Modern Day Asians

Vera is a licensed therapist in Toronto, Canada, and the founder of Talk Therapy with Vera. She talks about her upbringing & childhood being born in Hong Kong and transitioning her life to Canada. Vera struggled as a student who frequently got in trouble with her teachers and parents for being reactive and that was a result of her learning from her parents that dismissing, ignoring, and suppre...

Do you hear jokes on TV from your favorite Asian comedians talking about their Asian parents and everyone just laughs because they can relate to them? Now don’t get me wrong, I love the humor in times of stress and entertainment. But what happens inside after the joke is over? Let's not normalize and accept that abusive parenting is part of Asian culture. In this episode, I walk you through exampl...

One of the reasons for intergenerational trauma is that many Asian cultures have experienced historical trauma, such as colonization, war, and famine. In order to overcome these challenges and ensure survival, it became necessary for people to work hard and be resourceful. Today, this drive for hard work is often seen as a source of pride in many Asian cultures and is viewed as a means of achievin...

In this episode, we are going to talk about how I reconnected with my mom after 10 years of distancing myself from her. If you are listening and your hope is to have a closer relationship with your family, then keep listening because I will share how I was able to make those shifts/changes in my life and how you can start applying these to your life. Although, it is going to take time to see chang...

In this episode,  I talk about my top 5 lessons from experiencing Asian parenting. Asian parenting is highly protective, authoritative, and controlling parenting with an emphasis on education to improve one's socioeconomic status. I cover what I have learned from this style of parenting, how I made my peace with it and provided listeners with a list of reflective questions if you have also ex...

This week is a very special episode. I had a chance to sit down and talk to my sister during my trip back to see my parents during the holidays. I invited my sister to share with us what her experience was like growing up in our household. I am very grateful that she is vulnerable to talk about these tough situations because we were not programmed this way. Emotions and intimacy were avoided. I de...

In this episode, we talk about how Care checked all the boxes, got her bachelor’s degree, and started her career as a tech consultant but still felt like she was at the lowest point of her life. She was battling depression and anxiety. She was introduced to mindfulness when she started yoga as an alternative form of exercise and that began her self-development journey. Today, she is a trauma-infor...

Sara currently lives in Wilmington, NC, and is pursuing a business degree in International Business. Sarah is a third-generation American and her ethnicity is French Canadian, German, British, and Japanese. From her study abroad trip to Japan, her inspiration is to work for a Japanese cosmetic company once she finishes her degree.  In this episode, we talk about Sara’s favorite holidays and t...

Daryl is an acupuncturist and works at a private practice in Toronto, CA. In this episode, we discussed what it was like to be a health practitioner during COVID, how she handles offensive conversations, the Atlanta Spa Shooting in 2021, and how we reacted when hearing about Asian hate crimes during uncertain times of COVID. Daryl recently was diagnosed with ADD and feels that a lot of the missing...

This week, I invited my friend Ivan who is an Asian Australian. Ivan currently lives in Sydney. His ethnic background is Chinese. His family escaped communism, fled to Vietnam, and eventually settled in Australia. During the process, his family changed their last names to hide from Chinese communist leaders. In this episode, we talk about his family's expectations with their retirement, his relati...

This week, I invited my peer Nathan Kwan from the same coaching institution that we enrolled in this year. In this episode, we talk about his upbringing, life in Canada, and where he is with his healing self-discovery journey. We will cover how he navigates his masculine identity as an Asian male, overcoming his darkest place with depression, and also reflecting on and honoring his grandfather by...

During this episode, I will uncover the purpose of this podcast, my personal story, why I am here today, and what to expect. I grew up in areas where no one ever looked like me. I desperately was hoping that one day I would be able to live near people who looked like me. From a very young age, I knew that I was different and that fitting in meant that I would need to lose my identity as an Asian a...