My SGV Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Asia Lui Chapa is an Author, Recipe Developer, and Video Creator best known for her Instagram account @ac_homecafe . She was born and raised between Temple City and Alhambra and fell in love with the art of making drinks in 2020. She started by posting simple drink videos for fun, and now creates recipes for coffee, tea, and everything in between. Her goal was to create easy, deli...

Send us Fan Mail Denise Williams-Jones, RDA is a Customer Service Consultant, Speaker, Founder, and Owner of Next Level to Success. She started in the dental field in 1995, working in some of the top dental offices in Southern California, with roles including chairside assistant, inventory and supply manager, team trainer, scheduling coordinator, financial coordinator, marketing liaison, community...

Send us Fan Mail Dave Finstrom has over 30 years of small business experience, providing marketing and creative services. He owns HUTdogs with his business partner and sister, MJ, helping non-profits and businesses with their marketing and promotional campaigns. Dave has a background in marketing and technology. Earlier in his career, he worked as a representative for a quality assurance business,...

Send us Fan Mail Justin Jundante, born in the Phillipines came to the US at 10 years old. Raised in West Covina, California. He was in the US Marines for 6 years and has been out for 2 years. Justin's MOS was 0811 field artillery cannoneer. He is currently a salesperson for a coconut milk company called KokoMoo at farmer's market in OC. Some of the previous jobs he ahs worked at are baby...

Send us Fan Mail Vinh Truong, a Chinese/Vietnamese American, was born on February 14th, 1981, on Saint Valentine’s Day in Los Angeles, California. Coming from a family of immigrants, Vinh’s family migrated from Vietnam in 1978 and made Duarte home in 1985 when he was just four years old. Vinh is the youngest of eight children and completed K-12 in its entirety within the Duarte school district. He...

Send us Fan Mail In the Olympic era of women's water polo, one of the most well-known names in the sport is Brenda Villa. The longtime captain of the USA Water Polo Women's National Team, Villa took part in four Olympic Games winning a medal every time. Just five feet, four inches tall, the diminutive Villa defied expectation becoming a dominant force on both ends of the pool. She capped...

Send us Fan Mail Mike Sonksen aka Mike the Poet is a 3rd-generation Southern Californian. Poet, professor, journalist, historian & tour-guide, his book Letters to My City was published by Writ Large Press. For 25 years Mike has given tours through the City of Los Angeles. He earned his Bachelors’ Degree at UCLA in 1997. In June 2014, he completed an Interdisciplinary Master of Arts in English...

Send us Fan Mail Eduardo Acosta began his law enforcement career with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 1997. He has worked custody at the Pitchess Detention Center and the Inmate Reception Center. He also worked patrol at Century Station in Lynwood. In 2007, Eduardo later transferred to the South Pasadena Police Department. He worked patrol, detectives, Special Weapons and Tactics (S...

Send us Fan Mail Born at Pasadena’s Huntington Hospital, Robert (Bob) Michero was raised in Alhambra and South Pasadena, California, and graduated from South Pasadena High School, California State University of Los Angeles, and attended UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. Bob is a 45 year+ veteran of the Wine, Spirits and Food Industry, encompassing the operations and strategic management of Retai...

Send us Fan Mail Jack Huang grew up in the United States with his Chinese parents. When he had to attend a college he chose UCLA, from which he graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Once he had his degree he went into the aerospace career until he became section manager. Leaving California for New York was a decision he made to support his then-wife, though they did eventually end up back...

Send us Fan Mail Denny Mu was born December 17th 1986. He grew up in Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. His family had a location in Northridge from 1982 to 2020 and that's where Denny started working in the family restaurant business. His father was the head chef and owner until he passed away when Denny was 7 years old. That is one of the main reasons why Denny does what he does and lov...

Send us Fan Mail Kenny Phan is a Chinese Vietnamese coach in the San Gabriel Valley. His family moved from Vietnam to America in 1980. Kenny graduated from Monterey Vista Elementary, Garvey Intermediate, and Mark Keppel High School. In 5th grade he pick up basketball and never looked back. Currently, Kenny runs the Mofufus Basketball league and has done so since 2001. The league has become a stapl...

Send us Fan Mail Jon Narcisso, is the founder of Jon Narcisso Millinery, a bespoke and custom hat company. Each hat is made from scratch, by hand every single day using some of the worlds finest materials such Rabbits fur, Ecuadorian Paja straw and 100x beaver. My journey and passion in millinery (haymaking) started back in 2012, creating custom 1 off pieces for small boutiques and clients around...

Send us Fan Mail Armando Novelo is an SGV mortgage guy! He immigrated to the United States as a child. He was born in Mexico and at a very young age, he and his family moved to Los Angeles, California, in search of better opportunities. Coming from a single mother household, Armando learned some life struggles early on, specifically around money, but hard work and perseverance helped him excel In...

Send us Fan Mail Salvador Melendez is a Council member and past Mayor for the City of Montebello. In this capacity, Salvador is responsible for formulating policies, protecting the welfare of the City of Montebello and overseeing the City of Montebello’s financial operations. He is also a member of several organizations like: The Montebello Lions Club, League of California Cities, Independent Citi...

Send us Fan Mail Lisa Liu, the founder of Cairn Cookies, loves creating deeply impressionable flavors and a cozy environment. Cairn Cookies was made to bring comforting memories and joyful tastes to local neighborhoods. Lisa found that she can connect deeply with the community at the farmers market. She was able to combine a love of flavors with the love of creating efficient operations and an enj...

Send us Fan Mail Brian Nittayo is the founder of Rose City Pizza in Rosemead and most recently, Covina. Brian graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. While still in school, he worked in a variety of restaurants from a sushi place to Outback Steakhouse and first experienced a love for serving and meeting people. After graduating, he gained experience as a fr...

Send us Fan Mail Michael Patris has always had an interest in history. Whether collecting antiques, collecting and working on antique cars, or restoring a 1923 California bungalow in Alhambra, pieces of the past always seemed too important to brush aside. After several years working in the news and film industries, Michael speaks publicly about Southern California transportation, collecting antiqu...

Send us Fan Mail Paul Kwo has worked on numerous film, TV shows, video games and more both on camera  and as a voice talent. His most notable work is his role of Matin Yip in the blockbuster film  franchise God's Not Dead. He has also worked on hit movies such as Shang-Chi, Doctor  Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Turning Red, American Born Chinese, Black Panther,  Crazy Rich Asians, and...

Send us Fan Mail Jesse Torres is principal and founder of ArroyoWest LLC, a minority-owned management consulting firm  specializing in economic and workforce development. ArroyoWest clients include major economic  development agencies, community colleges, chambers of commerce, corporations, and other  organizations, and the project have range from helping to stand up COVID-19 relief programs for s...

Send us Fan Mail A native of Beirut, Lebanon, Aida Dimejian immigrated to the U.S. in 1976 and settled in Pasadena with her family. Aida is a former Huntington Hospital Registered Nurse who found her niche and her passion in the field of Real Estate, joining her husband Hovig who founded Century 21 Golden Realty in 1987, which is not Berkshire Hathaway Home Service Golden Properties. Aida oversees...

Send us Fan Mail Hector Pinto came from humble beginnings, enduring harsh living conditions as one of eight children born into poverty in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. At the age of 14, he saw the opportunity to move to the United States and took advantage. Learning English and finding whatever work he could, Hector put his heart and soul into everything he did – and so his success story began. At the...

Send us Fan Mail Alexandra (Alex) Strauss was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley. In High School Alex first encountered meth, which she later turned to after school, hanging around and out in South Central LA. During that time Alex found out she was pregnant at 19 years old, soon after she started going to school again at PCC, found a job, and concentrated on raising her daughter. Through s...

Send us Fan Mail Coaching people is a hobby for some but, Drew Girton has been coaching since 2001.  He was one of the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coaches at Western Michigan University from 2002-2004, then went on to personal training and management of a corporate gym from 2007-2013.  In 2014 he founded and opened his gym Pendulum Fitness with his wife and business partner. Outside the gy...

Send us Fan Mail Monterey Park Council member Peter Chan was  first elected to the City Council in 2013 and re-elected in 2017. He was the mayor three times in  2015, 2018 and 2020. Prior to his elected position,  he graduated from La Salle College, Hong Kong and received a BA in Business Administration from University of Wisconsin.  He is an accountant by profession.  Hon. Chan brought unity to t...