 I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game are about leadership, character, and creating a superior culture of excellence, which is what this show is all about. My special guest today is the CEO of the very popular Hawaii Food and Wine Festival. She is the highly respected Denise Yamaguchi, and today we are going beyond leadership. Hey, Denise, welcome to the show. Oh, thank you for having me. That introduction was kind of cool. I thought I was getting married. Denise, I know you grew up in Hawaii, but tell me where you grew up at and what schools you attended. So I grew up in the Liliha Pu'unui area, and I actually went to Ma'imai school till sixth grade, and then I attended Iolani school and graduated from Iolani and then went on to college on the mainland. I went to Santa Clara University, and then I graduated with a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University, so that was my educational background. So when you were in high school, did you play any sports or what kind of activities did you do? So in high school, I actually ran track, so I did that for a number of years. I was a cheerleader for one year, but most of my time was spent dancing hula. I actually was part of a halau and did that for maybe 18 years, and actually danced my first marimharic when I was 17, and then left to the mainland, came back, and then went back to dancing hula for another maybe eight, 10 years before I retired. So tell me about hula. I mean, why is hula so challenging? So hula was important in my life just because of the discipline. I mean, it was, it's kind of like a team sport because you have a hula troop, right? It's a group of girls or women that get together, and we competed, and so in competing, of course you have to try out, you have to make the line, and then you have to practice, and practice is so important, and it's not just practicing in class, but in high school I danced once a week at a small hotel in Waikiki. We had to make our own lathes, our own tee-lees skirts, and so all of that was part of being part of the halau, but in addition to that, you know, I was in school, so it was, it was challenging, and then when you're on the, when you're on the marimharic line, you practice more than once a week, and so that is also kind of manage your time, manage your homework, manage halau. That was, that was all part of it, and so it was a big part of my life. Denise, I have to ask you, what was the first job that you ever had that you got paid money for? So when I was 16 years old, and I, I don't know why, but I think I've always wanted to have my own money, and so at 16, I told my parents, hey, I want to get a job, and so my dad knew the owner of zippies, and I applied for the job, and I got a job as a countergirl at the Dillingham zippies, and so that was the first job I got paid for, and I remember the first thing I bought with my first paycheck, I bought a watch, and I wanted the watch, but I didn't want my parents to buy it for me, I wanted to buy it myself, and I still have that watch till today, because it meant something to me to earn my own money, but that was my very first job, is working as a countergirl at zippies. Wow, and you, you also ended up working as an intern for Senator Daniel Inouye, right? I did, so after graduating from Santa Clara, I moved to Washington D.C., and spent the summer there as an intern, and then later got hired on his staff, and then was then hired again to work on his 92 election, but I was an intern over the summer from 1990, in the 1990s. So I want to pick your brain about Senator Daniel Inouye, what, what are, why was he such an effective leader? So Senator was an amazing person, right? He was part of the greatest generation, and, but one of the things that stands out is, he led by example, I mean he was always working, always working, and you know, we didn't feel that working late at night was, was really working, because the boss was always there. We also, he also had an amazing ability to understand compromise, and a lot of times, when you look at, you know, politicians or policymakers, they don't understand that in order to move the needle, you can't just get from A to Z, you have to make compromises. So he was all about compromises. And the other thing he had was, he had the ability to make friends, so he didn't only have friends that weren't Democrats, but he had friends that were Republicans. And so by having friends, he was able to really move legislation and move things forward. And the last thing he had was, I think he had the ability to keep his ego in check. I mean, that is so important. I think, as great as he was, he always understood that he was a public servant. And I remember him telling us, I mean, every single letter that came through his office, every single phone call that came to the office was an important call, because he didn't, he was elected by the people. His paycheck was, was given to him by taxpayers. So he really understood that he was a public servant and he worked on behalf of the people. And I think that made him an amazing leader. No, I love hearing those insights, Denise. And your husband, Chef Roy Yamaguchi, I mean, I love his restaurants. Why, why is Chef Roy successful? So Roy is an amazing person as well. I mean, Roy has the ability to just put his head down and continue working. I mean, he is one of those people and a lot of people think they work hard, but I don't know that everybody defines hard work the same way. Roy works seven days a week, but he's also very interested in, in his business. So, you know, he has an associate's degree, right? He graduated from a community college, but beyond just that AA degree, because I have an MBA, he's able to, to talk about business in ways that, you know, amaze me because he's studied, like he's done things in business that I've never done, like negotiate leases and talk about human resources, work with attorneys. I mean, he, he's interested in the business. And he also pays attention to detail. And I think that's what makes him successful. He's, he's there 365 days a year. I think if you own a business and you're going to be successful, you can't, it's like being a farmer. You can't be there, you know, part time. It's a full time, 365 days a year, you live it. People are depending on you. For someone like Roy, he has maybe 800 employees and they all depend on him. So he makes it a point to make sure that that business is a priority, priority in his life. So I think that's what makes him successful. Oh, I love, I love Chef Roy. And I want to ask you, Denise, how, how did the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival actually begin? So before I, I have no background in food or wine. I actually have a governmental affairs background and I'm a fundraising professional. And in 2010 or 2009, Roy said, Hey, I think, you know, it might be interesting if we start a food festival because every destination in the world has a food and wine festival, but Hawaii, we don't have a food and wine, you know, major food and wine festival. And so we got together and I said, he was going to put his own money into it. And I said, Hey, wait, let's see if I can get some of HTA or somebody to fund a project like this. And so we want to talk to HTA and Roy had this vision of leaving a legacy for this date, making Hawaii a culinary destination and making this one of the biggest festivals in the state of Hawaii. And not, and it wouldn't just be about our local people, but also it would be about bringing other chefs into Hawaii to expose them to the great agriculture we had. So part of it was also to introduce the great agricultural products, great the beef that we grow here, as well as the fish. And so that became the basis of how we started the festival. It started very small. We had three events in Waikiki. And, you know, it was interesting. We invited 20 chefs that year. And I remember one of the chefs telling me the second year, Wow, I can't believe I'm here again. I wasn't sure if you guys are going to do this again. I, you know, I just didn't, it just didn't, we didn't think he wasn't thinking that this was going to go on and on and on because it is expensive to bring chefs from all over the world to Hawaii. But we've been able to know we're in our 10th year, we finished, just finished our 10th anniversary and we'll be on our 11th year. So as CEO, what are some of your top goals for the, for the festival? So, you know, the primary mission of the festival is to put Hawaii on the map as a culinary destination. So of course, that's very important. And second of all, I think, you know, part of it is, is getting the industry and especially right now, you know, we're in COVID and we're going to have to restart our economy. And so one of the things that I think is so important with this festival is that it brings people from the industry, from the visitor industry together to work on this food festival. So I think one of the big goals for me this year is to see how we can incorporate as many partners as we can to get our economy started. So that's, that's another major thing that I'd like to see. And the last thing is, you know, we have about a hundred, in our ninth year, we had about 150 chefs that we brought in from all over the world to cook with our local agriculture products. And one of the things that I've always wanted to do is to share stories about culture and food. And so we started our first edition magazine and it's a digital platform called HashiLife.com. So we are starting a digital publication and it'll tell stories about food and culture and how that intersects. And that's one of the bigger things that we're doing this year. And the last thing I'm doing is I'm trying to create a video series called The Bounty and Beauty of Hawaii. And again, it's to help the industry. And it's showcasing Hawaii's national beauty and agriculture through the lens of chefs. So that's, I'm hoping that we can get that series off this year. We've started filming our first episode and we hope to have a series this year. Oh, that sounds good. And Denise, you know, when you look back at 10 years now, I mean, the festival, I mean, it had so much growth, so much success. Why is that? The festival has been successful because there are so many people who contribute to the festival. I mean, there's, there, it's, it's been amazing in terms of just how many people the festival touches. It's, we started this as an opportunity for the industry to come together to work on something together and to create, to create something beyond, beyond just one entity. So normally festivals, when you look at them, they're resort centric. This festival works with numerous competitors across the state. They're all hotels, right? All the, all the festivals, the festival events are held primarily at hotels and they're all competitors, but it was a way to get the industry to work on something greater than itself. And so that's why it's successful. It's because we have so many people working on this festival. I mean, from the farmers, ranchers and fishermen, to the chefs, to the students, to the resident volunteers, I mean, even when we're doing the festival, the valet people know what the festival is all about. And so it's just, it's just a culmination of a whole lot of people working together for the, for the betterment actually of the state of Hawaii. Oh, I absolutely love it. And I know that you're the key ingredient, Denise, as a CEO. I mean, you know, you, I know you're giving credit to everybody, but a lot of people have, have huge respect for, for you and everything that you're doing. And I also want to ask you as executive director of the Hawaii Agricultural Foundation, what are some of your top goals? So for the Hawaii Agricultural Foundation, our number one goal is to grow future farmers. The average age of the, of a farmer in the United States and in Hawaii is 60 years of age. And you can have all the land and water and inputs and resources, what, what, you know, what have you. But if you don't have a younger generation that wants to become farmers, we're never going to grow our agricultural industry. And so one of our top priorities is to encourage kids to, to take up ag as a career. We have a K through 12 program in the public schools. And we have programs like where would we be without seeds? We have a program called veggie you, we have a program called in the fields. And again, all of these programs touch kids lives and encourages them. And we hope to spark an interest in them to want to become our future farmers. Another goal of the ag foundation is to really support the farmer. We have a 288 acre ag park in Quinnia. We have about 24 farmers on the land. And it's all about trying to help those smaller farmers scale. And so this year will be about trying to take some of that land and actually get that one acre or five acre farmer to become 10 acres. And then to become 15 acres, because, you know, when you think of an acre, it doesn't seem like that much land, but you can grow a lot of food on one acre. And so it's about providing some technical assistance to those farmers. And then the third thing is, is to create community awareness and outreach about the importance of agriculture in our community. So we have programs like eat, think, drink, which bring leaders together to talk about food and ag issues. We have another program called local dishes where we celebrate restaurants that buy local. And so it's just about those are the three main priorities of the ag foundation. And it's been great over the last, again, that organization is about 13 years old. Well, agriculture definitely affects all of us. And, you know, because of COVID and, you know, the past year being so challenging, how have you seen farmers adapt and adjust to really survive? So it's interesting. You know, before the pandemic, I really feel the local community didn't understand or appreciate local agriculture. Once the pandemic hit, I think people realized, Hey, you know, these people, we're going to need these people if we're going to survive. And so the pandemic has actually been good to agriculture. In terms of the farmer, some of the farmers who were growing for the visitor industry, those farmers have had to pivot a little bit because now their market is the consumer. We don't have as many visitors today. We have 7000 versus 30,000 before. So a lot of the farmers that were growing for the visitor industry have now had to change their, what they were growing and grow now for the consumer market versus the visitor market. And that's totally different because if you think about it, you know, like you can only grow so many pineapples for the local market. So those growers are probably having to now change what they're growing and grow something different for the consumer market. And again, even the tomato farmer, you know, some tomatoes are grown for the visitor industry may not be grown for the consumer market. So that's all about how farmers have had to change what they're growing. The other thing is a lot of the farmers are now selling direct to the consumer. We have a lot more farmers markets. We have a lot more CSAs. And so it's just a matter of finding how you're going to get your product to market. But I think the farmers in general have been doing okay. I think it's the restaurant industry that has had a real tough time. And if it's been hard for the farmers, it's because the restaurants aren't buying. So those farmers that were selling to the visitor industry on the restaurants have not had to change what they're doing. All these domino effects, Denise. And Denise, I know that you have my books and I want to ask you, do you like the books? Yeah, it was, I mean, I'm on chapter seven. And as I said, it's an easy read. And there's a lot of things I think you talk about that I can relate to, especially the discipline part. I know we were talking about that earlier. But the discipline part and also coaching style, I think it was interesting to hear a little bit about your coaching style and how you've handled a couple of the players you had. And I think back to my experience dancing hula. And I used to think my kumu hula was so strict. I mean, if we were late, being on time is so important in, I guess any sport and in anything you do. And I just remember, if you were late to halal, you had to only in front of everybody yet to chat in by yourself. So usually the group would chat in and you could chat in with the group. But if you got there late, you'd have to do, you would have to chat by yourself. And so just those lessons about punctuality and about how you train your players, I could relate to when I was a young student dancing hula. No, I like hearing that. And I like that you're liking the book so far. And Denise, you're also an author. And can you tell me about your kid's book that you have? So a couple of years ago, I think in 2016, we, I think it was 2016, it's been a while already. 2016 we published a book called Kiki in the Kitchen with Mika the sous chef. And it is published by the Hawaii Agricultural Foundation. I licensed my real dog Mika to the ag foundation so we could create this character. And she tells a story in the beginning of the book about where food comes from. So she teaches these three kids, actually who are my kids, Hoku Remy and Stone, about where food comes from. It doesn't necessarily, it doesn't come from the supermarket. It comes from the farmer's rashes of fishermen. So she tells that story. And then it goes into, now let's get cooking. And then I had 39 chefs, local chefs who are gracious enough to donate their recipes for the cookbook. Oh, I love hearing that. It's such a cute book. And your dog Mika, I mean, is a celebrity now, right? So much. She's really good. She's a really good, she's a good sport. So she's been on a number of news stories with me and she's really good about just saying it up. So yeah, really lucky to have her as the, as a little mascot for the ag foundation. She's also come out with a doll and we have a wooden spoon and she even has masks for kids and masks for adults. And so all those products are now being sold on the ag foundation website and it benefits our ag education programs. Denise, you're also on a number of boards and it seems like wherever you are, you make significant improvements in every organization. So I want to ask you, why are you successful? You know, it's funny you call me successful. I don't know that I'm successful, but if this is what success looks like, part of the reason I always tell younger women, you know, if you work hard now and you really put in the time and you really don't cut corners, right? You really do the work. Life gets easier. I mean, I remember struggling at 25 and working at, you know, 10, 11 o'clock. And when I worked at Bishop Museum, I was in my 30s already. And, and I was there and you can look at the museum records. I was there almost every night, so 10, 11 o'clock, one o'clock sometimes, depending on if we had a grant due, but you know, putting the time in and not cutting corners and not thinking you can get somewhere without doing the work, I think has been part of why I feel that, you know, I'm successful is it's because I put in the time and the work. I can do everything that everybody in my organization can do. So that that's important is making sure that I'm not just the person calling the shots, but I can also do the work if it need be, you know. So I look at that as, as part of my success. That makes sense. And I want to ask you, Denise, besides family, who's a leader you admire? You know, I was thinking about this one. And I think, and I've always answered the question this way. I think when I look at leaders and I think of people who are of influence, I really think of Oprah Winfrey, and she's not on television anymore. But I still subscribe to her magazines. I love what she does for women. I love that she celebrates people who are who may whose stories may not be told. And so I look at people like like her who have really tried to encourage young women, but also to just tell stories, just tell the right stories and be that person that that, you know, celebrates success. And so when I look at leaders, I think of her. So let's go a little further now, Denise. So what do you feel the best leaders do? You know, what, what do they do? I think the best leaders are the ones that lead by example. I think they're the ones that get their hands dirty. You know, I look at my husband, Roy, and, you know, since COVID happened, he's now in the kitchen, back in the kitchen, washing dishes two hours every day. And I asked him, why are you, why are you washing dishes? And he's like, well, I want to make sure everybody understands that, you know, the most important position in the restaurant is the dishwasher. But I give him credit because, you know, he, for a number of years went to work and he goes to work seven days a week. But, you know, when they had to cut back staff and they had to make some sacrifices, he made that sacrifice along with the rest of his team. And I think leaders lead by example. I really feel that he's one of those special people who is not told to do something, he just does it. You know, I mean, he's the first one to go pick up the garbage, he's the first one to go be vacuuming the restaurant. And so that's what I think of leaders. I totally agree with you and I like hearing that. And Denise, you know, besides COVID, okay, what's a, what's a big adversity or challenge that you dealt with in your life that you overcame? I think one of the biggest adversities in my life, and it's a little bit hard for me to talk about, I was married before, but one of the things that I went through was I went through divorce and, you know, I'm Japanese American, my parents were never divorced. And, you know, I just didn't think I was ever going to get divorced. And what I learned from that is, you know, I saw divorce as a failure and it, it's not a failure. You know, I think my sister and other people feel, have told me, hey, you know, when I was going through it, you can't control another person, you can only control yourself. And so when I look at my life, that was one of the biggest challenges, because I really felt that divorce was, was a failure. But, you know, there are circumstances in your life that you're going to feel like you failed, but it's not really a failure. Because it's something that's beyond your control, like you can't control another person. And so it took me time to process that, but that was one of the biggest challenges I had was to get over that fact that, hey, I failed, which was just a perception, right? I just had to change my perception and figure out that it wasn't a failure. It was just sometimes things don't work out. You know, I've had to, I've had to let people go. I've had clients that have let me go for whatever reason, right? And maybe it's circumstances, it's COVID or whatever, it's not your fault. But if you see as, let's just say, you know, during this COVID, we had to furlough people, you got furloughed, some people might take it as a failure, I got let go, other people didn't, but it's not, it's just a matter of circumstance. And so it's just a matter of how you perceive things and whether you're resilient enough to get up after that adversity. So that's another thing is, you know, I think one of the things successful people have is that they're resilient and they're able to move from adversity and get back on track pretty quickly. And if they're not, as long as they can get back on track, that's success to me is you got to be resilient. You can't, you can't let that bring you so down that you can't function or you can't move beyond it for a period of time. And I think that's, that's what successful people are about. I mean, I remember things used to get me down and I would get so mad at myself or I would get so mad at something that happened or something that didn't go right. And I'd be thinking about it and Roy would look at me and he's like, are you still thinking about that? I'm like, oh, what do you mean? He goes, well, I've already accomplished 10 things and you're still thinking about that. So when I look at successful people, they know how to take adversity, process it and then move. So changes, change is going to happen, right? Life is all about change and good and bad, right? There's good things that happen and bad things that happen. And it's how you take that change and you're able to move and move forward. So that's what I think in terms of my adversity, but also how I think, you know, successful people are when they meet adversity. Denise, I completely agree with you. It's all about adapting and adjusting and finding our way. And I want to thank you for taking time to share your insights about leadership on the show today, Denise. Well, thank you for having me. Really, it was fun today. Thanks. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I hope that Denise and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.