Reppin

"i'm gonna try to do as much as my heart desires." regan aliyah of netflix's xo, kitty on going all in. she's young. the perspective isn't. it came from her family: they taught themselves music because they couldn't afford lessons. the most talented people she knew. most never broke through. nothing is promised. she saw the odds. went anyway. here's the move. her family worked with what they had....

content warning: the conversation covers child abduction, sexual assault, and violent crime. she survived a serial killr. now what? kara robinson chamberlain was fifteen when she was abducted and assaulted by a serial killer for eighteen hours. kara managed to save herself — and remembered enough to hand police the man who did it. yep. all of that. at fifteen. for most people, that's the story. fo...

at nine, a car accident took her father and left one of her arms permanently paralyzed. every time since, when someone decided what she couldn't do, she went and found out for herself. tiffany yu relearned how to write. got herself to the bathroom alone in a wheelchair. stood at the bottom of a climbing wall telling herself she couldn't, and climbed it anyway. somewhere in there, she stopped letti...

what happens when both choices are the right thing: the life you want, and the family who needs you? liz sargent lived that question for years. every time her sister anna needed help, the phone rang. so she did what she does with fear: she wrote it down. then she turned it into a film and cast anna as the lead. as one does, right? take me home looks like a story about disability and caregiving. it...

i was there. this is my city. this is what i actually remember. this is the real moments i had. i'm re-releasing this one for the 25th anniversary. it's just me this time, no guest — my own reflections on 9/11, as a new yorker, in my home, twenty-five years later. i don't want to give you the highlight reel version of that day. i want to tell you what it actually felt like to live here when it hap...

**listener discretion is advised. twenty-five years ago, rais bhuiyan was shot in the face, ten days after 9/11, just because he looked different. i'm re-releasing this conversation for the 25th anniversary — him telling you what happened next, in his own words. rais came to america for the idea of it — the cowboys, the fairness, the wide-open promise of the whole thing. in the fear and anger afte...

a kid threw away his mother's Hmong food so no one would see it — the same food just made his restaurant one of Time's "World's Greatest Places." yia vang is a Hmong chef in Minneapolis, a James Beard semifinalist whose restaurant vinai has landed on the New York Times Restaurant List and Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurant. he named it after Ban Vinai, the refugee camp in Thailand where his Hmong p...

some people wait for permission. these six didn't. osric chau bought a one-way ticket to a country he'd never lived in — and bet on himself. laura sohn walked away from a hit network show in her 20s to build a life on her own terms. chris pang's own team told him to pass on crazy rich asians. he trusted his gut instead. six people you know from the credits, on the exact moment they chose courage —...

eva noblezada spent her whole career refusing to be handled, boxed in, or told who to be. and i need you to hear how she says it. she's a two-time tony nominee — for miss saigon, and for hadestown, the broadway musical that takes a centuries-old greek myth and blows it wide open with jazz, blues, and gospel. eva originated the role of eurydice and made it entirely hers. and hadestown just made his...

three major roles are landing for yvonne chapman at once. that's not what this conversation is really about. she's kyoshi in netflix's avatar: the last airbender, madeline in hulu's the season, and soon on screen with michael douglas, willem dafoe and ellen barkin in oliver stone's white lies. that's a big year. but the roles aren't the point. the point is how she's going about it. she's been on r...

chris pang. one of the faces proving hollywood wrong about asian actors. chris pang — charlie's angels, joyride, crazy rich asians, and now hulu's the season, set against the stunning backdrop of hong kong high society, where mystery and drama follow every relationship in the room. chris plays andrew fong, a man who's tough to like at first. but take a second longer look and you see how fully huma...

she's blonde. she's australian. and she's been living in china for over a decade. turns out being the outsider has given her the inside track. amy lyons built Blondie in China from the outside in — nearly 600,000 subscribers who show up every week because she takes them somewhere real. street food. local neighborhoods. conversations with strangers. the China you don't see on the news. but here's w...

listener discretion advised. this episode contains discussion of sexual assault. — allison gill was one of the first four enlisted women in the navy's nuclear program. she was sexually assaulted. she reported it. it was mishandled. she got PTSD. and then she went on camera for an oscar-nominated documentary and said it out loud anyway — because someone had to. that was before the podcast. she star...

What happens when you reach the top of your field — and still feel completely alone? I sit down with world-class golfer and long-drive champion Alexis Belton for a conversation about what success doesn’t always show you — being visible, accomplished, even celebrated… and still feeling invisible in the spaces you move through. And maybe more people understand that than we say out loud. In a world w...

What do Bruce Lee, hip hop, and you have in common? More than you think. Acclaimed author and cultural critic Jeff Chang joins us for a conversation that goes way beyond Bruce Lee—and straight into identity, race, representation, belonging, and the pressure to become someone else just to fit in. Based on his acclaimed book Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America, Jeff unpacks...

My next guest has proven you should never underestimate the power of determination and hope. Meet Candace Wohl, she is a writer, public speaker and women’s health advocate. Her evolution towards becoming that advocate began when she and her husband Chris, who were in their late 20s then, were thrown onto the private and painful roller coaster of infertility. After 6 years of enduring an assault of...

What does it actually mean to be seen—and to belong—without having to earn it, explain it, or change yourself just to be understood? That’s the question at the center of this conversation with Eugene Yi, an Emmy-winning director known for powerful documentary work including Free Chol Soo Lee, The Rose: Come Back to Me, and his latest HBO film The A-List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas...

Stories don’t just reflect the world—we use them to understand it. And few writers do that more powerfully than Angie Thomas. Angie is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give, the global bestseller that sparked worldwide conversation and became a major film. She’s also the author of On the Come Up and the fantasy series Nic Blake and the Manifestors. Her work consistently centers...

Breaking Point: Adam Kinzinger on January 6 and the Courage to Stand for Your Values What happens when standing by your values could cost you everything — your career, your friendships, even your sense of belonging? In this episode of Reppin, I sit down with former U.S. Congressman, U.S. Air Force veteran, and January 6 Committee member Adam Kinzinger to talk about the moment that became his break...

On this episode of Reppin, we talk with Gia Kim from Netflix’s hit teen series XO, Kitty about her role as Yuri Han, LGBTQ+ representation, and turning life challenges into confidence and personal power. Gia opens up about playing Yuri, the confident “queen bee” at an international school in Seoul, navigating friendship, love, identity, and being one of the few openly gay characters at the center...

Olivia Cheng on Warrior, Netflix’s Marco Polo, Ready or Not 2 & Owning Your Voice If you know Olivia Cheng, you know she brings fearless, complex women to life. She’s Ah Toy on Warrior, Mei Lin on Netflix’s Marco Polo, and now starring in the hit sequel Ready or Not 2. Today on Reppin, Olivia joins me to talk about her life, leadership, and how she found her voice — on-screen and off. Olivia has b...

What happens when you step away from the path everyone expects you to follow? Actress Laura Sohn returns to Reppin for a powerful conversation about redefining success, owning your identity, and finding belonging on your own terms. Laura broke out globally on the hit NBC drama The Blacklist, and has appeared across television in NCIS and God Friended Me. Her work spans network television and the N...

🎙️ How The Rose Broke the K-Pop System | Behind the Music, Mental Health & Friendship | Full Interview Go behind the scenes of The Rose: Come Back to Me — the new documentary about the Korean indie rock band who defied the K-pop industry to stay true to themselves. This in-depth conversation with award-winning filmmakers Eugene Yi and Diane Quon explores the real story behind The Rose’s rise, thei...

The Maria From Sesame Street Who BROKE TV’s Mold & Changed EVERYTHING for Latino Kids You think representation in media is new? Nah. This episode hits DIFFERENT. We’re talking to the OG — the legendary talent who defined Maria on Sesame Street for 40+ years. She wasn’t just a character. She was a MOVEMENT. Sonia Manzano isn’t just “Maria” — she’s a trailblazer, an Emmy-winning writer, and a cultur...

She’s Bothered. She’s Unapologetic. And She’s Saying What We’re All Thinking. Award-winning comedian, national headliner, and writer Julie Kim is done shrinking herself to make others comfortable. In this sharp, funny, and deeply real conversation, she unpacks the everyday microaggressions and quiet biases women—especially women of color—deal with constantly. From confronting manspreaders in premi...