 Welcome back to our show. Hola, yaloja. We are the voice for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii. My name is Barbara DeLuca, founder and president, along with my co-host, Marisol Ruiz. She's our vice president and co-founder of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce here in Hawaii. So, it's January. I can still say Happy New Year, right? Yes, Happy New Year. Yes. So, hold on. What's left of it? Tomorrow we're going to my desk. So, today's guest is Chris Calderon. She's our franchise owner of Signal Security, Hawaii. She's a certified trainer of a curriculum called Refuse to Be a Victim. And she's also a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce business member, and she's taken on the task of membership committees. So, you'll be hearing from her soon, reaching out to you guys. Today's episode is community awareness. If you see something, say something. Welcome to our show. Welcome to our show, Chris. We're so excited to have you. Can't wait to be in person. How are you? I'm good. It's nice to be here. Thank you guys for having me today. Of course. So, let's just dive right in. Tell us a little bit. Actually, tell us a lot about you. Give us some background information, and we'll just kind of, you know, we'll volley back and forth, but let's just start with who you are. We're really excited to get to know you. Awesome. Well, again, well, thank you to everybody for having me today. So, I'm Chris Felton. I was born and raised along the West Coast, the mainland, California, Washington states. I grew up being in a not very safe environment as a child. So, kind of safety and awareness and those kind of things have always just kind of been a thing that's been ingrained in me just because I grew up in an environment that wasn't super great. So, it kind of started there. I was an athlete growing up. I was a single mom. I was a teenage mom. I had my son when I was 16. When I graduated high school, he turned two just about two weeks later. Well, quick to finish high school. Yeah, yeah. That was not easy, but yeah, doable for sure. Yep. And then a little bit later, a few years later, I had my daughter and I was engaged at the time that ended up not happening, but I went into law enforcement where I kind of honed more skills and kind of was in the community. And while I was in law enforcement, I had a kid that I had arrested multiple times just for nothing super serious, but like fighting in public and those kind of things. I had been on a very long shift and he followed me home after a shift and he set my house on fire where my kids and I were asleep inside. So again, I have to always safety is just something I have learned throughout my path of life. And so I actually got married in my early 20s also. I got out of law enforcement about six months or so after that. And I was married and then of course, because it's just the way my path was going is I married somebody who was very violent. So I ended up in a domestic violence situation. So got out of that. So again, learning how to protect myself, be safe, figure things out. And then I, as my kids grew, both my kids went through high school and graduated to honors. I ended up graduating college with honors and then my kids both graduated college with honors. And so it's just been a struggle. We have fought through a whole lot of things, but God has been faithful and he has never given me something that I haven't been able to figure out and he hasn't been willing to help me through. So I came into security by way of other male dominant industries where I intentionally put myself in places where I'm uncomfortable. If I'm the only person that looks like me, either being a female or being Latina, I always wanna have that one voice at the table that's different from everybody else's. So I've worked highway construction, housing construction, right-of-way work, real estate houses where it was all men. And so the next natural gravitation was into security where again, it's a male dominant industry and I'm the only person that looks like me, but I use that to my advantage. And so it is something that I'm very passionate about keeping people safe and just helping people understand how much control they really have over their own personal space. And so I went into security and I just moved back to Hawaii at the end of August of last year. And now I've launched my franchise with Signal and I am getting ready to teach classes for situational awareness. And I just want to be part of the community and help people understand how much power they actually have and help them kind of regain that and kind of own their space. I'm so excited. I have like a bunch of notes I want to... Let me take it back. You know, one of the first things that you said and you did say you're an open book and I feel that you, whatever you've gone through in your life, you're open to discuss because you don't know who can relate to you or who might need to hear a message that you have. So one of the things that you said right at the beginning was you grew up in a not-so-good environment. Was that like actually in your home or was that like neighborhood? Can you show a little bit of that? I'll be completely transparent and it might be triggering to some people but I will share it. I actually grew up, my very first memory of my life is being sexually molested. And so I grew up not being protected from that. And there was two people in my family who it went on for years and years and years. So I never, growing up, I never felt safe. And then that kind of ended but I also had a very abusive mother. And so with her, I also never felt safe. So once I finally started getting into my own, like my teenage years and then at an early age had my son. So I had to learn, not only was I learning how to protect myself but now I had this new baby and I'm still a kid, right? Having to learn how to keep myself safe and protected but also now I'm responsible for another life. So that, you know, that mom of your instinct it just kicked it up. I don't know how many notches. And I have just kind of been at that higher level since I was a kid because I just didn't feel like there was any other way to operate. And what do you think? I mean, I think this is super fascinating. I mean, we could probably spend hours on just a topic like this alone and then we'll get into more. But what do you think it was because you've accomplished so much, right? You've been a law enforcement entrepreneur, a mother, you know, college, honors. I mean, you've defied the odds, right? And it's like the expectation, I don't even wanna say expectation but, you know, most people that endure those kinds of things, it's like, oh, you made it out alive, so to speak, right? So what do you think? How did you not, what contributes to you not having repeated the cycle, right? Because we see that in our communities where we're a part of something and we don't know any better. I mean, if you're born into domestic violence, sexual abuse, that's what it is. You don't know any different. You knew you weren't safe, but how did you not repeat the cycle? How did you, what, yeah, tell me a little bit about that because I think it's fascinating. Yeah, I think we don't really press into our mindset enough, right? Like I was determined. So growing up, I had, my mom came from, she was one of 13 children. So theos, theas, all my cousins, I had a ginormous family. And I grew up with women who were always telling me like, you're pretty, so you get married and you have your babies and that's, and you'll be happy. And that was all I was ever fit. I was never told, get educated, have a career, start a business. You know, it was never anything that was empowering. It was always just me being submissive to a man who I would then take care of. So I grew up not believing in, I'd never wanted to have kids and I never wanted to get married because that's all I was told I could have. So I wanted everything else that they never talked about. And I would see career women in my neighborhood or even my female teachers, like they had their own car and they lived however they lived. You know what I mean? And that's why I would see these images of females in my community, but then I go home and like learn how to cook and clean. And it was just never enough for me because I kept seeing that there was other options. And so even growing up, even how I grew up, I just had the mindset of that's not enough for me. I don't want to have just a husband and just kids. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't feel like that's what God created me for. And so I didn't want to have that. And so I just kept pressing on, like no matter what happens, there's more for me to do for myself, but I also at a young age had my son. So what kind of example am I if I'm sitting on the couch and crying about it or not making things happen? And you know, and now he's 32 and he owns his own business and he just had a custom home built and he graduated. College is awesome. I got chicken skin because that doesn't happen, right? That doesn't happen, but God has been faithful and he's kept us on a certain track and he's kept us protected in a lot of ways. And so I just think it's mindset. And I think a lot of things in life are on mind game. I can be victim to whatever happens or I can be like, okay, this happened, I'm going to learn and take everything I can from it. And now I'm going to put that in my arsenal because the next thing that comes, now I have all these other things I can choose from and draw the strength and the lessons from it. And then I just, I talk about the all time, everything I go through, I'm going to keep building my arsenal. At some point I'm going to come against something where I've either done it already or it's going to help strengthen my arsenal, but either it all comes down to mindset. It is a great way to put it, right? It's almost like you're in preparation for whatever may come. Like I've never heard it expressed that way. That's really, I like that. I just feel like you got to fight every day, right? Like you can choose to be happy, you can fight for your happiness, you can protect your surroundings and you can protect who you surround yourself by. And all of that is just choices. Right, exactly. You're not a victim, you're a victor. Correct, amen. Is your testimony and you're using everything in your arsenal to help others that have been in your situation. And it's a beautiful thing. Tell us about the Signal Security Hawaii. Yeah, okay. So Signal Security is a franchise. It's a global company. So it's in six states and I think there's 200 something franchises across the US. So in the US, every one of the franchises is locally owned. So like for Hawaii, you are not going to see another signal of Hawaii because I have the whole state is my territory. And so each one of the owners is personally invested in their community. You know, like there's big security companies that are much bigger than ours except that they're also because they're big, they're removed. So they're not committed to specific areas, right? So for me, I am 100% committed to Hawaii only. My support system and my payroll team and all those things, they're all on the mainland but my focus is 100% in Hawaii and nothing else. So I care about the community here, about serving the community here, about building, about partnering. And my sole focus is just here on the islands. And what kind of services do you provide for businesses? So we do, we work with businesses and with HOAs, COAs. So we do two different models really that we provide. One of them is a patrol model where we have a very visible car, a patrol car that we patrol in and out of different areas. And then we also have dedicated services where if it's like a concierge and a hospital say, and they need somebody who is gonna be that eyes and ears at the entrance, then we have somebody who can be placed there for X amount of hours a day. And then we also do events. So if there's a parade or I just recently did an event, I'm not the only one for Make the Wish Hawaii and it's where I provided overnight security to make sure that the event, the next morning that was launching all the equipment was still there, things weren't stolen, stuff wasn't messed up and that kind of thing. So those are the three things that we really kind of get into. Right, so your company, you just started the franchise and I understand you're looking to staff one or two positions or what are you looking for? Yes, I have two full-time clients so far and they are keeping me busy. So I'm kind of writing that sweet spot where I just need one more contract which I'm working on and then I will have some a full-time position for somebody and then potentially a part-time position. And so I am looking for people who have had security backgrounds and who kind of know, but also I'm looking for those people who are looking for a chance who maybe don't have a career path or can't afford to go to college and they don't see another way to grow an income or to provide for their family or to have a career. And I really, there's so much opportunity specifically in this company. And so I want people who are hungry to grow and who are gonna show up for themselves but also for the rest of their team because I will invest everything that I can if I know that I have that commitment from that person and I'm willing to mentor and however I can help build that person because then they can turn around and do that for somebody else. And I feel like that's how our community changes. And that's refreshing to hear as well because there's so many people that, I mean, even myself personally, if I wasn't doing what I was doing, I don't even know what else I would do, right? Like in a career path, there's somebody that might not even have a career path that's refreshing to know that there's a space and there's a place and there's a possibility of a mentor that can take you in a direction and show you opportunities that might, you might not have ever known. I didn't know nothing about the security, the security world, right? But I'm just saying there's a lot of opportunity in there. Well, if you think about it, it's one of those things where we're all about safety and awareness and that's what we're gonna change. The world that we're in now, it just keeps getting crazier and crazier. So the need is even more so. And so I really encourage even, especially women, because I think we bring in different elements, not that there's anything wrong with what the elements that men bring, but I feel like women don't tap into all that we were created to be. I feel like we kind of stay in the safe lanes where this is, you know, how I mentioned before, how I go into male dominant industries on purpose. Because the conversation has to change. We have to be able to fit in wherever we need to fit in. And so I think that if there's women out there who are maybe, like we talked about, maybe don't have a career path or like I don't have a guard card, but maybe that's something I call me. Let's have that conversation. I'm willing to go to bat for somebody who's willing, who's hungry and wants an opportunity. Definitely. And the fact that you're a Latina-owned business and a woman-owned business, and you have the element of surprise because people don't expect it from you. And I like to take this up in those situations on purpose. And so you can grow. That's the only place we grow is when we're uncomfortable. Exactly right. I walk into meetings a lot of times where I've just communicated via email with people and because I go by Chris, not Christina, I walk in and they're like, oh, who are you? And I'm like, I'm Chris. And they're like, what? I'm like, no, no, no, I'm here. I'm here for this meeting. You're gonna hear me, so let's go. That's awesome. Sound like a little troublemaker in a good way. A little bit, a little bit. I always try to rub elbows like, hey, make some space because I'm coming, but my hope is always that there's a group coming behind me. I'm always trying to pave a way like, you know, because I didn't have that as a kid. That's important to me. I only had my theas who, they were all content being wives and moms. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I just knew that wasn't for me. And so my hope is that I'm giving somebody else some kind of inspiration or an example to go, you know what, I can do that too. And so if I can help open a door and bring somebody else alongside me and say, hey, let's start here. And you can go anywhere you want, then my life has purpose if I'm helping somebody else find their purpose. Right. And you were saying too, as far as like, you know, you wanna be really involved in the community, as far as your line of work and your business and what would that look like? Like, have you done that before in other, you know, maybe in Nebraska or anywhere else or in the mainland? What would that look like? What would you, what do you want it to be? Right. Like what do you envision for that? Because we're here to support you and make all those things happen. So we're excited. You mean in terms of like my involvement or what exactly do you mean? Yeah, or like training. I think you were saying earlier, right? Like to, I don't know if it's education or I mean, I'm thinking security. I'm like, oh, maybe is it a self-defense class? Is it a? Oh, I understand. You know, anything like that? Okay, so I also actually, I have another side hustle that I do. I actually teach a curriculum called Refuse to Be a Victim. Okay. And it's mostly, or really, I've mostly taught women and I think it was designed that way. But after so many years, I think men kind of got involved because it's valuable information. I actually teach a curriculum that's called Refuse to Be a Victim. And it really talks about situational awareness and helping people understand how much power they have really in their own environment and how to keep themselves safe. So things to watch out for, things to avoid, you know, where to park in a parking lot, how to protect your home. You know, a lot of it is instinct. If you have a gut feeling, you know, if you get in an elevator and there's only one or two other people and you feel something, get off the elevator. Trust yourself, right? But I think people in the day and age we live and are so afraid to offend someone else. Like I don't want to hurt their feelings by getting off. But your hurt feelings are okay with me if I'm going home tonight and I can see my family again. Your hurt feelings are gonna have to be bypassed. So I always try to make people understand like you really have so many choices in your day, in your everyday life. And it really is gonna dictate whether you keep yourself safe or not. And it's literally just paying attention. And it's those things that people don't think about because we're busy, we're going from the work to the grocery store that may have to go home and make dinner or we're dropping kids off for sports. We gotta be at church or whatever. And so you get in your mindset of the routine but it only takes somebody else a day or two to pay attention to what you're doing and now they know your routine. And if you're not paying attention, they are. And we get so busy that we don't think about those things. And so I always want to be that voice like, hey, take a different route home tomorrow. Or you go on a walk every day at 6 a.m., tomorrow take a different route. Or on Tuesdays go somewhere different. Or something like that because your pattern, you have to break different patterns because you don't ever know really who's watching you. You know, and it's not only, I mean, that's really interesting. It's not only that we're so busy, would you say we're really distracted? Very much. I mean, I just had, yes, we've had that conversation. I will not be on my phone in public. It doesn't matter if I'm in a shopping center, if I'm in the mall where it like doesn't matter, I will not be on my phone in public because if I'm paying attention and I'm listening for what's happening on the phone, now I'm not paying attention to the people who might be watching me. Or the person who's 10 steps behind me, I'm not hearing the footsteps because I'm listening to what's on my phone. So everybody knows if I'm running errands, if I'm in my car, it connects to my car and I'm locked in the car and I'm safe that way and I can listen and talk while I'm driving. But if I don't care if I'm at an ATM or the grocery store or wherever, I will not be on my phone until I'm back in my car or back home where I'm in control of my surroundings. You know, reflecting back on that person that lit your house on fire, I bet that was a huge learning experience for you and I would drive your passion to teach situational awareness. Yes, very much so. Yeah. How long were you in law enforcement, Chris? I was only about two years and I was in that situation where I was the only female on my squad. So anytime that we went to any sort of call, I was always the target because I was the smallest one and I was the only female. Right. But I got to do a lot of, I mean, for me it's fun things, but I got to do like undercover drug buys and I've sat through autopsies and all those kind of crazy things that nobody really likes to do. But I love to learn and push myself so that, you know, if I go into a situation where I'm uncomfortable, I'll figure out a way to get comfortable and then I gotta find the next situation to make me uncomfortable because then I continue to level up and just continue to grow. Leveling up, you have such a seeking spirit. I love it. Yeah. So Chris joined the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce with her business and has volunteered to reach out to our members and join the membership committee. Not just join it, but edit. So yeah, we're meeting in a couple of weeks so I look forward to that and seeing how, you know, we can reach out to the community. Like you said, you wanna get back and put yourself in a situation where you're continuing to level up. So we're all gonna level up together. Yes, I look forward to it. So you're, oh, sorry, your curriculum, when do you teach it or how, were you gonna ask that, Marisol? Yeah, okay. Exactly. I was more about that. Okay, so I just, I have not done any classes yet this year, still early in the year, but I'm looking to do, I'm thinking probably the first or second Saturday of every month and it's an in-person class. So I'm probably going to start them in Mililani just because it's, you know, here. And I'm just looking for women who want to cut, you know, it's a whole curriculum. There's a slide show. We have, you know, Q&A, open discussions about things that actually happen in the world. You get a booklet that you can take notes and then refer back to, you know, there's, we talk about things that how to fortify your home, you know, changing little things here and there and how to keep it more safe and things not to do. And so I really, people that are hungry. And I think, honestly, I think everybody should be hungry for that knowledge. Everybody lives in the same world that I see on the news every single day. And, you know, I see stuff on social media and we all live in that same world. So I can't imagine that there's anybody out there who doesn't want to protect themselves or protect their home or their family. And it's not, you know, come out guns blazing and you have this huge arsenal of crazy equipment. It's literally just paying attention, taking small steps to protect your space and then just being aware, you know, especially for parents, like you have another level of protection, you have to provide for your children. And if you're not even protecting yourself and in that mindset, who's looking out for your kids? And so I really just feel like everybody should take these, not because it benefits me in any way, but our community starts to change when people stop being victims. Right. Like my life changed because I didn't want to be a victim. Of all the things that have happened, I could have sat and been like, okay, this is where I'm at, but okay, so what am I going to learn from it and how is it going to strengthen me? And let's go then because now I have this other thing in my arsenal and now the next thing that comes, I can pull from the knowledge I've already earned. And we never think, right? I mean, we're like, oh, we're in Hawaii and it's safe and aloha and all this. And you don't think it's going to happen to you until it like happens to you or somebody close. And then you're like, what just happened? Like right, Barbara went over Christmas, the young mother that was shot and killed by her husband. I mean, you don't think about these things, right? Before Christmas and people closest to you, right? And you're not, you're not prepared. You don't think it's going to happen to you until it does. Right. I'm here in Mililani in the parking lot. Remember Chris, were you here yet? Walmart. She was just pushing her baby stroller in the parking lot and somebody attacked her with a tire iron. Right. It's situational awareness. Can she have seen him coming? I don't, I don't know. Right. Exactly. But it's all choices, right? But it's all choices, right? Like it's where you park. It's, do you go to the store in the morning or do you go in the evening? And do you park under lights or do you park next to a big van that doesn't have any windows where the sliding door is right next to your door? Like those are the things I look at. Like it's easy to start noticing those things once you get in the mindset of you have to own your own safety. Like we have security guards and we have police but that's reactionary. So the first person that can protect you is you. So why wouldn't you want to own that and keep yourself safe? Especially, I always think especially if you have kids. Yeah. That's kind of like the doctors. You go to the doctors but you have to ask more questions and get a second opinion. You have to advocate for yourself. They're their resource, the same thing with the police. They're not gonna, you know, it's too late to protect you after the assault has happened. Right, exactly. They're just basically taking a report, right? And police, what do you think about how many people they have to service? They can't be there for all of us but each one of us can be there for ourselves and for our family and for our immediate, you know, our apartment complex or our office building or, you know, people that are in line at the ATM with us. Like if it only takes one person to pay attention and then it changes the entire situation for everybody that's involved. And isn't it true, right? Like the gut, like you always know, right? If you go back and you're like, oh, I had this even if it's just a little tiny, little, I don't know, little thing in your head or in your tummy and then you look back and you're like, I knew but we don't have, yeah, I don't know what it is that we don't always pay attention. Yeah, I think we come to a kind, yeah, we don't trust ourselves. We're like, maybe we're overly sensitive. You know what? I don't think overly sensitive and safe, then ignore it and now I'm regretting ignoring it, right? Like it's like I talk to people about, you know, when you take a walk, if you're taking a walk and you see one or two people coming at you and you're like, it's just a little bit sketchy, cross the street, go into a store, pretend like you're going to get your hair in whatever is the closest place, go into that. If it's, if you're in a neighborhood and there's nowhere else to go, cross the street, go the opposite direction, figure out a different way to re-wound that, but pay attention because if you're walking towards somebody and you didn't take that second to remove yourself, now you put yourself in a situation and you did it voluntarily, right? And so I'm always, and I know that it's offensive maybe to some people like, why would you think that of me? I was just walking. You know what? I can't put your personal feelings in front of my personal safety. That has to come first, right? And so I'm not a person that's gonna go out and hurt people's feelings intentionally, but if that's, if your hurt feelings is the worst thing that happens, I can live with that. I love that. Maybe we can, let's discuss bringing Chris to one of our Buenos dias breakfast. I know, I was thinking about that. Yeah, I would love to. Yeah, thank you so much for your time. I mean, we could go on and on and on. We don't have much time in that, but we'll do another part. Definitely at our Buenos dias breakfast. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and your time with us. And how do we reach you, Chris? What's the best way? You can reach me at, my email is at ChrisC teamsignal.com. And my number is 808-399-6593. My phone's never off and working 24-7, so you can call or text me anytime. I love it. She's a hustler. Woman with a purpose on a mission. Yes. Thanks for joining us. This is Ola Ialoja, I'm think tech Hawaii. Thank you for the platform. And we've been talking today with Chris Calderon. She's the franchise owner of Signal Security, Hawaii. She just told you how to reach her. And thank you to our viewers for joining us today. I'm Barbara DeLuca. My co-host is Marisol Ruiz, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, you guys. Thank you for joining us. Hola. I mean, adios, Ialoja. Adios.