First of All

This week, Minji is extra thankful, humbled, and lost all at the same time as she examines the state of the world, America’s battle with Covid and common sense, concerns in her personal life as well as her very own scary run-in with 'Rona. Forced to go into full blown quarantine once again, she works through a panic attack, bouts of despair and a lot of anxiety. While in recovery, she comes across...

First loves, coming of age, passion, romance, angst. YES, PLEASE. Minji and Priska openly share their love for the show “Normal People” based on the beloved novel by Sally Rooney.  They go deep right out the gate with their thoughts and experiences with intimacy, abuse, heartache, beauty, class and mental health. They also dive into how the series portrays a particularly authentic journey with all...

So how about that Delta variant, eh? Yeah, it's been a lot for us here at First Of All and for our returning guest Steve, making us just like every other person on this planet in 2021.  As many of you out there may have been sorting through returning to work, getting vaccinated, debating about vaccinations, pondering about work, questioning the meaning of life, being free of masks, having to mask...

Understanding our unique identities is no small feat. We're made up of so many intersecting things that also evolve over time. Some parts we embrace wholeheartedly, others confuse us, and some can just be difficult to accept. In this episode, Minji sits down with her friend, Sam Futerman, to discuss her incredible journey as a transracial adoptee from Korea who also discovered an identical twin si...

In this episode, Minji shares a meaningful and harrowing experience of treating herself to her very first solo vacation to Hawaii. From making the decision, committing to keeping it, budgeting, and then actually spending a lot of time alone in a new environment, she goes through a whole mess of fun and sometimes awkward, sometimes difficult growth. This goes out to everyone who’s figuring out how...

Ever stop and look back on your life and realize that you've actually overcome some pretty crazy things? Same. It may not feel like particularly special at the time, but everyone is navigating their own unique path on their individual hero's journey. In Hollywood-land, the hero's journey is a storytelling mechanism in which the main character overcomes major obstacles and challenges to transform a...

Getting ghosted is great. If great suddenly means the absolute worst. As much as we wish we could be eternally unbothered, always in our most confident state, completely incapable of feeling small or rejected...it happens to the best of us. Falling for someone can be a high like no other- full of mystery, intrigue, butterflies, and anticipation. And if it doesn't work out, especially when the pers...

 Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month~ hope you all take time to celebrate the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) folks in your universe, including yourself if that applies. While May calls for honoring the Asian diaspora, it has been a painful and scary year for the AAPI community, with surges in anti-Asian brutality, hatred, and xenophobia. In the midst of all the ongoing racial tensi...

For some people, it's easy to ask for what they want. It's not a big deal to say no. It doesn't take everything out of them to put themselves first all the time or even a majority of the time when it comes to big and little decisions. Some people walk around not having a bottomless need for approval, permission, or external validation. For anything. Seriously. And for some people, they don't know...

Life moves quickly, doesn't it? And before you know it, you've gone through relationships, career changes, life transitions, family drama, friendships, and growth milestones in the blink of an eye. It's one thing to be able to slow down or even pause to savor all the good stuff, and it's another to let go of things that have taken up space, hurt you, and stunted your happiness. In this episode, Mi...

Spending a year+ in quarantine and separated from others has taken toll on many of us. Feeling isolated and feeling disconnected has made everyday life and even work life lose a lot of spark. Some people have gotten creative and use whatever platform is available to keep that light on and find opportunities to reach people who may have otherwise been inaccessible. This is how this weeks guest, NAS...

The last several weeks of anti-Asian violence and the subsequent expanding conversation around anti-racism in general has intensified. While communities and individuals have turned to various sources for information and outlets to express their grief, we've all come to revisit the enormity of the problem and felt a number of feelings from bitterness and rage to fear and hopelessness.  None of thes...

The last few months have been a physical and emotional overload for Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and many Asians around the world facing violent attacks in a surge of racism and xenophobia. With the recent murders of 6 Asian women in Atlanta, Georgia, many AAPI are reeling from the mental toll and the heightened fear for their safety and the safety of their loved ones. In this solo epis...

Sit down and get ready, fam. We're about to get right into our feels, our issues, & go DEEP on this one.  In this episode, Minji sits down with Lillian So, who some people call a life coach, some people call a healer, integrator, or facilitator of transformation. Whatever you want to call her work, & whatever your comfort with the spiritual "woo-woo" (no worries, we understand), Lillian's work is...

The most universal life experience: the gut-wrenching, butterflies in your stomach, lightheaded, sweaty palms, heart racing, quasi-hyperventilating breath, hold-up-I-need-a-moment, shaky af...leaving of your comfort zone. Can I do this? Do I have what it takes? What if it doesn't work out? What if I fail? What I let ____ down? Should I do this? We've all been there. And sorry (but not sorry) to ca...

Ever feel like you're working so freaking hard at "getting it together", leveling up, building the life of your dreams, etc... only to have life throw you a curve ball? Say.. a rejection, a change of heart, or even a little global pandemic? As much as we're constantly seeking certainty and control, life is usually anything but. So while we're all STILL smack in the middle of the highly uncertain C...

In a world where all people strive to be seen and understood, invisibility can be demoralizing, damaging, and dangerous. Asian Americans have long experienced marginalization as a model minority (myth) - a quiet, hardworking, and subservient community that stays low-key, obedient and committed to the grindstone. In this week's episode, Minji sits down with the co-founders of the Asian Hustle Netwo...

In our current world of heightened awareness around issues like mental health, race, gender identity, xenophobia, homophobia, and sooo much more, there are tons of ways we can say or do the wrong thing. Go back a few years, and you might remember some horrific stuff you used to say as a joke, or find a problematic tweet you posted or a very poorly worded letter or journal entry. Like, who really w...

Alright, so we made it to 2021, which has been feeling an awful like an extension of the 2020 season of Life. Still in a pandemic, still unclear about the future, facing our private and personal struggles on top of the societal/global issues that are just impossible to ignore. The bad part? We still don't know how much longer we'll be in these circumstances. FR, most likely a good while longer. Th...

WHAT. A. YEAR. We made it y'all. Now, there's a loooot to unpack, and we all have our own ways that we want to say goodbye to one of the most difficult years the world has collectively experienced in all of history ever. And we support all of it. We went through every kind of upheaval: from personal struggles in every size, shape, form, and intensity.. to massive societal reckonings magnified from...

Happy Holidays, FOA fam!! In last weeks episode, we got into what it's like to follow your heart, take risks to figure out what's right for your current self, and leave the old self behind. In a continuation of this theme of closing chapters, this week's solo episode goes into Minji's personal journey of exiting her role as Kollaboration Executive Director, and passing the torch to its new incomin...

Whether we go into phases of our lives on purpose or going with the flow, there often comes the time when any particular life chapter comes to an end. A breakup, a move, a new/lost job...a pandemic. 2020 has been a hurricane of beginnings, endings, transitions, and limbo. During this rollercoaster year, folks have had to come to terms about their values, their priorities, their choices, and their...

As much hardship as we've all endured, 2020 has also served as a powerful catalyst for gratitude for what really matters and learning to let go of what doesn't. In this episode, Minji returns to FOA after the sudden passing of her grandmother, which was immediately followed by a wonderfully brutal wait-i-this-COVID-nvm-it's-a-nasty-flu. In processing her grief while regaining her health after bein...

It has been a long, weary road to Election Day in the US. We are tired and mentally fragile. Our souls, brains, and bank accounts are hurting. COVID still rages on. Everything screams, IS THIS OVER YET??! Yeah. Same. If we're in a metaphorical boxing ring, we're insanely sweaty, one eye is puffed closed, and our center of gravity is compromised. So take a seat in the corner of the ring to regroup...

Self-validation, where have you been our entire lives? How wonderful it is to actually LIKE yourself without having it followed up by guilt, shame, anxiety, or doubt.  Seriously, those "feeling myself" moments are EVERYTHING.  They can come in waves, they can come momentarily, but hopefully we're all on a path of increasing, genuine, lasting appreciation of who we are just as we are. BUT HOW DOES...