hot pursuit by AsianBossGirl

We’re killing the environment, we’re not recycling enough, stop driving your cars, why aren’t you composting?! The world is ending! It seems like every news article, publication, title, and post nowadays is about how the world is getting worse. Yes, humanity is at a pretty critical point in history - things have been, and continue to be, dire. But we don’t hear enough about the improvements, the p...

One of our biggest goals for this year was to start simulcasting, aka releasing our podcast in both audio and video formats. This is a big step for us, and you can now find our faces on YouTube, while still enjoying the show on all the usual podcast apps!  We thought this would be a perfect time to talk about other aspects of our lives that we are growing in this year, and what we’re excited for i...

Today, we’re going to be exploring something I’ve always had in the back of my mind and it relates to love. For the longest time, even before my current relationship, I knew I would struggle with saying, “I love you”.  Where did this fear come from? What is my definition of romantic love? What does it mean for my current relationships? Tune in to find out! _________________________________________...

What does it mean to be beautiful? Today’s guest, Michelle Lee, has been a trailblazer in the fashion and editorial worlds, most notably pushing for the removal of “anti-aging” language from Allure Magazine. She’s got an impressive resume, from Editor in Chief of Allure and NYLON, to VP of Global Editorial & Publishing at Netflix, and her work has always been committed to inclusion and producing n...

A listener asked to talk about my postpartum recovery one year out – how has my body healed? The skin around my belly? How is my mental state? Am I exercising? Do I feel “like myself” again? How did I shed the pregnancy lbs? I share in this episode how I felt about my pregnancy body, my just-gave-birth-why-do-I-still-look-like-I-have-a-4-month-old-body, my weaning body, and where I am now. Here ar...

On today’s episode, we are so honored to have Filipina actress Ivory Aquino grace us with her vibrant energy and help us wrap up Women’s History Month. This week also coincides with International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31st), which celebrates the accomplishments of transgender and gender nonconforming people, while also bringing awareness to the work that is needed to achieve trans j...

It is probably one of the most elusive things pursued by humankind. When people ask: “what do you hope to achieve in life?” “what is your ultimate goal?” or “what is the meaning of life?” – you’ll often hear the answer: I just want to be happy. But what does that really mean? Is it a state of being? Is it the same for everyone? Is it even achievable? March 20th is the UN International Day of Happi...

As women, we are often made to feel like our accomplishments are not worth celebrating, or that the struggles we go through are just something we have to bear with a smile. Whether intentional or not, this messaging can come from strangers, our governments, work, and even people we know. There are many days where we can be hard on ourselves, when it feels like things are not going as planned.  So...

Hi! It's Mel & I'm back with a new mini show. As the youngest & baby of the ABG trio, I have a lot of questions about everything. I've been told I ask the things people are afraid to ask (because they're afraid to look dumb 😅). In this show, there is no such thing as dumb questions ;) and just an exploration of my curiosity about life. From those random shower thoughts, that personal question bur...

Receiving feedback on your performance in the workplace is always nerve-wracking, particularly when these review processes are tied to your compensation and perceived value. We started our careers working 9to5 jobs and we came to expect periodic performance reviews – most often annually, but sometimes even quarterly. This process can look different depending on the company. There are self-assessme...

Traveling with a baby or toddler is no joke! In this episode, I recount our first flight with a squirmy toddler and summarize everything I learned – from the best times to book your flight, tips to swiftly get through the airport, my 5 most used items on the plane, and so much more. Travel bag mentioned: @noreceptionclub - use “helen20” for $20 off Here are a few shortcuts if you’d like to hop to...

March is Women’s History Month, so we invited Alex Pham and Candyce Ha of the FBI (that’s right, the Federal Bureau of Investigation) to share their experiences with you all! We’ve always seen intelligence agencies portrayed in Hollywood movies and TV shows, but today, we get a first hand account of how accurate those depictions are to reality. What is the training process like for new agents or s...

You've heard of early birds and night owls, but what about bears, wolves, lions, and dolphins? According to sleep specialist and clinical psychologist Michael J. Breus, Ph. D., there are four unique sleep chronotypes, each with different characteristics and ideal sleep and wake times. In this episode, I share some of my personal struggles with sleep, what I found when I researched sleep types, and...

“I got no time to lose / 내 길었던 하루 / 난 보고 싶어 / ra-ta-ta-ta…” are the lyrics that have been stuck in our heads ever since we discovered NewJeans, a 5-member Korean girl group that has infiltrated our playlists with their bright and youthful vibes. After their debut in July of 2022, NewJeans quickly skyrocketed to fame. Nowadays, their dance challenges and songs like “Hype Boy” and “OMG” a...

Hi K-Dreamers! This episode, for the time being, will be my LAST episode of K-Dreaming with Mel. 😭 This may sound like a shock to some & know that I still love K-Dramas & K-Pop very much. When we started these mini show series, it was a bit of an exploration of topics for us. At the time, I was very excited to explore the realm of Korean entertainment through a podcast. However, as time moved on,...

Last September, Janet shared about the start of her egg freezing journey on this podcast, and the process of going through her first cycle. Since then, she’s gone through one and a half more cycles. At six months, she wanted to share some updates and a deeper reflection on the journey so far. How many eggs was she able to retrieve, and how long do they last? What was it like to meet her partner in...

Mom guilt is real, and when a bad day makes you feel like a bad mom, just know that you are everything your child needs. I wanted to take this episode to share what mom guilt is (cuz it absolutely is real!), when and how it shows up, how it evolves, and how we can overcome it. No mom is perfect, and every mom makes mistakes. But often, to your kids, even those ‘mistakes’ can be exactly what they n...

Working in an office setting means that there are often situations where small talk is required. Before meetings, in elevators, and what’s commonly referred to as “water cooler conversations” in the break room. But maybe you’re someone who hates small talk, or maybe you just don’t have any idea what conversation topics to bring up with your colleagues, managers, and bosses. Do you play it safe and...

I believe that Wellness is holistic. Beyond food, sleep, and exercise, it’s also about the relationships in our lives, and key among these relationships is the one we have with our life partner. At 37 and 44, my current partner and I are just beginning our journey together about a decade past the average person in the US. So what does that mean for us? How do we go about committing to and reaching...

Over the past few months, we’ve received many questions about the topic of Love ❤️ - and now that Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, we felt this would be the perfect time to address some of these questions! From the serious questions (How important is getting married/living together vs. status quo/being happy?), to tricky situations (What if I love him, but not his political opinions?),...

Hello K-Dreamers! There's nothing hotter than my boyfriend liking K-Dramas as much as me...jk. But in all seriousness, I find that when my partner & I like the same type of shows, it has made our lounge time & our connection stronger. I've been in relationships before where our show preferences were off (I share more about this in the ep) and it played a role in our lack of compatibility.  Today,...

Unexpected and dreaded layoffs may have just happened at your company, and if your job was unfortunately impacted… What should you do next?  In recent months, we’ve seen staggering numbers of layoffs in the news, and how this has affected many of our friends working in corporate. To provide additional support and resources, we invited Matt Ogawa, the Vice President of HR Business Partners at Meta...

The postpartum period, or the “4th” trimester, can look different for many people depending on one’s cultural and societal expectations for this period of time. For me, all expectations went out the window and were guided by the one and only, Momma Wu. My mom stayed with me for a month to administer my postpartum confinement period, aka 坐月子, which literally translates to “sit for one month”. Ma...

We just celebrated Lunar New Year, and a lot of us took time to clean up our spaces and revive the energy around our homes. As we went through this process, one question that came to our minds was: how do we optimize our surroundings according to feng shui?  Feng Shui is the Ancient Chinese Art of arranging objects in an environment to achieve a balance of harmony. Today, we’re talking to Sara Jan...

Given the aftermath of the last few years, I’d say that many of us have Dry Jan sitting pretty high up on our new year’s resolutions lists. But WAIT - before you empty those glasses COMPLETELY, I want to share an alternative approach to Dry Jan. Not to be discouraging, but research shows that ⅓ of people who attempt Dry Jan fail to make it the whole month. Instead of going ‘Dry’ this year - there...