But Where Are You From?

We chat with Little Moons mochi founder, Howard Wong about identity being British Malaysian Chinese, being a business owner of a mochi ice cream brand, Little Moons (SO COOL!), how he finds working with his co-founder and sibling, Vivien Wong and the best and worst moments of his career. We delve into the latest #LittleMoons viral trend that has been making waves across TikTok recently, resulting...

I had a very fun and insightful chat with two close friends and fellow besean co-founders, Kai and Amy! We talk about calling in versus calling out, how we wore sunglasses that shielded ray-cism (lol), our advocacy work at besean, how they find #eseajoy, the play-by-play of White guilt, how we desperately wanna be genz!  Support the podcast by buying besean a coffee, 100% of the donations now go t...

I spoke with the AMAZING POWERHOUSE, Liz Pemberton (she/her), who runs The Black Nursery Manager - a training & consultancy firm which focuses on anti-racist practice within Early Years.  We talk abut why discussing identity and racism with young children is so important, how she handles White Women in the education sector, the nuances of discussing identity and how the Jamaica and Hakka...

Soooo, I had an idea to bring on my ex's onto the podcast LOL! My ex, John Clapper and I unpack our two year relationship. What my parents thought of me dating a musician, how he experienced feeling 'othered' in China, and I grill him on questions about having a 'thing for Asian women'. Ooh it's a goodie. Please forward to your straight, white male friends who may be inclined to 'have a thing for...

Soooo, I had an idea to bring on my ex's onto the podcast LOL! My ex, turned good friend, Keye was a great sport and came onto the podcast for us to unpack why we broke up, his identity being a mixed race, white passing man, why it's valid for women of colour to hate white men, me accusing him of cheating, and me crying after Keye was saying nice things.  Support the podcast buying us a coffe...

HIYA. IT ME. HAPPY NEW YEAR. This isn't a comeback. Or is it? We're gonna talk about sex more. I have some funny dating stories. Ermmm, that's it for now!  Support the podcast and buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/itsvivyau We've reached 16,400 signatures! Sign the petition for media outlets such as The BBC & The Guardian & the UK Government to stop depicting East Asian people in Coronavirus rela...

I had the pleasure of talking with Elizabeth aka Femme Castratrice on Instagram. We talked about growing up in Wuhan, straight into weird dick pics she’s been sent (one involves sushi), and her career and life as a sex worker, how it has formed her thinking around feminism and gender politics, we talk about the usual Asian fetishisation lol and slut shaming that happens in our society.  Such...

I had the absolute pleasure of talking with Sue Cheung - the author of Chinglish. Which is young adult book based almost entirely on a true story of Sue’s life growing up in the 80s as a takeaway kid, being bullied at school, harassed by customers, navigating her identity as a BBC, as well as some deep and complex family dynamics. It truly was the first book I’ve ever read which I could relate to...

It’s just me on this episode doing a little chatty update and ramble. I talk about how my creative juices aren’t flowing with the podcast, I feel less angry than I did in my anti-racism journey, being full of contradictions, wild dating stories, the film Monsoon starring Henry Golding, knowing a member of the triad lol. Check our besean and follow us on Instagram & Twitter! Website: https://ww...

In today's episode I was joined by Mai-Anh and Charley who make up 2/6 of our besea.n group. We talk about Asian babies being born with blue bum (ask your parents if you had a blue bum!) - it’s actually called Mongolian Spot , our different approaches to activism and mental health as an activist, fluidity in our identities, we then have a healthy debate over Rice or Noodles, I start tearing up ove...

In today's episode I was joined by my pal, friend, Karlie Wu. We talk about Karlie’s connection with being Hakka, our new grassroots movement, besea.n and how we’ve felt during lockdown, scary spirit ghost stories, how our parents assign themselves random Western names, how Karlie uses her art to preserver her Hakka heritage, Hakka food and I attempt to explain some Hakka history, did you know tha...

In today's episode I was joined by Kim Richards from Nanosounds - we talk about that dreaded question ‘but where are you from?’, Kim’s relationship with her parents, how we don’t talk about mental health, her fascinating career as a sound engineer, turned presenter, freelancer, turned YouTuber gamer, how her privacy is so important to her as someone who shares a large part of her life online, para...

In today's episode we had Michael Lam and Michael Truong - the two hosts from Respect the Mic who I regard as one of the OGs in the British Asian podcasting space. We talk about being mistaken for another type of Asian, assimilating to white culture, whitewashing, wearing the same outfits as couples, and how important media representation is for ESEA folks. These two were so lovely and easy to cha...

Hi folks, Today's episode I read out my futureme.org letter that I sent to myself a year ago in July.  It really hit home just how much has changed since then. I was broken, my self-confidence was zero, I had a lot to work on tbh. After a lot of therapy, self-help and just being kind to myself, I now unapologetically identify as a feminist, I continue to learn about racism in our world and ha...

In this week’s episode (sorry it's late!) I talk about my experience with cook, Pippy Eats and the controversy surrounding the use of language on her website and her recently launched ‘dumplings and noodles’ cookbook. It’s a tricky topic to unpack and I don’t feel like I said all I had to say. It’s a grey area and there’s no black and white answer to all of this. Hoping it provides some food for t...

In this week’s episode I talk with stand up comedian and professional poker player, Ken Cheng and all round good egg Ken Cheng ! He was such a pleasure to have on the podcast, we talk about how Ken met his girlfriend, how we should never settle, Asian fetish, boring dates with finance people (no offence to anyone who works in finance lol), Ken’s red flags in dating (top tip, be curious and be funn...

In this week’s episode I'm joined by my sisters @sansanyau @happyingeats Warning ⚠️ You WILL get hungry listening. Eat beforehand haha🍤🍚🍜 😋 We also share some hilarious, sad, heartwarming and nostalgic stories from podcast listeners. Thank you so much to @winnieswritings @jennisjournal @jennyoiii @luicat01 @joannayeung97 @ray_w6 @anthonychengphotography @aitkitchen @wukarlie (and some anons) f...

In this week’s episode I talk about social media. How Instagram was bad for me during my toxic relationship, how what we put out on social media actually matters and it’s not silly, we all have our own personal brand whether we have large or small audiences, influencers still have their own shit going on despite what you might think, people wanna see you succeed, but just not do better than them,...

Welcome to But Where Are You From?... A podcast by a late 20-something millennial learning about life as a British Born Chinese. I’m Viv, the host of the podcast. I talk about life as a British Born Chinese (BBC); from family life, to work, dating, relationships, food, racism, and general culture. In this week’s episode I give an update on the petition so far - we got it raised in Parliament! I al...

Welcome to But Where Are You From?... A podcast by a late 20-something millennial learning about life as a British Born Chinese. I’m Viv, the host of the podcast. I talk about life as a British Born Chinese (BBC); from family life, to work, dating, relationships, food, racism, and general culture. In this week’s episode I address the recent email exchange I had with the Guardian over changing anot...

Welcome to But Where Are You From?... A podcast by a late 20-something millennial learning about life as a British Born Chinese. I’m Viv, the host of the podcast. I talk about life being a British East Asian; from family life, to work, dating, relationships, food, racism, and general culture. In this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with Nick. We talk about finding your community as a gend...

Welcome to But Where Are You From?... A podcast by a late 20-something millennial learning about life as a British Born Chinese. I’m Viv, the host of the podcast. I talk about life as a British Born Chinese (BBC); from family life, to work, dating, relationships, food, racism, and general culture. In this episode I talk about my extremely triggering week: a Chinese man using the word “Ch*nk” and n...

Welcome to But Where Are You From?... A podcast by a late 20-something millennial learning about life as a British Born Chinese. I’m Viv, the host of the podcast. I talk about life as a British Born Chinese (BBC); from family life, to work, dating, relationships, food, racism, and general culture. In this episode I talk about how I had an uncomfortable yet productive conversation with my mum surro...

Welcome to But Where Are You From?... A podcast by a late 20-something millennial learning about life as a British Born Chinese. I’m Viv, the host of the podcast. I talk about life as a British Born Chinese (BBC); from family life, to work, dating, relationships, food, racism, and general culture. Trigger Warning: grief, losing a parent We know that these types of commemorative days can be tough f...

Welcome to But Where Are You From?... A podcast by a late 20-something millennial learning about life as a British Born Chinese. I’m Viv, the host of the podcast. I talk about life as a British Born Chinese (BBC); from family life, to work, dating, relationships, food, racism, and general culture. These two need no introduction...So happy to finally release the episodes with guests @evelynmok @nig...