Words by Carol Wright |Photographs courtesy of Two Besties Together
We got to chat with the hosts of Two Besties Together about how they met and hosting an online talk show.
Let’s go back to the beginning. How did you guys meet?
We met at a restaurant in Glendale, CA over a decade ago. Thomas was a waiter, born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and Malia was a hostess born and raised in Maui, Hawaii.
What motivated you to make a talk show together?
We’ve always wanted to be in entertainment since we were kids so once we racked up all of our memories together as besties, we figured now in 2019 would be the best time to showcase everything we’ve built and gone through as friends and also creatively go for our goals and reach for everything we’ve ever dreamed of doing together as talent.
What was the biggest challenge in creating the show?
We’re both similar but we also have acknowledged that we are quite different. These kinds of traits lead to creative differences, which can get tricky sometimes but we both love and support one another so we find the balance no matter how hard it is and make it work. Ultimately we know that our goal is to put out the best content and show possible, so we find a way and in the end everything comes out exactly how we both envisioned.
How do you decide what topics you’ll cover in each episode?
We like diving into topics that we know the audience will enjoy. We tap into our direct message on social media, listen to our followers and are always on top of trending topics, so we kind of talk to one another about what we think would be buzz worthy and go from there. We definitely wanted to use this show to talk about topics that are relevant and important to us like diversity, giving back, bullying, the LGBTQ community, and the Asian-American communities as well. Malia is Hawaiian and Thomas is Filipino, so it’s important to discuss heritage and highlight that.
Do you hope to bring your show off of online platforms and to a live TV audience?
Absolutely. We intend on this project taking off and going to television. We have been going into pitch meetings with networks and seeing if there is interest. We’ve been making a lot of progress and are excited about what the future holds. We’ve also been in the studio recording our new single, which is coming out very soon on VEVO, iTunes and all music streaming services. We’ve spent a lot of time co-writing it and are excited to share it with our fans.
What advice do you have for those also interested in having their own talk show?
We would say for you to be open to being vulnerable in front of millions of people. This type of career allows others to be able to criticize your every move so you have to be able to handle that and also be responsible with your platform and voice. At the end of the day, we’re two besties that are just having fun, enjoying this artistic ride, and doing the best we can. We hope our show “Two Besties Together” inspires a new global generation to be creative and influences them to go after their passions.