Episodes

What does it mean to honor your parents’ legacy while they are still here? Returning as a guest on my show for the first time since 2020, singer/songwriter, filmmaker, and creative TRACE chatted with me about preparing the upcoming Saigon Jazz Revival with her mom, Carol Kim, a legendary Vietnamese singer known in the Vietnamese music scene for decades. We talk about the anticipation for the Saigon Jazz Revival, partnered with the Vietnamese Association of Illinois (VAI), that’s coming to Chica...

Trigger Warning: Mention of hospitalization I’m slowly coming back after one hellish month (thank you, Mercury Retrograde for nothing). * Hospital stays are no joke, and I go into a little story about some of my misadventures. * Responding to the call-out on Dani Rodriguez-Pen and Phatry Derek Pan from Khmerican * My first anniversary since coming back to the podcast * Other random thoughts Be on the lookout for new episodes for the rest of this summer! Bánh Mì Bites is a reader-supported...

Photo: Bianca Catbagan For this week’s episode, I sit down with author and television executive Nayantara Roy to discuss her new second novel, Sisters of a Halved Heart. We go in-depth into the chaotic nature of sibling relationships, what it takes to balance high-level TV development and fiction writing, and the art of telling stories across different mediums. IG: tararoi Website: https://nayantararoy.com/ Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. Bio:...

Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. What do your own stories help you learn about yourself? I brought on Jitesh Jaggi, an award-winning, veteran storytelling coach currently based in Chicago who immigrated from India, to explore the events in his life that shaped his storytelling and how he works with the South Asian communities to share their oral history and stories. We get into the challenges in the Chicago storytelling scene and how inaccessible ...

Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. Longtime Filipino American content creator and commentator Ranier Maningding from LLAG Media joins me for this episode. We discuss about the beginning of his LLAG journey and his role in social media highlighting the stories of Asian American, his burnout and motivation as a content creator, the manosphere in podcasting, the ongoing struggle that Asians have on Anti-Black racism, and his latest podcast, “Seasoned Fi...

Fresh off releasing his second book, The Temple Road: A Doctor’s Journey, retired oncologist and professor Fazlur Rahman, M.D. shares his process of writing his memoir. Losing his mom at 7 years old, Dr. Rahman has been navigating his journey through grief, his relationship with his family and community in Bangladesh, his homeland, immigrating to the US and living in a rural town in Texas, and his decades-long medical career working closely with cancer patients and their families. Check out this...

I brought back my favorite recurring guest and amazing trans Internet personality, comedian, and pop culture nerd hailing from Montreal, Tranna Wintour. Fresh off the release of Madonna’s latest album, “Confessions II,” we shared our own experiences listening to this album and how this has stopped the 20-year cycle of disappointing and underwhelming releases (e.g. Hard Candy, MDNA, Rebel Heart, and Madame X). We go over the track-by-track of Confessions II and share our reactions to each of them...

What does it mean to capture the dark moments of our history in real time? I’ve been witnessing the powerful work of Adriano Kalin, who has been photographing and documenting protests, including the ICE raids in Chicago, Minneapolis, and other parts of the US. Adriano gives us an in-depth and intimate look at what it means to give voice to what is happening in real time, to navigate the growing AI and state surveillance, and to be on the front lines risking safety while being both a person of c...

I’m reunited with singer/songwriter MILCK (aka Connie Lim) for the first time since Summer 2020, when I had her on my show in the wake of the George Floyd/Breonna Taylor m*rder and Anti-Asian v*olence. We caught up about what’s been happening in MILCK’s world since then, and how her own artistry and the current political and social climate have informed how she views the world and her co-creation work with her collaborators. We discussed about her mental health journey and how her healing has ev...

Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. Award-winning Block Club Chicago journalist, Francia Garcia Hernandez returns as a guest to share the latest breaking updates regarding the ICE raids in Chicago. Since Operation Midway Blitz, Chicago has been the target of the federal government’s deployment of ICE and Border Patrol agents, which has led to unlawful and violent detainments of residents, aggressive escalation against residents and protestors, and def...

Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. Happy Pride Month, listeners! 🏳️‍🌈 To kick off the celebrations, the incredibly brilliant Canadian comedian, TV personality, and pop-culture maven Tranna Wintour is back on my podcast again! This week, we are taking a deep dive into the underrated/forgotten gems from the Queen of Pop. Madonna has given us decades of era-defining anthems, but what about the masterpieces that often get overlooked, even with some of ...

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a solo episode, so here’s a special one for you as I celebrate turning 43 and my recent milestone: hitting 50K streams, and 100K views on my YouTube channel. As a queer Viet-Khmer American, the transition from AAPI Heritage Month to Pride Month always carries a reminder for me on what it means to live abundantly through my identities. In my reflection on this episode, I share my thoughts about the significance of AAPI and Pride Month in a time where erasure of h...

Happy AAPI Heritage Month! Everyday health advice is often written through a Western lens, but when it comes to chronic health risks, a one-size-fits-all approach is leaving AAPI communities behind and disregarding other key factors. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Jonar de Guzman, MD, to discuss the unique, often hidden metabolic and systemic health risks facing Asian American and Pacific Islander populations. Issues raised included the social determinants of health, such as food deserts, ...

Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month with a deep dive into the stories that shape us. In this episode, I’m joined by fellow Khmer diaspora podcaster and friend Vanny Whitchelo, the Host and Producer of Khmer Voices. Based in Vancouver, BC, Vanny is at the forefront of preserving Khmer culture, not only through her podcast but also as the Co-Founder and Director of the Cambodian Cultural Centre. We sit down to discuss th...

Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. Janet Jackson is more than just Michael’s baby sister; she is one of the original architects of modern-day pop music. To celebrate her 60th birthday, I am joined by acclaimed music critic and BritPop founder Brittany Spanos. In this special “legacy deep-dive,” we attempt the impossible: tracing Janet’s five-decade career in under an hour. From her early days after being a famous child actor to the groundbreaking Con...

Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. In this episode, I sit down with Cameron McCloud, the electrifying frontman of the Dallas-based collective Cure for Paranoia. Fresh off the momentum of being a four-time finalist for the NPR Tiny Desk Contest, Cameron opens up about the determination and self-confidence required to become visible in an increasingly challenging music landscape. We go deep into the complexities of navigating the music industry as a q...

Lin Sun aka “Lintorious” is a risk-taker. Known for her fearless presence and razor-sharp wit, she has spent years lighting up stages and connecting with crowds like old friends. As the first Cambodian American comedian to secure a one-hour special on Prime Video and a half-hour special on Peacock, Lin takes us inside her humorous and sometimes chaotic journey as a daughter of Cambodian refugees after the g*nocide, a single mother, now recently married, and working her way through the world of c...

In this episode of The Banh Mi Chronicles, I’m joined by Russ, a pop music enthusiast and co-host with DJ Louie XIV behind the Pop Pantheon Podcast, for a deep dive into the history and future of the concert-going experience. As “elder millennials,” we take a trip back in time to the era before cell phone cameras and social media have taken over the concertgoing experience. I reflect on the life-changing impact of my first concert, Madonna’s Reinvention Tour in Summer of 2004 as a 21-year-old, ...

Bánh Mì Bites is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. On April 30, 1975, the Fall of Saigon changed the course of history forever, sparking a mass migration of Vietnamese refugees to the United States and across the globe. Today, 51 years later, we reflect on that legacy not just through the stories of those who left, but through the tireless work of those who went back to find the pieces left behind. In this epi...

Bánh Mì Bites is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I’m super delighted to bring you a surprise guest on my show. He’s a Latin Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and one of Colombia’s beloved artists, Andrés Cepeda. He is set to kick off his US tour in Chicago on May 10th at the Riviera. As he is preparing for his tour, I caught up with him for a brief chat about his 30-year career legacy, his pride as a nat...

Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. Do you remember Lilith Fair in the late 90s? Have you ever attended a festival fronted by women headlining acts? In this “Chill-Out Chronicles” episode of The Bánh Mì Chronicles, Jung and I are taking a deep dive into the 1997-1999 phenomenon that was Lilith Fair. While the world remembers it as a “girls-only” music festival, we’re looking closer at the structural shift it represented in the industry and how it mirr...

This week on The Banh Mi Chronicles, I sit down with Katrina Pham, a Vietnamese American journalist with Borderless Magazine, a Chicago-based, immigrant-centered news publication. Katrina shares her reflections on the recent ICE raids in Chicago and the weight of reporting on stories that directly impact the safety and livelihoods of our neighbors. We dive deep into how the digital media landscape has shifted and why “extractive” journalism no longer works. Instead, Katrina explains the rigorou...

Thanks for reading Bánh Mì Bites! This post is public so feel free to share it. The countdown reaches its finale! In this episode, I’m joined once again by my friend and fellow pop culture enthusiast, Anjali Misra, to wrap up our journey through the top 25 songs of the 21st century. While Part 1 set the stage, Part 2 dives into the “Chill-Out Chronicles”—the tracks that provided the vibe, the soul, and the soundtrack to our lives from #18 all the way to #25. In this episode, we discuss: * The ...

The world is a lot right now. Between the headlines and the collective burnout, we all need a second to just pause and breathe. In the first part of this 2 part episode special of the“Chill-Out Chronicles” edition of the pod, I’m joined by my good friend and resident pop culture nerd Anjali Misra to continue this conversation. We are temporarily stepping away from the doomscrolling to get into a rabbit hole on another topic: What is Randy’s favorite songs of the 2000s? (I decided not to rank th...