Everything You Need To Know About The Hosts Of HGTV's Renovation Aloha

Over the years, HGTV has brought viewers an array of home-renovations shows from various parts of the United States and even Canada. These have run the gamut from Erin and Ben Napier's resurrection of Laurel, Mississippi in "Home Town," to Allison Victoria's renovation exploits in Chicago as chronicled in "Windy City Rehab." One part of the United States that hasn't received much representation on HGTV has been Hawaii, a shortfall that's being addressed in "Renovation Aloha." 

Making its debut in February 2024, "Renovation Aloha" offers viewers a fresh, new concept, set in a stunning location, along with two new faces: husband-and-wife team Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama.  Together, the spouses embark on a mission to revive and reinvigorate some of the most dilapidated, rundown homes on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu, with Tristyn lending her expertise to overseeing each home's design conceptualization and ensuing renovation. Then, they seek out the ideal family for each of the newly revitalized abodes. The couple — who are also parents of two young children — aren't on their quest all alone; numerous members of their large extended family are involved in the construction business on the island. "In the family, we have contractors, cabinet makers, and garbage collectors," Kamohai told HGTV. "We have someone to help with every aspect of our business."

To find out more about these new TV personalities, read on to discover everything you need to know about the hosts of HGTV's "Renovation Aloha."

For Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama, the Hawaiian island of O'ahu isn't just where they live and do business — it's also where they were born and raised. As Tristyn told HGTV, her husband's family has called O'ahu home for several generations, and he's a familiar face around the island. "You can't go anywhere on Oahu without Kamohai bumping into someone," she said, especially since he has 87 first cousins living on the island.

To both preserve Hawaiian culture and enhance their community, HGTV's "Renovation Aloha" follows the couple seeking out some of the island's most neglected homes and then working their magic, bringing these disastrous homes back from the brink by transforming them into stunning gems within a tropical paradise.

That's evident in the series' very first episode, in which the Kalamas zero in on an extreme fixer-upper in an in-demand location — the Kalihi Valley, situated just a bit north of Honolulu — that's seen better days. Not only has the home experienced the harsh effects of the island's unpredictable weather, but the place is also long abandoned, having been boarded up while trees have grown within the home, pushing their way up through the roof. Meanwhile, they also find themselves contending with an infestation of termites, an unstable foundation, and heaps of garbage and junk throughout the property.

So how did the O'ahu house-flipping exploits of Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama capture the attention of television producers and result in "Renovation Aloha" debuting on HGTV? Most likely, the whole thing came about due to the couple's high profile on the island from their booming real estate business called TK Property Solutions. 

As the couple explained in a 2021 Facebook post about the company, they entered the world of real estate in 2018, when the husband-and-wife entrepreneurs decided to go into business for themselves by launching their firm. The mission of TK Property Solutions is pretty much what viewers see on "Renovation Aloha" — finding properties in dire need of TLC that they can renovate and then flip for a profit, while also using their resources to assist locals in attaining home ownership. "Since then, we've done over 20 deals that [include] fix and flips, buy and holds, creative finance, wholesales, and [joint-venture] partnerships," the couple wrote in their post.

In a video accompanying that Facebook post, the two can be seen bantering adorably, and their on-camera rapport would certainly have been evident to a TV producer seeking out new personalities for HGTV. Beyond that, their track record of success at fixing and flipping properties clearly made them a natural fit with the network. "We understand how to make money with real estate, and we've made money with real estate," Kamohai declared in a video posted on Facebook.

At first glance, a career in flipping houses — let alone starring in their own HGTV network series — would seem unlikely for Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama. As Tristyn revealed during an interview with Logan Lee Manzanares, her background was as a licensed mental health counselor, while Kamohai was a substance abuse counselor.

The journey that would ultimately take the couple to HGTV's "Renovation Aloha" began when Tristyn was watching television, and saw a commercial advertising a seminar on investing in real estate. Intrigued by what she saw, she signed up both herself and Kamohai to attend. While her husband was initially reluctant, they both quickly came to recognize the potential that existed all around them on the island paradise of O'ahu. "Our eyes were opened and everything just clicked — the vision and life we dreamed of for our family, will all be created through real estate!" Tristyn wrote in a Facebook post about their company, TK Property Solutions. That led them to go into business for themselves in 2018, and they haven't looked back. 

"We've always been entrepreneurs; we just hadn't found our thing yet," Kamohai told HGTV. "I was hesitant in the seminar. They were telling me, somehow, I can buy million-dollar houses, but then something clicked, and I said, 'Let's give it a shot.'"

It's not hyperbole to declare that the $300 that spouses Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama plunked down to attend that real estate seminar was the best investment they'd ever made in their lives, and ultimately proved to have a game-changing impact in the trajectory of what came next.

As the hosts of HGTV's "Renovation Aloha" wrote in a Facebook post via their company, TK Property Solutions, they weren't exactly basking in wealth and success before venturing into the world of O'ahu real estate. "We were $80,000 in debt, and living paycheck to paycheck, didn't own anything to our name," they wrote, revealing how they were then able to own their own home, and eventually more than 30 income-generating rental properties. Before long, not only had they gotten out of debt and reversed their financial fortunes, but they were bringing in an income that was in the seven-figure range. 

The couple's success did not happen overnight or without a huge degree of hard work. "We're buying the worst of the worst," Kamohai explained to HGTV. Another big factor in the couples' success has been their ability to recognize the potential of a home that others might not be able to envision. "Where a lot of people see gross filth, we see a diamond and we see its future and we want to bring it back to life," added Tristyn.

One key factor that sets "Renovation Aloha" apart from the vast array of other series on HGTV is its setting in O'ahu. Not only do viewers receive a televised glimpse at the natural beauty of the lush Hawaiian island, they also get a look at Hawaiian culture and traditions. "There's so much more to 'Renovation Aloha' than buying a house and selling it," Kamohai Kalama told HGTV. "It's about the culture and the people we're interacting with."

The preservation and celebration of Hawaiian culture is every bit as important to Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama as making money from their home renovation efforts. As Kamohai explained in a video interview, there is a bit of a catch-22 situation that can result from beautifying the island by reviving old homes. "People want to come to Hawaii because of the people and the experiences they have, and then they want to move here," he said, noting that these newcomers can wind up making changes that eradicate certain aspects that attracted them to Hawaii in the first place.

That's why preserving the things about O'ahu that make it special remains of paramount importance to the Kalamas, as is assisting their fellow residents in their journey to home ownership. "[We want] to keep local families here in Hawaii," Kamohai told HGTV. "If we can control who the home goes to, then we try to do that."

For viewers of HGTV's "Renovation Aloha," it's clear that spouses Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama aren't undertaking their Hawaiian home renovations on their own. During every step of the journey, they're joined by their large extended family, which includes some of Kamohai's 87 first cousins, as well as other family members who make specific contributions to each project. Their family has become instrumental in the success of their company, TK Property Solutions, and also became a significant presence in the projects featured in "Renovation Aloha."

"Our family is our backbone, our foundation, our support system," Tristyn told HGTV, revealing that her brother is their company's project manager, while her father is always on the lookout for dilapidated properties that could become the couple's next flips, texting her addresses or calling her whenever he comes across something of interest. Meanwhile, her mother looks after the couple's two youngsters when they're on the job. "My sister-in-law is a realtor and sells a handful of our houses when we decide to list them," she added, adding that one of Kamohai's cousins is the owner-operator of a local landscaping firm that has worked on many of their projects. "When there's a need, there's no doubt the family will be there for us," she said.

Baked into the business model of TK Property Solutions, the O'ahu-based company owned by Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama of HGTV's "Renovation Aloha," is their commitment to working directly with local island families, whom they come into contact with via social media and, in many cases, word of mouth. "We try to sell off-market so we can cut out real estate commissions and bring costs down," Tristyn explained in an interview with HGTV. "It helps local families walk into equity, but we still make the margins we need to run our business."

Hand-in-hand with that has been their desire to both celebrate and preserve Hawaiian culture through the home renovations featured on the show. That's emphasized in a special ritual they perform to mark the completion of each project. As she told HGTV, the couple will join together with the family in their new home, with Kamohai's father Kamoa Kalama playing a song on his ukulele that imparts a blessing onto the home. "I have the privilege and opportunity to bless your home," Kamoa tells one family before sharing some history about the area where their new home is (via YouTube). "It's a very nurturing area."

"It's so significant to every part of who we are," Tristyn explained. "Blessing a home prepares a space for the new family coming in, pays respects and shares insight into the historical."

While Kamohai Kalama has his hands full these days as he and his wife Tristyn run their successful O'ahu real estate firm while also embarking on a whole other career as HGTV stars in "Renovation Aloha," he also has another interest that he's pursued in parallel with his house-flipping projects.

That interest is photography, something he's pursued professionally. "Growing up in Hawaii we are surrounded by beauty and it is my hope to bring my very own unique perspective of Hawaii to you," he wrote in a bio on his website, explaining his keen interest in photographing his native O'ahu. "Photography is my passion, every image I make holds a part of me and my hope is to invoke emotion within my viewer."

On the site, Kalama showcases some of the stunning photos he's taken, specializing in landscapes, sunrises, and even aerial photography. Digital prints can be purchased, while Kalama also wrote that he was open to taking on commissions — although, given his busy schedule these days, that particular offer might no longer be on the table.

One of the ways that Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama have publicized their services to others in O'ahu has been through social media. As a result, they've become pretty adept at connecting with customers via such platforms as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. While these platforms have been used to promote the arrival of HGTV's "Renovation Aloha," they'd previously used social media as a form of outreach — to both those looking to sell a property and those seeking to purchase one.

That said, their social media following isn't all that big, and there's a good reason for that. For the Kalamas, what they do on social media is icing on the cake of their core business. The way they see it, they'd rather focus what limited time they have on their business — and, by extension, their HGTV series and the opportunities associated with that — than try to build up followers on social media. 

As Kamohai explained in a video posted on Facebook, he and his wife prefer to be in the situation of having successfully built their business, and then adding social media to the mix, than vice-versa. "I'd rather be in this position trying to figure out the social media and influence game to help build on top of what we've already figured out, and what we've already built," he said. "But I wouldn't want to be on [the] other side, with a huge [social media] following, trying to figure out the business thing."

In addition to the social media presence they've established on social media, HGTV stars Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama of HGTV's "Renovation Aloha" also host their channel on YouTube. The videos featured on the channel run the gamut, from a video of Kalama's father blessing one of their homes with a ukulele melody, to another offering advice on how to fund a real estate deal, to a video explaining the importance of an escrow agent.

Meanwhile, one video featured the couple detailing the efforts they were forced to undertake when one of their tenants refused to pay rent, leading them to embark on their first-ever eviction. Ultimately, they blamed themselves for not screening the tenant as thoroughly as they should have. "So ultimately, the situation that we landed ourselves in, having to go through eviction, it all falls on us," Tristyn admitted.

Now that they're part of the HGTV family, their YouTube channel is also home to a trailer promoting "Renovation Aloha," presenting viewers with a sneak peek of the show. "We're putting people into the most beautiful place on the planet," Kamohai can be heard saying in a voiceover.

Having achieved a significant degree of success in a relatively brief period, Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama have been quick to point out that they're entirely self-made. The home renovations that HGTV viewers witness in "Renovation Aloha" represent the culmination of the learning curve they experienced during their journey to become the Hawaiian house-flipping superstars they've become. 

As the pair explained in an interview they posted on TikTok, the kind of success they've achieved wasn't given to them, it was something they worked for and fought hard to attain. "Actually being successful in anything is to have that initiative and create the opportunity for yourself," said Tristyn. The couple noted that what people see on social media represents their wins, not necessarily what it took to achieve them. "They don't see us having to fire contractors ..." Kamohai said. "Like all of the hard work behind the scenes." 

As they wrote in the caption of the video: "There is no success without struggle. Don't let social media play tricks on you. Any successful entrepreneur also deals with hardship and struggle."