Who Is Tristyn Kalama? Inside Her Relationship With Kamohai Kalama
Kamohai Kalama met his wife at a treatment center, who was not only working as an intern, but was also the daughter of the center’s executive director.
Updated June 18 2026, 12:09 p.m. ET
Kamohai and Tristyn Kalama's relationship began under unusual circumstances.
While the HGTV hosts have come to be known for their renovation business, they met after Kamohai had gotten sober and was working at a treatment center, where Tristyn was interning.
Kamohai grew up in a supportive family but began developing a habit of partying that included alcohol and drug use. This led to repeated jail time before he entered the treatment center.
The facility helped him get sober, and he was later hired to work there. That job would eventually lead him to meet Tristyn, whose mother was the center's executive director and who was herself interning there at the time.
Tristyn's mother, herself a former patient at the center, gave her approval before Tristyn pursued a relationship with Kamohai. The couple has since recounted the full story of their meeting on their real estate podcast, Deals & Aloha, which they released on their YouTube channel in 2022.
A Booming Business, Backed by a Big Family
The couple has been married for nearly a decade, and at the same time, they have built a family and a thriving business. They have two children: a daughter, Yasiel, born in 2016, and a son, Vale, born in 2018, according to Yahoo.
Their extended family is unusually large, a fact the couple frequently mentions. Kamohai has 87 first cousins, a result of his father being one of 11 siblings, and many of those relatives have construction or home-improvement skills of their own.
"In the family, we have contractors, cabinet makers and garbage collectors," Kamohai has said. "We have someone to help with every aspect of our business."
The shift from clothing retail to real estate was driven largely by Tristyn. Kamohai and his brother had operated three retail locations for their store, but the difficulty of sustaining a brick-and-mortar business meant that, while they could cover bills and payroll, they were unable to build long-term financial security.
The Birth of Their First Child Pushed Them Toward Renovation
After the birth of their first child, Tristyn told Kamohai it was time to find another path if they intended to stay in Hawaii.
That conversation pushed him to attend a real estate investing seminar she had seen advertised on television, a decision that became the foundation for their current renovation business and, eventually, their HGTV series.
The couple has faced a range of challenges, both personal and professional, over the years. One example came when a newly renovated house featured on Renovation Aloha was damaged by severe flooding. The couple worked to salvage the renovation despite the setback.