 we are taking your health back with Wendy Lowe. We are coming to you from our studio in downtown Honolulu at the Thing Check Hawaii Studios and from my home office in Makiki. I have with me a woman that needs no introduction as you've seen her on Vix Plate for the past 35 plus years. Welcome Pamela Yang. All right, welcome Pamela Yang. So great to have you on the show. Hi Wendy, nice to see you again. Aloha. You have been hosting the Vix Plate for over 35 plus years. How did that concept originate? It originated at KHON where I'm back right now. I had just returned from San Francisco. I was there for 13 years and got my start in television there and then I got hired at KHON as a police reporter of all things. And every now and then I would do a feature story and our news director thought that this is the way to go, that this is what the newscast needed. He had just bumped up Joe Moore from sports to main anchor and you know Joe's sport is being able to talk about what the viewer has in mind and he needed something to talk about at the end of the show. So the news director Wally Zimmerman asked me and Ray Lovell to come up with a signature feature piece. So that's how Vix Plate was born. Wow and what a great title especially for Hawaii with all the plate lunches and all the variety and diversities of cultures. Perfect title and that's why it's probably lasted for so long along with you hosting it and doing such a fabulous job. So thank you for creating it and having such longevity. So it's an icon to Hawaii alone and it's fabulous. Well I think the name is is appropriate because Vix Plate means just like a little bit of everything and over the years the show has evolved because it just started about like local events and the culture and then people started writing in and saying do more food stuff and then later it was like do more entertainment, do more fashion, do more travel. So over the years it's changed and so we've tried to adapt to those changes. Well and you sure have because you've been many many places in many parts of the world. So let's get started. With all your travels I have to ask you Pamela how do you maintain your health and your energy? It's not easy but I think it starts with preparation you know like any vacation you do you pretty much know your itinerary. I have to really be anal about this. Not only do I plan what's every day but I try to do what's every hour because when you're traveling for a show with a cameraman you can't go back two weeks later to get the shot that you missed so I try to do my research as much as possible. If I have enough prep time I try to learn the language of the place that we're going to so that I can at least conduct a basic interview in that language and then I see you know what stories are available. I make all the arrangements before and that really helps but even so I have to admit I have gotten sick on the road because there are some things you can't you can't prepare for and one is fatigue you're going to be tired you're not going to sleep all that well and it's you're you're doing your job 24-7. There's no days off. One of the sickest I got was in China you know I had with altitude sickness I had been in Chile before at a 22,000 altitude and no problem and then I went to Li Jiang which is like at 18 and I was so sick I just I just couldn't function and then in Belgium I got stomach problems because no one told me that they have unpasteurized milk and my system just did not like that so I spent a couple of days in bed. Exactly and you you nailed it I mean not just with milk but even with the water the water you know right the quality of water in different parts of the world sometimes it just doesn't do well with us or even like when you're in China or in Asia a lot of people going over there because of the amount of oils that they're using westerners going over to eastern side I mean the oil just goes through our body and that causes diarrhea as well and so so many things like you said is unpredictable and plus your energy level is so high you're pumping up and with the cameras rolling and you're not you know just on your best it's it's hard to maintain it 24-7 but you in front of the camera looks fabulous. Well we don't show the bad parts. Oh luckily your cameraman doesn't follow you into the bathrooms unless it's Gary. Yeah exactly that's that's the person I'm talking about so I know that you have a soulmate that inspires you daily so please share a little bit about that guy Gary the cameraman your husband. Well you know Gary and I anchored the Channel 4 news for almost 20 years and then when he retired from on-air work he wanted to do his own production and so he learned how to shoot and how to edit and you know we have a little facility at home where we try to do our own productions and most of the mixed plates we shoot and we edit right here so so yeah so now he's my chief engineer he's my photographer he's you know my consultant so and thankfully the 20 years before that you know we worked really well together so it all comes together. Right yes you had a great you have a great relationship in the beginning and still and so that working relationship I mean you know everyone must say ask you how do you do it you live with him and you work with him does that get difficult at times Pima? Well you know when we were anchoring we were together like all the time and what really helped is that I had mixed plate and he had Pacific Adventures so when I went off on a trip he wasn't always the cameraman so I'd have that time off and then he'd go off and shoot his own stuff and so and plus in a newsroom you know we'd come to work together and then he'd have his job and I'd have my job and we really wouldn't be together until like five o'clock when we'd have to be on set so there was that space and so yeah that's my recommendation you know you need space you need your your own time together and I need a lot of alone time because I do a lot of writing by myself and and he does too his you know his passion is golf so that's that's his time so yeah so yeah so when we do come together just it works yeah so obviously you're doing something right you guys look very happy after all these years not just being husband and wife but business partners and professional partners as well so congratulations to you too you have a special dynamics between the two of you thanks I also understand that both of you um you had some health challenges and if you don't mind just sharing your touch upon it a little bit with what you in in experience with your health well about 12 years ago I was diagnosed with um breast cancer and um and so that's when I had decided to go part time and that's when Gary decided to retire and so he could take care of me and you know and I would have the time to recuperate and um you know I was diagnosed just a couple of months after our our receptionist was diagnosed so we were kind of cancer sisters you know she was having hemo um on the top floor and I was on of queens and I was on the bottom floor getting radiation so it was really um interesting and really supportive to have that that uh that other person they're going through the same process because you do need help and uh and you know Gary's had some knee surgeries that he's had to go through so you know we just it's the it's the algae thing you know we all go through it and um and then um let's say about three years ago I had a stroke and um fortunately it was very very minor and didn't you know impact my cognitive abilities and um but it was you know it just taught me to be a little more careful and deal with stress a little better that's the main thing stress right exactly if you can deal with that um that's that's the culprit a lot of a lot of disease is stress yeah but you also hit one very crucial part about when you were going through your cancer and your your partner or your teammate also was going through that experience but what you said is we all need a friend we all need a buddy through experience the good and the bad you know and um just someone to just talk story because especially at that time she didn't have it before you were after you she had it with you and so that made it even more special because you both were pretty much you know you could share your experiences of what you felt and yes Gary was there but he wouldn't know but she would so you were blessed to have that buddy I I really was and one of the things about um about women with breast cancer because men can get it too but when women when we get sick you know we're we're like cats we want to go away and hide in a little hole and deal with it ourselves and we don't really want to share our anxiety and our pain with our families because we know they take on the burden as well and so we tend not to share with them but with a fellow you know cancer um sufferer it's it's okay to to share those those feelings and and to you know walk through them together so it was really helpful and that's why you know I really support Coleman because that's a network system where you can meet other people survivors and patients and you know help them along with their journey and find a buddy that's so important so important so Pamela the world knows that your passion for television work is just immense but you also have other artistic talents um that you don't often talk about as long as I know but please share with us what are they well um I you know when I graduated from high school I knew I wanted to be a journalist but then when I got to college this is the time when a chorus line hit Broadway and there's a song called what I did for love and and what I and I realized I went through this you know epiphany what I really did for love was I wanted to dance and I had been studying for decades and I thought that's what I really wanted just for a little while so I majored in dance and and then I got a B a b a and an m a and dance thinking that afterwards I might want to teach and and then I danced professionally for a few years and then when I felt I was too old to dance at the age of 27 you know I decided I better get back into journalism so that's how I got back to it but I try to dance whenever I can it's not the same body I had back then but you know I do what I can and I love movement and I've been able to do some shows with um with Manoa Valley Theater and Diamondhead Theater wow special that that's that's a creative side and you need that outlet as well so and then Pamela I know that you've done more than or you've produced more than a hundred mixed plate specials I just have to ask you is there anyone that's really close to your heart well I always like to say the the best one is the next one because you know I'm just trying to think ahead but there are so many that are that are close to my heart but there's one in particular that was shot here that I think kind of sums up where I am spiritually at this point and and I think you have it I think actually you're in it yes when you send this clip to me and I I viewed it I'm like oh my gosh that's me so we I made a cameo in yours and now you're making a a guest appearance in mind so thank you so much Pamela super choose I mean Pamela for for choosing that one it was meant to be yes thank you so much and Eric if we could please share that video now we live by the elements the earth the wind the ocean the water you when we do a blessing it's the energy you receive because that's part of the elements when you touch the water my energy was shared with you everybody has a little bit of a problem and when I say the prayer that's to help them to heal I'm very vulnerable at this time because I'm a cancer survivor hiv survivor and I really need to cleanse everything and I struggle constantly with the idea of being an island girl or having a profession and being a working woman it's hard to find a balance between tradition and being contemporary we were blessed with the seal today they very seldom come into this particular pond which is any any cool but this had made a great effort and she came over and she stayed when we called them in Hawaiian they look I don't know if they understand but they look and listen hey mama the thousands of ripples here is about forgiveness if we can learn to forgive ourselves and forgive others this world would be such a more beautiful place we need to have this blessing the spiritual energy to share with everybody especially the coming year you know I just saw that for the first time yesterday and I was just crying my eyeballs out and I thought I'm glad that I watched it yesterday otherwise if I saw it today I'd be crying even deeper than I am now so Pamela you really impacted many feelings in many people that are going to be watching that even further from now and so share a little bit about how it impacted you I mean it was I think it was a blessing that we all needed it came at a time I mean you know we always have stress in our lives but I think that particular time there were there were a lot of people going through a lot of heavy stuff and sometimes you just need to take a breather and to to be with nature and especially you know to to be with a with a wise with a wise person like she was and you know it was a remarkable experience and I'm so glad to share it with everyone right I mean even just being in the water and being cleansed with the water you know and then when that seal came that was incredible and it came and it stayed and it didn't want to leave us yeah yeah and it kept looking when she called and it came to us and it went back and it wasn't like frightened or wanting to run away and get back to the sea it stayed in that pond and Aunty Nettie says they don't normally come into the pond that close and feel so relaxed so yeah it was it was it was a blessing it is and yeah the Keoko was blessing all of us through that seal and so we should just take some time to really just be still in the water or in life and and release all that stress and cleanse it out of our systems we need another one yes let's do it girl so can I have a photo of your young of a young family so I don't know I don't know who they are but please share with us who they are okay that's our son Paolo and his wife Emily and our granddaughter Luna and they live in Nevada California he's the general manager of the San Francisco Zoo and I wish they were closer but you know things being what they are and with the economy they've had to stay in San Francisco in the Bay Area which is you know just about as expensive or if not more than Hawaii so you know they're they're trying to make their way through life but we're that's the love of our lives at this point wow congratulations I'm so proud of what he's accomplished this one you have a little grand baby well you got both Luna all right so you know many of us have I've seen snakes you know many times and I know wherever you travel you try to look for the incredible but what I want to know is when you saw those snakes what was your experience like when you saw the snake and their charmers the snake charmers well this was in India and we spent about 10 days there shooting around New Delhi and Jaipur and Agra and I think we just came out of the Taj Mahal and there were these snake charmers that were sitting there and so you know I asked can I join you and they said oh sure come on so I sat and you know I mean with them there you feel perfectly safe I mean I was I was hoping no one would ask me can you pick one up I mean I was not going to do that but um yeah of all the experiences I've had that was not too scary so I trusted them it was because you were with professionals with professionals of course you know they're there because they want money right that's fine we gave them a tip of course and like I said you got to work with your buddy and those are their buddies the snake and the charmers their buddies right and you're in good hands so I would also like for you to share a little bit with Chinese New Year coming along share with us your experience and time in China well I've been to China several times and to Hong Kong several times less so in the past few years because the political situation is is not that terrific and so that particular picture was in 1997 when Hong Kong was returned to China right so we were we knew you know all the other film crews were going to Hong Kong to shoot something but we wanted to go to Beijing because that's where the big celebration is I don't know if you've been to Hong Kong you know it's a very narrow strip on an island and so there really is no place for a for a lot of people to gather but in Beijing this was in Tiananmen Square and they they squeezed in a quarter million people in the square so we were there I was there with cameraman Dan Cherma and we were told I mean the restrictions were so incredible we had to be there 12 hours before and and there were there were there was no food there were no bathrooms and so you know I I brought our stash of protein bars and the water and we were once we got there we were told be in this one place don't move and you know and we just we didn't want to get arrested right because the once you get arrested by the Chinese police I'm sorry it's yeah and so we we stayed in the square for quite a few hours and then finally you know things started to loosen up the dancers came and people were wandering around and I told my cameraman let's just go and I said you know I and he said you know you stay here because if a policeman comes up to me he's gonna talk to me and Chinese and tell me the rules but you know he's Holly so I said just go okay go and sure enough you know he's walking around shooting and police come up to him and he goes huh and they left him alone because he couldn't speak the language and okay he's a dumb foreigner let him go well that's how we got the shots well good to play yeah good to play that role the quilo right the white ghost the quilo wow so okay now getting back to your dance I know that that's your passion for you know your dance but I just feel I wanted to just share with you that I I want to just tell you to just go and dance more so I wanted to ask you how often are you able to consume yourself in your dance well since COVID I was taking um you know classes at Diamondhead Theater I had some one thing about being a dancer you never stop taking class it's one of the things that lasts you for the rest of your life even though you become a professional at some stage you always take class to keep yourself limber but with COVID those classes went virtual and then and then after a while I had to take classes online from from different places and I still do because I still don't feel totally comfortable in a room with other people and it's very difficult to dance with a mask so which I would have to do if I went to my gym so I just try to do it that way but um that's that's about it I mean I can't you know and I just I have to you know accept the fact I don't have the body I had when I was 18 there's certain things that I can't do this is when I was 19 wow look at that spread that's a beautiful pose and this was in San Francisco my first year at San Francisco State so um you know I can't do that anymore but it doesn't matter I still try to do what I can and you know and move with with music and that's the main thing just move that's the main thing is just move not as extreme but just keep moving even just simple leg lifts and whatever you can do and I'm sure that you at your age can do much more than anybody else your age because of your dance history and that's the beautiful part I I try it doesn't always happen without pain but you know what they say wait no pain no gain that's true that's true but you know we try to get some exercise at least every day yes good so dude can you just share a little bit of what's coming out of the next mix plate or what are your future projects you're working on can you share or not well I may be I'm not quite sure you know when COVID happened I mean usually I try to plan at least a year ahead or at least have you know a few nibbles out there to see where I might go but with COVID we had to take it one month at a time because travel hasn't totally come back to normal around the world so we do have some nibbles out but we have to wait for the situation to get a little better a little more normal a little healthier for us to really plan I do have sometimes we're working with the children's theater right now that may be doing some traveling and taking their production on the road and I'm very excited about that because you know they're the future and they're they're the future singers and dancers and these kids are so talented so they're all in ohana arts theater so hopefully I'll be able to do that knock on wood wow and you know and these days the economic situation is very different we used to be able to just call up an airline or a hotel and say we're going here can you sponsor us and they'd say sure and then you know we would do a trade of some sort and now it's you know their economic situation is very different so we have to walk a fine line there too wow well we're excited to always see when your next mix plate or production is coming along but um we've run out of time for now Pamela and I'm just so grateful that we had the time to capture you your heart um on this impromptu interview versus on your mix plate where you're going and jetting all over the world so I can see you here relax and in your element thank you and thank you and we didn't need to speak a foreign language either yeah yeah yeah we would need definite subtitles but we'll have to leave us for now you and um you've been watching Taking Your Health Back on Think Tech Hawaii so mahalo to Pamela Young thank you for talking story with us here in Hawaii and the world and for bringing the world to us via mix plate and please keep on dancing like no one is watching you okay just keep dancing girl no one's watching behind your doors but you know all right so I'm Wendy Lo and I want to just welcome you back for another edition in a couple weeks to Taking Your Health Back with me so Aloha and mahalo Pamela Young thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii if you like what we do please like us and click the subscribe button on youtube and the follow button on vimeo you can also follow us on facebook instagram and linked in and donate to us at thinktech hawaii.com mahalo