But Where Are You Really From?: An Asian-American Struggle

While we recharge and plan out new content for upcoming episodes, we wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to other awesome voices from the AAPI community. This week, we're featuring Reel Asian Podcast, a podcast dedicated to exploring the stories and themes of Asian and Asian-American film.  In this episode, the Reel Asian Podcast crew took a look at the timeless anime epic, Princ...

Warning: NSFW topic ahead! We are putting it all out there this week and talking sex and intimacy. What did we learn (or not learn) about sex growing up in our Asian households? How it works, who is "allowed" to have it, and under what circumstances it's "ok" to have it. And how did the taboo around talking about or having sex affect us in terms of our personal understandings of what sex is actual...

Drag queens and kings have become one of the more public representations of the LGBTQ community. But beyond the polished acts seen through mass media, drag can be something deeply personal and raw. This week, we're joined by Untitled Queen, a drag artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Untitled's work uses drag as performance art to both construct and deconstruct different facets of his identity.&nbs...

On our never ending quest to meet all the Asians doing cool sh*t, we met "more than just a rapper" Lil Waterboi. He's a Montreal-based Vietnamese Canadian artist who's seeking to normalize and shine a spotlight on Asian Canadian artists through his own work and through Bahay Collective, his company dedicated to helping to support and promote Asian artists.  We talk about what it was like grow...

Do you want to play a game?   To take your (and our) minds off the news of the past few weeks, we're going to be drinking this episode. And not only will we be drinking, but we will also be attempting to trick each other with fake COVID-story headlines. So strap your headphones on for some fake news debunking, high-larious failures in pronunciation and enunciation, and some hot tips to a...

Sophia Bailey is the founder of the More Than Yellow Blog - a community dedicated to amplifying the voices and stories of the Asian-American community. We discuss how she was inspired to start More Than Yellow by the challenges she experienced herself growing up as one of the few Asians in her small midwest town, fueled further by the recent wave of anti-Asian racism growing out of the pandemic. W...

Loneliness is a universal experience that we've all had at one point or another. What's so interesting about loneliness is how we react to it and how the cultures we grew up with direct that reaction.  This week we're talking about loneliness culture - the places, services, practices, and traditions that govern how we deal with loneliness, as well as the cultural norms that often signal to us...

The armed forces is such an important and foundational group keeping our country (and our friends around the world) safe, but is often under-appreciated or not thought of, especially in the realm of jobs our immigrant parents dream for us to pursue.  This week we speak with Major David Phetmixay from the US Air Force about his experience serving as one of the few Asian-Americans in this branc...

As Taiwanese-Americans, we have a complex relationship with China. We are ethnically Chinese and deeply value connecting with the history, culture, and traditions that stemmed from our longstanding Chinese heritage, but at the same time, our families grew up in Taiwan - a place that has developed its own identity, and is certainly run by a very different type of government. In this episode, we dis...

Wait, did you know that your hosts are not related!?! Yes, lifelong friends Jesse and Angela Lin belong to different Lin families! Jesse is an only child, and Angela has an actual brother - Johnny. He's our special guest this week where we talk about the sibling experience. Growing up in an Asian family can be complicated, but the dynamics of family size can make it downright dizzying. From the pr...

Do you remember your first time stepping into Chinatown? It's an otherworldly experience being surrounded by throngs of people and cornered in by restaurants and shops that beckon with mysterious foods and wares. Due to the global pandemic, these amazing neighborhoods are slowly dwindling.  This week, we're joined by Jackie Wang and Harry Trinh, two volunteers with the organization, "Welcome...

For Asian-Americans, it's hard enough to reconcile if you're more Asian or more American... now imagine adding on the additional complexity of figuring out if you're more Asian or more Black. Thus far we haven't delved deeply into the impact that being bi-racial can have on one's sense of self.  We are joined in this discussion by content creator/actor Ryan Alexander Holmes, who is half Afric...

Happy Year of the Ox! This week we're celebrating the Lunar New Year - and we're taking you all along for the ride. Our families didn't always follow all of the traditions, but we're sharing with you everything we know about the lore and traditions of the holiday. From the story of surviving the new year, to the arrangement of dishes at the meal table, join us as we dive into everything Lunar New...

We had such a pleasure speaking with the ~positive vibes only~ singer/songwriter AZRA on another segment of Asians Doing Cool Sh*t.  We discuss what it's like to be one of the only Asian-Americans in the music industry, the challenge of fighting the cultural pressure to "not stick out" contrasted against what it takes to succeed in the U.S., how she's had to adapt in channeling her creativity...

In the age of coronavirus, is it still worth it to live in a large city? As young adults, cities provided us foundational adult experiences that we cut our teeth on - opportunities for career development, indulgence, relationships, and more. But with the closure of museums, restaurants, bars, etc, these dense urban jungles seem less attractive to those who call them home. If you haven't yet guesse...

So long, 2020! To say goodbye to a year that was so off-the-charts extra, we wanted to talk about what it means to do the most. For many of us, this year was a mental and physical struggle. For others of us, this year granted much needed time to dive into new projects or pursuits. But for all of us, there was the question of what should we be doing? Our last episode of the season dives headfirst i...

Season's greetings! Let us bring some cheer to you by reminiscing on our favorite holiday traditions. Fall and winter really bring a different perspective to (our respective) cities, where the air feels a little crisper and everything has a little rose-colored tint to it. Of course, the holidays are also about friends, and we recount some of our favorite traditions, shenanigans, and stories. And f...

In another segment of "Asians Doing Cool Sh*t," we talk to Amy Tsang, an actor and filmmaker based in LA. Knowing how stereotypical Asian parents feel about pursuing a career in the arts, Amy defied those norms and made her way into the film and TV industry. We discuss what it was like starting her acting career in Hong Kong and transitioning to the U.S. where suddenly her Asian-ness was something...

Even with everything that has happened in 2020, there's still room to find things that we're thankful for - but only after b*tchin about the things that we're not. Join us this week in celebrating Thanksgiving by trashing the year of 2020. Of course, there are plenty of silver linings that this year has brought as well. The extra time has allowed us to start this podcast (!), invest in our physica...

We're bringing you another "Reflections" episode where we highlight listeners' stories about their experiences. We hear what it was like growing up in a divorced household and the emotional consequences of trying to "save face," the hardship that immigrant parents had to face to learn a whole new language and re-learn their skill sets to "make it" in America, and how conflicting it feels to see mo...

While it's easy to assume that the Asian-American experience is similar to that of the broader Asian diaspora around the world, this definitely isn't necessarily the case! That's why this week we welcomed special guest Natalie Cheung from Yellow Bee Pod to compare and contrast the experience of being Asian in the U.S. vs in the UK, as someone who is British-born Chinese. We learned a lot from this...

We're kicking off a segment called "Asians Doing Cool Sh*t" where we celebrate Asian-Americans (or other Asian-____!) pursuing unconventional career paths... at least according to what our immigrant parents would have expected from us (aka not a doctor, engineer, accountant, etc.). We're here to break down that rigid definition of "success" and show all different ways that our community finds succ...

It's the spookiest season of the year (and one of our favorites)! We gush over what we love about Halloween and share ghost stories and folklore that we convinced our parents to share with us from the motherland. In addition to some spooky tales, we also discuss the traditions practiced around "ghost month" (July in the lunar calendar), and the difference between the concepts of Heaven and Hell in...

It's Election season, and we want you to get out and vote!  Voting is an important civic duty, and helps steer the direction of our country for the next 4 years! It's also really important to remember to vote in all your local elections, which can really help determine what happens in your immediate community. To stir up some civic pride and learn about the importance of voting in other count...

Love is in the...wait, no. Actually, we didn't learn much about love and relationships at all growing up. While our parents loved us in their own ways, they didn't impart the communication and analysis skills necessary to survive a modern relationship. And since we both entered the dating game late, we've had to develop these skills "on the job." Love languages are the name of this game, and this...