InfatuAsian Podcast

*YOU CAN WATCH our interview and see them perform just for us on YouTube! https://youtu.be/dRqfxAkl7B8 Rolling Quartz is a 5-member female Korean Rock Band that is coming to the US for a 7 city tour in May! These young women are super talented and fun!  They write their own songs, perform every note, and have amazing stage presence.  If you don’t know them, get to know them! I know using interpret...

I heard about Kelvin from my mom growing up.  Kelvin was the first and for a long time, the only Asian American that I knew who chose acting as a career.  He's been in over 100 productions on stage and screen.  Titles like: Nash Bridges, Law and Order, Grey's Anatomy, Entourage, West World, and more recently Partner Track and Beef!  I had such a great time talking about his career and getting his...

If you have ever looked up a Chinese food recipe online there is a strong possibility that you have stumbled upon The Woks of Life website run by the Leung Family!  We were totally excited to talk to the two younger members of the clan, Sarah and Kaitlin!  I had so much fun chatting about their journey in creating their amazing culinary blog that gets over 7 million visitors a month!  And now you...

Surprise Bonus Episode! We had some time during Spring Break and decided to spend some of it chatting with author Gina Chung, whose debut novel is fresh off the press and available everywhere! It is a lovely tale of a woman named Aurora, Ro to her friends, as she deals with a bit of a quarter-life crisis. Everyone around Ro is going through some sort of big life change, which throws her into a vor...

Kyle Shin a.k.a. Son of Paper is a San Francisco kid.  He writes music that reflects his mixed heritage as a 5 generation Chinese American and the son of a Korean immigrant.  His newest album, From a Rooftop In Chinatown, addresses a variety of topics affecting Asian Americans as well as anyone who’s been othered or overlooked.   Son of Paper’s music is available on Spotify, Sound Cloud, Apple Mus...

We’re wrapping up Women’s History Month 2023 with a special Teen Takeover episode!   Producer Madison takes control of the podcast this week and interviews fellow teen creative Keertana Sreekumar.  Keertana is the youngest person to win the top screenwriting prize at the Toronto Independent Film Festival for her film “The California Child,” which is currently in production. Keertana is also produc...

Michelle Lam is a story artist who has worked in Hollywood on various animation projects seen on Netflix and elsewhere.  In her "spare time," she creates comics and videos on Instagram and YouTube.  Her popular videos have been viewed millions of times and answer questions about her art school/career arc and gives glimpses of life as a working artist.  And as of today, March 21st, she is a publish...

Today we have the immense pleasure of hearing from singer/actor Stephanie Jae Park who is currently playing the part of Eliza Schuyler/Hamilton on Broadway, New York, New York!  She is an amazing singer and actor, who really gave us some insights into life on stage in a Broadway musical.  Growing up loving musical theatre, I had mixed feelings about musicals like the King and I and Miss Saigon.  O...

Here's a bonus episode for your weekend!  Jenny and Brandon from Pocha Playlist help me break down the entertaining Netflix reality show Physical 100.  We had fun chatting about this show that was atop Netflix's most-watched list for a few weeks.  Did you watch Physical 100?  Let us know what you think of the show! You can listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your...

We’re back with another ranking show!  This time Curtis, Jen, Justin, and Ray will place some of the best Asian/Pacific Islander Athletes on tiers. This was hard because there are so many great Asian athletes from the olden days to today.  We had a lot of fun discussing and sometimes disagreeing on where to place all these great athletes!  Listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc…  Please cons...

I have been watching cooking shows on Saturday mornings on our local PBS station KQED since I was a kid in the 70's and 80's.  A little over 20 years ago a new show came on called America's Test Kitchen.  Their scientific and methodical way of perfecting recipes really appealed to my nerdy side.  Lan Lam joined the magazine about 12 years ago as a recipe developer and has since become a regular re...

*Listener Discretion Advised!* This episode isn’t completely “on-brand” with our usual content but I thought it would be fun to produce a Valentine’s Special by asking my guests (over these past few months) about some of their dating preferences and opinions.  It was a lot of work to put all this together, but I thought it was fun and really interesting!  There are a ton of unbleeped swear words a...

I'm sure most of us could have used someone to go over sound personal finance advice with us when we graduated from college or grad school. Wilson saw the need for this when he saw his physician assistant and nursing colleagues struggling with debt and money management, so he started mentoring them. Stephanie saw real estate investing as a way to help make their income work for them, so together t...

America's true national treasures are our National Parks! Stewards of our parks are the thousands of men and women working for the National Park Services as rangers.  Today we will be speaking with Ranger Connie Lau who is currently working at the Grand Canyon but works at Yosemite in Summer. She will tell us about her journey, some of her experiences as a park ranger, as well as some of the amazi...

If you've been on YouTube or TikTok, I'm willing to bet you've seen one of Lisa Nguyen's videos.  She started going viral during the pandemic for challenging herself to eat instant ramen for 30 days straight.  Her improvised and quirky recipes have been downloaded billions of times... BILLIONS with a B!  She has grown to over 4 million subscribers building up her spice tolerance, visiting family-o...

Here's a Bonus Side Dish!  This movie had us in the palm of its hand. It is a dark and moody... romance!  If you liked In The Mood for Love or the classic Vertigo you will adore Park Chan Wook's latest, Decision to Leave.  Visually stunning, and superbly acted, this movie moved us. Go see it in a theater if you can, or you can stream it on Mubi (I took advantage of a free trial). Coming on the sho...

Cantonese is a variant of Chinese that come from the Guang Dong region of China.  It is spoken by over 80 million people worldwide.  About 2 years ago Stanford University and City College of San Francisco wanted to cut their Cantonese Language programs to save money.  Listen in to hear how Jamie Tam and Julia Quan helped organize and mobilize a community of supporters to get the programs reinstate...

This is a fun conversation I had with XinYi.  She is a Digital Nomad, Creative Chimera, and the host of the Don't Be Strangers Podcast and community.  She is working to fight adult loneliness and the myth that making friends as an adult is difficult.  We recorded in October for her podcast, and she sent me a copy of the edited file, so I figured now would be a great time to post it since I'm way b...

We hope you had a great Christmas or Hanukah (if that's what you celebrate)!  We're taking the next two weeks off, but here's another Holiday Replay from the archives!  This is a flashback to a fun chat we had with Tristan A. Chen, who voiced the bully Tyler in the amazing Disney movie Turning Red!  Sit back and enjoy as you (hopefully) rest before the new year.  We'll post new episodes in January...

Happy Holidays Everyone!  Last episode of the year!  This is a short episode, where we catch up with our pal Adam from YouTube's Die Hard Fishing channel.  I couldn't resist calling him up to talk about his epic battle with this open-water beast.  Around San Francisco, we're known for crab, salmon, and other colder-water sealife.  A few years ago, warm water species like tuna started showing up. ...

STOP USING TEA BAGS! After writing a paper in college about the commodity tea trade, Cindy Li realized that the industry was inefficient and inequitable, with centuries-old structures rooted in colonialism. After working at a tea farm in Maui, she realized there had to be a better way to get people this fantastic product. She started Uproot Teas about a year and half ago and has set out to run a 1...

My sister Caryl and I had a blast chatting with Chef Ming Tsai last week.  Besides being an incredibly talented chef with a great personality, for me, Chef Ming was the first American-born Asian chef I had seen on TV. Representation matters. We talk about what that was like starting his Food Network show, East Meets West, as well as some of the many other projects he's done over the years like Sim...

Hey Y'All!  It's been a while since we've updated you a bit on the podcast so we start today's recording with a quick update.  Then we hope on the line with Sara Qiu, the Spanish cyclo-tourist who we talked with in episode 38. She's crossed over onto the continent of Asia and is riding through Turkey at the moment.  It was fun to hear how she's grown as a cyclo-tourist and as a person!   You can h...

Need something to listen to while you peel 50 potatoes?  Why not have our chat with Chef Shirley Chung on in the background to inspire you!  Lots of great chef stories from Shirley and Caryl. I can't help but feel thankful for all the people who have helped me with this podcast as a guest or co-host, and especially YOU the listeners!  I'm glad you've come along for the ride too.  Feeling grateful!...

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  I'm taking the week off...  also... I got Covid.  Ugh.  So in honor of the American holiday that celebrates sustenance and gratitude, I'm reposting 2 of our earlier episodes about FOOD! Tuesday, I'll be posting the first half of Episode 7 (from Aug 2021) where my friends Mandy and Kelly talk about our favorite YouTube Food channels!   Wednesday, I'll be posting our ep...