Hanging Out with Nolan Hong

John is the CEO of Kupu Hawaii, a local nonprofit that provides hands-on training in conservation, sustainability, and environmental education for young adults, with the goal of fostering our next generation of environmental and cultural stewards. We talk about how he and his wife came to start the org, the funny story of how he and his wife met, growing up with entrepreneurs (his family owned Waialana Coffee House), his vision for the future of Hawaiʻi and what’s being done now to get there.

Learn more about Kupu at https://www.kupuhawaii.org/

Arliss is a business and life coach who teaches people the art of self love. She shares how she was studying for her PhD in Neuroscience when a diagnosis of terminal rare genetic disease changed her life to a path of radical self love and care, and how she has made it her life mission to share that with others.

Learn more about Arliss at https://soullutions.com/
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https://www.instagram.com/arliss.dudley.cash/

Clyde has over 300 film and TV credits!! We talk about growing up in Hawaii, being one of the few Asian actors getting consistent work in Hollywood, choosing not to fall into the stereotypical portrayals of Asian characters (even when he was directed to do so), his journey to sobriety, and some really cool stories about auditioning and working on some of my favorite shows and movies of all time — Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and Young Rock!

TIA CARRERE hangs out with us for Episode 200!!! She shares about getting discovered at the Food Pantry in Waikiki at age 17, singing with Daniel Ho at Brown Bags to Stardom, what she learned about how to survive and thrive in Hollywood, and lots more. It’s a great discussion about self-worth and staying grounded when you’re in an industry that doesn’t make that easy.

We also learn that Nolan eats his cereal like a barbarian, and Tia eats her cereal in the most logical way.

Check out Tia’s favorite shirts at https://www.tiacarrere.com/merch

And if you’re by Holualoa on Hawaiʻi Island, check out The Green Fale food truck — IG @thegreenfale

Olin is a serial social entrepreneur, innovator, and community organizer. We talked about growing up in KPT where he was stabbed at the age of 7, serving in the Peace Corps in Russia in a city where the economy was collapsing, how Asperger’s Syndrome is his super power and curse, and why his mission in life is to spread kindness.

Olin is currently focused on clean energy and STEM education. He founded multiple companies and nonprofits, holds multiple patents, and his designs have been adopted by Global 1000 companies across five different industries. His inventions have also been used in several institutions such as the Olympics and MIT.

As one example, he invented and launched the first commercial crowdfunding service which scaled to channel $100 million to fund causes worldwide. One nonprofit he co-founded is Purple Maiʻa, focused on Hawaiian-grounded stem programs in education, entrepreneurship, and workforce development. He has spoken at conferences worldwide including a keynote speaker at Microsoftʻs Annual Developerʻs Conference.

His community service includes the U.S. Navy, the Peace Corps, and numerous nonprofits. In 2020, he along with some friends designed and hand built ventilators when Hawaiʻi had insufficient supply. He’s a past Petra Fellow (Center for Community Change) and East West Center Fellow (general engineering and Asian industrialization). Olin and his wife Alison have two boys, both students at Kamehameha Schools.

Connect with Olin at https://www.facebook.com/olagon

Dr. Aquino is president and founder of Hawaii Workforce Pipeline. She shares about her career journey — from going to school as a data research analyst doing testing on mice and the effects of marijuana and other drugs on humans, then finding her calling through interning at hospitals, and how she is now working to help connect students with internships to get real life training, experiences and mentorships so they can find their calling.

Learn more about Hawaii Workforce Pipeline — www.hawaiiworkforcepipeline.com

Steven is a growth cultivator and founder of Humanity Consulting. Before this, he was an Air Force Officer, research program manager, and astrophysicist.

We talked about his love and interest in the stars and space, and if he knows if aliens are real or not He was really open about his personal journey, how he found his calling to help people grow from struggles and trauma, and find their purpose and place in life.

Learn more about Steven at https://www.humanity-consulting.org/

Geoff is the owner of Dream Float Hawaii. We talked about what floating is, how he got started in his business, his interest and passion for learning about health and healing, and stories from driving Uber.

Learn more about Dream Float Hawaii at https://www.dreamfloathi.com/

Jen is the Principal and Chief Joy Officer of Community Impact Advisors. She shared about her fascinating background — her parents worked for the FBI (?!!) and her dad analyzed surveillance footage and worked the Imelda Marcos case (?!), they adopted Jen from an orphanage in Japan, which she was able to visit as a young adult. We talked about how she supports nonprofits by helping them fundraise and also her previous work in retail at Ann Taylor. And (my favorite part) she also loves 50 Cent and 90s rap!

Learn more about Jen’s company at https://www.communityimpactadvisors.com/

Ken is the principal instructor of Pearl City High School’s broadcast and digital media program. We talked about his 20+ years in television as a director and technical producer for all the major Hawaii news stations and video production companies, how he got his college degree 20 years after dropping out, how his high school teacher changed his life, and his work with the students at PCHS.

Go to https://gofund.me/6a5b8290 to help send Ken’s team of 3 Pearl City High School seniors to the SkillsUSA National Competition this May in Georgia.