Home Is Here on PBS Hawai’i is sponsored  by: Hawaii Leadership Forum, HEI,   The Olson Trust and Pasha Hawaii.

[Music] Kalaʻi Miller:   Aloha and welcome to Home is Here on PBS Hawai’i.

I’m Kalaʻi Miller.

Truest Hawaiʻi, located in   Honolulu, has been called one of the best sneaker  stores on the planet with an unmatched iinventory.

Behind the exclusive kicks and hype is a  family-run bussiness whose local upbringing   and values are at the heart of everything they do.

Brendan Dunne: Check in with my guys at Truest  Max Holloway: I will.

I gotta go to  Truest.

I never even went to Truest, bro.

Trinidad James: Oh, you’ve never been to Truest?

MH: No.

I never been to Truest.

TJ: Bro!

That’s homefield, bro!

MH: I know, I never did bruh, I never been.

TJ: That’s the best store on the whole island.

MH: It is.

It is.

TJ: And the islands around it.

Matt Welty: It might   be the best store in the world.

TJ: It’s really the best.

Like, they’re the * bro.

BD: I’m gonna FaceTime John from there right now.

John Om: My name is John Om and we’re at Truest   Hawaiʻi.

I first really started focusing on  sneakers maybe like the fourth grade, fifth grade.

Had a bunch of my buddies, we just started playing  basketball, you know, who could be the Michael   Jordan of that school.

And I vividly remember  playing against my friends, and it just stemmed   down to basketball shoes.

Who had the coolest  shoes throughout intermediate and then high   school.

Our circle of friendship it was mostly  because of Michael Jordan, for sure.

I did have a   pair of the original Air Jordans.

My mom’s sisters  bought that pair for me and I have a picture to   validate that.

So, I thought that was pretty cool.

Other than that, I remember having the Jordan IV   White Cements.

I got a bunch of pictures of  me holding that up and that could be one of   the shoes that I always think of when people  ask what is your favorite sneaker of all time.

(instrumental music) Jordans for everything,   right?

It was all-purpose but, I guess, my friends  started to wear basketball shoes just for hoop,   and then runners for non-hoop.

When they’re just  hanging out.

So, I guess, that’s where it started   to have value in the sneakers.

Then I moved to LA,  buying, trading, going to a few sneaker events.

This wasn’t ever like a dream of mine to have a  sneaker store.

When I was living in LA my wife   gave me the idea of recycling, and, you know, just  trading with other people.

It was our time to make   a different move.

I just pitched her an idea,  to move back home here to Hawaiʻi and open up a   consignment sneaker store.

She liked the idea.

So,  she said, “Hey, let's take a chance.” And we did.

(instrumental music) We moved back home in June or July of 2012.

Looking for spots around town.

We were like, maybe  we should open up in a public storage, go grab a   room and appointment only.

This spot was always  open.

This spot was dead but, you know, we got   so desperate, we just took a chance.

We met the  landlord.

My wife was like, “Oh!

Tall ceilings,   it’s amazing!” So, we built this loft.

When me and  my wife opened up, we didn’t have a vision like   that.

We just, hey man let’s open up.

I wanted  to see the coolest shoes every day when I came to   work.

I'll be honest with you, I'm not a real good  business person.

That's why she does everything   for me behind the scenes.

Before we opened Truest,  my wife did not like my passion for sneakers.

But,   for the business, I’m still learning.

I still  make a lot of mistakes.

We had opened up a store   in Honolulu where there were, there weren’t  any other stores.

People had shoes that were   just sitting in their closets and the said hey,  might as well take it to Truest.

We've built some   kind of trust we have some customers since day  one, still bringing me shoes.

So, these sneakers   is just a collection of people from Hawaii.

Old to  new sellers.

Overseas customers as well.

So, shoes   get flown in from different countries and the  mainland.

Over the years we meet a lot of people   from pro surfers, golfers, basketball players.

And  then Travis Scott came in and yeah, yeah that was   pretty cool.

It's all about relationships.

We  build bridges, we don’t burn them.

We’re in the   middle of Asia and the West Coast so we get the  best of both worlds.

I have a lot of respect and   pride for where I’m from, Hawaiʻi.

Especially,  whatever I do, I wore Hawaiʻi on my sleeve.

Before Covid we focused so much on  tourists.

We had shut down for a   few months but we had re-opened.

Man,  we got so much love from the locals.

It was, it was amazing.

It was so refreshing.

Chaisson Goo: I like being welcomed into the shop   and feel like, kind of just being able to talk  story without too much judgement from the shop.

Orlando Aldwin: He just shows you love every  time, you know what I mean?

It’s not like,   he ain’t trying to size you up or anything, check  yo pockets or whatever.

He’s just trying to show   you love.

That’s why you get choke people over  here, over here man, lining up for him.

Man,   that’s love right there, you know.

And these  shirts ain’t cheap, you know what I’m saying so,   you feel me, that’s love right here, man.

JO: Did our first official project with   Reyn Spooner, right?

And then we were projecting  maybe like a year and half to sell our shirts,   800 pieces at least.

Our first drop, I was  calling up my family, cuz I have a lot of   family here.

So at least if no one came for  the launch party at least my family would be   in there and it would look live, you know.

And I  told my wife, maybe we should buy our own leis,   you know, like I don’t know.

You know, I don’t  know what to expect, you know.

She was like,   no don’t buy your own lei.

So we finished  setting up and me and my wife said let’s,   let’s go walk down to the other end of  the mall.

Come back and I’m just like,   woah!

It’s like a big old line around the block.

And then, yeah that was just cool to see all the   local support.

It was crazy.

It was crazy to me.

Jason Sambuto: I think it’s, it’s kind of a   great partnership.

So, it’s really been our  most successful launch of shirts in that,   you know, lines around the building is  not something that we typically have.

JO: I wake up every day and I give my thanks to,  you know.

I tell him that, you know, I hope today,   you know, I can improve from yesterday.

Be  genuine.

You know, to remember that, who knows   what that next customer is going through.

A lot  of those customers come in, yeah, they like to   reminisce.

That’s the part that I mention about  meeting new people and being prepared to have a   conversation.

This business, you think it’s only  about shoes, right, but it’s really about life,   man.

It’s about customers saying, this is my first  pair of Jordans and I got it in your store.

I do   have a lot of pride being Truest in Hawaiʻi.

I would like to say we’ve, we’ve done a pretty   decent job in showing what Hawaiʻi has to offer.

It’s different now, it’s not about shoes anymore,   for me, if that makes sense.

It’s about life  now.

I want to go home happy.

I want to come   back looking forward to connecting with people.

Kalaʻi Miller: Tattooing has been around nearly   as long as human civilization, with different  cultures shaping their own practices and meanings.

In Hawaiʻi, kākau uhi was never just art, it was  something deeper, tied to purpose and growth.

Today, that tradition is carried on by  cultural practitioner Kawika Au, who   reminds us it’s not just about what you  see on the skin, but what you carry within.

(Tapping) Kawika Au: So, there is no ancient Hawaiian   word for art.

Everything was purposeful, including  our tattoos.

They were made to help you grow.

A lot of times, people will come up to me and  they'll ask me, “What does this tattoo mean?”   As the practitioner, it is not mine to disclose  that is the wearer, the person who got tattooed.

It's up to them whether or not they disclose that  information.

It's a very personal process.

It's   a very familial process.

So, when somebody  comes up and asks me what my tattoos mean,   a lot of people will come up and say, oh, what's  that tattoo on your face mean?

I just tell them,   you know, it's, it's a personal tattoo, it  belongs in my family.

I was raised in Tucson,   Arizona.

My father is from this island.

When I  was young, I spent my summers here.

We spent a   lot of time on Oʻahu, and I always felt called to  come back home.

I knew that when I had children,   I wanted to raise them in their culture, and so  when I had my three daughters, I sold my company,   sold my home, and moved back here as soon as I  could.

And so, I was a single father and just   doing cultural work with my mother, Auntie Betty  Jenkins.

I would carve ipu, or I would weave,   just to give people an insight into the cultural  work.

I was surrounded by cultural people for a   long time and decided I wanted to get my ala niho.

Ala niho is that Hawaiian tattoo placement from   hip to ankle.

It's genealogical based as well  as personal based.

And I started researching   what it was, what an ala niho actually is.

I realized that it was, that I was being   called to get my ala niho.

I really wanted to  connect to my, my cultural past, my ancestors,   and tap into that spiritual side.

(Instrumental music)  To become a practitioner, is different based  on the person I sat with my teacher for about   10 years.

It was six years before I started making  my own tools.

We were always taught that the tools   will choose the practitioner.

So if you can make a  good tool and you can use a good tool, then you've   obviously been chosen to do this work.

I've known  some people that it just didn't happen for and so   our explanation was the tools didn't choose them.

The tools that we use are called mōlī, and they   come from this animal here, this beautiful mōlī.

It's the Hawaiian Laysan albatross.

It's a native   bird.

They nest out a Kaʻena to this day.

We would  use the long bone to form the niho or the teeth.

We would flatten them out, carve grooves and then  sharpen them, and that's what we would use to   tattoo.

Then they are attached to a kua, which  would have been made out of turtle shell, and   that would be attached to a stick.

And so those  three pieces kind of symbolize the, the unity of,   of our Polynesian world.

So, you have the ivory  of the teeth, which is the upper echelon only,   only the aliʻi or high-ranking people would  have ivory.

The turtle shell would be the middle   ranking people.

And then the stick, anybody could  go out and grab a stick.

So, it kind of brings all   three classes together into one tool.

Some people  have come to me with a picture and say, “Oh,   this is what I want you to tattoo.” And I'm like,  “Well, that's nice, but that's not what I do.

And   I can recommend a good machine artist that would  do that.” But I am a traditional Hawaiian tattoo   practitioner.

So, if you come to me, this is my  practice.

This is what I do.

It is an in-depth   process.

The consultation is first.

That way I  can see what your intentions are and I can discern   whether or not your intentions are pono.

So, when  I say pono.

I mean, your intention is not just to   get this work to say I got tapped.

Look what I  went through.

Look how cool I am.

That's pretty   easy for me to suss out.

And those people, a lot  of times, don't end up getting tattooed by me.

I   don't turn people down, because, in my practice,  anyone who comes to me to get tattooed has come   to me at the invitation of Kāne.

Kāne is the god  of this practice.

And so for me to turn somebody   away is not pono in itself.

So, if the person  comes to me and their intentions are not pono,   it is my kuleana, my responsibility to help them  get the right intentions.

Some people will never   get the right intentions, they just don't get it,  and that's okay.

I don't have to tattoo everybody,   but I will do my best to help them understand  what, what that our markings are not just art,   that they are esthetically pleasing, but it is  medicine.

So, through that interview, I am able   to say the prayers, I pray to the gods, I pray  to your ancestors to guide me in the patterns   that are appropriate for you to wear.

The goal  is to break the skin and insert prayers.

Those   prayers are meant to help you become the person  that your ancestors want you to be, and help you   become the person that your descendants need you  to be.

The mark that's left behind is called uhi,   and it's beautiful, but it's almost secondary  to my purpose.

My purpose is to hoʻomana you,   to elevate your mana, to elevate your spirit,  and help you become the full Hawaiian,   or the full person that you deserve to be.

There are prayers that go with each pattern,   each placement, each part of the body that need  to be said.

I say those prayers to Kāne silently.

(Tapping) The sound is very hypnotic.

A lot of people   will fall asleep while we're doing the work, yeah,  you just get into a trance, and it just goes.

(Tapping) There's something magical about experiencing   something that your ancestors experienced  thousands of years ago.

People see visions.

You   have ancestors that come and visit them, and other  people just relax and they sit and make jokes and   talk to their family or their friends.

You know  it's a very you, uniquely individual process, and   that everybody has their own reaction to it.

The  sensations are very different on different parts   of the body.

So anywhere there's bone, it's very  uncomfortable.

And I say uncomfortable because I   would never describe it as pain, because it's a  spiritual experience, so it's something that we   have to go through to achieve the ends.

So, this  is not a practice that I can do by myself.

I need   people to stretch the skin.

Their job, when we get  on the map, is to hold the to say prayers, to take   away the person's discomfort, and to hold the skin  tight so that the tools penetrate them without   me having to hit really hard, and so the lines  come out a lot cleaner, and it goes a lot faster   if you have good stretchers.

You don't get to see  the patterns until they're done being tattooed on   you.

And I always remind them when they when we  take breaks, “Don't look.

Don't look.” You know,   it's all about that trust in this process.

You  have the trust for the person doing the work that   he knows what to put on you.

And so, at the end,  we'll whip out a mirror, and then they'll get to   see what we with the work that we've done.

I will  explain the patterns to them and how it means, how   it translates to their life and their story and  their connection to their ancestors.

Right now,   all of your ancestors are here with you.

They're  sitting with you, whether you see them or not,   whether you believe in them or not, whether I  see them or not.

They're with you when you put   them on the outside of the body, everybody can see  them.

Everybody can see your story.

Everybody can   read them.

If you know the patterns, then you can  tell a lot about a person by what they're wearing.

That's where the medicine comes in, because now  that you know, you're part of something bigger.

If   you have one Hawaiian ancestor, you have thousands  of Hawaiian ancestors, including the gods,   and so now you're a part of something huge, and  that makes you carry yourself differently.

That's   where the magic and the healing comes from.

When  people leave here, even if they're not Hawaiian,   I want them to be connected to the ʻāina and have  a deeper understanding of who their ancestors were   and the struggles and the joys and the hardships  that they went through just so that they could be   here today.

We're still here.

This is the start  of tattooing, when, when the Westerners came to   Polynesia, they saw us doing this work, and that  evolved into the machine work that you see today.

But it's not what we do.

We offer the ceremony  to, to tap into that higher self, into that   ancestral knowledge that ʻike kūpuna, that we all  have.

The goal is to help you access into that.

Kalaʻi Miller: Yoza fell in love with music  at a very early age.

That love took her   across the country while earning critical  acclaim and recognition.

But off stage,   she was navigating deeply personal challenges  that pushed her to her limits.

Through it all,   she found a path to healing—one that  continues to shape her life and music.

(instrumental music) Yoza:   My name is Yoza.

And yeah, that's, that's who  I am.

I was born and raised in in Kapahulu.

My   upbringing was really great.

I mean, my parents,  I had very supportive parents.

I started playing   music at a very young age.

I would just practice  and practice.

And I didn’t see it as practice.

I   just saw it as doing something fun, for me.

But I  remember playing.

And there are certain tones and   sounds or series of notes that I would actually  cry, you know, because it was so beautiful.

Like,   I felt like crying now thinking about that  moment, like, music is this thing that you   can transport into any moment of your life.

It can  make you happy, it can make you sad, you know, it   can just catapult you into a different  emotion.

And I think that's just amazing.

(instrumental music) Yoza: I didn't realize at a   young age that I have severe panic disorder which  led into compulsove hair-pulling disorder.

But I   didn’t understand what it was so I went through  a lot of stress in elementary school but none of   it was situational like, my life, from a surface  was really great.

It was untreated.

I didn't know   why can't I handle it.

Like why can’t i handle?

I  thought everybody felt like that, but they could   just handle it.

Every year I would, you know,  play for brown bags to stardom.

I did saxaphone   in a ska group.

I did ʻukulele.

I did guitar.

For  the last one I did a solo.

Just me on my guitar.

For me, it was major.

Now, if you’re by yourself  in front of your entire school, right?

And you're   playing by yourself, that's when I you don't know  until you're in that situation.

So, I was like,   Yeah, I'm gonna do this thing.

I'm gonna rock it,  you know?

And then once I was in that situation,   my hands were like this, like, my hands were  shaking.

My voice was shaking.

I was really like,   but I did it as well as I could.

It was incredibly  shockingly frustrating because I knew what I was   capable of doing.

And I wanted to show the  world.

But when it came down to it, and I   would be in front of people, I just couldn't,  I couldn't do it physically, like, my hearing   would get kinda cloudy.

And my vision would be  kind of like, blurred on the side like dark.

One night, everybody was drinking, because  everybody that I hung out with was much older than   me.

And so, they introduced me to alcohol.

And  then I drank, and I went in there, and I was like,   no inhibitions.

It was just like, all those  voices that were like, you're not good enough,   you're not good enough.

They all went away,  you know, I suddenly didn't have a fear of   what people were gonna think.

Immediately, I was  hooked.

Like, the first time that I ever drank,   I was like, I need to do this again, like,  immediately.

And so, it also carried over   into my music.

And it was to the point where I was  like, there's no way that I will ever play sober.

I’ve always wanted to feel regular and be able to,  you know, kill it on stage in front of people.

So   why would I not?

I got a full scholarship, music  scholarship to Hawaii Pacific University.

And,   and I blew it, because I just was, you know,  drinking and couldn't make it to class on time,   or I'd make it to class totally wasted, you know?

And it just robbed me of, of my musical career.

I met a, you know, guy who started dealing drugs  and he wasn’t gonna tell me to stop, you know,   and so we both together lived on the floor of an  arcade in Kailua for a while.

We dealt drugs and   I, I just kept on going.

I kept on drinking and  using and it eventually led to me living in my   car, crashing my car, and living in the park.

At some point I decided to seek treatment.

And   so I went to Hina Mauka.

I just did  everything that I was told to do.

I didn’t realize at the time that that willingness  that I had, to get clean, wouldn’t always be   there.

And so, I kept on relapsing, and kept  on relapsing.

And I refused to stop working.

This is actually like the first song that I  thought came out alright.

Cuz I hate all of   my originals.

I play ‘em anyway.

(Singing)  I gave you all my love, gave it back to me You said with me is not who you had wanted to be  I released my first album and it had won the Nā  Hōkū award for the best r&b album of the year.

(Singing) What a funny space I’m in  Feel like I’m going insane It’s a crazy situation  At that point I had been in and out of  treatment.

Then I met uncle Willie K. And so,   he really believed in me.

And so, he  started working with me extensively and   we started playing the same shows together.

He would take me around to play in LA and   San Diego and everything.

And so, I would  open for his shows.

And then he connected   me to my next producer.

I released my second  album.

That one was up for Song of the Year,   Album of the Year, Female Vocalist of the  Year, and Contemporary Album of the Year.

(Singing) You’re bringing me down  Just won’t be pushed around Cuz I ain’t your Frankenstein  I was born fine Leave you alone And I don’t even remember.

Like I,   I sang on stage at the Hōkūs and  stuff.

I don’t remember any of it.

(Singing)  Save your time and energy yeah Cuz you say I think too much  Waste my life and stuff Leave you alone It was just non-stop.

Just like getting a  couple months here, a couple months there,   and then relapsing, relapsing, relapsing.

And I had still untreated panic disorder so   I was trying to play these gigs  with no source of medication.

(Singing) Just to   show how imperfect I am You’re bringing me down  I don’t wanna be around I don’t see where you come from I was so tired.

I was so tired, so sick of it,  already.

I was sick of what I was doing to my   family.

I was sick of just the relapses.

I was so sick of it.

I wanted to live a   life worth living.

I had to detox at Castle  Medical.

Literally, I walked in there and   I said please take me in.

And I dropped to my  knees, crying and I said please I’m gonna die.

(Instrumental music) My mom flew in.

She said I will sell my house   to send you to treatment and without hesitation  I said yes, let’s go.

And she said okay, we can   leave in a couple days and I said no.

We have to  leave now.

And uh, cuz I didn’t want to change my   mind.

I didn’t want anything to affect my thinking  at that point.

I wanted to go.

They gave me a   psychiatrist.

And they identified, finally, what  I had.

Because they said that what I was having   clearly was a panic attack.

That I went through  several medications that I didn’t like and then   they finally hit one that, and since that moment  that I’ve been on that medication I have not had   a full-blown panic attack.

And I’m still, still  clean and sober.

I’m so proud of myself because   I can say that today.

Because I was so disgusted  with myself since I was a kid that today when I   can say something good about myself it’s like  a major accomplishment.

So, I consider myself,   a super-mom.

And I work full-time as a musician.

Sometimes I play in the morning at the hotels in   Waikiki and then I'll play again at night after  putting my kids to sleep.

And I also sponsor women   and I’ll talk to them on a weekly basis.

Then I  have my own regimen for my spiritual program.

It   keeps me pretty busy and, but I love it.

(Singing)  It was a good day to run away so I flew Friends slowly diminishing no jobs too  I said any place is better  than here so I flew to LA  But no matter where you go that’s  where you are ss what they say  Well now that I had left  that place and I’m here alone  I’ finding that I’m just a girl without a home Kaleʻi Miller: Mahalo nui for joining us.

If   you would like to support PBS Hawaiʻi’s  mission to share stories that connect us,   head over to PBS Hawaiʻi dot org and click  on the donate now button.

For Home is Here,   I’m Kalaʻi Miller.

A hui hou.

(Yoza singing)  Armed with a cheap guitar and  a phony smile my head held high  Said called home said I’m cold  and alone I won’t swallow my pride  I said why won’t someone give me  chance but I had to face facts  Well now that I had left  that place and I’m here alone Home Is Here on PBS Hawai’i is sponsored  by: Hawaii Leadership Forum, HEI,   The Olson Trust and Pasha Hawaii.