there is something involving Sharon Thomas Yarborough, you don't wanna miss it. That's the word on the street. Oh, thank you. You know, it seems as if I've known you for a very, very long time. We just immediately jailed. That sister who was right there, thanks to our mutual friend, Attorney Leslie Matthews. We wanna give a shout out to her. I'm so very proud of her. So let's get this conversation. There she is right there with you. That was on my birthday, which happens to be Juneteenth. And she said, what are you doing? And I wasn't doing anything. Get up, we're going to a park. And there was a Juneteenth celebration going on. And that's how I ended up with that tiara on my head. So you never know where an invitation might be that it was a brand day. And I love that picture because it shows the way I was feeling which was just pure joy. Oh, pure joy. Yeah, you know, we don't use that word enough. Well, let's get this conversation started. There's so much that our sister part of viewers wanna know about you. And you had a rather untraditional career path leading to where you are today. Tell our sister part of viewers about that. To say unusual or untraditional is to put it mildly. So if I may, just a little brief background. I am a native of St. Louis, Missouri. And at 17, I became the youngest radio announcer in the city. So I was still in high school. I was blessed enough to have gone to what we call an experimental high school. The high school had 200 students total. There were 26 in my graduating class. We had no sports teams. But what you had to do is you had to participate in some type of charity or volunteer activity for 80 hours every academic year. So that introduced me to the importance and the value of giving back, of being a valued part of the community. I was able to, from that high school experience I had four full scholarships, but I had just gotten a job on the radio and St. Louis was the top 20 market. So that was big time. So I knew where I was going. I was going 25 miles from home, but still the fact that I'm a presidential scholar from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. I'm still grateful for that. It allowed me to pursue both my academic interest and what was gonna be my professional path. I did radio 20 years. It took me from St. Louis to Illinois to Ohio to Connecticut. And I ended up in Memphis. But by that time, the whole industry had started to change like a lot of industries do. I loved it. It was entertainment. It was music. It was fun. And I was trying to figure out what do I do to stay involved in this industry because I know they don't need as many jocks because that's when they started having like fly jock, Tom Joyner and people that were on multiple stations. A friend of mine that I had gone to undergrad with, she and her husband had moved to Memphis and she was going to law school there. And she said, there's a part-time program. The law school happened to be right up the street for my radio station. And so I was the music director at the time. On the air mid-days, my dear friend, the promotions director, we would always get together and talk about everything. And I dared her. I said, why don't we take the LSAT and see if we can get into law school? Because people always need attorneys. And yeah, entertainment law, that sounds like fun. So we took the class together. We did well. We took the LSAT, we did well. We both applied to two schools, the same two, University of Memphis, right up the street and Ole Miss. I thought Ole Miss was right down around the corner, maybe an hour and a half drive away. No, it's further and they didn't have a part-time program. And at this time, I'm fully supporting myself. I'm on the air, that's my job. So I had to keep working, although everyone will say, do not have a job when you're in law school. Well, guess what? There are exceptions to every story. And people need to know that. Don't believe just because something worked or did not work for someone else, that you can't work it another way. Long story short, we both got in. I was still working a 70-hour work week. And you have to have a certain GPA at the end of your first year. I missed that GPA by 0.08. What that meant was I wasn't going on. I was being what they call excluded. And I tell this story because I know so many people have gone to law school and that's happened to them, but they're embarrassed by it. We need to stop being embarrassed by the things that teach us a life lesson or that we grow from. It devastated me. I had never failed at anything in my life. But once I made up my mind, no, you're gonna try to get back in. And it was a try because the law school did not have to let anyone back in. But they did. There were two of us that bail out and believe you me, I was on pins and needles until I got out of there because I had life events in between time. I lost a parent. I had to have surgery, but I followed the road. I graduated. I took the bar. I passed the bar on my first try. And then I stayed in radio. Thank you for the applause, but I stayed in radio. Why? Because that was my safe space. And yet why did I go to law school? It was to remain viable. I eventually met a gentleman because I needed law help. And when he found out that not only had gone to law school, but I graduated, I passed the bar and I wasn't doing anything. He basically shamed me into why aren't you trying this profession you spent all this time trying to learn? That was a turning point in my life. And I know everyone out here can go back through their timeline. And they're just certain turning points by taking him up on his offer to rent me space in his building where there were other attorneys that I knew that all practice different things. I got a smattering. I got an education that I hadn't gotten law school. And for that, I will always be grateful. Eventually I left radio and started practicing full time. I had the enormous fortune after I left the gentleman who shamed me into practicing two of my classmates from law school. We took classes together. We studied for the bar together. We learned our bar results together. So that is me in the blue, but behind me that is Judge Mitzi Pollard who is in the Shelby County juvenile court. So she's dealing with all the kids and custody and even crimes, juvenile crimes. Next to Mitzi is Judge Jennifer Mitchell. Jennifer is a criminal court judge for Shelby County. So she deals with all the horrible stuff. Below Jennifer is Chancellor Melanie Taylor Jefferson. Now Mitzi and Jennifer and I, those were the three that studied and did all that. Mitzi was a little, not Mitzi, Melanie was a little older, but she too went to University of Memphis. And then the person to the far, my far left is Carolyn Leakes. And Carolyn has been a judiciary, know-it person. If you need to know a contact or what's going on, we all have to have those. That was her. So thank you for sharing that picture, but it was just really unique that the three of us have done as well as we have. And I'm grateful for that. And I was going somewhere with this story that then you said the picture and now come on, bring me back, bring me back. That's okay. Cause you know what I, you know, November judge is national inspirational role models month. Who was your inspirational model? Thank you for that question. My first and by far the most important role model, my mother, Rosemary Young Bowers. She was the most brilliant person I've ever met. She went on, got her masters that you will buy. And instead of walking on stage to get her masters that day, she married my father. But you know, there's certain personalities that are just rich, rich in whatever gifts they've been given. Be it intelligence, be it compassion, be it in being unable to give support in a way that is uniquely needed and appreciated at that time. To this very day I aspire to be like my mother. But there are other people along the way. And again, I say, I'm doing this as a sharing because I want everyone who's listening to think back on their life path. Who motivated them? My fourth grade teacher, her name was Justine Clay. That lady was Fireball before I knew what a Fireball was. And her trademark line was, I'm calm, I'm cool and I'm collected. And I still hear that, I wish I knew what happened, but when you have someone that takes an interest in you, that's more valuable than gold. I felt that she supported me because that was the grade where I shifted out of my home school and started being bussed to a gifted program. But when you're in your neighborhood with your family, your peeps, your community, there's a strength that we get from that. When we are taken out of that, we often have to learn how to reconnect with those sources of strength. And I did that, but my mom, Miss Clay, all of the women in my family because we come into this world in whatever circumstance, wherever you're born, what state, what the politics are, that the people that you feed from, those are the ones that help instill in you what is right and what is wrong, what the boundaries are. And I always had, and to this day, still have, and I believe like energy seeks itself. So if you're of a certain mindset and of a certain caliber, what you will and will not put up with, those people gravitate towards one another. And that's what I have had the entire course of my life. Those ladies that we just showed in that picture, we met on the steps of the law school. I knew Jennifer's mom, because her mom was in radio, but I didn't know Mitzi and she didn't know me. And yet we jailed and supported one another through probably one of the most arduous times of our lives and still are here to support one another. And that's the gift when it's lasting. Some relationships, as you know, temporary, but some last longer. And that is the beauty of it. You were less- And Raggy right here, you were just appointed, come on now, let's talk about, you were appointed to the bar examiner of Hawaii there's your swearing in. I mean, you know, I've got so many questions for you. Let's back up, tell me about that date when you were swearing in. It was, the words are real comes to mind, but here I am. Lilke Von Janine Bowers from St. Louis, Missouri, holding her hand up in the courthouse of the second circuit of the grand state of Hawaii, a place I never saw myself. But then again, if we open, if we open ourselves up to possibilities and challenges and don't become fearful, and I know we're gonna come back to that, but how did I feel I was allowed to let friends and family from across the globe have the link, the zoom link. And I walked up there and of course, our dear friend Leslie was there and her mom and others that are like family to me that our family, not like that our family to me were there. I was amazed. I was highly honored and felt privileged. And I felt that to whom much is given much is expected and I'm gonna do my very best. And to this day, that's what I've been doing. But as I lifted my hand, and to be honest, Shannon, I'm gonna tell you, I don't remember what I said. There is still a recording that I have that I have not gone back to because I don't really like me on film, but I was told I did a very good job. And I just spoke from the heart and that's the best thing when you can speak from the heart and it just comes out. That's what I did. Let's talk about your new appointment. So I have been appointed to the board of bar examiners. Every state has a bar exam. Some states you can waive in, but I am now part of that elite panel that gets to decide who is determined to be qualified to join our bar to practice in this state. And if you are not allowed, well, there's one way you can appear, but it's again, another honor. Because I remember when I took not only my Tennessee bar exam, but my Hawaii bar exam, you're waiting on pens and needles to find out which direction your life can now change or follow. Again, another honor. The bar exams are twice a year. I am finding out what my responsibilities are, but I do know that there are a limited number of attorneys and judges who are allowed. And again, it was something, an application process. Am I the first? I'm not the first woman. Am I the first woman apprela and I know I'm not the first woman apprela am I the first African-American? I'm not sure, I can look into that. But what I am sure of is I am privileged to have that appointment. Congratulations again. Thank you. So you wear so many hats. You're still in radio. I found that out about you last night. Yes, ma'am. And now this new appointment. What inspires and motivates you today? This is what inspires me. And I hope inspires all of us. We have such tremendous gifts and power that we don't acknowledge. And Sharon, you can tell me and have told me you were so hard on yourself. And we as women of color, I don't know why. I guess we could sit and pontificate on that, but we are. We are so very hard on ourselves. What motivates me is my story is not unique. I didn't come up in a family of attorneys. I didn't come up living in this most gorgeous, wonderfully blessed state. And yet here I am. I was again, most fortunate in my early years and I think you've got a picture of one of those early years, but I have never, never told, you can't be this. You can't go for that, quite the opposite. So the fact that there was some type of ceiling and this is growing up in the inner city of St. Louis. Okay, not the most economically profitable place. And yet I felt empowered. And I grew up with that cocoon of the women in my family having that same mindset. They went through different levels of education, some only high school, some college, some graduate. And yet I felt I could go for anything. And I did, which is why when I said my exclusion from law school, before that I think my most trying disappointment was I didn't make a pom-pom squad in high school. But it went my high school. My high school didn't have sports, remember? So I was going to somebody else's high school so in high sight, that's kind of funny. But I believe that I could. All you have to do is apply. There's more than one way. A friend of mine has a saying, how do you make sure you always get your way? The answer, have more than one way. I remember that. I liked that. I liked it. So, and then me to cut you off, go ahead, finish. No, no, it was just, so what's important is my unlikely circumstance and where it has led me thus far. And I say thus far, because who knows what's next. But stop putting limitations. I don't. And any opportunity that I have to talk to anybody about anything, that's the first step. But that's anything about me. But to receive means you got to give or to give means you got to receive. So if I'm telling you about me, I want to know about you because we all have a story. We have all done tremendous things. Yep, we don't celebrate that. We don't celebrate it in ourselves enough. We don't celebrate it in each other. And your September event taught me that you can walk into a room with women you've never met before, never seen. And that energy is there when they are connected in cause, in purpose, in support. And that's a mighty powerful thing. So what motivates me is me wanting to be my best and help support anybody else in their best, whatever that is. Support doesn't mean judgment. Support doesn't mean stoking fear. Support means support. And sometimes support means silence. Just listen. You know, you have inspired and motivate me through our conversations. And it seems like I've known you for years. But I want to ask you this question. Yes, ma'am. For our sister-powered viewers, what would you like to share with other women listening? In one sentence, you are limitless. There are women who right now are thinking, I can't do that. Yeah, that worked for her or whatever. No, visualization is powerful. Like energy attracts. Be careful what you surround yourself with. Words have power. Okay, so if all the words are negative or tearing down in any circumstance, workplace, home, Costco, parking lot. Okay. What we choose to surround ourselves with makes all the difference. It's the people we choose to surround ourselves with. What we think of as entertainment makes a difference. So take a deeper look because it feels like we're becoming more shallow. And that's an insult to the powerful, beautiful, creative creatures that are women. And women of color, it's just easily that we are discarded. And that's not for us, it's just if we look at society. Why do we not have an equal rights amendment? Just something a law saying, I can't get over that. So, okay, I'm going down another rabbit's hole, please. It is. And if we don't start talking about it and saying, listen, I'm not trying to make you feel any kind of way, but what do you know? Can I share with you what I know? And then you sit through it and take any nuggets at all and go on, plant them and see how they grow. But that comes back to the support. That comes back to just saying, we're all sisters here. Okay. Let's always try to remember that in every interaction. Wow. Well, what do you see as keys to your success? Faith, family, fun, and the search to continue to try to get better. I believe you can learn something to the last day you take your last breath. I like to be intrigued. I like to try different things. The norm, I buck against it. And that's just one of my personality traits because we can go back to high school. Nobody in that high school believed when I got on the air because I was just, I was a painfully shy student. But I had a voice and I found power behind the microphone. And I have channeled that power since that day. You know, I love that motto out there, your voice can change the world. It definitely can. But we have to choose how to use it. Use it carefully and words again, words have power. So what is it we want to say? Because a lot of times people use words, but that's not really communicating what's behind the words. We can change the world. And people are talking today after elections and we're not going down that path, but change often comes in a surprising manner, both good and bad. What do we do? We educate ourselves. We keep ourselves safe, sound, healthy. And surrounded by things and people that support us. Judge Bowers, we need a part two. Wait, is it over? It is over. This is just, you have, I have so many questions to ask you, but I want to thank you, thank you, thank you for your wisdom and for your expertise. And I'm so very, very proud of you. I really am. You're just so gracious and giving and loving and thank you. And we're thankful for you. Everyone here at Think Tech Hawaii and Sister Power is so grateful for all the support and grace you provide throughout the year. I would like to wish my beloved husband a happy wedding anniversary. That's coming next week. I just wanted definitely give that shout out to him. I said, happy anniversary. And I'm your host, Sharon Thomas Yarbrough. Aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and donate to us at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Mahalo.