 Hello, and welcome to Connecting Hawaii Business on ThinkTech Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee, and I am your host for this program. Today, I am excited to have Gina Sequenia, our guest on the show to talk about business and community. Gina, welcome to the show. Hello. Thanks for being on here. I appreciate you so much. Tell our viewers about yourself. Oh, I am Gina Sequenia. I am the executive director at the Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council. It's an organization that represents 18 construction trade unions throughout the state of Hawaii, advocate, construction industry, interests, best interests of the billions, 18 construction trade unions which makes up billions of building trades. One in reason Hawaii, not a foundation. I'm involved in all kinds of different community programs, so boards and, yeah, you ask the way and how little that you got. And I'm going to talk about so many organizations. Gina, I feel like every time we catch up, you've joined another organization or another board. And I commend you so much on that. I believe that takes up a lot of time. Let's start with HBCTC. How did you get into the organization and now being the executive director of it? How did everything lead up to that? Maybe I'll give you a little more history. I used to be the district representative, which is the head of the operators union, operating engineers, local tree union here in Hawaii. So basically the heavy equipment operators, all those trains, bulldozers, excavators, and stuff like that that you see on these construction projects. I was the head of that union from 2008, 2012. You left, went out on a field and worked a couple of years with a company called Franklin Joe Instruction. Then 2014, the head of the laborers union, which is the guys that are construction labor, guys in the trenches and all doing the heavy labor work, like shoveling and laying the pipe and stuff like that. It hired me to be the governor and relations director. My actual title there was Government and Community Relations Director. I worked for that organization for a couple of years. And to be able to get a lot of good relationships with the politician legislators, being a labor leader myself for four years prior. 2019, my name got dropped in the hat for this executive director position. And we think this aligns with my relationships with the unions, the different unions and labor leaders, politicians and stuff like legislators and some of the contractors made it a perfect fit. That's awesome. What are some of the highlights of your position so far? What do you think are the best parts of it, especially when it comes to helping people out? My position, I pretty much advocate for the construction industry, but not only the construction industry, but also my affiliates make up who I do the construction trades. As I mentioned before, about 18 open. The electricians, plumbers, painter, iron workers, masons, we knew they were teamsters. Every construction trade union out there were the exception of the carpenters I represent. So when I advocate for projects, developers, they call me and they have this job that they want to push through. And it has to go through a process, like maybe people with board, city council, land use commission, stuff like that, HCDA, they're different steps they have to go through to give the job a pass. So things that I do now, probably come into fruition years from now. So for example, I was a big supporter of rail back in 2007. And luckily, just in full circle, I was able to ride the rail last week. That was the other week. We jumped on the rail for the first time. And I hit up the grand opening. And I was there at the grand opening also. So things like that, but things that I now probably benefit people probably years, maybe like four plus years from now, these jobs do get going and start to break ground and start being built. That's wonderful. And going back to what I had mentioned earlier, your involvement with community and tying it with what you do is very crucial. But I want you to talk more about that. Why is it important to be involved in the community to help out with whatever it is you do for a living? Well, I think a lot of what we do is part of the community, affects the community. I mean, we talked about rail or projects, infrastructure, movements, housing, all of these things that we support. We advocate for and affect the community. So it's good to have a positive image out there. When I came on, we did some rebranding. Maybe sometimes so many unions get a bad rap. Kind of like, you know, we think we're like that. And just it's like, we are way around. Nothing like that. Oh, we stand together to get more accomplished. And fortunately, we've been able, all those things that we've been able to do. Yet, plus where we are today, estimate the hard work that everybody put in the past. So I just want to continue to do that and continue to get back to the community of our members. So our affiliates, affiliate has members. Example, the Peners Union or the Flumbers Union. Their members are, let's say you have just, for example, the Electrician Union might have 2,000 members. So that's 2,000 people living out there in the community. And members of the Electrician Union. But the Electrician Union is part of the beauty trade. Electively, if we put all the cities together and counted their members, their membership, we come out to over 30,000 plus members. And that makes up a good chunk of the community of our population of all I.S.O. And their families, right? So yeah, their families in there also. Yeah, I was having a conversation with an individual earlier this week about unions. And I would love to learn from you what unions do for its members and employees. Because I feel like you can speak to this the best. What is the value of unions when it comes to employees and employees? Unions, you fight for worker rights, fight for better wages, better benefits. A lot of people in the workforce, a lot of them want to become part of a union because they know the unions get the best wages, right? Their I.S. aid in their craft, their trade. They have the best medical. I mean, their medical programs are one out of second to none. Their Ironman plans, Asian plans. There's a lot of, I guess, fringe benefits that benefit workers extremely besides having the protection of a union in case they get wrongly terminated. And if you're in a private sector and you're not part of a union or can just terminate you, terminate you, that's it. Where if you were part of a union, you'd have to have, if he's in just cause, buddy or else, you need to look down and all the grievance and kind of fight for your job back. And so all of those things, there's a lot of things in history that, you know, medical coverage, vacation pay, holidays off. That's all because of unions and what unions has done. Pass. So unions is very, very important. Labor, it's a big part of the workforce. And yeah, and construction in Hawaii, construction, and you saw it in, I have to jump around, but you know, when COVID, when tourism was down, you know, construction kept everybody working, at least our members were looking at it, but it may have been even worse. So it kept Hawaii's economy going. Yeah, I'd like you for that. I want to segue now into your community involved because I think you're the best person to talk about this. So I met you because I wrote a story about you since you came up, founded the Mariano Sepulveda Foundation. Tell us a bit more about that. OK, well, long story short, I started the foundation. My dad's from the Philippines. He wrote on his golf course in the Philippines, real poor, self-taught. And he became good at golf, became a caddy. And he was a caddy for this one English guy, and this English guy, it's a big way for the stevedores. One day my dad was in a courage to ask this guy, English guy, help get him out of the Philippines so he could have better opportunities abroad. And at 17 years old, he'd tell me the stories how he died on his application since he was even 18 years old. He kissed his brothers and sisters with wine on the night and left. And basically never to return, years, years, years later. So he was able to get a guam and he was working off for two to three years. He was able to send money back, money work, money was making big abroad, better opportunities. And he was able to join the US Army. And then I said the rest is history. Because after that, all of the army lived here at the station here last. He lived here and went back to the Philippines, married my mom. I was fortunate enough to be born here in the United States. My dad always, even back to the Philippines, should always want to give back, give back to the community that he was working for, that he left, that he grew up in, that golf course that he learned golf from. But he passed away in 2012 and never complete what he started. So when he was in hospice, I made him a promise that I finished what he started with. So fast forward, maybe about 2016, I went to the Philippines, a trip with my mom, then a funeral, my auntie, and I went and kept that promise. And I went to the golf course, what a cousin of mine, over what my plan was. She offered some people and then introduced me to board members of the golf course, which turned around and said, hey, let's start a junior golf scholarship program in your dad's name. That's how it started. So went back a couple months later, interviewed 30 kids, partnered with the city county of Santa Barbara, which is a town that he grew up in. It's called Lugilo. And I sponsored 10 kids and the city of Santa Barbara's 10 kids. So what we did was we paid 1,000 pesos, which is about $20 US, and just each kid. So I was basically $200 in my pocket every month. That happened for about four years. And I said, well, it has to become self-sustaining. I can't keep on paying money out of my whole pocket. All my relationships that I have and his community and all the people that I know, I mean, he would be able to donate if I had a 501 C3 nonprofit. So I started a nonprofit organization all at the Mariano Suquena. I grew up seeing Suquena, but the correct way is Suquena. And it's Suquena? Suquena. I know that it is. He is K. Hi. K, and then the N-year, it's N-year. So I'm trying to say it that way nowadays. But when I started that foundation, and I started putting in more programs in, I also started up in kids here in Hawaii. Because I didn't want to know a fundraiser here in Hawaii and ask businesses for my foundation and I shipped every penny off to a different country, right? So I helped kids here through my dad's foundation. Also, I picked one boy and one girl. Some of them belong to the Ball Program, $1,500 scholarship. Last year, we had Baldwin High School from Maui. She wanted a boy from that scholarship. We still have the N-kids, or now it's 20 kids, in Santa Barbara. I have another foundation, another program under the foundation. My mom went to a university there. So while we select one student a year, before right, we should have a boy a year. First, a scholar was a nurse. And she's a second year now. And then last year, we selected another scholar. So we're selecting our third one this coming school year. Before that, there's an orphanage there that my mom will fit in. It's an island called Ymeros. So we help that orphanage out, send them their stuff by, send stuff like that, and that should help. And the last is a program here in Maui, of the Kalani Maui Memorial Scholarship. Kalani Maui was the guy who hired me, operating engineers. He was a labor leader. And he hired me as a business agent. And when he got promoted, an officer in a mainland, then that's when I became the head of Hawaii, operating engineers in Hawaii. And if it wasn't for him, I don't think I'd be having all these great relationships with all the people that I have great relationships with. I wouldn't be where I'm at right now. So I'm sorry, he passed away. Fortunately, he passed away early just before he turned 55, expected he had. So I asked the family if I could honor him by starting a program and putting that under my focus. Loseful overall. Programs are under my focus. Well, everything that you're doing, being the executive director of HVCTC, bonding and organization, and running your annual golf tournament, as well as doing fundraisers and the 50 other boards that you're on. How do we call Alzheimer's Association? Yeah. Thank you. So how do you balance all that? How do you find the time? Well, this is what I say. It's funny. I'm also a freemason. And before I became a freemason, I hold myself. Jeez, I don't know if I have enough time to dedicate to becoming a freemason. But when I went through it and I became a freemason, a mastermason, I loved it so much that it's all I do now is I make time. I get involved. I'm part of the Shriners, which also I'm going to be probably on the board of the Shriners Hospital. So besides being the Alzheimer's Association of Hawaii, I love Bank of Hawaii and seem to be a Shriners Hospital boy. And then at the Filipino Chamber, the Filipino Chamber. And then at the Filipino Chamber, yeah. And now it is just out of my body of mind. You know, Jerome, Jake, Jake Ardana, Jerome Ardana, you know, Jerome, he says, hey, I'm the director and I was told I had one of the most votes of the board of directors. I was like, oh, yes. But you know, for me, it's an honor because I really wanted to get involved with the Filipino community. I wasn't born in the Philippines. I was born and raised here. I kind of, you know, the history of my family in the Philippines and just being probably Filipino. Yes, this comes from circle. What would, for people who are watching or listening to this, what would you like to tell them in regards to combining both what you do for a living and community involvement? What is one message or one lesson that you would like to share? Oh, for somebody who wants. Regina. So I don't want to be Regina. Yeah. Relationships. That's my one word when I value my relationships. I have great relationships with a lot of people. You have integrity. When you say something, you're going to do something. You do the right thing. And then when nobody's looking there, right? And as having integrity, all of that kind of stuff, you know, then all that you meet, I say three things, right? You establish the relationship. You build on a relationship. And the last is you strengthen. I don't see that place that when I know me most that lesson. So then you have relationships. It sure is that I have a seat at the table. Well, part of the discussion of the decision made just opened a lot of doors. You know, I get asked to be boards and I are except beyond it. And yeah, that's the secret. Relationships. And that's how you're on 50 boards. Thanks, Gina. With a few minutes that we have left, is there anything else that you would like to add? No, I mean, I just want to thank you guys for the opportunity. Thank you for the relationship that I had with you. I think you guys are going to be training me on a world still no career again, because I was the executive of the year of Schultz and people, Chamber of Commerce. It's coming up over and being our foundation is being recognized and for his big by me on yellow. Bill Palm Center is putting on that. I'm blessed. Wouldn't trade it for any. Well, thank you, Gina, so can you see I'm I'm going along to the way you're saying too. Thank you, Gina, for being on the show today. I appreciate you and my friendship with you as well. So thank you for that. You and thank you to the thing tech Hawaii as well for making shows like this possible today. We had a leech and Michael helping us out. And thanks to Jay Fiddle. Until next time, I love it. Thank you so much for watching think tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please click the like and subscribe button on YouTube. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out our website think tech Hawaii.com Mahalo.