 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines. We are broadcasting live from the beautiful Think Tech Hawaii TV studio in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. Today's special guest is a very successful defense attorney and a former deputy prosecutor. She is Megan Kao, and today we are going beyond the courtroom. Megan, great having you here today. Thank you for having me. You know, I'm so excited to meet you and talk to you about everything today, and I want to know, Megan, tell me about your early years growing up. I grew up in Kaneohe with my twin sister. We are best friends, but weren't always at times friends, just like any other siblings. My mother worked for an accounting firm, and my father was a veterinarian, but my parents were divorced very early on. What schools did you attend? I went to St. Clemens for preschool, and then I went to Kaneohe Kindergarten through 12th grade. How was your experience during your Kaneohe years? Kaneohe is a great school. It's excellent. You know, it gives people the tools to learn, and we're always learning. What kind of activities or sports did you do? I was a gymnast and a dancer very early on in my life, in high school, not so much. I always worked very hard at school. I remember, well, you told me about when you were 15 years old, you had a challenge. So addiction and mental health do not discriminate. And my family has had some issues, and so at 15 years old, yes, I was homeless. I worked very hard. I worked in clothing stores, restaurants, bars, and I worked to live. And I also worked to pay for my undergraduate degree at University of Hawaii at Manoa. And then I also worked putting myself through school at Law School at Santa Clara University. That's so admirable, Megan. That's amazing. To do that at that age, I mean, what kind of jobs were you working at? It was difficult because I was only 15, and I was living wherever I could, wherever anyone would have me. So the first place I worked at was a little clothing store. We sold women's clothing, and then I worked at Oak Tree, which is a men's clothing store. I eventually became the manager of Oak Tree, and I worked there doing undergrad, and then I worked in numerous restaurants and bars. Geez, wow. And when you went to college, you studied accounting? I did. So my undergraduate degree was in accounting at University of Hawaii at Manoa. I took the CPA exam before I graduated, which was rare because I had intended to go to law school and did go to law school. So immediately after graduating from University of Hawaii, I went to Santa Clara University and got my Juris Doctorate. Oh, you know, I took the LSATs when I went to college. That's a tough test. It is a tough test. It's a very different type of test. People, if you have never taken it or never been exposed to that type of test, it's strange. If A does B, and B does C, but C does D, what did B really do? You're like, I don't know, what did B do? I was asking myself that same question. Yeah, I was too, I think. Megan, you have three babies. Tell me about your three four-legged babies. I have Coco, who was an American bully. Yeah. I've got Tito, who's a French Bulldog. Everybody loves a Frenchie. Yes. The English Bulldog there is Stoley. She's a cutie. And I love it. I love dogs. I love that you have three of them. And Megan, you said you have a twin sister. Yes. Tell me about her. My twin sister also has three dogs. She has three French Bulldogs. My sister is a neuroscientist, and everybody always says when I say she's a neuroscientist, wow. And I say to them, well, what about me? What am I? I'm a lawyer at. I got certified as a public accountant. And people always say, wow, she must be so smart, but yes, she is very smart. We did struggle to get where we are, and now she lives in Wisconsin. She's married, and she has a very good job and two very big houses in Wisconsin. Megan, I heard you ride motorcycles, and I think that is so cool. When did you start riding motorcycles? Let's see. I wanted to start riding motorcycles when I was in high school, and I would tell everybody, can you teach me how to ride? And everyone would say, no, you're 4'11, you're too short. So I asked everybody, can you please teach me how to ride? And everybody said, no. So I went out, I bought my own motorcycle, and I taught myself how to ride. Man, when I see that picture that we just posted, that was amazing. That was a nice motorcycle. Yeah, so I taught myself how to ride, and then I used to ride on the track in the mainland. And you also do martial arts and snowboarding? Yes. Oh my goodness. Those are also things that people told me I couldn't do, either because I was too small or because I'm a girl. So in 2000, I started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu grappling, and I was training to fight back in 2000. But that was when nobody was really interested in the sport and really not a lot of females. So I could never get a fight for my weight class, which at the time was 120. But right now it was not 120. But I did. I trained very hard, and I still do train. I think that's impressive because nowadays, a lot of young girls, they need to learn self-defense. And a lot of parents are encouraging their own selves and their kids to learn self-defense. I definitely encourage it. I actually am training a good friend of mine who was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. And she comes to my home and I train her three times a week. And I've gotten her to come to boxing. And it's very good for your core strength. I don't mean physically your core strength, but believing in yourself, you know? So a group of girls train on Sunday at HMC and we box. And it's empowering women. It's a very good class. I love hearing that, Megan. And you have a very successful law firm. And what law do you specialize in? I'm a trial attorney. And for lawyers, we call them litigators. But people that don't pay attention to the law, they don't know what a litigator is. So this is what I say. I fight with everybody all day. That's what I tell people. I'm in court fighting. And when you were a really young girl, let's say five or six years old, what did you want to be when you grew up? I can't remember what I actually wanted to be, but I know that I did not want to be a lawyer. I knew that I didn't want to be a lawyer. My grandmother would tell me all the time, oh, you're going to be a lawyer, you know? Because I would say things, and I would respond quickly. And I would say, I don't want to be a lawyer. I don't want to go in front of people and talk. I'm deathly afraid of public speaking. I'm deathly afraid of people. I don't want to be a lawyer. That's what I remember. And look at you now. Yes. Yes. Well, Megan, in 2006 to 2010, you were the former deputy prosecutor. And you were very successful. Why were you successful? I think I was successful because I loved what I was doing. I had never had the opportunity to help people like me fight for themselves. And that's what I was doing every day. And it was extremely fulfilling to be a deputy prosecuting attorney. Give me an example of a case that really sticks out to you. Really the most difficult case that I had at the prosecutor's office was state versus Joseph Weimili. It was a promoting prostitution in the first degree. I was the first deputy prosecutor in the whole state of Hawaii to try a promoting prostitution in the first degree case. But the reason why it was difficult is because the victim did not or could not want to fight for herself. She had been trafficked by the defendant Joseph Weimili. She had been beaten by him. She had been threatened by gunpoint by him. But when we arrested him, at some points in time, she didn't want to prosecute because she really honestly believed that she loved him. And at other times, she didn't want to prosecute because she was deathly afraid of him because he was threatening her. So she was in North Carolina. And I was in Honolulu at the Honolulu prosecutor's office trying to get her to come back to Honolulu to testify against this guy. Because he had treated her so poorly and he had violated the law. But she didn't want to. So it was a very difficult thing to have to, and I related to her. I could explain to her what was going on, what were the consequences of him being convicted. And eventually, I got her to come back to Honolulu to testify. And based on her testimony, we were able to convict Joseph Weimili of promoting prostitution in the first degree. Wow. She's lucky she had you. I mean, that's amazing. It was difficult. But I will say it is very fulfilling to help people that just cannot for whatever reason or don't want to fight for themselves. Well, Megan, now you're running for prosecuting attorney. Why are you running for prosecuting attorney? There's so many reasons. The main reason why I'm running is because I need to continue to be able to fight for people that cannot fight for themselves. In 2003 to 2007 or 2006, I was involved. I was the victim of a domestic violence, violent relationship. And I stayed, and I was in my early 20s. And people think it's so easy to leave. But for many different reasons, it's not. You're financially tied to someone. You live in the same home. All of your things are in the home. And so it's not easy to pick up everything and just move out with nowhere to go. But eventually I did. And I had to live in my truck for many months. And I had already been, I had already graduated from law school. And so it was a very difficult time because every day I was crying and wondering how am I in this position when I'm educated and I have the ability to work and the ability to find a new place. But you can't, you know? All of your things are in a truck and the things that you've had for five years. And so sometimes there's nowhere to go. And so there was nowhere for me to go. And so the reason why I want to prosecute is because I was able to fight for myself and I was able to get back up and go to the prosecutor's office and fight for these people. But I realized that a lot of the victims cannot fight for themselves. And so we need somebody that's going to be able to do that. Yeah. Wow, you've experienced so many things, Megan. Well, I always say that integrity, ethics, honor, trust, so important. Not just to say the words, but to do it in action. How are you going to restore the public's faith in that office? I'm going to lead by example. That's the only way that you can lead people. You cannot tell people you have to come in at 7.45. You have to check in and tell me where you are. What time you're going to lunch? What time you're leaving the office? That doesn't work with people. People don't respond to that well anymore. You know, before that might have been okay. But now you have to realize that people are professionals. People take responsibility for their lives. And so you have to show them, by example, this is what we do here at the prosecutor's office, you know? We are fighting for justice. We're doing trials. We're going to be trial ready so that we are able to negotiate with the defendant, or if we cannot, then go to trial and let justice prevail. And so I would like to help lead those deputy prosecutors into a different way of thinking. Wow, I love it. And you have some great supporters. I mean, people like Peter Carlisle, Doug Chin, Kim Pine. Why are they supporting you? I believe they're supporting me because they believe in me. Peter Carlisle has believed in me since the day that I met him in March of 2006. He hired me right on the spot. He promoted me very quickly through the ranks of the deputy of the prosecuting attorney's office directly to the career criminal division, which at that point was his elite team because we were the deputies who prosecuted defendants that had big records, violent crimes, risks of flights. And so we were responsible with prosecuting those pretty heavy duty cases. Wow, yeah, well, there are some great supporters to have, Megan. Megan, we're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we're going to continue going beyond the courtroom. You're watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest, Megan Kau. We will be back in a quick minute. Hi, guys. I'm your host, Lillian Cumick, from Lillian's Vegan World. I come to you live every second Friday from 3 PM. And this is the show where I talk about the plant-based lifestyle and veganism. So we go through recipes, some upcoming events, information about health regarding your health, and just some ideas on how you can have a better lifestyle, eat healthier, and have fun at the same time. So do join me. I look forward to seeing you. And aloha. Hey, aloha, everyone, and welcome to the Think Tech Hawaii studio. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Pretty Matters Hawaii. We air here every Tuesday at 10 AM Hawaii time, trying to bring you issues about security that you may not know, issues that can protect your family, protect yourself, protect our community, protect our companies, the folks we work with. Please join us. And I hope you can maybe get a little different perspective on how to live a little safer. Aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My special guest today is a very successful defense attorney and a former deputy prosecutor. She is Megan Cow. And today, we are going beyond the courtroom. Megan, in my book Beyond the Lines, and you definitely go beyond the lines, I talk about character and leadership and creating a superior culture of excellence, building winning teams. What is your superior culture of excellence like? I think that my superior culture of excellence is life in general. I want to make our community a very strong community, not just better the community. I want to make it a very strong community. So things like running for prosecutor, it's not just the office. It's being able to meet and touch the people of Hawaii, of Honolulu in order to show them that they can do it. I mean, I've gone through some adversity. I know that there are many people who go through many adversities in their lives. And so that culture is to show people that they can do it also. So I like hearing that about adversity because in my book, I talk about welcoming adversity, looking forward to challenges. And it seems like, Megan, you were homeless twice. Was that like your two biggest adversities in your life so far? Yeah, I would definitely say that those were the two biggest adversities in my life. When I was 15, I was amongst a whole group of kids who would have no idea what it would feel like to live on the street or have to find a home to stay at or a hotel to stay at or someplace to eat. They could never understand struggling through that. And then the second time was even more difficult for me because I had already put myself through undergrad and through law school. And yet, I found myself living in my truck again, which was very difficult because I was lost. I didn't know what to do. I was very helpless. I didn't know where to go. Because of the domestic abuse? Because of the domestic abuse, yeah. I mean, I was forced into living in my truck. It was very, very difficult. I remember just crying all the time. Oh, I feel like crying right now. Oh, my goodness. The things that you've experienced, I mean, that's no wonder you're a fighter for all of these people. Yeah. What do you feel, Megan, is your purpose in life? I really do like to help people. And I think it's every day in my life. If somebody calls and needs legal help, I take the time out of my day to sit there and explain to them the justice system because many people who've never been involved in the justice system, whether it's a civil case or a criminal case, have no idea what to do first. They don't know where to go. They don't know who to talk to. And because I've had the experience of going through it and that's what I do, I sit there and I explain to them. So I'm always trying to help people. Oh, that's so good. That's what life is about. We all have to be helping each other. It makes the world a better place. I think it does, yes. That's why I wrote the book. Trying to inspire everybody in the world. Yes. Megan, if your life was a movie, so far, what would the title be? That's a very difficult question. I know. I would say that I am an unstoppable survivor. I have gone through my own adversities and I know that people go through their own adversities. But the key is, what are you going to do next? What do you do when you're found in that situation? And you've got to survive. And I have survived many, many things. I like that title, Unstoppable Survivor. That's so true. Megan, what's a lesson you've learned in life so far? One of the many lessons I've learned is you have to get up. You've got to be resilient. You've got to get up and you've got to help yourself. Sometimes there won't be anybody there to help you. I mean, many people are very fortunate to have family, to have friends that pick them up and help them through things, but many people don't have. I don't have biological family anymore. And so most of the time I've had to work for what I've gotten. And so you've got to pick yourself up. And you've got to put yourself in a position where you want to be. See where you want to be and go there. Totally agree. I mean, I often would say the quote that it's not how hard you can hit, but how much you can get hit and keep moving forward. And that's you. You're the unstoppable survivor, Megan. What is, Megan, what is your biggest fear? I don't have a lot of fears. I snowboard, I ride motorcycle. I will say injustice in life is one of my biggest fears. I don't appreciate when I see injustice. And so I do whatever I can to help people to level the playing field, to abolish the injustice. Oh, I totally get that. I like that answer. Injustice in life, perfect. What is, what's something that you would like to improve on for yourself? It's something I'm doing currently. I am not a politician. I am a lawyer and I'm a fighter. And that's what I do every day. So I am very direct. I'm very blunt. If someone asks me a question, I give them the answer right away. But I have learned that I have to step back and give the answer a better way. That's what I've learned. Well, you know, and I just met you today and I can already sense, I mean, you're a woman of great character. You're very real. I mean, how important is it to be real nowadays? Well, I don't know how it's to be anything but real. I mean, I don't know. People do tell me that. It's probably because I just answered the question. I think it's very important. And I tell you, when I go out and I talk to people, the first thing they say is, we don't want a politician. And I say, well, I'm not a politician. And you know, so I just answer their questions. Yeah. Who is someone or some people that inspires you? You know, it was hard growing up without having supportive parents because in most kids' lives, it's the parent who guides. And then that's how you learn. But I didn't have strong parental support. And so I always had to find people that I could look up to or mentor. And so I remember very early on teachers at Punahou and later in life, Clayton Curio, who owned one of the CPA firms that I worked for. He's the one that encouraged me to go to law school. He's the one that said, you know, there's an infinite amount of things you can do. And if he hadn't been that person to tell me that, I would not have known, you know. Another one is Peter Carlisle. He has, he taught me how to do trials. I would not be the trial attorney I am, but for Peter Carlisle. So, you know, in turn, I want to be able to provide that to the younger deputies who may or may not have mentors in their lives. Holy, I can see that. I mean, great leaders build other great leaders. And I know, I can already feel it, that you wanna build other great leaders. And I think that's how the public's gonna really get the confidence back in the office again. I hope so. Megan, I wanna ask you, what is some of the best advice you've ever received in your life? Never mind the naysayers. Basically, you know, people are gonna tell you, you can't do this. You know, I can't ride a motorcycle because I'm only four feet, 11 inches. I can't do jujitsu because I'm a girl. I can't run for a prosecutor because X, Y, or Z. And so, I guess the most important thing is, you know, never mind the naysayers. Don't worry about what they're saying. Well, I mean, that's true. I mean, everybody that tells us we can't do something, we're gonna prove them wrong even more, right? Yeah. As soon as someone tells me to not, don't do something, I turn around and I do exactly that. I like that, Megan. So, Megan, I wanna ask you, what is something personally, okay, that you want to do but you just haven't done yet? Well, I wanna win prosecuting attorney for the city of Hongdae, Honolulu. I want to have a bigger impact on our society. You know, I wanna be able to teach younger people, not just lawyers, but this is the way to be, you know, be ethical, be moral, have integrity. If you say you're gonna do something, then do it, you know, and answer people's questions because that's what people want. They just, they want their questions answered. People wanna know things. And so I want to be able to contribute to our community. Yeah, words and actions have to matter. They do. Law and order has to matter. I mean, you know, the other month where they showed the New York police officers getting doused with water, I mean, that was so sad. I mean, how did you feel about that? You know, we don't have that type of police activity here. I mean, thank goodness, we do have a little bit of law and order. And I wanna continue that. I wanna make sure that people know if they're gonna violate the law, they're gonna be punished. But in order to bring that punishment, we have to bring effective prosecution. It has to be timely. It has to be ethical and it has to be relentless. Yeah. Megan, you know, you shared that example of that one court case earlier. Is there another example of another court case that really sticks out to you that you're really proud to help your client with? Yeah, I know you have so many. There are so many. But I will say, in 2009 or 10, I did a very big murder trial. And the victim was somebody that was known to be violent, he had drugs in his system, he had alcohol in his system. And I got a conviction because our citizens of Honolulu spoke the jury and found the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree, even though this person had drugs in his system, even though he had alcohol in his system, even though he had a prior conviction because it doesn't matter who you are, justice has to prevail for everybody. I love hearing that. I love that you're all about justice. Yeah. Megan, how can people that want to support you, how can they support you? They can go to friendsofmagancow.com or you can look us up on Facebook, Friends of Megan Cow. Awesome. Megan, it was such a pleasure meeting you today. Thank you for having me. And it's so great talking with you and just getting to know you and best of luck in the election. Thank you. Awesome having you here. You definitely go beyond the lines. Thank you. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Kauai. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Megan and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.