Curito Connects

Jenn talks to Asian American Johnson Chong, the best-selling & award-winning author of Sage Sapien: From Karma to Dharma, TedX Speaker, yoga, meditation teacher and shaman based in Sydney, Australia. In our conversation about soul contracts, Johnson shares with us what it was like growing up in NYC as a gay Asian American immigrant kid, discovering how theater school allowed him to go inwards and...

Jenn speaks to Allison Mona (Ally) founder of Allymona a health and wellness advocate bringing you years of effective holistic wellness solutions for the whole family! A China expat of 16 years before picking up and moving her family of 6 to Mexico during the pandemic, Ally shares with us the different obstacles she has encountered in life and how through it all her perseverance kept her going. Sh...

This episode was recorded from  a LIVE fireside chat on “Family Business in Taiwan: Challenges We Face” at a Curito event to showcase the Curito Connects series. Moderated by Jenn, this panel consists of Christina Huang (President of Manloy), John Chen (Vice Chariman and CEO, Gloria Hotel Group), and Winnie Chao (President of Ko Wen Educational Institute). The conversation covered challenges they...

Jenn speaks to Elena Liao, founder of Té Company, a Taiwanese tearoom based out of New York City. A former retail corporate managing big-box apparel retailers with no former background or association with Taiwanese Tea except for her Taiwanese American heritage. Elena talks about how she decided to leave corporate in 2015 and start her tea business with no prior experience at all, what she learned...

Jenn talks to Summer Chou, a self taught professional balloon artist based in Taiwan. Summer shares her journey on how she always had a fear of balloons, how she overcame her fear and grew a business out of the joy of balloon art and how much happiness it brings to people, sick, healthy, young and old. How her work in this field has taught her so much about empathy and compassion. Our conversation...

Jenn speaks to Allison Warren, founder, designer of Modernplum a Chicago-based sustainable, linen home decor company that has an eco-conscious mission that she started in 2014! A painter, architect, professor, maker, and designer by trade, Allison is also known as a linen expert in the field! She shares with us her career path and experiences that really allowed her to thrive in becoming an entrep...

  Jenn speaks to Brenda Lin, a writer, mother, wife, daughter and brand manager of les enphants a second generation Taiwanese children branded family business! From Taiwan to New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and back to Taiwan, Brenda shares her homecoming journey and what it takes to set boundaries, communicate, journal and navigate finding yourself, working for your family business and laying down...

Jenn speaks to Tilaine Wang, founder of Aimm Matchmaking based in Taiwan but caters to the global ethnically Chinese market place! Tilaine is a Matchmaking Institute certified matchmaker whose vision is to help singles find the love of their life through in-depth consultation, and client assessment. From her own experience having been previously divorced and now happily married with her business p...

Jenn speaks to Katherine Wehler, a new paradigm business and soul coach a professional astrologer, human design reader and akashi record guide keeper. From as early as she can remember Katherine has had the natural ability to channel her spirit guides and for awhile choose to ignore them. She speaks to us about how the shooting at her college changed the whole course of her life from being a profe...

Jenn speaks to Marta Magdalena, co-founder with her husband John Tattva of Ashtanga Nilayam, Singapore. Marta’s journey took her from Poland, to being a former architect in Berlin running her own ashtanga yoga shala back in 2010 visiting India yearly to now residing in Singapore since 2018. She shares her early encounters with yoga, choices in career path, how meeting her husband was one of the bo...

Jenn speaks to Anne van Gessel, a author and life coach residing in Seattle, about growing up in Asia, discovering her learning challenges at the age of 18, how her love for self development, and curiosity in life allowed her to later thrive in school and her professional career and how she hopes to create a community to raise awareness to those with neural divergent condition and to teach others...

Jenn speaks to Andy Curtain founder of former Shanghai based Kung Fu Komedy. Having just graduated from law school in Melbourne, Andy decided to leave Australia and move to China to explore the world. He started off finding 9-5 jobs then stumbled upon creating a community with other comedians to share laughter with people living in China. Comedy clubs popped up in major non-Western cities around t...

Jenn speaks to Freddie Valente-Perfeito, a yoga teacher based in Madeira, Portugal! A lawyer in her past life, Freddie discovered yoga in 2014 and has not looked back since. She then went on her self-growth journey traveling around Asia teaching yoga in India, Bali, Costa Rica, and Sri Lanka (where we met at Soul & Surf Retreat)! Besides for letting Freddie share her corporate to yoga journey I wa...

Jenn speaks to Arnaud Saint-Paul founder of Tapuat and GIVE Nation. Arnaud is a conscious technologist, philanthropist, author and visionary and has a life goal of inspiring 1 billion people to open their heart to themselves! Arnaud shares how his curiosity of “Who am I” that started at a young age of 13, ultimately shaped him into who he is today and the journey that led him to develop the compan...

Jenn speaks to Larry Shao a Taiwanese American who founded Taipei Mambo Project Dance Company and La Salsa Dance School in Taipei in 2007. A US-trained visual artist, Larry moved back to Taiwan to pursue his visual art career but found himself growing his interest in salsa then having to make a decision on which to go full-time with. Larry shares how he transitioned from being a visual artist to b...

Jenn speaks to Cudjuy Malijugau, a Paiwan Aboriginal interior and floral designer who founded Gathering Art Studio based out of Taidong, Taiwan. Cudjuy shares with us some of his more impactful moments in life from returning home to live and work in the “buluo” community, rediscovering his roots, culture, ethnic identity and relationship with nature and it’s surrounding. He talks about Taidong and...

Jenn speaks to Laura McEgan, founder of the popular children’s yoga certification school Divine Light Yoga. Laura has over 18 years of experience working with children and young people in both educational and therapeutic settings! Laura shares with us how her passion and determination allowed for her to build the business and life she wanted for herself, of course it didn’t always come easy, one j...

Jenn speaks to Daniel Hurlin, a fashion design director having worked for several luxury brands in Paris, London, Berlin to Antwerp! From an early age, Daniel knew he was gay, and having navigated that identity growing up and as a creative, he shares with us what innate creativity means to him and why it is important to understand this as a creative, working in the creative industry so that you ca...

Jenn speaks to Lydia Chang, founder of Origin Yoga & Wellness, Taiwan Lululemon legacy ambassador, and Wellness Director of Flow Retreat in Hualien, Taiwan. Lydia shares with us how her hyperthyroid diagnosis back in 2020 shocked her, made her feel like a failure as a wellness practitioner and her road to recovery. How she learned to heal from within and why self-love and self-compassion are so im...

Jenn speaks to Teri Ortt, a Los Angeles-based yoga teacher and Ayurveda practitioner and author of Shine Bright Sister: The Real Girlfriend's Guide To Using Yoga and Ayurveda to Access Your Most Radiant Self. Terri talks about marriage, divorce and how her own experience inspired her to write this book, and how the tools she provides in the book are relevant for everyone trying to nurture their in...

Jenn speaks to Irene Lu, founder and creative director of PILLOWBOOK, the first lingerie label to pioneer the modernization of the traditional Chinese lingerie "dudou" with art, culture, and fashion. A Taiwanese American based in Paris, Irene talks about her love for all things silk, her passion for lingerie, the rise in Asian hate which triggered her childhood trauma memories, body positivity, an...

Jenn speaks to Erin O'Keefe from White Plains, New York who is a stylist specializing in magazine editorials and celebrity fashion and most recently proud co-owner of Ice Cream Social the first independent Ice Cream shop out in White Plains that she started with her childhood friend this summer! Erin gives us insights into the styling industry and how Sutton's character in The Bold Type does do ju...

Jenn speaks to Florian Bourquin, a Swiss pastry chef based in Taiwan and co-founder of Panoramix Project, providing professional pastry coaching service as well as menu creation and catering service. Florian chose to become a pastry chef while still in secondary school would then develop his career under the guidance of the famed Belgium chocolatier Pierre Marcolini rising ranks to becoming the He...

Jenn connects and speaks to Daphne Chua for the first time, founder of Somatic Therapy Asia. A native Singaporean, Daphne grew up checking off all the boxes in life. A degree, corporate job, successful until the 2008 financial crisis. From there her spiritual journey began where she found herself living a nomadic life, teaching yoga, falling in love, and a decade later reconnecting with her family...

Jenn speaks to Esther Evers, founder of Soul Radiance, she is a Past Life Regression Therapist, Life Between Lives Regression Therapist, Spiritual Channel and Reiki Master Teacher. In this episode on how to unapologetically step into your light & create a life of passion, freedom & spiritual healing, Esther shares her incredible life journey from a professional actress, wildlife conservationist to...