Tristyn Kalama is a Hawaiian television personality, designer, real estate investor, and co-host of HGTV’s Renovation Aloha.
She is also known for her earlier work as a mental health counselor and nonprofit leader before building a career in real estate and home renovation.
Who Is Tristyn Kalama?
Tristyn Kalama is best known as one half of the husband-and-wife team featured on Renovation Aloha. The HGTV series follows Tristyn and her husband, Kamohai Kalama, as they buy older properties on Oʻahu, renovate them, and prepare them for new owners.
Tristyn’s main role in the business is connected to interior design, renovation planning, home styling, and project development. Kamohai focuses heavily on finding properties and handling the real estate side of their business.
Their work is closely connected to Hawaii. Their renovation projects often involve local contractors, businesses, family members, and community relationships.
What makes Tristyn’s background particularly interesting is that home renovation was not her original career. She first worked in counseling and nonprofit services before entering real estate.
Tristyn Kalama Age and Birthday
Tristyn Kalama was born on May 17 in Kailua, Oʻahu, Hawaii. Her exact birth year has not been reliably confirmed through major public sources, so an exact age should not be stated as fact.
Some websites publish estimated ages for Tristyn, but those figures are not supported by a confirmed birth year. For that reason, it is more accurate to use her known birthday without attaching an unverified age.
Her connection to Oʻahu is an important part of her background. She grew up in Hawaii and eventually built her professional career around the island’s real estate market.
Rather than moving away to pursue television, Tristyn developed her career in Hawaii and later brought that experience to national television through Renovation Aloha.
Life in Hawaii
Tristyn grew up in Kailua, Oʻahu. Her family had a strong connection to counseling and community service.
Both of her parents worked as counselors, which influenced Tristyn’s initial career direction. She attended Kalāheo High School and graduated in 2008.
After high school, she continued her education at Chaminade University of Honolulu. She earned degrees in counseling psychology, including a master’s degree.
Her early education and professional experience were therefore focused on helping people rather than property renovation.
That background became an important part of her career before she moved into business and television.
Tristyn Kalama’s Education
Tristyn’s educational background is primarily in counseling psychology.
After graduating from Kalāheo High School in 2008, she attended Chaminade University of Honolulu. Her studies prepared her for professional work in counseling and community services.
Her education is an important part of her biography because she did not begin her career as an interior designer or television personality.
Her professional path developed over time. Counseling came first, followed by nonprofit leadership, entrepreneurship, real estate, renovation, and eventually television.
Career as a Mental Health Counselor
Before becoming known for home renovation, Tristyn worked as a mental health counselor.
Her career choice was influenced partly by her parents, who were also counselors. Her early professional life focused on helping people and working with communities.
She later became involved with Kōkua Support Services, a nonprofit organization. She served as its CEO and has continued to have a connection with the organization.
This period gave Tristyn experience in leadership, communication, organization, and community work.
Although her career later moved into real estate, those skills remained useful. Running renovation projects requires communication with contractors, property owners, designers, family members, and other professionals.
How Tristyn Entered Real Estate
Tristyn and Kamohai eventually moved into real estate after attending a real estate seminar.
The couple saw property investment as an opportunity to build financial stability while remaining in Hawaii. They began purchasing homes, renovating them, and selling them.
Their real estate business reportedly began around 2018.
According to information shared by HGTV, the couple has renovated and flipped more than 70 properties since entering the industry.
The move into real estate was significant because Hawaii has a high-cost housing market. Successful property renovation requires careful planning and an understanding of construction costs, property values, buyer demand, and local market conditions.
Kamohai became more focused on property acquisition and financial decisions, while Tristyn developed a stronger role in renovation and design.
What Does Tristyn Kalama Do?
Tristyn is primarily involved in the design and renovation side of the business.
Her responsibilities can include choosing materials, planning interior spaces, selecting fixtures, developing color schemes, styling rooms, and making decisions about how a finished property should look and function.
Her work is not limited to decoration.
A successful renovation requires design choices that fit the property’s structure, budget, location, and potential buyers. Tristyn has to balance visual appeal with practical considerations.
Her design style is also strongly influenced by Hawaii.
Many of the homes featured on Renovation Aloha include natural materials, open layouts, indoor-outdoor spaces, and design elements that reflect the island environment.
Tristyn Kalama and Renovation Aloha
Tristyn became widely recognized after Renovation Aloha premiered on HGTV in February 2024.
The series follows Tristyn and Kamohai as they purchase and renovate properties on Oʻahu.
The show combines several subjects, including:
- Real estate investing
- Home renovation
- Interior design
- Construction
- Family life
- Hawaiian culture
- Local businesses
- Property flipping
The couple’s business is different from a typical renovation operation because their extended family is also involved.
Relatives contribute to different areas of the business, including project management, real estate, landscaping, construction, and childcare.
This family-based approach has become one of the defining features of the series.
Tristyn Kalama’s Design Style
Tristyn’s design style is influenced heavily by modern Hawaiian living.
Her projects often emphasize natural materials, comfortable spaces, practical layouts, and connections between indoor and outdoor areas.
The goal is not simply to make an old property look expensive or modern. The design needs to work for the climate and lifestyle of Hawaii.
Outdoor living is particularly important.
Pools, decks, outdoor kitchens, patios, gardens, and open living areas can play an important role in Hawaiian homes.
Tristyn also uses design elements that help connect renovated properties to their surroundings.
Her approach gives the homes a distinct identity rather than making every renovation look identical.
Tristyn Kalama and Hawaiian Culture
Hawaii plays a major role in Tristyn’s professional identity.
She and Kamohai have emphasized the importance of showing Hawaii from a local perspective. Their work often involves local contractors, tradespeople, businesses, and community members.
Their renovation projects also include elements of Hawaiian culture and family traditions.
One example is the blessing performed when some completed homes are ready for their new owners. Kamohai’s father has participated in these blessings, including playing the ukulele.
The couple views these traditions as a way of respecting the history of a property and recognizing the beginning of a new chapter for the family moving into the home.
Tristyn Kalama’s Husband
Tristyn is married to Kamohai Kalama, who is also her business partner and television co-star.
The couple married in March 2016.
Their relationship eventually developed into a professional partnership. Together, they built a real estate business before becoming television personalities.
The two have different responsibilities within the business.
Kamohai is heavily involved in finding properties, evaluating real estate opportunities, and managing financial decisions. Tristyn focuses more on design, renovation, and the visual transformation of the properties.
Their different strengths are an important part of the structure of Renovation Aloha.
Tristyn Kalama’s Children
Tristyn and Kamohai have two children, a daughter named Yasiel and a son named Vale.
Their daughter was born in 2018, while their son was born in 2020.
Family life is an important part of the couple’s public image, and their children have appeared in connection with the family’s life on Oʻahu.
The couple’s home has also been featured by HGTV. Their living space was designed around family activities, outdoor living, and the Hawaiian environment.
Their family lifestyle is closely connected to the business because several relatives are also involved in their real estate and renovation operation.
The Kalama Family Business
The Kalamas operate their business with significant help from their extended family.
This includes relatives working in areas such as real estate, project management, landscaping, construction, and other services.
Tristyn’s brother has been involved in project management, while other family members contribute to different parts of the operation.
The arrangement gives the couple access to people they know and trust while also keeping their business strongly connected to the local community.
It also makes Renovation Aloha different from many other home renovation shows.
The family members appearing on the program are not simply television personalities. Many are connected to the real business behind the renovations.
Tristyn Kalama’s Role in the Community
Community service has been part of Tristyn’s career since before she entered real estate.
Her work in counseling and nonprofit leadership gave her experience working with people and local communities.
Her current career continues to involve community connections.
Tristyn and Kamohai frequently work with local businesses and contractors during their renovation projects. Their approach allows money from their projects to circulate through the local economy.
Their connection to Hawaii is therefore not simply a branding strategy. It is closely tied to where they live, work, raise their children, and operate their business.
Tristyn Kalama on Rock the Block
Tristyn and Kamohai expanded their television careers by appearing on HGTV’s Rock the Block.
The show places renovation teams against each other in a competitive home improvement environment. Contestants must renovate properties within strict time and budget limits.
For Tristyn, the competition provided an opportunity to work outside the Hawaii housing market.
The experience also showed how her design approach could be adapted to a different location and property style.
Her appearance on Rock the Block helped introduce the Kalamas to viewers who may not have previously watched Renovation Aloha.
Tristyn Kalama’s Home and Lifestyle
Tristyn and Kamohai live on Oʻahu with their children and their French bulldog, Biggy.
HGTV has featured their personal home and highlighted the property’s connection to the surrounding environment.
The home includes outdoor living areas designed for family use. These include a pool, hot tub, deck, outdoor kitchen, and dining space.
The home’s design reflects many of the same ideas Tristyn uses in her professional projects.
Natural materials, comfortable living spaces, outdoor areas, and family-friendly layouts are central to the design.
The home also includes personal artwork and items created by the couple’s children.
This gives the property a more personal feel instead of making it look like a staged showroom.
Tristyn Kalama’s Real Estate Experience
The Kalamas’ real estate career involves much more than cosmetic remodeling.
Before purchasing a property, investors must consider the purchase price, renovation budget, construction risks, potential resale value, and local housing demand.
Once a property is acquired, the renovation process can involve demolition, structural repairs, plumbing, electrical work, kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, landscaping, and interior design.
Tristyn’s role becomes especially important during the transformation stage.
She has to make design decisions while working within a budget and dealing with the existing structure of each home.
This experience has helped her develop practical knowledge of property renovation alongside her formal education and earlier professional career.
Difficult Renovation Projects
Some of the properties featured on Renovation Aloha require extensive work.
The couple has taken on homes with serious structural and maintenance problems.
One Season 3 project was described by Kamohai as one of the worst properties they had purchased. The house reportedly had significant structural problems and a serious rat infestation.
These situations show that house flipping is not simply about choosing attractive furniture and paint colors.
Renovation projects can involve unexpected construction problems, additional expenses, delays, and difficult decisions.
Tristyn’s design responsibilities must therefore work alongside the practical realities of construction.
Tristyn Kalama and the Lahaina Rebuild
One of the most significant projects associated with Tristyn and Kamohai involved a family whose home was destroyed during the 2023 Lahaina wildfires.
The project was featured in a special episode of Renovation Aloha.
The original home belonged to the Castillo family and had been destroyed by the wildfire. The rebuilt house was expanded from the original four-bedroom, two-bathroom layout to a five-bedroom, three-bathroom home.
The new property also included an outdoor kitchen.
The estimated rebuilding cost was around $900,000, with nonprofit organizations helping provide funding for the project.
Tristyn and Kamohai were responsible for the interior design portion of the rebuild.
The project demonstrated another side of their work. Instead of simply renovating a property for resale, they helped a family rebuild a home after a devastating natural disaster.
Tristyn Kalama Height
HGTV lists Tristyn Kalama as 4 feet 11 inches tall.
Her height has become a minor point of interest among viewers because her husband, Kamohai, is considerably taller.
However, height is not a major part of Tristyn’s professional profile. Her career is primarily associated with counseling, nonprofit work, real estate, design, and television.
Tristyn Kalama’s Podcast
Tristyn and Kamohai have also shared their experiences through a real estate podcast called Deals & Aloha.
The podcast gives the couple another platform to discuss real estate, business, relationships, and their experiences in the property industry.
It also provides a more direct way for viewers to learn about the business behind their television work.
Their podcast fits naturally with their professional background because real estate remains an important part of their work outside HGTV.
Tristyn Kalama’s Career Before and After Television
Tristyn’s career can be divided into several major stages.
Her first professional path was counseling. She later moved into nonprofit leadership, where she gained management and community experience.
She and Kamohai then entered real estate, eventually building a business focused on property renovation.
Her responsibilities gradually expanded into interior design and home renovation.
Finally, the couple became television personalities through Renovation Aloha.
This career progression is important because Tristyn did not become successful overnight through television.
She brought years of education, professional experience, business development, and local knowledge to her HGTV career.
Tristyn Kalama’s Current Career
Tristyn continues to work with Kamohai on their real estate and renovation business while appearing on HGTV.
Renovation Aloha has continued into Season 3, keeping the focus on challenging properties, home transformations, family involvement, and life in Hawaii.
Her current career combines several areas of expertise, including:
- Real estate investing
- Interior design
- Home renovation
- Property development
- Television
- Entrepreneurship
- Community involvement
Her background in counseling and nonprofit leadership also remains an important part of her professional history.
Tristyn Kalama’s public profile is therefore built on more than her role as an HGTV personality. Her career spans counseling, nonprofit work, real estate, design, family business, and television, with Hawaii remaining at the center of both her personal and professional life.
