What Do You Mean By That?

We're going to be sharing this episode today, which if you're listening in real-time, is shortly after President Biden stepped aside, not accepting the Democratic nomination and instead, getting behind his VP Kamala Harris - our country's first female VP, and first Asian and Black VP as well.    Today's episode is focused on acknowledging the contributions of people who came before Ruby Bridges, w...

So we've spoken inspirationally and aspirationally about wellbeing, the power of the pause, about spirituality. But what if my brain is still going, but I can't wrap my head around this all – I need some more structure, some more tools, some more intellectual perspective!? We've got a book for you!  And if you've been a longtime listener to the podcast, you know that we very rarely do repeat guest...

In the five-plus years of the podcast, I'd say that we have spent a LOT of time on various "hot button" issues - I mean, we live quite squarely in the ones that surround race and identity, wouldn't you say? - but one of the facets of identity that we don't often explore is that of religion. Not because we don't want to talk about it, but a lot of times the opportunity doesn't really present itself...

This one goes out to all the busy women in our community. Whether you're a Type-A, a Recovering Type-A, a paid working mom or a working mom in the home - we hear it over and over again: we women are feeling stretched super thin, exhausted, and overwhelmed. Enter a radical mindset shift: the power of rest. We're excited to bring you a conversation with Kibi Anderson, who drops brilliant reframing o...

I don't know that there's a better book and conversation to kick off our summer author series with than this one. We've said for a while now that there's a benefit to applying a psychological, human-based lens to the social justice learning we've been sharing on this show for the last five years.    This conversation shows us why we are spending our summer talking about that bridge, which over the...

This episode is a continuation of last week's episode, so if you haven't already listened to that one (it should be right above this one in your podcast feed), stop and go listen now, as it will make the most sense when listened to in order. This week we pick up where we left off, with the remaining four independent dimensions of well-being: spiritual, vocational, financial, and environmental. Let...

In our last episode, we went through reasons - issue by issue (not all of them, but a lot of them) - about why our freedom and democracy are at risk if you vote for Trump and he gets elected for president again in 2024.   In brief, things like his stance on immigration and making America a white-supremacist-centered nation; Ukraine and what that says about his desire to pander to the influence of...

You know that person you know - the one who exaggerates everything? It's kind of like that story of the blameless "boy who cried wolf" who lives in fantasy land and never takes responsibility for anything - and this person seemingly has not only the best life anyone could ever imagine, with loads of money, tons of friends, amazing vacations, but also, nothing ever seems to go wrong? (Instagram is...

This week marks the FIVE-YEAR anniversary of the Dear White Women podcast! That means we've outlasted almost all the other podcasts out there… like ya knew we would. From those first few episodes released altogether on April 15, 2019, to now… it's been quite the ride.  This year, in order to kick off year SIX (!!!) of the podcast, we thought we'd devote an entire shorter episode to talking about n...

If you know us, you may know that we LOVE a good conversation - even if it's uncomfortable or difficult. But this year, as we head into what seems to be ONLY conversations that are uncomfortable or difficult, how do we best do that? If the idea of even talking to someone now gives you pause, then this is the episode for you.  The connection quality of part of our conversation is a little iffy in p...

"Oh, that's so political."  "We don't talk about politics here."  "Stop being so political."    Have you heard that before, when someone brings up a topic that may have been mentioned in the news (or on social media)? Maybe you've even been the one that said it. But - have you ever heard it explained what exactly "political" means in this context? Or why shouldn't we talk about it?   We'd argue th...

If you're listening to this episode around the time when it's being released, then you'll be listening to this right on the last day of Black History Month in the United States. It should go without saying that Black History is American History, but we're going to say it anyway, and we'll add that it shouldn't be confined just to the shortest month of the year but instead should be taught to our k...

In honor of Presidents' Day coming up next week, we thought we'd focus on president…ial immunity. See what we did there?  With this episode, we're kicking off a new "why should we care about…" series on DWW where we focus on the WHY behind important issues, so that we go into November making the most informed decisions we can about the candidates AND their platforms. We're keeping these relevant,...

You know when you have a conversation that provides you with a framework of a problem – one you may not have even known existed – and it opens your eyes in a whole new way? Yeah, today is one of those conversations.   Because it helps look at questions like this: Do we really know what freedom is? How about liberty? And if we don't know what those concepts mean, how do we know if we've lost them?...

It can be as simple - and meaningful - as picking up a fiction novel, reading it, and discussing it with your book club. Because once you see, hear, and learn, we don't think you'll ever be able to "go back to how it used to be." You'll change. You'll do things differently. You'll make ripple effects happen. Change is not a one-size-fits-all phenomenon, nor is change-making. More often than not, i...

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! Happy New Year!   We like to split this episode, one we have done every year at this time of year for the last four years, into two parts – reflections and projections. You'll want to listen so you don't miss how to stay involved in what's next for us, the podcast, and 2024 as a whole.   What to listen for: Our history, identities, and what we've learned in 2023, inc...

One of the things that we find most rewarding about our own journeys in anti-racism, racial justice, and social justice is when we come across practitioners who come from a similar framework that we do (heart-centered, humanity first, believe people when they tell you their stories, and all of those things) but also challenge us to think more broadly, or more deeply, about these topics in powerful...

When you think about the holidays, what image comes to mind? Sitting around a holiday table with friends and family? Spending time with loved ones? Watching some holiday movies, sipping hot cocoa, and all the warm holiday fuzzies?   Or is your reality more like that of a lot of Americans, especially this 2023 holiday season: uncomfortable or downright hostile conversations with members of your fam...

If you heard our last episode on the myths surrounding Black-on-Asian crime, you heard that narratives pitting one historically marginalized community against another is a tactic sometimes used to distract us from the real enemy that we all should be focused on (hint: it's white supremacy). It helps when we deconstruct the facts and look at real studies to dispel those myths – and helps, even more...

  You know the viral videos - the ones showing Black people, usually men, attacking unsuspecting Asian folks, usually elderly Asians. These are atrocious, awful incidents of course.  We don't want anybody to be harmed.  AND, since we can hold two thoughts in our heads at the same time, we also need to state that these viral videos are giving us an inaccurate impression of anti-Asian hate. For exam...

When we're asked to do anti-bias talks at corporations, we're sometimes asked by the different ERGs if we're comfortable talking about LGTBQIA+ issues - and we answer with our truth, which is that we are both cisgender, heterosexual women who use she/her pronouns.  Nobody in our families is LGBTQIA+.  So while the skill sets to tackle bias are related, we prefer to give the floor to folks who can...

You heard us talking with Alex Chester-Iwata the other week on the show, who is third-generationJapanese American, and was the first family member in decades to visit Japan.  So, maybe like some of you listening, she has no direct experience with immigration – your family feels like it's "always been here" in America.   That experience that Alex has of being mixed Asian is really different than wh...

When you turn on the TV or open a book, or look for memes on the Internet… how easy is it to find someone who looks like you? Your family? Because it's never been that easy for us. So when today's guest, who started her own media company called Mixed Asian Media out of her OWN frustration over not being represented out there, came across our radar, we immediately wanted to know all about her, her...

DEAR WHITE WOMEN -  Multiracial Asians - it's time to get personal  Why is talking about the multiracial identity and deconstructing the misperception of the Asian monolith important and relevant to you listening, if you're not multiracial? Several things. Census information - over 10% of the population identifies as multi-racial, but will changing demographics be enough to combat racism?  We don'...

We do this work for our kids, and for ourselves.  And when we talk about this work, there are a lot of spheres we need to change to make this world better for said kids - including schools, kitchen tables, policing and the false idea of law & order, public services, government, and the workplace. And, to focus on workplaces for a second, we always talk about how when we discuss racism, we're talki...