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"I thought, you make money now and give it away when you get older," says Evan about his mindset before meeting Kurisu."But you need to give back now, totally the opposite of how I think. But who am I to disagree with him? Who am I and who is he?"
Kari echoes her husband's thoughts as she tries to use the program to help change the way her contemporaries view helping out non-profits.
"We are trying to inspire our friends,"says Kari,"because it seems like our generation is like 'Of course, I'll do that in 50 years,when I am just about to retire and I have the money in the bank.'
"We are just trying to encourage them: No, you do that now while you are trying to build your career. And the show allows us to say don't just listen to us, listen to him, he did it; listen to her, she did it."
They have taken the message to heart. All profits generated from GGR are funneled into the Kokua Project, which aids student at UH in creating student-run businesses to give them practical knowledge
of the world prior to graduation.
Another lesson that could be gleaned from the Leongs is how a couple remains together while trying to run three businesses and taking care of two kids. To them, it is the trial by fire that helps them be better together.
"When you start a business, if it is one person and not the other, the amount of pain you go through creates the same amount of growth," says Evan.
"If you're not doing it at the same time, then one grows way more than the other - and then you have an issue, because one's not keeping up.And that is where couples tend to get into problems."
So their juggling act continues. They have a book scheduled to come out in September, and the guests keep getting bigger. In the second season of the TV program they will feature U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, and have hopes to net presidential candidate Sen. Barak Obama, and popular Island musician Jack Johnson.
But in the end, to the Leongs, it is truly about getting out the message they learned from the Kurisus and Fongs of the world.
"I think we can create a business community that is second to none," says Evan. "One that benefits the community, works together with the community and becomes a model for the rest of the world."
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