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them behind the scenes. Visionaries and leaders, their visions are usually in the future.

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They're things that are intangible and not quite built. They're moving towards, and they may have

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built a solid base, but what it does, it just gives people the chance to belong to the entire

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experience. So Michael, you come highly recommended, which is a really great sign,

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because you come highly recommended by your own son, Jeff Sera, who has just been an amazing,

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amazing friend, advocate, ambassador for our brand. He sent us probably more than 20 referrals at this

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point. And the fact that he went to the OG, he got you, and he was like, Jackson, you got to meet my

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father, Michael. That just says so much about the legacy of your family. So thank you, man, for

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joining us. We will end the talk on leadership. Jackson, thank you for the opportunity. And yeah,

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yeah. As a parent, you know too, right? That when it goes first circle like this, it's just, yeah,

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there's nothing more rewarding. So thank you. And if my kids have this experience in Vegas,

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they'll be like, I did something right. Jackson, when your kid buys you, when they treat you to a

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meal, that's the first like, oh my God. And when they make you kind of tear up because they've done

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something that you're really proud of, that's also awesome. So those are experiences that we as parents

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get to experience. So I'm sure you will also have that same opportunity. So cool. Vision pros,

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leaders out there. If you have children, this is the episode that should be like our ultimate dream

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and bucket list of, man, I hope my child recommends me someday like Jeff did for Michael. So this is

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great. Thanks for entertaining it. So we're going to be talking today about how we can bridge cultural

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gaps in this divided world. This applies to every vision that's out there. That's one of which we're

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trying to serve others. We all come from different walks of life. We now have access to cultures

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worldwide. You can literally live in America, but spend your entire time studying a culture

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in Cambodia and have more relationship with those people than you do with your own neighborhood.

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And it creates new opportunities and new challenges. And so we're going to be talking about what that

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looks like in developing communities, of course, too. We're also of course going to dive in first

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and talk about leadership resources. So Michael, what are three resources that you recommend for

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other visionaries and leaders out there? At my age, you think that you can't learn anything else,

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but I would disagree. And so I actually went back to school. And Stanford here locally has a great

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one-year program, and it's called LEAD. It's literally L-E-A-D. And if anybody is interested

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in just kind of getting a refresh, just to keep, I guess, current, it's a great program. And from

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that, I've met some awesome folks because the network is huge and also some great professors.

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And if I had to recommend a couple of great books that I always like to refer to, one is from

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Professor Jeffreys. He's got a book called Power and why some people have it and others don't.

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And he simplifies it by three things, building your own brand, getting out of your own way,

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and asking for what you want. And so those are three principles that I always share with

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young people as well as students when I give a presentation. And so if you have a chance,

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that's a great book. Wow. So I've got to pick a third because these are amazing. So one,

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you're going back to school already after all the knowledge you've attained. You're like,

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man, I'm proud of this. You never stop learning. One of my favorite quotes, it's anonymous,

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is the more you learn, the more you can learn. And it's, yes, it's a gift that keeps on giving.

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And then you've got this book called Power. Do you have a third resource you want to recommend?

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Well, so there's another book and I think this is also relevant as we get older and that's

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The Hundred Year Life. This is by Linda Grayton and Andrew Scott. And what they talk about is,

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in the past, we all thought, okay, 65, we're done, we're retiring. But now if you think about

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living to 100 with all the modern medicines and technologies, people are going to have to think

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about, okay, what do I need to do to sustain myself to 100? So no longer it's three phases of life

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where you get educated, you go to work, and then you retire. Now you get educated, you work part

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one, and then you work part two, maybe even go back to school like I did, and then think about

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retiring. But if you don't have that extra runway, you're going to run out of finances.

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And there's really three things that you have to make sure you have, right? And that's your mind,

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of course, your health, your physical health, and the finances. So if you follow along with this

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book, they talk about having four phases of life and making sure you have enough runway

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so that you can enjoy that extra time that you're going to have.

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I love that. And huge, so 100 year life and a huge shout out as well to Jeanette Anderson,

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a maturepreneur, who's working to bridge the same gap because she's seen, you know, she's

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approached that age where she sees, oh my goodness, like life is not what it used to be. There's a

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whole nother 30, 40 years to maximize. And in the worst case scenario, figure out how to survive.

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Yes, exactly.

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The landscape has changed completely. Thank you for those. Those are fantastic for all age groups.

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We should all be looking at how do we, we all have the opportunity to look at how do we maximize our

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own life while helping others maximize theirs. I think the latter is part of the secret to

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happiness of the first. So we will see you guys on the other side. We're going to take a quick break.

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We'll come back in. We'll talk about Michael's vision, and then we'll take some time to talk

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about bridging cultural gaps and developing community. All right. Welcome in to Vision Pros

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Live with Jackson Calame. I'm your show host. We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs

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and guest leaders who are building fantastic visions out there.

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Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome into another episode of Vision Pros Live. I'm your show host,

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Jackson Calame, founder and CEO of First Class Business. This is a feel good episode today. I'm

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super excited. If you're a feel good person, you're going to love it. If you love to learn about

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knowledge, you'll learn about leadership, culture, how to bring people together. I mean, this is the

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episode to be on. We've got Michael, Sera in the house today, recommended by his own son, Jeff,

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Sera, who also came on the show. Make sure to follow up and check in on Jeff's episode as well.

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I'm super excited to have the OG in the house today. I get to pick his brain. How the heck did

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he create such an amazing son? So we'll be talking about that. But before we do, of course, I want

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to give some resources as well. These resources are super valuable. I'd skip them if they weren't.

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This is not paid sponsorships. These are people that I really, really care about who I know are

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up to amazing things. The first is Melissa Gray with The Lost Spot, who has become a client and

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a strategic partner of ours. And we're looking at taking things to even the next level. Why?

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Because I went through a $20,000 lawsuit for my own brand name when I was at Restaurant Connect.

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And that was a lot of money to lose as a startup. We could have avoided that had we had proper legal

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counsel in place. My hope is that you will begin to interview the people that might be your legal

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counsel and include Melissa Gray on that lineup, because she's got that nurturing capacity to

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listen and understand what you're going through with also having the access to the information

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that you need to know about your business. And I think that's a lot of money to do with

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also having the accolades of a fantastic attorney who can help you with your business protection

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and expanding your network. She is a blessing to all those that she meets. So I highly recommend

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giving her a shot, seeing what she's got going on. Why her blueprint? To make sure that you got the

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spot on business blueprint, you got the spot on legal audit as well. She's very resourceful and

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interviewing athletes about what is their vision once they hang up the jersey and move forward

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their lives too. So a lot of fun, a lot of great opportunities there. Then there's Pramilia Parham

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with the Healing Institute. Now, Pramilia has been around the block for several decades, and that's

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a huge advantage to those of us who are, you know, following in her footsteps. I've got,

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she's probably got at least 20 years on me. And I say that with full reverence. She's building an

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international wellness community of the people that she's connected with to help you and I

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figure out, you know, if we, if we have certain emotional things to heal from, who do we go to?

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What about energy healing, integrated healing therapies and coaches as well? As a single father

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of four, I know how important it is to get external advice for what do I do in my circumstance? How do

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I show up for my kids the best that I can? How do I make sure that I'm running my business the right

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way? She's pulling together all of these international community experts. And the cool thing is you can

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register as a practitioner. You can also register as a potential client. And the whole point is to

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create filters for yourself to know what might you need and be able to get help from this resource of

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resources to make sure that you're getting the best help possible. Curating the types of individuals,

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the types of leaders that you're, you're able to follow is super important in a world where we're

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able to connect with billions of people simultaneously. And it's like, man, how do I, how do I build a

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network around myself of people who are really going to help me become my best self? I think

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that's what it's all about, at least for me. Then there's the water project. The water project is one

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of those causes in the world that when I caught my attention, I couldn't really relate to. And I forced

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myself to say, you know what, I need to be able to relate to this. There are millions of people

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who do not have access to clean drinking water. I've never had that problem in my life. And so as I

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learned about this and saw what the water project was doing, I saw that you get to pick the community

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that you're actually giving to you, get to see what they're actually going to build.

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And the water project does a social media tracking of that project coming to fruition. You actually

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get to see what you contribute to become a live well of water for the individuals who need it.

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These are kids that have to leave school to get water, to walk three to five miles just to find it.

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Imagine your kids had to leave the neighborhood and walk three to five miles just to find a source

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of water for you. Imagine you as a parent have to leave work in order to go find water so that your

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kids and yourself can survive. We don't have to go through this, but this is something that millions

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do have to go through. My hope is that if you're in a financial position to help, you can certainly

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contribute. My other hope is if you're not, if somebody came to your mind that might fall in

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love with that project and might be willing to, then please share the message with others so that

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we can get this out there to more people. And hopefully we can bridge that gap for those who

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are less fortunate than we are. There's also 8 billion people in this world to help. So if you

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know of another cause that you'd rather see us talk about, it's not a competition. Don't hesitate

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to drop that in the comments. Allow us to see it. Maybe we will contribute to it directly. Maybe

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we'll put it here live on the show, but you never know the ripple effect of doing good. And we have

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so many opportunities to do good in this world, but I hope you join me in that. Now, without

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further ado, Michael Cera, welcome to Vision Pros Live. Thanks for joining us today. Jackson,

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thank you very much. Absolutely. So Michael, you've got your consulting firm. You're also helping out

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with a museum. And then of course your dad, your student at Stanford now. This is fun. You've got

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a whole list of things. Let's try to cover the spectrum a little bit. What's your vision for

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the people that you serve? You know, it's to be respectful and to let them know that you hear them.

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And the other thing that I always try to make sure that people have is, you know, clear purpose.

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And one of the things that I always believe in is that you have to lead by example. So

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if I'm not willing to do it, then I can't expect someone else to do it.

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Yeah, very good. And so let's dive in. I want to dive into the museum first. Actually,

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I'm going to pull that up on my screen. I'm going to pull up the page about the board. So

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the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, right? You're involved in this museum. It says officers

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and board of directors on here. You're one of the board of directors. What's the museum all about?

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What do you do and why is this relevant and important? Why should kids care about the past,

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you know, when they live in the present? Let's talk about all the walks that we can.

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Yeah. So the purpose of the museum and real simply the mission is CPS, and that's to collect,

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preserve and share what happened to the Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II.

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And so the whole purpose behind this is that a lot of people don't know what actually happened

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here in the U.S. to a group of people because they looked just like the folks that we were at war with.

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Even though they were born here in the U.S., even though they were U.S. citizens,

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because they look like the enemy, they treated them differently. And so the reason why this is

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important is because we're always having some kind of conflict or we can have somebody terrorize

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our country. And then we make the immediate assumption that anybody that looks like that

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person is bad. And that's wrong. And history has repeated itself, unfortunately. And so this story

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needs to get told and understood so that people have more respect for others.

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Yeah, I agree. I was watching a movie. I wish I remembered the movie. We talked about this last

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time we caught up about it. But in the movie, the soldier was dating a Japanese American and her and

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her parents were taken into, I guess, a camp, you could say. I don't know the proper term for it,

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but they were basically imprisoned just for, like you said, being of Japanese descent, even though

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she was American. That's right. And then we're dealing with it today. We're dealing with racism.

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We're dealing with prejudice. We're dealing with fear of the unknown at a very large spectrum,

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being introduced to so many different realities out there. It can be hard to process,

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but if we just justify it, if we just leave it at that, if we don't do something to help people

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understand how to process that and how to work together, then it's to our own demise. We don't

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have the ability to overcome it. But I think it's just a lack of understanding and communication

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with that group of people. Because the more we understand, then we realize that they're just like

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us. Yeah, exactly. That's a huge aspect of it. So learning to understand includes learning,

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oftentimes what I call superpowers in terms of listening skills. Everybody listens. Everybody

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knows how to hear, but it's a very different reality to... I was probably 30 to 32 when it

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dawned on me that I unlocked a new level of listening that I was like, changed my life.

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And I was like, what the heck, man? It took me 32 years to find this. And now I'm a little bit more

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like, oh my gosh, I got to keep listening. How do I find out how to get even more beyond the notion

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that we kind of have it all and know it all? So let's talk about your vision. What's your vision

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for yourself, Michael? For me as well, right, is to have a clear purpose and have no regrets in life.

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What's that look like? Wow. So I'm not one to just kind of

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dittle dally around. And so I always have to have something going on. And so that is part of my

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purpose, but then also not to miss out on opportunities. And something that happened to me,

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and this is partially actually quite a bit of Jeffrey who I attribute this to, is that I had

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this subconscious barrier that I didn't know I had growing up. And it was because I was afraid to

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insult or make my mom feel bad. And so she had inadvertently put me on a pedestal to the point

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where I could not do anything wrong to affect her. And so what that did was it prevented me from

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doing things that I would have done if I didn't have that subconscious barrier. But I didn't

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realize I had this because it was just buried in deep. But Jeffrey introduced me to a self-development

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course. And so I went through this process and I uncovered this. And it was just shocking to myself.

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And what you don't know is that at a very young age, I was a very young person. And I was

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a young age, my parents divorced. And so my natural dad, I didn't know for many, many years. And

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this was about when I was five years old. But my mom would always ask me, have you seen your natural

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dad? And so that question obviously just subconsciously kept this barrier up. And so I would always

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answer, of course not, I haven't, just to appease her. But 50 years later, I go through this

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transformation course and I realized that, wow, I do need to see him. And so very quickly I had an

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opportunity to go out and meet him for the first time. And just to sit down and chat with him and

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to learn about his family's history was just amazing for me. And yeah, it was just one of

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these things that I was very fortunate because the timing was such that I was able to get in there,

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talk to him, and again, shared a lot about his life and his experiences. And one of the things

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he asked me was, how's your mom doing? And it's been more than 50 years since they've talked.

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And he asked me, could you bring her here? And I was like, oh my God, there's no way. But

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just so I have my mom was staying with me. And so she asked the same question again,

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right? Have you seen your dad? And I thought, okay, here's an opportunity. And I was a little

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bit hesitant because I wasn't sure how she was going to react. But I told her that I actually

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had seen her and I was waiting for her to hit me, but she didn't. And instead, she asked me,

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how's he doing? What's he doing? Where is he? And so I went through the whole

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process with her and I explained to her what was going on. But then I also told her that, hey,

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he wants to see you. And she immediately says, no. And I'm like, mom, mom, I'm not here. It's been

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50 plus years, right? I mean, let's let all that old stuff, you got to move forward.

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And so I talked to her some more and we were finishing up dinner and she went back to her

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room and I see her going through the closet and I'm thinking to myself, what's she doing?

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And then she asks me for lipstick. And of course, I don't have any, but I said,

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I said, my wife probably has some, so I think I can probably muster up some lipstick. And then

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she asked me for an appointment at this hair salon. And so I'm thinking to myself, oh my gosh.

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And sure enough, that weekend, we went to go see her, see my natural dad after 50 plus years. And

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it was the greatest thing, right? Because one, I never thought I would have that opportunity to go

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see him, learn about his background, but then to put the two of them together, I just never,

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never imagined. And so, yeah, that for me was, yeah. So again, having no regrets. And unfortunately,

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six months later, he passed. And so the timing of that was such that if I had stalled, if I waited

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any longer, I would have missed that opportunity and I would have regretted it forever. So again,

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I'm blessed because Jeffrey got me to do it. Jeffrey got me to do it. So that's why I love him

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to death because he made that possible for me. Bridging generational gaps at the biggest levels.

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To me, that reminds me of that saying that has all the feels, right? Literally all the feels.

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Like there's happiness and sadness. There's the potential for regret and the overcoming of it.

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And there's so much risk involved too in those circumstances that you have.

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Oh my God. Yeah. But I just said, you know what? I had to do it. And so again, I'm so forever

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grateful for that opportunity. Because in addition to that, my oldest brother who is based in Tokyo

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was out here visiting. And I asked him the same thing. I said, hey, I connected with our dad and

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he hadn't seen him for years. And of course, he went through a lot of hardship as well.

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And so he was very much against going to see him. But long story short, we did go see him.

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And to this day, I see my brother often because I'm traveling to Japan and we talk about it.

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And he's also very grateful for that opportunity because now he has no regrets.

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Man, sometimes the best visions are ones that are more inward, right? And more within the family

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unit itself. And I shouldn't say sometimes, it's probably a majority, but you don't have the stats

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on it. So we'll leave that where it's at. But it is challenging for those of you who

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have been put on a pedestal in life, the ability to overcome that. It can be a challenge. And it's

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like a first world problem in essence too. I mean, my mom, I'm the youngest of six from our

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household. And so one of my older sisters, one day I was in my early, I think it was my tweens.

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And she said, Jackson, your mom's last hope, keep doing things the right way.

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And you don't really realize how great you are. No, doomsday, I have to be the perfect child.

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Exactly. That was my life.

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The pressure. Yeah. It's subconscious, but it's huge.

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It's huge. So I eventually learned to fight back on that and say, no,

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forget this. I'm going to be a normal human being too. I'm glad I did because, oh my gosh,

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I didn't last under that pressure for very long. But we go through things like that and we choose

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how we're going to come out of it. Sometimes we have a choice and there's an opportunity to

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overcome. Sometimes it sticks with us for 50 years. Sometimes it sticks with us for five years,

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five months, five days, five minutes. But the goal of this show is to help people realize that you

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have an opportunity here and now to start making adjustments, to start making moves, to move forward

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with that. So let's talk about a dark subject here. Michael, what's the worst leadership

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experience that you've ever had? So as a leader or as a follower of a leader?

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My answer to that would be whichever story you feel is most impactful for the audience.

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So I definitely, I mean, if I were to, and she is, if I were to call my mom a leader,

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she was that person, right? And again, subconsciously, I don't think she meant to,

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but she ingrained this subconscious barrier that I had created, right? Which was preventing me

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from doing things that I would have not thought twice to do. But what things would you have done?

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What things would you have done? Just a little? I definitely would probably connected with my

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natural dad, right? And I would have had that opportunity to get to know him and to have spent

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the time with him growing up where I didn't because I didn't want to offend her, right?

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Because she is the person who made me who I am. And because of that, I have an enormous amount

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of respect for her. And I didn't want to tarnish the relationship that we had because I'm very

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close to my mom and she literally made me who I am. And out of that respect, I didn't want to

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tarnish the relationship nor did I want to upset her. And so that to me was this subconscious

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barrier that I had created. And for everybody that's listening is you're going to have these

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subconscious barriers that are going to prevent you from doing something. But what I would do is

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encourage you to break through and lean into it and just try to find a way to overcome them.

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Because if you don't, you're going to have a regret later for not taking the risk and not taking the

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chance. Because for me, because I did lean into it and I did take that chance, it turned out to be

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a very positive experience versus everything that I thought would fall apart did not. And so take the

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risk, take the risk, lean into it, do it. You bring up such a profound example and one that's

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so close to the heart that I think a lot of people would avoid to feel, but they miss the power and

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dynamic of the question I ask. I'm discovering this right now as I'm talking to you about. I'm like,

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wait a second. This is so awesome because I didn't ask who the worst leader was that you've ever

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had in your life. It wasn't about the person or labeling them. It was about the experience,

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right? And so you bring up about experience there. And so many of us would react about like, oh,

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he just called me the worst leader ever. No, he didn't. He's talking about an experience,

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right? And if we really think through that too, usually your best and your worst experiences happen

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with those you are closest to. That's the byproduct of building a deep relationship is you're going to

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have good and bad happen because you're more often together and you've got opinions of different

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natures coming together and there's passions involved. There's excitement that's involved.

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Like this just, you just blew my mind with it because nobody's had the audacity to bring

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somebody close to them up with this question out of over 200 interviews. And I'm like,

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and this, my mom does not want me to do that to her. Like we've already had that conversation.

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She's like, all right, mom, we'll see. But it doesn't dishonor it. To me, it honors and brings

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out the reality that you've managed to find and appreciate and foster and cultivate the importance

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of your relationship with her. Know that you're a hidden super established sinner and you recognize

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that it hasn't all been perfect. Yeah. But again, I thank her every time because if it wasn't for her

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raising me the way she raised me, I wouldn't be doing what I do today. That's correct. I

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totally attribute it to her. I see the great love in that. So cool. All right, we're going to go to

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the opposite end of that spectrum. What's the best leadership experience that you've ever had?

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You know, I had a general manager at one of the companies I was at and he would always tell us

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and encourage us to hedge our bets and always plan for success. So when we were putting project

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schedules together, he said, plan for success. If you don't do that, you won't get there. And he was

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absolutely right. And it served me extremely well throughout my career. And then of course, hedging

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your bets so that if it does fail, you have a backup so that you're not caught with your pants

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down. So that to me was probably the best guidance I could have ever gotten. And that was from a boss

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that I had in early part of my career. I love that. I couldn't agree more. I usually call it

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planning out the best case and the worst case scenarios. And a lot of people want to avoid

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that worst case scenario, but it's that much more painful. It's that much more awful when you choose

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not to look at it. But if you've already embraced the reality, like you're okay. You realize it's

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really not that bad. Go, you got a thought on that?

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Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. You definitely want to have a backup plan, right? So if plan A

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doesn't work, you have plan B. And if you can plan C, because you're going to need to pull it out of

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the hat and you want to be able to do that and or pivot, right? And also be aware of failure, but

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don't view it as failure. View it as a learning experience, right? Because we're going to all

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have those experiences. So you either win or learn, right? It's no longer win and lose. It's really

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learned from those experiences.

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Debbie knows wins and learns. I like that. I've heard that in a long time. That's awesome. All

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right. So Michael, if this was the last chance that you had to talk about leadership and lessons

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for visionaries, what powerful lesson can other visionaries learn from your experience?

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Wow. The one thing that I think is precious to all of us is time. And so I would encourage

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everybody to use your time wisely because the present is all you have. And so don't forget.

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And so, you know, use your time wisely. That would be my suggestion to everybody and have a

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purpose in life. What I see people doing when they retire is they're going to play golf.

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And they're going to just hang out. But if they don't have a purpose, I see them degrade very

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quickly. And so continue to have a purpose in life, no matter where you are in stage one, two,

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three, or four, have a purpose. And again, use your time wisely.

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Wow. That's awesome. Time, it's that invaluable asset that we don't get back. Right. It's the one

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that, you know, we, you just don't get more of. You got to use it. And you have the opportunity to.

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So that's well said. All right. Diving in to bridging cultural gaps in this divided world

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and community development. Do you want to dive into community development first or do you want

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to dive into bridging the cultural gaps? Either one. But so I guess the one thing

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that, you know, we're all challenged, I think, in our committees is how do you

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sustain a leadership environment? And so one of the things that, you know, I'm here in San Jose,

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and we have a beautiful Japan town, and we're always struggling with how do we sustain this

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and how do we bring in the younger generation so that they'll come in and be active and want to

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be a part of this as well. And so luckily, we have three Japan towns in California. So San Francisco,

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San Jose, and L.A. And there's a program called Nikkei Committee Interns. It's NCI for short.

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And what we do is we bring in college students every summer and it's a eight week internship

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program and they work with the different Japan town communities. And then we bring them all

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together. So they're going to start this in a week and they're going to start off in L.A.'s Japan

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town. They're going to have orientation. They'll get to know each other, get some pro tips from

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folks that are working in industry and meet some of the alumni. And then they'll spend six weeks

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working with a nonprofit within the different communities to learn leadership. And then we'll

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close it out in San Jose and we'll share our community with them and then they'll go up to

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San Francisco for the closing event. But this is a way for us to see the future. And our hope is,

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through programs like this, we'll develop executive directors and we'll have a lot of

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people develop executive directors, volunteers and potential board members for the future.

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I love it. And you highlighted some really quick aspects. So if you're building a vision that

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brings people together out there, you want that community to develop so that people can get along

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and you want to bridge those cultural gaps. You know, Michael already talked about planning for

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success, right? You've got to have that mapped out. I heard a lot of details in that plan very

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quickly. One of them being there's an orientation involved in the process, right? There's a division

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too, a divide of three different communities they are involved in and there's a collective bring back

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together process as well. It's like, what did you see? What did you learn? What's going on? How do

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we pull us together? There's like a constant process of positive motion that is articulated

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very, very clearly. So let's dive even deeper into that. So that's, I think, necessary from a

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standpoint of starting an organization that's going to be successful. How do you sustain that?

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Yeah, it really requires, I mean, folks like yourself and the community to really want to

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step up and support it. So, you know, what I always tell people is, and I think you mentioned this

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too during the break, is, you know, if you have money, contribute to one of these nonprofit

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organizations. If you have time, volunteer. And so, you know, just get involved because it's so

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different when you're on the inside looking out versus from the outside looking in. And getting

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involved is so rewarding. And so I, you know, I encourage everybody to spend some time in their

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own community and get to know it from the inside out. Spend the time, spend a little bit of money.

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And, you know, if you don't have time and you don't have money, you still have to eat. So go to one of

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these communities and support the local businesses and dine and wine and dine at one of these

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restaurants, right? And you'll have a great experience and the community will love you for it.

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I love that. You started to bridge a gap that I'm also going to double down on bridging. And that's

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if you don't have the money, right, and you don't have the time, then it's really important to

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solve those two challenges for yourself, right? That's a really, really valuable aspect. And in a

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world where most people are not, that's why they call it the 1%. Right? If you're not in that group,

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then we've got a responsibility for those that we serve to find that resource, to bridge the gap on

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our lack of resources. If you don't have time for your family, what are you going to do today to

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make time to reevaluate? Well, what are my priorities in life? And how do I make the time

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for these realities? What happens? If I give a dollar to Michael today, because that's all I have,

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but I could spend that same 15 minutes or an hour learning how to make more money, but

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tomorrow I could be giving $2 instead of $1 because I learned how to be resourceful,

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then we got to be very, very aware of the opportunities to increase our abundance,

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both in terms of finances and in terms of time. So that would be my challenge to you visionaries is

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if the pressure is there because you don't have the time or money, then do something to remove

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that pressure on yourself. Start working really hard on figuring that part out. All right. So

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diving, we're diving even deeper. We got time. So I'm excited about that because we can dive in

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even deeper on the sustaining aspect. So in terms of the museum, you've got a board. You got executive

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leaders. What are some of the things that have helped y'all put the Japanese American Museum of

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San Jose in a position to where you've sustained it? How long has it been open for?

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Yeah, we are celebrating our 36th anniversary. So it's been a long time. But it's really the

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original founding and primary storytellers that experienced this whole incarceration

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event that were the folks that got it started. And then from there, leadership coming in and

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leaving and coming in and leaving, but keeping that legacy going has been really possible because

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of the community support. And that's one of the beautiful things about San Jose Japantown is that

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the community support is really, really big. And whenever there's an event, everybody is all hands

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in and it's just a wonderful, wonderful feeling. And so I'm lucky to be a small part of that

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community and to support it in any way I can. You asked a question about how do you sustain it? And

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I think it's really, you have to create value for the folks that are coming in and then also a need

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or purpose, right? So if you're, again, purpose and vision driven, then it's going to work.

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And one of the things that I realized is that the museum for me is a place where I can go

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when I'm really down and out, because it's a place where I can go, everybody is very loving and

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caring and they're there for one purpose. And that's really to serve the mission of the museum,

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of collecting, preserving, and sharing this history, culture, and arts with everybody.

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And so when you go into the space, it's just so comforting. And I forget about all the other

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bad things that are happening. So it's a happy place for me to go. And yeah.

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And so it's people that are doing these interviews. I'm getting excited about it.

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I take it you're kind of capturing their visions or stories and allowing them to talk about. So

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who are some of the people that we just saw on the screen?

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So these are part of our legacy, right? I mean, there are folks that have done some incredible

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things. And so as you were scrolling through some of the folks that actually have experienced

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incarceration themselves, all the trials and tribulations that they went through,

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some of the leaders that are part of the community. So Roy and PJ, Hidabayashi are

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the founders of San Jose Taiko, which if you've not heard them before, you have to. It's

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the traditional Taiko drumming that came from Japan mixed with the modern

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and they put it together and they do such a masterful job. And they just celebrated their

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40th anniversary as well. So it's again, just rich, rich in culture. Some of the other folks

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that you probably scroll through was a couple of our founders, Jimmy Yamiichi, who is the founder,

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one of the four founders of the Japanese American Museum. He was a carpenter. He lived through the

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whole incarceration story and he was just a fabulous storyteller. And I learned so much from

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him when he was still around and I would just go into sponge mode, but he was a carpenter. And so

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he was also very skillful in the craft. And so on my free slots and free times, I would go in there

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and try to help them with any of the construction work that they're doing as they were finishing

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off the museum back 14 years ago. That's amazing. I love the

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passion that's showcased on that high quality video production. I know that you guys put a lot

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of heart and soul into showcasing their stories, making sure people understand their involvement,

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their belonging to that community. These are all elements that I hope other visionaries and leaders

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decide to model and say, you know what, if we want to build a community and one that's sustainable,

404
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it really does. It ties back to honoring these stories, honoring what they're up to and

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connecting them together. So this is one. Feel free to continue on insight. How did you guys get

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started on the videos? Why? So it's just made possible by a grant and it's a collaboration

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between San Jose State University and the museum. And so they pull together an incredible team

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to actually record these videos and then post edit them and then lift them up on this page.

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And so what you're seeing is a lot of the Asian American leaders that are actually currently in

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key roles. And the importance of this is to really give the AAPI community a voice,

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because a lot of times we weren't at the table. And so now through a lot of their ambitions and

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leadership, we're getting a seat at the table. This is so well done. I absolutely love it. And

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I'm super glad that we tapped into these resources today. So those of you listening in again,

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your opportunity at hand is to see what can I do better to connect those involved in our vision?

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How do we create a community around what it is that we're providing to the world? And of course,

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bridging the cultural gaps comes in many forms itself. So one person could look at this, Michael,

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and say, well, aren't you guys excluding everybody who's not Japanese in this process?

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Aren't you guys creating the silo effect around this? And that's one perspective. I see much

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broader one, but I'd love to hear from your mindset. What are you guys doing to

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bridge cultural gaps in this process? Yeah. So as you were saying, Michael,

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and Yingya, so as you were flipping through the videos, I don't know if you recognized,

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but so Evan Lowe is not Japanese American. He's Chinese American. You also had a gal that was a

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Filipino American. So they're part of our community as well, because you go back in time,

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San Jose Japantown. The reason why San Jose Japantown is where it's at today is because

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Chinatown was there first. And back in the early 1900s, it was hard for the Japanese just to plop

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down anywhere in the community and rent or buy a house. But what they found was it was much easier

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to coexist with other Asians. And at that time, it was the Chinese. And so Chinatown was here first,

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and the Japanese came in and started to move in the areas around them for two reasons. One was

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for housing, and second was for jobs. So the farmers that owned farmland would come into town,

430
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pick up the Chinese, take them off to their farms. They'd work in on a state and they'd drop them off.

431
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During the peak of the picking season, the Japanese would come into the same area

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and jump on those same trucks. And so during the peak of the picking season, you'd have three to

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4,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans coming in. And that is how Japantown grew from where it

434
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:23,120
started. Wow. That's awesome. And so how do you guys go about bridging other cultural gaps,

435
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connecting Caucasians, African-American, Mexican, Latino, other cultural groups? Or

436
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:38,800
do you also even broaden beyond the scope of race altogether? What does that look like?

437
00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:46,960
Yeah. So what we try to do is there's actually a piece of property that's on the land that we own.

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We refer to it as the Kawakami House. And this is a home that was owned by the Kawakami family,

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00:42:55,760 --> 00:43:01,680
and they lived the Japanese American experience. And so we're going through this rehab right now,

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and we're doing a capital campaign to raise the funds to actually do the rehab. But our plan is

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to use that space for storytelling for the community at large. So not just Japanese American

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stories, but everybody. Because what we want to do is we want a space for everybody to feel

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comfortable to share their own stories. So here you have, again, Pinotown, right? The Filipino

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00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:30,080
Americans that came into Japantown during the war and continued to support the businesses while

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everybody was incarcerated. But that's part of their story as well. And they're part of this

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community. And so we have the prayer garden, which is an African American church within the

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Japantown community. And so again, we have all these different ethnic groups that are part of

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00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:54,960
our community. And we try to make it as welcoming and as open as possible for everybody. So it's

449
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not just one or the other. And so it's a space for people to share their own stories.

450
00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:07,200
It is. And it takes collaboration. Yeah, absolutely. And Jackson, you know this better than anybody,

451
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:12,720
but we're all immigrants. It's just a matter of when we arrived. Unless you're Native American,

452
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you immigrated from some other country. And so we all have our own experiences, our own stories.

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And so what we want to be able to do is capture and share those with everybody so that they can

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feel comfortable and just as welcoming. Yep, absolutely. It's not something that

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one group can do without the other either. Both have to be willing to come together

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to the table on these. And sometimes it takes one group doing more to inspire the group for that to

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happen. And there's all sorts of movies people can watch on it. But also more importantly,

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we can live it. We can practice this by coming together and seeing, well, what are our likes

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00:44:55,120 --> 00:45:00,720
and dislikes? The things that we find most common with each other. What, you know, food is a great

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way to bond. You know, drink is a great way to bond. There's all sorts of opportunities there.

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And what are the challenges that we face? And how do we help each other overcome those types of

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challenges? So I love that you dedicate so much of your time and attention to making that happen.

463
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It's such a noble cause. Those are the types of attraction sites and

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opportunities that I think people like myself who travel, yes, Disneyland is fun. And at the same

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time, and we love that. And at the same time, we're always looking for opportunities like this, too.

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Or it's like, OK, how do we get our kids into environments where they can experience more out

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of life, more than what our home is able to provide by itself? And if it wasn't for people

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like you who are dedicating your time to museums like that and new cultural experiences, we

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wouldn't have that. You know, so I appreciate you for putting yourself in a position in life

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to where you can contribute to the degree with which you do. Those of you who are listening in,

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00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:06,960
we're going to add to the below this vision, action steps, action steps that you can take to

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get involved, whether it's for now, it'll be in the San Jose community. We'll have those links.

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But you can also use those opportunities to say, well, instead of complaining and say, well, wait,

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I wish she had this in Florida, make it happen. Be the one. Just this one person. Yeah. Be the one

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00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:33,280
who starts it. You know, go to use it as inspiration to realize we need this where I'm at or find your

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00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:37,600
local chapter, so to speak, your local opportunity if you don't, if you're not in a position to lead

477
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:42,320
it. And then, of course, those of you who want to share your own visions on our show in the top

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00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:47,840
right corner, you'll see on the screen a button. This is be our guest, a public speaker. And

479
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:51,440
apply to be our guest. We'd love to have you on the show. If you're out there serving people,

480
00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:57,200
connecting others, leading, you got a vision that's going to help the world, then join us in the show

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00:46:57,200 --> 00:47:02,160
and come and talk to us about it. So thank you so much, Michael, for joining us today. Thank you,

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00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:08,800
Jackson. Absolutely. And anybody who's got comments or questions, feel free to drop those below and

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00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:12,720
we will see you in the next episode. Take care, everybody. Thank you for being here today. I'm

484
00:47:12,720 --> 00:47:18,000
really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as

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00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:22,160
these episodes continue to move forward. This is going to get more and more fun. We'll have more

486
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:26,640
and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to participate in the show. And thank you for

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giving us your time and attention. Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a

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Vision Pro user.