Modern Minorities

“Intersectional identities are complex - even Asian identities in the queer community. How do we find space for that?” Steven Wakabayashi hosts “YELLOW GLITTER” - a podcast exploring the queer Asian experience. Steven’s thoughtful approach to life - and conversation - have created an amazing space for a community that is marginalized, not just in this country, about around the world. As we all kno...

“Trying to fit in was just not an option. But in comedy, I could embrace my oddness.” Margaret Cho, the “All American Girl,” is a Grammy and Emmy Award-nominated jill of all trades who was once told by TV executives to “tone it down.” Despite all of her success, feeling left out and alienated are subjects that are still near to Margaret’s heart, inspiring her to continue lighting the path for unde...

We've always known that we would LOVE to have a conversation with our guests' MOMS. So for this Mother's Day, we decided to do just that with THREE key questions. Joining us for a very special episode are the MOMS of Friends-of-the-Pod Buck Rocker, Jay Veraldi, Jieun Kim Kirtley, Dr. Nzinga Harrison, Rajiv Satyal, and Sarah Salem. Happy Mother's Day to ALL the MOMS out there! LEARN MORE (about our...

India is facing an overwhelming COVID-19 surge. Cases continue to rise, with record cases reported daily. Among a decline in cases in February, the government loosened restrictions, so we were all caught off-guard. The country's healthcare system is collapsing, with supplies running low/out, and more and more deaths reported daily. Many of us have family and friends suffering. Along with friend-of...

“I was really struck by how universal the message was - and i wanted to be a part of it.” Jason is a husband. A father. He’s an attorney. He’s also Black..and a Muslim. In a conversation about family, religion, race, and love - Jason shares his journey, how he discovered (and built) a relationship with Islam, and how’s its influenced his life for the better... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.c...

“The nuances of the Korean family takes you back to being in a new environment, trying to fit in../..but it felt like an American family story as well.” The Oscars have come and gone, but what remains is how we feel about MINARI - the critically acclaimed film that had SIX nominations and Yuh-Jung Youn’s win for Best Supporting Actress (#TeamGrandma). It was a big year for Modern Minorities...at t...

All of a sudden, it was such an “us VS them” rhetoric - and I realized I was part of the ‘them’.” Lena Shareef grew up in a lot of places - Pakistan, Ukraine, and the Midwest. She’s currently making the internet do things @ National Geographic - having studied video production and journalism. Along the way she co-founded GIRLWITHABOOK, which advocates for girls' education, which she believes is on...

Alice Lee is an actress, singer, and songwriter starring in the NBC show “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” where she plays Emily Kang, an Asian-American...who’s now a new mom. In the most recent episode, the characters grapple - and come to terms with - Emily’s postpartum depression, which like many mental health issues in this country...is not something we talk about often enough - especially in th...

“Who controls the rhythm of the algorithm?” Azhar Usman is a Muslim American writer, actor, comedian, producer - and many other things - of Indian descent (by way of Chicago). Dave Chappelle once declared, “Azhar’s like a comedian from the future.” One of the most outspoken voices of his generation, Azhar’s a writer & Co-Executive Producer for Hulu’s award-winning RAMI (stop what you’re doing...

“People have their assumptions about my faith...and I love getting to change every perception” Sarah Z Salem is an Egyptian American Muslim in Atlanta by way of Philly. Sarah’s not our first Muslim American guest, but for the month of Ramadan we wanted to feature diverse voices from the culture. As a community advocate, Sarah strives to bring forward voices and stories of those most impacted by cl...

For the holy month of Ramadan (4/12 - 5/12), we’ll be featuring more Muslim American voices - with heritage from all over the world: Egypt, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, and Inglewood, California. You’ll be hearing from community organizers, stand up comics, social media pros, and even lawyers. And as always, we’ll do our best to keep it Halal in the family ;) See Pri...

“If I write this book, it's really gonna hurt — because if I write the truth, it's not a comfortable truth.” Mira Jacob is many things - acclaimed author / illustrator, cultural critic, awesome mother, and a pretty funny brown woman in Brooklyn who happens to be from New Mexico. Mira’s graphic memoir ‘GOOD TALK’ is one of Raman’s all-time favorite books (which we’ve aired a previous episode on), h...

And now for something completely different...on our show we’ve intro'ed some really interesting people - writers, comedians, musicians. Not surprisingly, every once in a while they put something really interesting out there in the world. Friend of the pod Seif Hamid (AKA Soof) has a love for music, and has made more than his fair share of it that's pretty damn good. Seif's new track "BIKYA!" has s...

Maartje Duin & Peggy Bouva found a unique connection, and turned it into something beautiful and important. The two created “The Plantation of Our Ancestors” (“De plantage van onze voorouders,” by VPRO - Dutch Public Radio) — an 8-part podcast series that uncovers and unpacks Holland’s history of slavery - from a very personal perspective. Maartje is a podcast producer of Dutch noble descent,...

Tyanne Benallie is a member of the Navajo (Diné) Nation - who has dedicated her career to working with resilient populations. With expertise in Indigenous projects and policy, Ty has worked in Native American communities at the federal and tribal level - across the environmental, social, education, and health sectors. As our first (of hopefully many) indigenous guests, Ty shared experiences - bein...

With the events in Atlanta drawing greater attention to AAPI violence in America, we decided to sit down for a candid conversation Friday afternoon with friend of the pod Ryan Joe (Raman’s co-host on his other secret podcast). Look, we don’t have all the answers, but we need to start asking the questions. MENTIONS John Oliver (HBO) on the (coded) racist rhetoric: https://youtu.be/XMGxxRRtmHc WHAT...

Grace Huber Foster doesn’t know her real birthday - she grew up in an orphanage in Seoul, South Korea. With no possessions to call her own, Grace was adopted at the age of ~5, to a couple in Wisconsin, and later moved in with a foster family with 19 other kids - and one bathroom. Growing up as the “oldest of the youngest third” came with a fair amount of challenges, but ultimately taught her how t...

March is Women’s History Month - and for International Women’s Day, we wanted to hear from women paving the way for the next generation of business leaders: Kranthi Meka and Stacy DiStefano. Along with Sharon, both are members of CHIEF - a network connecting and supporting women leaders. Kranthi’s an SVP at Payactiv, modernizing pay between employers and employees, and Stacy’s the COO at Chimes, a...

We might be nearing the end of Black History Month, but Black History is never over. We are living it, and many are still making it. So we wanted to hear what Black History (Month) means to some of our (Black) friends. So we brought back past guests TESS THOMAS - traveler, photographer, talent director, and MATT STORY - host of the “What’s Your Story” podcast. You’ll hear about about how Black His...

Jennifer Ekeleme is “brand intuitive” and “high vibe” ...but mostly? She’s making her own path. After years charting a course in the NY ad industry - with experiences good, bad, and ugly - Jennifer took a step back. She even found herself out-of-country for (more than a few) months as the pandemic (and insanity) gripped our fair country. But now she’s back, and ready to go. “Classically trained an...

Chris Finn is an education expert with 24+ years’ experience — as a Teacher, Principal, Dean, and Headmaster across public and charter schools. Today, Chris helps fight and dismantle systemic racism in the American school system - training teachers and administrators on Implicit Bias, Anti-Racism, Equity in Education, Social Emotional Learning, Culturally Responsive Teaching / Learning — to improv...

Gong Xi Fa Cai (恭喜發財)! As the Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox, FTW) approaches, Raman has NO idea what to do for his half-Chinese daughter. So with a little help from their friends - Sharon & Raman invite friends-of-the-pod Alice Hsu (from our teachers’ episode) and Ryan Joe (co-host of Raman’s other secret comic book podcast) to share their childhood memories, family traditions, and plan...

Tess Thomas wears many interesting hats - by day she’s the Director of Talent @ Paradigm Strategy, a leading diversity, equity, and inclusion firm. But Tess is also an avid world traveler and foodie photographer. For her all things are fed (literally) by her obsession to see the world and get outside of her comfort zone. After living in Argentina for 3 years and traveling around South America, she...

Andres Barragan was born in Bogota, Colombia, growing up as a drug war raged. He spent his life wandering across Paris, Taipei, the Mayan Riviera, the American Midwest, New England, the Delaware Valley...and Brooklyn. He’s had the on-again, off-again relationship with the big business jobs, but also spent his time in shipping containers on Mexican beaches convincing people to eat (South Asian insp...

Maria Yuan is the founder of IssueVoter.org - helping give everyone a voice in our (US) representative democracy. This felt like a good conversation to have with Inauguration around the corner =) Maria never set out to work in politics, but she found her calling on a work sabbatical (from a big Finance job) managing a State Senate campaign in Iowa. The more she dug in, the more she realized how in...