 The Think Tech Hawaii Studio for another exciting episode. We got a Hawaii themed episode of Security Matters for you today. My guest Kai Cavello is one of those brilliant, brilliant people who snuck out of Hawaii and is now working at Intel fixing the world's problems. So we're going to have a lot of fun talking with Kai today. I'm going to get a little bit of Hawaii flavor in there, give you some of that background and then we'll get to sort of what she's doing and what she's doing at Intel and what kind of impact she's going to have on our industry. Kai, thanks so much for joining me today. I love it that Maureen hooked this up and we got you on the show almost right away. So it's so good. I'm glad you were available. Thanks for joining me. Gosh, it's such an honor and such a pleasure to be here today. I am so excited. So thank you so much for having me. Well, the guests make the show. So let's give our audience a taste of your history as much as you'd like to share. You know, we don't reveal everything on social media these days. So kind of maybe, you know, just your background and then leading up to kind of where you're at today. Totally, totally, totally. So, yes, you know, it's kind of my story from going from the islands to amazing, great big Intel. And so I was born and raised on the island of Oahu, Shadow of Oahu Peeps and, you know, went to school here and eventually was very fortunate enough to graduate from the Kamehameha School of Kapala on the campus. And then really, I think where my journey to Intel really began is when I was trying to figure out what is my next college plan going to be for that next step. And I, you know, I think every Hawaii kid sort of comes into that decision-making, do I stay or do I go? So I said, OK, I'm going to go to the mainland and see what we've got in store. And kind of the way that I say that I found Intel, you know, I was very fortunate enough when I was a senior in college to be recommended to go to a sales conference by one of my amazing mentors at the time. And I didn't know anything about sales. I was like kind of feeling like I was out of my lead going to the sales conference with three other amazing women who are on the professional sales team. But on the story short, I was in there. You got 12 minutes on the clock, start to finish. I somehow managed to leave and got second place. So I was like, OK, hold on. I kind of, you know, to go to this is like a learning opportunity. But I think I unlocked some potential career aspirations and, you know, was lucky enough to be connected and be able to network with some amazing people and learn about a career at Intel. And now I am unbelievably here and I got to join the best team on the planet and have been loving it ever since. Wow, it is so awesome. I love your enthusiasm as well. I don't know if most people on the mainland and a lot of people are in this, you won't know how difficult that is, you know, from Kamehameha, that decision to leave here and go, I wore my HPU shirt today. So I did college here. But how was that? Did you have other members of your family that had gone off to college and did they come back? Or what's sort of the story there, the background for, you know, your flight away? Definitely, right? I think my parents had a lot of influence on my next step in. I think that my mom, she went to University of Phoenix and she got her master's in education. So she was really the one who always wanted to push me to be a hungry learner. And my dad always reminded me to never be a quitter. So I think kind of those two things infused together and, you know, just again, blessed and lucky that I was fortunate enough to take that step to the mainland. And they were, you know, very supportive of me kind of going after that freedom. And so it's been, it was definitely a hard decision. And it's kind of funny because when you're thinking about making a decision in Hawaii, it's not like you can just get in the car, take a road trip to see the campus one day and kind of get the experience. You know, it was the whole thing. I was very blessed at my dad and my sister got to come with me to see Flagstaff, Arizona, you know, being from Hawaii. You sometimes never will get to see the Grand Canyon. And I got to see it right out of, right out of high school. So lots of big decisions to, you know, make that sacrifice to leave your family because that's one thing that's so great about Hawaii. Nobody leaves, but then nobody leaves. So, you know, you got to always figure out how to come back. Yeah. And so have you, so during the pandemic, is that I'm sure you visit, you know, as often as you can, is that, has it been a while since you've seen your family or are you dealing with that virtually these days or how's it going? Yeah, gosh, you know, hopefully getting to see the family for the holiday season with kind of the new safety restrictions going on. But yes, try to come back as often as possible. And now being here in Portland, I remember when I was first moving here, I had another mentor in college who said, make sure that you book quarterly vacations back home to Hawaii to help with the weather and the seasonal change going from, obviously, the Pacific Island to now being in the Pacific Northwest, where it is very rainy and cloudy all the time. Yeah, I've been to Portland. It's it can be sort of softened up there. You get that gray sky that never goes away. Yeah, totally, totally with the gray sky. But the one thing I love saying because I actually study fashion, merchandising as my minor in college, you don't get to wear the boots in Hawaii that you get to wear up here. So that's my silver lining. Nice. Yeah, you get to wear some clothes. That's cool. Yeah. Which says, if you don't know like Hawaii, we just have some board shorts and t-shirts and, you know, a polo for a business meeting. And that's about all you need. Yeah, you're very dressed up in a polo. Yeah. Awesome. Well, let's talk a little bit about about the school. So when you got to school, the sort of the adjustment of living there because obviously you'd been living at home, right? And going to Kamehameha. Were there other Kamehameha grads there or were there was there anyone that you knew or any ties back to Hawaii when you when you showed up? Gosh, I love that question because I told myself, OK, I actually sat down with one of my amazing high school teachers at the time and figured out how it's going to make my college plan. And he kind of asked me, do you want to go to somewhere where there's a lot of Hawaii presence or, you know, maybe not as much? And I thought I was picking somewhere where I was going to be like stand out Hawaii kid and I get there. And I see like 15 of my awesome classmates and they're all showing up at orientation on the same day. So it was kind of a blessing in disguise because there was still a little bit of that presence where I really didn't get homesick because I think I underestimated what one year and four feet of snow will really do in terms of kind of weather and culture shock. So I'm glad that I was able to make connections with other people from Hawaii. The first best friend that I ever made in college was actually she's from Maui and people used to ask us if we were twins and sisters. But we didn't even know each other before getting to college. So it was great to have Hawaii presence. But it was also great to be on the mainland where I have a lot of room to to learn and to grow, find out new different things that are a lot different from our Hawaii culture. Yeah, let's let's talk about that a little bit. So let's let's talk about that exportation of Aloha, right? Because you go out there, you know, you come to the mainland and I'm not sure about the sort of the population demographics there or whatever, but are on that campus in particular. But you show up with this, you know, in Hawaii, everybody sort of there's a lot of equality here. No one everybody just anticipates everybody to be part everything from everywhere. There's so many different cultures represented. So how did that? What was your I guess was it? I don't know if it was shocked, but was it different to all of a sudden feel? And I don't know where you did. You feel like you're in a minority or did any of that have to be learned, you know, or did you have to learn? You know, have some Aloha there where you were going? Totally, totally. Yes, I love that question because I, you know, growing up in Hawaii, being half Japanese, you know, a Hapa kid, you are part of the majority. Everybody is Hapa, everybody is Asian. And so it was so funny moving to the mainland, especially Northern Arizona, particularly, where in that in that community, because it was a college town, a lot of the time you wouldn't see too many Asian people unless they were foreign exchange students from maybe, you know, actual China or Asia coming to study in the United States, or, you know, maybe somebody who was really into authentic Asian cuisine. So it was kind of to your point a shock when, you know, I've got a funny story where people see an Asian person and it's kind of assumed that they don't speak English. And so, you know, I was having a little hilarious story where you just kind of have to make, you know, as best of a situation as you can and just sort of making sort of fun of, you know, just it's okay that we're in a different situation than I'm what I'm used to, but definitely needing to learn how to bring that Aloha spirit in a way that people found it easy to embrace and could understand, you know, that I'm really just trying to learn. I'm just trying to be here to experience all the cultures and also trying to make sure that I understand people are learning about me too. And people are, you know, not everybody is an expert in, you know, Hawaiian culture and Hawaiian people and needing to find that patience as well to share. And that has been so awesome for me, especially coming from Kamehameha to get to share the serious, you know, cultural upbringing that is really deeply embedded in myself and getting to help people understand, yeah, the place that you vacation, lots of people consider that home and the culture that's deeply embedded around that home is something that I get to share. So it's great. Yeah, there's a, and there's a quite a focus. I know our audience won't know the emphasis Kamehameha Schools puts on Hawaiian culture, but it's a part and parcel of every day that they go to school and there's, that exportation is also a piece. They like to share that and share, and that's, you know, part of Aloha is the sharing of all that. So that taking that knowledge out. So tell me, so did people, did you have people that walk up and like, do they talk real slow? Cause they think you don't know English and stuff like that. Yeah. What happened to you? Oh, there we go. Yeah, now, because every once in a while, it's kind of funny, like I was, I think shopping once and somebody just kind of assumed that I didn't maybe speak English and they were like, you know, do you, do you have cable? Do you have any cable? And you just gotta have a little bit of fun and just like, oh, I'm so sorry. I don't, I don't have cable. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And, you know, just gotta have a little bit of fun and just kind of help, help people, you know, have a little bit of sense of humor when it comes to this different kind of cultural differences, but all a good spirit. Yeah, yeah. It's, it's, it's awesome. And here, you know, like everybody has a lot of fun with all these cultural differences. By the way, it's just for our audience, if you don't know, it's the people kind of ask you. So let's talk about schools. So did you get a lot of questions? Like on the main one, they asked you what schools you go to. They typically talk about your college, right? So here in Hawaii, when they ask you what school you went to, they wanna know what high school you went to. Yes, when they ask you about, you know, you say, oh, you're from Hawaii. They're like, oh, what school did you go to? And it kind of automatically identifies you and kind of puts you in that community. So I think it's interesting because when I was, you know, in college and sort of doing the career development piece and they're talking about how to get looks on your resume, they say, you know, typically once you've done high level education, you take high school off of your resume. And I said, well, not if you're from Hawaii and you went to Kamehameha schools because that's how, you know, I got my first job out of college at this amazing boutique because the owner was a Kamehameha mom. And I, you know, had that on my resume and she, I was, I was in very luckily. That's awesome. Yeah, they, they had, were you able to take advantage of the intern program? I don't know, cause we've hosted some interns from Kamehameha that come, and they were, they're in college, but when they come back, like Kamehameha actually gives internship to it's, even people that are already gone, they can take advantage of that program. I don't know if you're able to do that or not, but it's a, it's amazing thing that they provide. I've heard about it. I've heard about the amazing kind of how that next step in the internship and career development that Kamehameha offers as a service, I was never able to take advantage of it, but I'm just so glad that, you know, you don't see that all the time where folks are really invested in that next step to, to help folks in, in their next chapter of life. It's so exciting. Yeah, it's an awesome thing that they do. We had an engineering student come and, you know, just for the summer and Kamehameha pays him when he were, and he worked for us. It was a May. I was like, well, this is an awesome program. So we're, we're, they reach out to us when they have people that, you know, we can help with that, that program anyway. So we got, we got, it's almost break time. Let's, we'll go ahead and take a break. We'll pay some bills and we'll be right back with Kai. Stick around. And we're back. So we're talking with Kyla Covella. Covella, she is working at Intel. She's snuck away from Hawaii and has not made her way back yet. I promised Cassia Hansen, another good Intel friend of mine. I would not try to entice her to come back to Hawaii because they love her at Intel. Anyway, Kyla, thanks for, thanks for sharing with us today. Let's talk a little bit about what's going on at Intel. I looked at your LinkedIn header earlier today and I love this, this don't be encumbered by history. Go off and do something wonderful. And that is sort of like my experience of what Intel's people are all about. So tell us how it is there and tell us about your role and what you're doing. You know, my experience with Intel, I feel just so blessed from top to bottom. So it's a little bit of, I guess background. I, you know, started there in an entry level field position and I was able to get so much exposure. Folks here are so, so eager to help you learn. And really it is like you show up every day and you're coming to a team that we are really not trying to focus on what's happened in the past or where we've been but it's all about where we're going and what wonderful thing are we ought to do next. So it's been really exciting. And I think one of the biggest things for me when I was really thinking about career and companies specifically, I really wanted, you know, we talk all about diversity and inclusion. I think it's something that we hear in industry terms a lot of the time. And I think it's easy to think about diversity and inclusion just being demographics on paper. But I was having, you know, a really thoughtful conversation with my boss and he reminded me that diversity is not just about everybody looking different because if everyone looks different but everyone thinks the same then we really don't have diversity. And I think that's something that I've seen from Intel in really what they're really focused on and doing something wonderful is making sure that everybody has a seat at the table and making sure that we are taking a full holistic approach to, you know, our mission is empower and world changing technology that enriches the lives of every human on earth. And I've almost been seeing us taking that to new levels where we're using AI to do things in, you know, the coral reefs. And so I, of course, I'm from Hawaii. I take the reef and the ocean situation very seriously. I think about our turtles all the time. And so, you know, when we're getting to do technology that's really hitting, really close to home. It's just been so crazy that I get to be a part of it, you know, coming from the 50th state in the middle of the ocean to great big Intel on, you know, the Fortune 500 list. It's a dream. Yeah, are the opportunities internal? Can you move around? So you've got a title, you know, Field Sales Engineer and you're working, I'm guessing, you know, primarily with the security group and the, you know, the technologies that are gonna inform the security industry, right? Is there a lot of opportunity to move around? Is that a, I don't know, is it only global? Is it North America? Where all do you work? And what sort of organizations is it that you're touching? Yeah, so I'm lucky to hear out in the beautiful verbs of Portland, Oregon, but in terms of, you know, Intel is global company. We are 110,000 strong and growing all around the world. So I think that was another thing I thought was so special about finding, you don't find a job here, you really find a career. And I think I could have almost any kind of career, any sort of career path in, you know, my wildest dreams right within these Intel four walls. And I think that that is seriously so special that I could never stop learning and never stop evolving. I'd never have to leave Intel space is what I call it. That's so much fun. As are they, what sort of the pathway do you have? Do you work like in a group? I mean, obviously we're all kind of virtual now. I think, and we can talk about is Intel gonna stay virtual for a while? Probably if I heard some communications about that. So does your team, is it grown? Is it shrunk? How's the impact been, you know, to work with a group that, you know, doesn't care or isn't probably meeting as often as they used to. Totally, totally. That's, you know, something else that is sort of a pro and a con during this time. I have an amazingly tight knit team and we are so awesome in helping each other and we typically are co-located and get to be in the office. So it's really lively. Everybody's on the floor together learning and hearing each other. But then now we're shifting to virtual team space. So obviously I really miss sitting next to I have an amazing partner that I was literally like poking distance away from and he's probably glad that I'm not poking distance away anymore. But I do miss sitting next to and just, you know, the expertise definitely rubs off. But I have been so impressed to see the way that our management and our leadership has tried to pivot and react so quickly to help us be the most successful virtual team that we possibly can, given how things are changing real time day by day. And I think the biggest thing for Intel that I really appreciate is they definitely wanna get us back to work so that we can be productive and in our work environments again, but they really wanna make sure that we get it right. So if that means taking a little extra time to get it right, they're happy to do that. And I think I'm just grateful as an employee, you know, to be patient and make sure everybody is getting back safely. But very grateful for the high importance that they put on being connected as a team no matter what our environment looks like. Yeah, has it impacted your outreach or I've heard some people that said, wow, this virtual world's allowed me to have outreach that I've met all these people I would have never met. And then other people are feeling sort of isolated because we're not having the personal communications. So from a team perspective, how's your outreach been? How do you think the impact's been for you guys for working virtually? Totally, that's a great question. I think for us, we've actually had a lot of new additions to the team. And it's sort of twofold. For me, externally, I have never been able to reach so many people at one time when we're all home. I know you're sitting behind your computer. I know you're checking your email. And so I've probably been able to get to you a little quicker by hunting you down because you're stuck at home. But for folks on my team who are brand new, I totally understand how, you know, or anybody who's starting a new job right now, how it could feel really isolated. So I think for folks who have been, especially for somebody like me who's been part of a team when we were co-located and there's some continuity from that tight-knit relationship, extend that over to the new folks who we're probably not gonna be in the office for a while more. And so, you know, think about how that could make you feel as a new person. And it's just a tiny bit of effort to do a 15-minute sync with somebody to introduce yourself. And I think that it also helps you not feel as isolated and to remember we are still making new relationships, even if they're virtual. We are still connecting and meeting new people, even if it's over Zoom or Skype. And I think that it helps keep us positive. Yeah, for sure. Keep connections, yeah. Yeah, at least the assembly, it's not personal, but it is personal, right? And I think the ability to see people, I was talking with someone about how difficult it is to communicate when you wear a mask. Like, you know, if I'm covered up like this, it's harder to really see what I mean. And so, you know, if we're out in public, you know, like I go to my club and I see people, I don't even recognize them. You know, especially if they have like a hat and a mask on. And then I can't tell the intensity of like their communication or something, you know? And so it's really, there's a lot missing that at least virtually like this, when we can see each other, you know, we can communicate a little better. Is that, does your team engage in like, I know some people are having like virtual happy hours and reading book reading clubs and all kinds of stuff. Is all that going on virtually as well for you? Absolutely. And that's another thing that I'm inspired by is the way that folks have been so creative in finding ways to stay connected while we're virtual. Like Intel, we talk all the time about this amazing Peloton Group that they started. And it's a bunch of Intel employees getting on their Pelotons at different times of the day to have a ride together. And that's not something that we would have done probably in the before for, but now it's something that folks really prioritize as their way to get connected with their team. I'm sure there's a friendly competition where, you know, you're on your bike and I think you can see people. And in one of them, I believe our amazing CEO was able to join. So if you get to start your day biking with the CEO, I think, you know, how do you not show up to work feeling like you're connected to your team? That's awesome. Have you been able to share any, have you done like any Hula or anything for anybody? Did you share any, or did you do music? Would you do it? Kamehameha makes you do things. I know that you have to either chant or whatever it may be. So were you able to sharing that stuff in a virtual event like that? Oh man, there is this awesome Pacific Islanders of Intel group that we have. And it's literally called POI. Yes, Pacific Islanders of Intel. And it's so amazing. They actually did a virtual Hawaiian cooking class. And so they had so many different like Kahlua jackfruit and different things. And I actually think that I'm gonna submit my chicken lung rice recipe for our sales cookbook. We're doing like a Christmas cookbook, you know, because we can't potluck together and stuff. So I, in quarantine, I've mastered my chicken lung rice recipe. So I think I'm gonna submit it. It's only like five ingredients. Nice, nice. Yeah, food, everything in Hawaii goes around food for those who don't know, right? When we meet, we eat. So that's just a part of the, sort of the heritage of the culture, the sharing of food. So what kind of projects you've been working on? What's exciting for you right now? Gosh, you know, I think the thing that I am so, so most excited about is I'm really starting to see, I think, a pivotal change in the industry where in security, as you know, typically, you know, folks are maybe not as eager or excited to embrace new technology, but I'm really starting to see a huge change in that with innovations in edge AI and compute capabilities and different things that we're doing with our partners to where security and surveillance systems where they maybe have typically been seen as sort of the necessary evil, like I need to have them because safety and security is, you know, obviously necessary. They're now looking to figure out how can we be more creative with this type of deployment? How can we land more valuable workloads on these types of, you know, really optimized, amazing, well-thought-out systems and get more bang for our buck? Think about the future that we're trying to create and make it happen today. So I think I'm really excited for that. I'm excited for all the wonderful things that we're going to do. Yeah, and Intel is gonna lead. I mean, I so appreciated to see Intel taking an interest, like in our industry. You know, I don't remember 10 years ago, Intel being around the way they are today. So you and your team are gonna have a major impact on what it is we do going forward. You're probably gonna show us sort of what we can do because I don't know if, you know, our industry sort of aging, right? And a lot of people didn't really make even the IT jump, much less the AI jump, right? So I think it's gonna be fun and inspiring probably to have leadership from a group like Intel showing our industry what's possible. For you, that just means you're kind of gonna be leading the world here in security. Have you met a lot of other folks from the industry? I mean, how's that been for you? Your introduction to the industry, I guess we call it. Yes, gosh, I have been just, you know, completely immersed in and really exposed to all of these different amazing folks in the industry, whether it be, you know, these awesome hardware providers or these amazing software developers and everybody in between, obviously like yourself, the amazing integrators who put the solutions together so that we're not just doing ingredients but we're selling full solutions, I think has been so amazing to see how really in our industry the ecosystem comes together to provide a full turnkey. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, we've got about a minute left. What advice do you have for the rest of the world out there that's gonna catch your show this week? Oh, gosh, you know, I think for my people out there, for my Hawaii people, I would just say dream big, dream as big as you possibly want. And I think the thing I, I think about and it stuck with me really, really deep from when I went to Kamehameha is, you know, just Kalia Ikanoo, strive for the summit, you know, which one I'm talking about and just never give up on your dreams is all I gotta say and never stop learning. That is great advice, Kai. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time today. Take care. I can't wait to get you back on here for another show. It was a lot of fun and we'll check in with you again soon. Aloha everybody, be safe out there. Aloha.