 Welcome to At the Crossroads. I'm your host, Keisha King, and we like to bring you conversations that are real and relevant right here at the Crossroads. Now usually, this is where I say you can catch me live at five every Wednesday, but there's going to be a change to my schedule. So I'm going to give you more at four on Mondays. Oh yeah! So I hope that you are ready for the change. Be on the lookout. I'll put more information about that on my personal Facebook Live page, but all of that aside, today I am more than just a little bit delighted to share with you my very special guest who is joining us today right here live in the studio. Now many of you know him as one of Hawaii's favorite comedians, if not your personal favorite. Everybody knows him. Everybody loves him. He sold out the Blaisdale folks. Yeah, I read it. It was on Google, so you know it's true. That's how it goes, right? Here's our very own local style, Augie T. This is awesome. I feel like I'm in your home. Well, technically, it looks like it, right? But no, it's not my house. It's not as nice, right? Can we jump on that couch right now? I want to get on that couch. I'm going to look out that window and have that view. Not to mention, we're going to get into it a little bit later in the second half of the show, but maybe some people can afford to live like that, right? If they follow some of the systems in your program that you were telling me about. You know what? If you guys are interested, thank you for letting me share about that because, you know, I just read recently that Hawaii is ranked 44 when it comes to financial illiteracy. Oh my. And honestly, you know, I wasn't aware of that because a lot of us were taught by our parents and our grandparents that we have to do and work money a certain way. Right. Not knowing that, you know, there's other ways we can put money back in our pocket. So honestly, if you're really interested, you can always get a hold of me. I do lunch and learns. Okay. I'll bring lunch. Oh, really? I'll show all of our teachers because I know you guys work hard. We do. Businesses. Yeah. I'll do one-on-ones. Okay. So follow Sweet Strategies. So log on to the website SweetStrategies.com and I promise this will blow you away. Wow. Well, my mind is already blown. Look at me. Blown. Mind blown. But we want to talk about something else that you have going on. So as I mentioned in the intro, we know you for comedy. We know you for acting. We know you for voiceovers and radio station. All those wonderful things. And we congratulate you on all the success that those careers have. That those careers brought you. We thank you for bringing us years of laughter, but that's not the only thing you do. That's not the only thing that you're known for. That's not what you're doing right now. No. So tell me, what is it that you're doing right now? You know, outside of trying to help people, you know, get on track financially and getting on the road to success. You know, about five years ago, my daughter created a foundation called Brave Hawaii. Brave is an acronym to be respectful and value everyone. She was bullied when she was 11 years old. At 13, she wrote a book called It's Okay to Be Different. Wow. You know, and it was published. A lot of people got the book. She started reading. She did pageants. And that's part of the reason why she got bullied, because girls that she was friends with called her fat. You know, teased her. She's a beautiful girl, by the way. We have a picture right here. We're going to show you and her. And she is, you know, and she's such a great kid, like, you know, like, I love all my kids. You kind of look at, well, you know, you have your favorites. Oh, you do? You're allowed to have favorites? Yeah, and I go, that's the one going to buy me my house. Yeah. But you know, she's such a good kid. And she's such a, she's a go-getter. So, you know, she started reading her book at schools. And then she started reading about stories on how kids were doing bad things to themselves because of bullying. And luckily, you know, with the help of my wife, you know, she was able to express how she was feeling inside. Yeah. Because that is the first step. I mean, if your kid is being bullied, honestly, in school, outside of school, you know, you got to get involved. You got to find out what's going on in your kid's life. It's just so important that you talk with them. You know what I mean? Yes. I mean, I know a lot of us are two, three jobs, but you'd be surprised if you just give your child a moment to let them express themselves. Yeah. Five, 10 minutes, you'll find a lot in there. You know, we're able to see that because we're always constantly asking questions about school. And we notice different behaviors. You know how she started not expressing, not wanting to go to school. That's right. And that quickly became like a warning, a red flag for us. So we got in there, we talked, and we found out what happened. And a lot of kids don't get that kind of support. And I understand because I grew up in a very dysfunctional family. Just like the rest of us. Yes. So I understand wholeheartedly, you know, when I see and I read emails about kids being bullied and parents, you know, emailing us, what can we do? What can you do? Like, you know, I only bring awareness. I wish I could do more, but really that's all I do. And I hope that our message will, you know, spread so that kids will stop doing that. Kids will respect. Kids will stop really honoring each other, you know, and helping each other out instead of, you know, bullying. The reality is that it'll probably never end because we have bullies in our workplace. And a lot of them are great leaders, believe it or not. And a lot of them use that as a way to, like, you know... Mindful manage and time their way to the town. You know, they might not believe the way they did in school, but they use that trait to get them to where they like be at. And, you know, a lot of it is because, you know, maybe we get involved too early and not letting the kid process the whole experience. Right. You know, we can overprotect their parents. Pretty soon, it's, you know, it's so glamorized now. We only hear about the bad things. We don't hear about the kids that overcombo-ing and do some amazing things. And that's where, like, you know, going into the schools, you hear a lot of the stories, but then you also hear stories of kids who persevere and go, I'm not going to let anybody talk to me that way. And amazing things happen. They become amazing students, you know, and they get a backbone. That's what we want to try to do, right? We want to give our kids backbones. But at the same time, listen, you know, and encourage. Yes. You know, so, you know, we're doing that. So my daughter, you know, she started reading books and she was like, Papa, we got to do more than just read books. Right. There's middle school kids. There's, you know, high school kids. And, you know, and that's where it all led to me getting, and you know, I love Frank Delima and Frank, if you watching this, I love you to death, but I never like turned into Frank Delima. Oh, no. You know what I thought? If I did that, everybody would think that I, you know, try to copy Frank Delima and sing songs. Yeah. It's totally different because that's not who I am. And amazing thing happens, you know, like I grew up really poor and we live in Hawaii, it's beautiful, but believe it or not, there's a lot of people that challenge, you know, my family was one of them and we grew up extremely poor. But in the last couple of years, doing the program with my wife and my daughter, going into schools, going into communities, and I've seen a lot of people that need so much help. And I've never seen poor the way I've seen poor. Like I grew up poor, but I've never seen poor. Like that. And it's so hard because like we automatically, if you have a great heart, you want to help, right? You want to help everybody. You have a big heart. So I want to show a picture of you guys in the schools because I think what you're doing is amazing. So right here, we're going to take a look at pictures of this is you, your daughter. Yeah. Right. And she's the one in the middle with the Miss Team Cosmos. Awesome. Yeah. So she's the current national queen and we use pageantry to inspire and empower young women, you know, they do pageants, but they go into the schools, they do community service. Yeah. They share about, you know, what they're learning through pageantry and to like, you know, uplift other girls. Yeah. And pageants not expensive because I know pageantry can be expensive. Yes. To make it super affordable so that every girl can do this and every girl can experience feeling beautiful, being heard, you know, because we want a confident and, you know, inspiring. Yes. Yes. Oh, thank you. Yeah. We want strong young women and we can only do that if we develop them and we have to start young in order to get that going. So you guys are starting in the elementary schools. Mm-hmm. You have a program in the middle school. Yes. So we do, if schools want us to come over and do the elementary school program, we do skits. Right. And she shares about her bullying experience. She reads a little bit about the, she reads the book. And then we do skits. Yeah. Because our kids are smart, you know. Oh, yeah. They know how to use the correct words and they know what words hurt other people. Right. So we have a skit that describes what the bully looked like. Mm-hmm. And then we also give the kids an opportunity to help the bully. Ah. Yeah. It's effective. A lot of it, yeah. A lot of it is stereotype. Mm-hmm. And once you get, take away the stereotype and what a bully looks like. Mm-hmm. Well, we perceive what the bully looks like. Mm-hmm. We realize that they're just like everybody else going through the same thing. Yes. And what we want to try to do is empower children to speak up. Mm-hmm. So when you go to www.bravehawaii.org, we try to get kids to like, if you can, get on camera, ask your parents and talk about your experience because there's nothing like hearing it from another kid. Right. Right. You know, when a kid hears another kid talking about it, what happens? Magic. Exactly. And we talk about in the program how words are powerful. I do a little exercise. Mm-hmm. And how I'm using words. And I know this because I'm a comic. Mm-hmm. So, you know, even comedy has, you know, really taken some hits because of living a politically correct word. Yes. You gotta watch what you say. I understand that. Luckily, I have a very dysfunctional family. So, a lot of comedy, I'm teasing myself, self-deprecating, and I'm talking about my family and the stereotypes in Hawaii, which we all know and we love and we laugh at. Mm-hmm. But I also know that using one word can really mess up an old act. Yes. It's the same way when you talk to somebody on a daily basis, one word can ruin a kid's day, a teacher's day. Yes. Every day. Everybody. Yes. So, we talk about the power of words. Right. Yeah. And we give them a lot of stats. Mm-hmm. Because we want them to see that, you know, only you and your school is being affected by bullying. There's a lot of people. Right. I mean, even nationally. Mm-hmm. We know our current president and First Lady have a big, huge program going for bullying. Right. Right now. Because it has gone on a national level that bullying is one of the top reasons for children dropping out of school. Mm-hmm. Children committing suicide. Correct. There was just an article I read recently. I think it was about a young girl who had been bullied so much she committed suicide. Yeah. That should not happen. And it shouldn't. Anyway, that's why when you saw the video at HSDA, I cried because, you know, a lot of it is, you know, as a comic, I'm supposed to look at things really objective and I'm not supposed to block out the noise, you know. And then when you hear and you see the pain and, oh man, it's hard. And then, you know, you gotta look at your own personal life and your own personal challenges. And you realize the stuff will never, ever end unless, you know, we all, you know, and I know it's hard, but I believe that if, you know, majority of us can just, you know, show kindness and love and respect. Yes. Wow. It's a game changer. Yeah. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. To like give money. Right. I'm just saying, hey, why don't I say, hi. Watch your words. Yeah. Like just use your words. You look awesome today. Oh, thank you, by the way. You know, yeah. You know, little things like that is like the most pretty. Yeah. It makes a difference in someone's day. Yeah. And the whole objective in the elementary school program is letting the kids talk. Yes. Because they're holding, and a lot of times, believe it or not, the bullies are in the skit because the bullies are the first one to go. I go, anybody want to volunteer? They're the first ones because, you know, they don't want to be on the center of attention. Usually, right? Right. I'll do it. And then they realize, man, when I go, so how do we help Techno Tim? And you know, you get the classmates going, you should take some nice things online. Aww. You know, because they have to solve the problem. Uh-huh. You know, I go, why is Tim bad? Why is Techno, because we give them memes. Well, you know, he says bad things on the internet. You know, he pretends he's me. And so they know. And that's the most, like for me, it's like, you know, you look at these kids, you see these fresh faces and you go, wow, okay, they're smart. They're smart. Our kids today are super smart. They definitely, they know the language, they read the cues, they are on social media all the time and they're talking about all sorts of things. When we come back, we're going to take a break now. When we come back, we're going to jump back into this conversation. We're going to touch on some other things that you have coming up that I'm super excited about. So come back to us. We're going to be right here at the crossroads. Hey, Loja. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii airing every Wednesday here on Think Tech Hawaii, live from the studios. I'll bring you guests. I'll bring you information about the things in security that matter to keeping you safe, your co-workers safe, your family safe, keep our community safe. We want to teach you about those things in our industry that, you know, may be a little outside of your experience. So please join me because security matters. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Gwen Harris, the host here at Think Tech Hawaii, a digital media company serving the people of Hawaii. We provide a video platform for citizen journalists to raise public awareness in Hawaii. We are a Hawaii nonprofit that depends on the generosity of the supporters to keep on going. We'd be grateful if you'd go to ThinkTechHawaii.com and make a donation to support us now. Thanks so much. We're back. And I don't know how, but we were talking about Carnival rides during the break. What is what? Well, you know, I'm here with this guy, Agatee, comedian extraordinaire, but also a man who is about purpose, and that is to help change the world. One child at a time. One child at a time, man. I don't know about extraordinaire. I tell people that I just got lucky. I told the truth on stage. And then I started seeing people pay for me to tell the truth on stage. And I went, oh, so that's how it works. Right, because for almost 16 years, I worked at a hospital. I did two, three jobs. I was a teen dad. Wow. You felt like us. Yeah. Normal folks. Yeah. And I told the story of a very dysfunctional family. So if you ask me, I'll tell you a joke. I don't tell jokes. I tell stories of life and dead stuff that cracks me up. So I haven't done comedy for a while now, like maybe a couple months. And something funny happened to me the other day. And I went, oh, man. And I find myself wanting to write. And then I go, I don't want to go down that room hole, because if I do, I was like, okay, maybe I got to go on a road now. And I'm part of stepping away from comedy so that I can reflect on the last 27 years and find out where did this stuff, I stopped having fun. You know what I mean? I loved doing comedy, but it became work. Work. And a lot of us go to jobs that we hate, but we have to do that to support our families. I just felt like it was work. And yeah, I'm trying to find the magic again. If it doesn't come, I did what I wanted to do and I wanted to accomplish. Yeah. You accomplished your goal while doing that, which is a wonderful thing. I think there was a lot of personal development in that because laughter is the best medicine. Yes. And I think you definitely caused a lot of laughter for others. And you just said you cracked yourself up. Correct. You know, I always tell people, I'm always amazed when I see a line of people coming in to watch me do comedy because they tell me, and I have seen some of the, and heard some of the greatest stories of people who came to my shows the last 27 years, and they came because somebody in their family was dying from cancer and how that helped their life for that moment, got into accidents and they're coming to the show as a remembrance how they were like down and out and they came to the show and they laughed and one guy, because I have two openly gay sons, one guy who was in prison and he saw the DVD and he said he made the decision not wanting to disown his son. And this is a, this guy, I was scared to talk to him. He saw me at like Don Quixote how we need to use bathrooms and he was like, talk to him and I was like, oh no. Here he comes. But he was like, he all got, he said that he wanted to kill his son. Oh wow. Because it was like, it was like, yeah, you know, believe that, you know, and he said, I watched the video and you know, what you saw was a little frustration for me. And when I was saying stuff like, you know, not everybody created the chill, you know, everybody wants their sons to be like, you know, I wish my son would be Sugar Ray learning because I was a boxer. Okay. I remember that. Not a ballerina. But you know, and I was like, people laugh about it. But then, you know, I love my kids, but then that was the frustration at that time. And at the end of the day, that's our children. That's the same child that we held in our arms and we said, I was going to do whatever I can to make sure that you're taking care of. And at some point, they make their own choices. Right. And that's something that I cannot stop. Right. You know, and I told them that they're going to have to live with, they're going to have to live with the fact that they're going to always get criticized and that not everybody agree on their lifestyle. And you have to respect that. Yeah. You know, a lot of times we hear so much, like that's why I love social media, but I hate it because now everybody has a voice to be loud. Yes. You know, and they're not really helping. And a lot of times the loudest ones create the hugest. The hugest following. Yes. So if you find somebody that's loud like you, then you band together and now you are this whole big social media bullying gang. Correct. And that's not what we want. That is certainly not what it was designed for. And you know, because dad is an entertainer, I got attacked a lot. But I think I have a really tough skin and my kids have seen that. Like people say bad things about me. Like, I don't care. I don't like you anyway. Right. So that was my own deal, right? But I told them like, you know, your lifestyle is challenging. And that's why like, you know, going into the schools, seeing the kids get picked on, you know, I think they already know nobody ever wants to get bullied. Right. And I said that so many times, my son's never like get bullied. That's who they are. Like, why is it so hard to respect that? Right. You know? Yeah. They're not going to your house and you know, you know. Bothering you? Yeah. Why are you so concerned about what they do? Right. They work. Mm-hmm. They pay into a government. Mm-hmm. They are productive citizens. Correct. And shouldn't be treating any difference to anyone else. So, you know, I'm a big advocate for that. You know, and I tell my children that you have to understand that there's still a lot of people that don't accept. But you have to respect that. Mm-hmm. Don't be disrespectful to that. Don't even have to get loud and try to be mean. Right. If you hit around. Yeah. You know, snap, point, kick. You have to do none of that. No. Listen, because then you'll hear the ignorance. Right. Then you'll go, I get it. Right. You know what I mean? Then you walk away. It's going to hurt. But you get people who love you. Right. I think that's one of the things I want to emphasize to kids. Don't feel like there's people around you that's not listening and you being bullied. People that ready to sit down and listen and love you and want to hear what's happening. You know what I mean? Don't push them away. Don't push them out. That's right. Because sometimes all we need is to be heard. That's right. And express. And you know what? I think there are two sides to that coin. Coin, because you have the child who's being bullied. And right now there's a lot of emphasis being placed on children who are being bullied. Mm-hmm. The work that you do does that. You appreciate that. I think the other side to that coin is no one ever once said, you know what? When I get in third grade I want to be a bully. Right. So they are also hurting. So I am a firm believer that it starts at home. You know? Hello. Yeah. And we cannot depend on government. We cannot depend on our teachers. They're working hard and overwork. The last thing they need to do is fill out a form. Because one kid or two kid is being disruptive in free public education. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. We sit in our children to school because they want to learn. They want to grab, take. Mm-hmm. And I love teachers because if it wasn't for teachers I would not be sitting with you right now. All right. Because my mom and dad were busy working. Mm-hmm. But someone put me on the side and I could see that she loved me for who I was. And she said, I think you can do amazing things. Let me help you. That was it? Yeah. That was, that's, and sometimes that's all it takes. It starts at home. Mm-hmm. So, you know what I mean? Like, and it starts, you know, we, and I'm, we cannot rely on government and we cannot rely on teachers. If you're seeing this and you're watching this and you're going, I like what he's saying. You, and I tell this when I go speak at conferences, you should want to top what I do. There you go. You know what I mean? Like, I sat down and watched a comedian 27 years ago and I went, I'm funnier than that guy. Not being me or anything, but I'm funnier than that guy. So, I went in, I went to a comedy club and I signed up, did an open mic and that was it. Yeah. Everything that we do starts from something small. Right. Right? And you got to look at our program and go, I'm the better than that. Then do it. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to do 10, 20. If we're all going in and we're all saying that basically the same message, guess what? We're going to affect a lot of people. Mm-hmm. And we're going to do, you know, we're going to take responsibility. We're going to say we are taking responsibility of our children because I don't want my kid being bullied anymore. Right. So, I'm going to go on. I'm going to create something. Right. Whatever it is. So, yeah. That's awesome. I love it. I love it. I like what he said. It starts at home, work with your children. He had conversations with his daughter who was coming home and when the conversations got fewer and fewer, that was a red flag. It's a red flag. And you knew that there was something else going on. And there's tips, you know, you can go to braveboy.org. Again, we don't have all the answers but there's tips. You can go and you can read, you know, there's a lot of kids hurting themselves because they think that nobody is listening to them. So, they're listening to what other people have to say online. And that's awful. Yeah, it is. They should not do that at all. Yeah. So, you know, our message right now is be brave. Right. Go to braveboy.org. Find out more information about that program and how they can get involved. And then last thing I want to touch on is you've got something coming up in June. Yes. We have, well, it's in May. In May. Yes. It's called, which is kind of cool, the first annual brave Hawaii riders against bullying run. Oh, my. So, we've got a bunch of bike riders. Okay. Right? And they're selling bands for $10, t-shirts for $10 and part of the process we'll go to brave. But they're saying, hey, you know, bikers are stereotype. Yeah. You know, and it was so hard getting a venue to host bikers. Right. Because we're talking about motorcycle riders. Yeah. We have this image of these tattoo guys. And it was like, oh, why are we going to do bike riders? I go, no, they try to bring awareness to bullying, which is awesome. So, I want to say hi to the Divine Guardians and Bike Club and, you know, they're the ones that said, hey, we want to try to get involved and help. So, you know, they're doing a motorcycle bike run. Well, hey. And it's going to be a Psycho City May 5th and some of the girls on the pageant will perform. My daughter will talk. I will talk. Okay. And it's just going to be a fun day of music, vending, information. Okay. Vendors that you can get good food. Oh, I like good food. And look at beautiful bikes. Okay. If you can jump on one of the bikes. I'm going to get on Big Fat Harley and make a loud face. I'm going to do it May 5th. Yes. All right. I'm going to look that up. I'm going to do a little bit of information about that on your website. Great. Thank you so much, Augie T. For all that you're doing. Thank you for having me. I mean, it's people like you that change in order to doing shows like this. And, you know, I like, you know, we're just like tiny fishes in the ocean. That's right. Just trying to kind of survive and, you know, trying to do good things. And, you know, when they say, you give, you get back. I honestly believe that. I do too. I love giving and I love being a part of things that are really positive. If you guys ever need any help, I'm not really sure what I can do to help because I'm a teacher already, but you're doing a lot already. I just want to bring awareness. I definitely want to make sure people hear about this. You've heard it here on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm sorry. Yeah. ThinkTechAwaya.com. I'm thinking Brave Hawaii. It's all about Brave Hawaii. Be brave. Be respectful and value everyone. Watch me now on Mondays at 4 where I'll give you lots more of these great conversations. I got to get the hang of that, right? Yeah. It's a talk to stuff. Just like, believe me, I mess up all the time. Yeah. I do the radio show. I stutter. Yeah. And it's because I'm taking 17-sentence ahead. Right. Right? Way down the line. So what's coming out was like a paragraph ago. I see lights on the side. I'm wondering what the guy's doing in the booth. Right. What he's saying to me in my ear. I want to jump on your couch. You know, so that's a lot of dyslexia. My ADHD is like running wild right now. Get this guy out of here. He's about to tear up the station. That's right. He's a wild one. We love you. Thank you so much. Thank you for watching. You've been watching At The Crossroads with your girl, Keisha King.