OFF THE WOK

Cece Chow (@thetransplanter) wears many hats. She is a model, a visual artist, a kokedama guru (if you don't know what that is, check out @official_kokedama), but most importantly, an advocate for positive Asian trans representation. Cece's journey has not been easy, growing up in a traditional Asian household, taking the usual path of getting a degree, getting married, having kids, but al...

Our guest today has done some hard time...literally. Charged with the possibility of 25 to life, Tom was looking at a life much different than what he has presently. Today, we have the pleasure of sharing his story. From his first encounter with the police, to his time at the remand centre, to his eventual sentence and time in jail. Tom shares his experience with us, in an area where not many have...

Video marketing, it's something that we over here want to get into but for whatever reason have not been able to take that first step. But video marketing is a powerful tool that can boost your business up significantly, and Felix Chan of Live Inner City (https://liveinnercity.com/) uses that tool to gain more business success. Felix is a realtor and team lead at Live Inner City and leverages...

And here we have the conclusion with Su's post date experience! Is it similar to what Trevor experienced? Or completely different? Do their stories clash or are they the same? Here's your chance to tune in and discover just that! And if you are interested in being a part of the series, send us a DM and we'll be in touch!

Here we go! Date is done and I'm sure all our listeners are anxious to hear about it. We've got Trevor back in the hot seat as he chats about what happened, where it happened, and how it ended which I'm sure many of you are curious about. So sit back and enjoy Trevor's take!

Here's episode 2 where we ask Su some IMPORTANT pre-date questions to see what she's looking for :) Check out episode 60 for her date's interview and maybe you can predict if there's gonna be a match...

We heard you folks! Due to popularity, here is another blind date episode that Lance and I have had the pleasure of hosting. If you want to get a feel for how these work, check out episodes 54 to 57 for our first set of dates! We will be releasing one episode per day so stay tuned! We know you won't wanna miss this!

If you've ever tried just having (or more like attempted) a conversation with your parents to get a little bit of an insight into their lives before being shut down, this episode's for you. Heck, If you've ever really just tried to ask them a question before being shut down with a one-word response, this episode's for you. You might think it's them, but maybe, you're just n...

For our first episode of 2023, we sit down and have a chat with Sharon from Her Simple Sole (@hersimplesole). Sharon focuses on clothing sustainability, which includes clothing made from natural fibres like cotton, linen, wool and cashmere vs. processed fibres. Sustainability is looking at what a company is doing, how they are producing, are fair wages being paid etc. vs. fast fashion, which is ma...

Bag consignment, bag rental and bag spa, these are just some of the services available at Luxe Du Jour, a Canadian high-end luxury consignment company focusing on handbags but with other offerings including accessories, shoes, and (newly introduced) men's items. Founded in 2016, the company has grown exponentially and now has offices stateside as well. Tammy chats with us about her early lessons l...

The moment you've all been waiting for is here! Part 4, the final part of our blind date series, where the guy in question is none other than our very own Eric! Check out episodes 54-56 if you haven't already so you can get a sense of the full story. And if you are interested and want us to do more episodes like this, please let us know! Or if you wanna participate...

Here we go! The post-date interview! I'm sure some of our listeners who have listened to the first two episodes (episodes 54 and 55) have maybe made some inferences as to how the date might go, well now's your chance to test your theory!  In this episode, Lance gets into the nitty gritty with Christine and breaks down the date; how it went, were there dealbreakers, how the guy's wardrobe was....

Welcome to part 2 of a four-part series of an actual blind date experiment that has occurred! In this episode, we hear the "mystery" man's side pre-date to see what his interests are, dealbreakers, and more. Listeners can compare this episode to episode 54 where we interviewed the woman's side pre-date and perhaps could draw some conclusions on how the date could go. If you liked these two episode...

***DISCLAIMER*** Lance's audio in this episode was muffled as he was using the wrong microphone. After a scolding, he promises he won't be doing that again. Welcome to a four-part series of an actual blind date experiment that has occurred! We set two people up, with pre-date interviews with each, followed by post-date interviews with each, to hear each person's side of how the date went. This is...

Summer is here and with summer comes...camping! And a big part of camping is the food! Whether you're camping out on a site or backcountry camping out in the wilds, food is an important element to it and for some, it's what they look forward to the most when camping. That's where Melanie comes in, she is the owner of Off the Path provisions (@offthepathprovisions), a company dedicated to providing...

Jenny Toh had a successful legal career spanning almost 3 decades in Malaysia and Singapore. Yet today, she is a life coach with River Life Coaching, a company she created back in 2020 that helps individuals who are seeking answers to the missing element in their lives. The how and why though, of this career change between these two different industries is a conversation Jenny was able to share wi...

Being a disabled female from an ethnic minority, Yehee Son has most definitely experienced roadblocks in her life. And yet through it all, she's persevered. In today's episode, Yehee tells her life story about growing up in an abusive home, going through high school not knowing whether she would be able to make college due to her status as an alien, and how certain influential people in her life m...

I can't believe we made it to episode 50! Considering we weren't even sure if we were gonna make it past 3 episodes, 50 is definitely a win. Today, we reflect on the last year and how we did, some of our favourite episodes, what some of our goals are, and stuff we need to keep working on. Also joining us in a rare appearance is our editor Ken! Off the Wok thanks all our listeners for your continue...

Kevin Hart, Chrissy Teigen, Sean Chu and Kris Wu, all people from various backgrounds and various industries with one trait in common, they were all canceled. Cancel culture is the act of calling someone (or company) out, usually via social media as a form of group shaming based on certain things they may have said or done in the past. The question is, has cancel culture gone from a place of good...

From humble beginnings to being a founding member and president of wealth management platform Zelos Capital (@zelosglobal), Gilbert Bong has had quite the journey. He gets into the details of growing up to immigrant working parents and how they helped shape a sense of work ethic that Gilbert would later use in his own career path. He also talks about how he got his first taste of the industry star...

Richard Lee-Thai (@excusestoconnect) recently did a Tedx Talk called "Finding Excuses to Connect" where he addresses the difficulty in connecting with people and which is the subject for this episode. We go into the inspiration behind his talk and why he started it. From adapting the "Humans of New York" theme into his own University of Lethbridge project to starting his own podcast (Excuses to Co...

A term coined in the 1960's describing a status ranking among minorities, it's disguised as a positive stereotype, but according to Florence Hwang, a journalist with CBC, it's anything but as it pits minorities against each other. Florence is no stranger to model minority, she's written an article detailing her experience with it growing up and the mental toll it took on her. In this episode, we s...

Tabletop role-playing has been around for a long time, with Dungeons and Dragons being the name most synonymously associated with it. D&D has been around since the 70s and has gotten increasingly popular over the decades (and even more so during the pandemic), which counts tens of millions of active players. So when we heard that Daniel Kwan wrote a Chinese themed D&D adventure in Candleke...

After a quick break, we are back with another episode! This one is with Veronica (@veronisaurousrex) and her specialty within the motorsports scene, drifting. Based in San Francisco, Veronica details the drift culture, how she got (back) into it, her current inspirations, the (multiple) cars she's driven, her race events, and how she "drifts" through a predominantly male industry. "There's people...

Working out ain't easy, it takes time, dedication, and patience, and as such, usually falls to the bottom of a to-do list for people. Further to that, instead of working out, many Asians tend to invest more in weight loss machines/weight loss drinks with sometimes mixed results. This is where Jenny Lam (@trainwithjennyhk) comes in, a certified personal trainer and kickboxer with over 20 years of e...