 Hi, I'm Rusty Kamori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou School Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, and it's about inspiration, leadership, and creating a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is the author of the new incredible book titled, What Day Are You? He is Steve Sombreiro, and today we are going beyond children's books. Hey, Steve, welcome back to Beyond the Lines. Aloha, coach Rusty, thanks for having me back. Steve, you've done so many things in your life, and I'm sure just to recap for our viewers that you're the president and principal owner of Cushman Wakefield, Cheney Brooks, and you're also the founder and CEO of Aloha Beer Company. And now, everybody knows that you're the co-author because you have your daughter Candace as a co-author in this wonderful book, What Day Are You? And I've read it. I love it. I want everybody out there to get it. And Steve, I want to ask you if you can share, for the first time publicly, your story about suicide. Right. Well, I don't even know where to start, but it was a very dark time in my life several years ago. I had just moved to Hawaii a few years earlier due to a medical crisis in the family. And it involved my daughter, who I think we talked a little bit about last time, but she came down with a very, very rare blood disorder, and we had to get her cured. And so it was a crisis. I left everything in Guam. I had just had an amazing five years in Guam. Everything I touched, I might have touched. I was prospering at a very young age. And all of a sudden, my daughter got very sick, and so we had to leave everything and just pack up and move to Hawaii. And we managed to rescue and save my daughter. So it was the right thing to do. We were meant to be here. And so I had just survived that. But then in my business side, I left everything in Guam, and I had just moved to Hawaii, gone to get my MBA. And then the business I got involved with was Cheney Brooks, the current company that I currently own. But it was in a really, really bad state. It was a company that was ready to shut down. We had to lay off a lot of people, and financially it was upside down. And so everything was just not going well. And as you know, Horasi, I am a high achiever. I've been raised that way. And when you attach yourself to business, and when you attach yourself to your balance sheet, and how much money you have, and how much money you're making, and so forth. And if you make that your identity, you will lose your identity. And I think that's what happened to me. And so I recall everything was just going bad. And I was getting nasty letters from employees that had just been laid off. We were losing accounts, and nothing was going right. And so I went deeper and deeper into a dark hole until I said, man, I can't do this anymore. I don't know what to do. And I didn't even bother to ask for help. And that was also the wrong thing. I should have asked for help. But like most high achievers, you also plan your exit. And so I told myself, you know what? I'm going to drive my car off the side of a road out on the west Oahu off the cliff past Waini. And to do that, I'm going to listen to really cool music. And I said, I'm going to stop by Tower Records in Pearl City and pick up a CD. I don't know if the listeners know what a CD is. Maybe the young people don't, but we were listening to CDs. And so I went to Tower Records, and I went to the sampling desk, and I listened to a bunch of tracks. And I heard one that sounded really cool. It had that beat. And I said, this is it. This is the last music I'm going to listen to, right? So I get in my car, I pop CD into my CD player, and off I went to West Oahu. And I was getting closer and closer. And by the time I got there, though, I started listening to the lyrics. And lo and behold, I realized then and only then that it was a Christian music with a really rock and roll beat. And the words just stopped me because the words basically said, I'm no one without you. What will I do without you? And right at that moment, I realized that that was talking about not just about God, but about my family, who I was about to leave behind. My wife, my kids, my parents, my friends. And so by the time I got to the end of the road, I stopped the car and I was listening. I was crying and I looked up and I swear I saw the most beautiful, red spectacular, red sunset ever in my life. And that's when I realized that I was not alone. And God stopped me from committing suicide with that music. And I'll never forget, it was a music called My Oxygen and it was by a group called Avalon. And you won't believe this, but I met the singer just a few weeks ago. He came to our church and I embraced him and I hugged him and I said, you know, Jody, I tell you, if it wasn't for you, I probably would not be here today. And he basically said, you know what, that music, nobody really commented. It was one of our more insignificant songs. But I have a feeling that song was meant for you, for you alone. And so anyways, that's what happened to me. And I went in a very, very deep and dark hole, almost took my life. But if it hadn't been for that one music that I listened to and I heard God's voice and I started to see all the love that was around me and here I am. And so I look back on that and I tell myself, if a song can stop someone from going over the edge, perhaps a book can. And so that's one of the reasons why I was inspired to write this book is because you can very quickly go into a very dark place in your life. And but sometimes it takes a song and sometimes it takes a book to stop you. Steve, I want to really thank you, I mean, for sharing your story. I mean, that's so brave and courageous of you to really open up and share what happened. I'm sure it's going to save other people's lives. And I mean, let's go right into what day are you? I mean, what, what, how did the book come about? Yes, this book, I tell my friends that I've written a book and my colleagues and my clients and they're like, you wrote a book. OK, it must be about real estate. It must be about investments. It must be or maybe even beer, right? A loa beer. And I said, no, it's none of that. It's about a turtle. It's a story about a turtle out on the north shore of Oahu on Laniakea Beach, Turtle Beach to be more precise. And this turtle learns valuable life lessons from a hermit crab called Gigi. And she learns that, you know, in life there's three things. There's yesterday, there's today and there's tomorrow. And through a mathematical formula that Gigi shows her, she realizes and understands mathematically that today is the most important day you should be focused on. And hence the question, what day are you? And Steve, why, why did you enlist Candace, your daughter, to co-author the book with you? Well, you know, Candace brought me here to Hawaii, as you know, right? If it wasn't for her illness, I wouldn't be here today. I had to drop everything and I had to move to Hawaii. And, and on top of that, Candace has an amazing creative mind. And she also has studied behavioral sciences. And I think she actually wanted to be a psychologist, not a beer magnet. Now I have her running my beer company for me. But she actually volunteered for suicide hotlines. She helped people with counseling. And so I reached out to Candace and said, hey, listen, you know, there's a story that I want to convey and I want to convey to teenagers and three teens. And I'm thinking about this, these characters. And she basically helped me to organize my thoughts and made it so that it's fun. And, and, and it tells a story. Yeah, I love it. And I love the names of the of the creatures, the sea creatures in your book. And, and I want to ask you, Steve, about Carissa Moore. She's our Olympic gold medalist in surfing. She endorsed your book. How, how meaningful was her endorsement for you? Well, you know, she is doing amazing things. She is, as you know, she's a gold medalist. She is highly revered by everybody in the surfing world as well as just sports in general, she has a big name in Japan. And, you know, I'm trying to reach people in Japan as well, because, as you know, suicide amongst teenagers in Japan is one of the highest in the world. And they even have a word for kids that seclude themselves and basically just lock themselves up. It's called Hikikomori. Hikikomori is a really serious problem in Japan. And so Carissa Moore, through her foundation, the more Aloha Foundation, she's basically bringing kids to Hawaii and teaching them surfing. But through that adventure and through that sports, she's teaching young girls, ladies, empowering them with confidence and letting them know that put your mind to it, you can do anything in life. And so she, she is at doing exactly what I was hoping that this book would do is to inspire people to give them confidence and give them hope in their futures and let them know that, you know what, you shouldn't do well in the past and you shouldn't be worried about the, the, the tomorrow's, it's all about today. And, you know, as you know, in surfing, when you commit to surfing and you you commit to a particular wave, you're going to get on a board and you better, you better commit or you can get hurt, right? And so I think Carissa is doing exactly what I hope to do with this book. And so I've been, I would like to support her with, with the sale of the books. And so, Steve, tell me more about what you're doing with the book sales. And when you presented that special $10,000 check to Carissa's foundation, I mean, she must have just been over the moon with that. Oh, yeah, I don't think she even expected that. You know, her foundation came out here with kids from Japan. And I told her that I'd like to give pass out books to her, her students. And so I think that's what she was expecting was copies of books that I would pass out, but then I pulled out the check and I presented to her. And I tell you, there was a moment there when she started crying. It was all teary-eyed. And she confided with me and said, Steve, you know, thank you so much. You have no idea how difficult it is to raise money. And I said, I know, I know, and say, can you please stop crying? Because you're making me cry now. So, but what, what an amazing moment there, that photo that you just shown to be able to support Carissa's foundation and amazing work she's doing to help kids. Well, you know, Steve, I always say it's teamwork, right? I mean, none of us can do what we do by ourselves. I mean, we have to kind of join forces and your book, I mean, it's, it's going to help kids with their mental health issue. It will. And tell me about, is there a certain sea creature character that aligns with your life? Oh, yes. You know, there are three creatures there, right? The yesterday mode is a character, he's a mud crab and his name is Uku. And Uku is going through depression. He's going through anger because, you know, in Hawaii, Uku means what headlights, right? You know, that's what it means. And so Uku has been teased all his life by his friends, his crab friends. And so he's a very crabby crab. And so he has been isolating himself. And, but he's dwelling on the yesterdays, what happened in the past. And then there's another character called Wiki. Wiki is a ghost crab that's running around the beach, digging one hole after another. You've seen ghost crabs, right? They're just fast. We got to really look for them. But they're running from hole to hole, digging a hole. And but he's this Wiki, which means fast, right? Wiki, Wiki, fast, fast, is only word about tomorrow. He's never satisfied with the hole that he's dug. He thinks that it's not good enough. And so he's digging another hole. So in my life, I realize, you know, Russia, I don't know if you know this, but I'm I'm in my sixties now. And you probably thought I was in the eighties. Maybe I don't have my sixties, but I realized that, you know, in this timeline, right? That when we're when we were born and we die and everything in between, when you're young, you're worried about your tomorrow. And it so happens that I was a Wiki, Wiki, Wiki, just worried about tomorrow and I was pushing myself and I was a high achiever. But then as I get older and I look back, I have more about memory, more things that I think about. And then you start becoming an Uku. So, you know, you can become a Wiki, you can become an Uku, but the book says that you need to be a today mode person. And there's a character called Nuku. And Nuku is a monk seal that is living and embracing the two days. And he's a really happy monk seal that teaches that valuable life lesson to Moko and that's the main character, Moko. And in the book, she's told that it's the today mode is the aloha spirit. And she says, wait a minute, I thought aloha was a Hawaiian greeting that said hello and goodbye. And then she realizes that every single day we say aloha hello to tomorrow. And we say hello aloha goodbye to our yesterdays. So there is a hello and there is a goodbye. And but everything in between is what we call today. And that is that space and time when you can really embrace the moment and practice what we call the aloha spirit. Steve, I love hearing all of this. I love the names that you gave the characters in the book. And Steve, this past weekend, you had your book signing at Barnes & Noble. I mean, this was your first official book signing and I was there to support you and you had a tremendously great crowd of people. How did it feel to be there for your first official book signing? It was just amazing. I tell you, I saw friends that I hadn't seen in a very long time. And again, many of them were surprised that I would actually write a book about a turtle and it was targeting teens and preteens. And but I also met strangers, people I've never met. And they basically reached out their hands and Steve, you know what? I want to thank you for writing this book and the testimony you've given on TV and the interviews. You have no idea how much it means for people like me that are suffering through depression and anxiety. And this book is going to give me hope. And so and I've been meeting people out of the blue is just reaching out to me and thanking me for the book. So I tell you, you know, in the book, it says there that if I could save one life from this book, I've done my my work. And I think I have a feeling we might have saved a few lives already. Oh, Steve, I have no doubt. I have no doubt about that. And I want to ask you about your publisher, who is also my publisher, Brian Heathman. He's the founder CEO of Made for Success Publishing. And he's so tremendous at what he does. How was that experience working with Brian in getting your book published? Brian's an amazing guy. You know, I reached out to a few publishers out there and he read my manuscript and immediately reached out to me. And I said, Steve, I'm going to come out. I'm going to come out to Hawaii. No, he's in Washington State, right? So he says, I'm going to come out. I want to meet with you. I want to talk to you. And so he came out and visited me at Aloha Beer, of course. I wasn't sure if he wanted to just have three beers or really wanted to talk to me about my book. But he really genuinely told me and said, you know what? This is a book we want to do. We've never never done children's books before. But this is one book that I think has a purpose. And a meaning that will really define the word made for success. And so he coached me through the whole process and showed me the way navigating all the way, how to present it. He had editors that spent a lot of time improving what had already been written. And of course, he worked with our artist, Journey Flores and took all her drawings and presented in a way so that this book is just amazing. It's the pages are in color and they actually picked certain phrases from the book to emphasize. And so I think it's a wonderful book and I'm really, really super pleased with it. Well, Steve, I completely agree with you. I mean, Brian and his team, they're truly magnificent. Working with him for my third book that's going to be coming out. I mean, I mean, he's so detailed. He cares. I mean, they're they're just at that highest level. And Steve, I want to ask you more about my books. And thank you so much for being such a great supporter of the book. What I love is so far to date, 10 people, 10 adults have come to me sharing that they were contemplating suicide. And then after reading my books, it changed their mindset and it saved their life. And I know that you were very impressed hearing Sergeant Chris Kim's show where he shared his story and how brave and courageous he is for really coming out publicly to share his story. What are your thoughts about Sergeant Chris and how my books are helping other people with mental health issues? You know, Sergeant Chris, you know, his interview with you, it really touched my heart and I'm sure it touched a lot of people's hearts. And who would have thought that Sergeant Chris, the tough guy that we see, the guy with a nice smile on TV, you know, and with crime stoppers, right? And who would have thought that he had gone through an episode of suicide in his life? And so the fact that you had him on your show and become that transparent and share his story it actually gave me confidence to share my story. And I think this is a subject that we all seem to like sweep under the rug. We cannot. We need to bring it out. We need to bring it out and open. We need to help each other. And I think what you just saw with your book, when you wrote your book, Beyond the Lines, I think what happened is what we call unintended consequences, right? I'm not sure you wrote your book specifically to stop people from suicide, but it's one of the best unintended consequences of your book. And so more power to you, Coach Rusty. I think your book is going to, your third book is going to do exactly that is to really, really help people to, you know, get a grasp of their lives, not just only about perfection and seeking excellence, but maybe starting with the basics of just appreciating the fact that we're all alive and that we have the ability to make choices in our life to become happy. I, you know, I completely agree with you, Steve. Yes, this was an unintended consequence. I wanted to write books that would literally apply to every student and every adult in the world, which it does. I just had no idea that it would be helping to save people's lives. And what I love about your book and is how our books together, I mean, it's it's helping students and adults with anxiety, depression, suicide. And we have it. I mean, we have testimony. I mean, we're proving it. And I'm trying to change the narrative, Steve, from mental health to mental fitness, because when I'm doing executive coaching, I'm trying to help people with their physical fitness so that they can have peak performance at work, peak performance at home. I'm also helping them with their mental fitness so they can do the same at work and at home. That's sometimes that stigma of mental health seems like there's something wrong, but all of us need to improve our mental fitness, right? That's right. That's right. We do. And and and we also need to be able to reach out for help. Right. We need to be able to. So if I if if only I had someone had taught me that it's OK to reach out for help, I probably would have not gone into that dark hole. And and I think all of us, you know, we need to also recognize the people around us, people that we love, people, our friends, maybe suffering, they might be wearing a mask that doesn't show it. But behind that mask sometimes is a very sad person struggling and asking for help. So we need to be able to recognize that and reach out and touch someone and give them words of encouragement. So that's what I think your book is going to achieve. And like you said, we want people to come out and talk about these issues because holding it in doesn't do any good. It just starts to manifest. And when you're able to talk about it, sometimes reality doesn't match what's going on in somebody's mind, right? That's exactly right. And and I think it also starts with the ability to embrace the moment. You've got to embrace the moment. You know, and I I want to, you know, I'm on the on the board of New Hope Church. And so I try to study scripture and I try to memorize them. And the one that I hold dear in my heart is Psalm 118, right? It says this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. We've got to be glad in it every day that we wake up. So I hope that your book and mine together will reach out a lot of people and let them realize that, you know what, life is too precious. Our our lives, we are all precious and we are all so loved by our creator and by our families. And we must remember that. And it all starts from there. Steve, I want to mention your Cushman Wakefield, Cheney Brooks holiday party that you just recently had at the Hale Kalani. And I was able to meet one of your extra special clients, Mr. Katsuhiro Kinoshita, and he's such a wonderful man. And then you had me there as your keynote speaker. I mean, it was such a great event. I mean, your entire team at Cushman Wakefield, Cheney Brooks, I mean, they're just they're incredible. I mean, but how special of a night was that for you? That was a super special night, you know, to have you there and to coach my entire staff and managers, you know. And like like you said, you know, it takes a it takes a team. It takes a whole village to get things done. I have one of the best people that I can work with. They're all special to me. They're all part of my family. And I and I wanted them to hear from you first and from coach Rusty what it takes to become a better manager, to become a better person. And and more than that, I also wanted Mr. Kinoshita to to to meet you with you. Mr. Kinoshita is somebody I admire. He's Forbes ranked richest man in Japan that I learned quite a bit. He's like my Gigi, that the character Gigi in the book, he he throws thoughts and ideas to me about investment and and and what investments really all about. And so I wanted to also pay back by having him meet with you. Well, it was my honor and thank you for having me as your keynote speaker there. I mean, and to meet your entire team. I mean, wow, I mean, they're all exceptional people. And Steve, I want to thank you for again, taking time to be on the show today, but more so to really share your story. I know your story is going to inspire so many others as well as your book. And just want to thank you for taking time to join me on the show today. Thank you, Coach Rusty. And, you know, right now we live in a very, very complicated world, right? We just saw a tragedy in Lahaina and we just saw tragedy in the Noto Peninsula in Japan where they're still pulling bodies out of the rubble. And so, you know, we need to you and I, we need to be the light in the world that gives hope to people. And I think what you're saying through your book and mine will be a flickering light that people can can assemble and gather around and possibly find hope in their futures. Definitely. Thanks, Steve. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my books are available. Our books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Steve and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.