Episodes

Trigger Warning: Discussions of child abuse (S4, EP 12) Viet-American best-selling and critically acclaimed author Phuc Tran joined me for the Season 4 finale for this episode. Last Spring, he released his award-winning memoir, "Sigh, Gone" which traced back to his upbringing in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in the 80s and early 90s after his family fled from Vietnam after the war. I spoke with Phuc back in late December to discuss his struggles with assimilation in a rural white community, his father'...

(S4, EP 11) Longtime Korean-American community organizer & activist Steve Moon joined me for this week's episode. For years, Steve has been cultivating Asian / Black and Brown community solidarity on issues with immigration, police brutality, gentrification, among others in Chicago. He speaks about his experiences in community organizing and youth development, and how he has since transitioned since being a father. He also spoke about his experience mentoring the late Asian-American hip hop arti...

(S4, EP 10) Filipino-American casting director / actor / theatre veteran Emjoy Gavino joined me as a guest for this week's episode. Emjoy is also the founder of The Chicago Inclusion Project, a start-up organization seeking to facilitate inclusive experiences and hiring practices throughout Chicago theatre. We spoke on racial, gender, and other forms of discrimination in the theatre scene, and how this affects many Asian American actors. We talk about why #representationmatters doesn't go far en...

(S4, EP 9) Viet-American self-published author Amy M. Le joined me for this week's episode. She is the author of three recently published novels partly based on her mom's escape from Vietnam and Amy's upbringing in America, "Snow In Vietnam", "Snow in Seattle", and "Snow's Kitchen: A Novella and Cookbook". We talk about the process of writing her novels and her decision to self-publish. She spoke about the impact of her mother who had passed away, the mending between her and her estranged father...

(S4, EP 8) Rebecca and Phillip Ozaki joined me for this week's episode. They are two of 4 children born and raised in Chicago, and of Japanese and Filipino descent. Both Rebecca and Phillip talked about their grandfather's trauma from living in the Japanese-American prison camps during WWII. Both their grandfather and father became long-time activists in the Chicago Japanese community for years fighting for reparation and redressing for Japanese survivors who experienced the racism and displacem...

(S4, EP 7) Award winning Lao-American artist and poet Catzie Villayphonh joined me as a guest for this week's episode. Catzie spoke about her work with fellow Lao artists on amplifying the voices and history of the Lao American experience through her organization, Laos in the House. Catzie shared about the challenges that Laos in the House, and other nonprofits in refugee / immigrant communities have faced since the pandemic. To learn more about Laos In The House, visit www.laosinthehouse.com an...

(S4, EP 6) Trigger Warning for this episode will contain topics of PTSD trauma, suicide, and other related trauma. For this Season 4 theme, “Process”, I interviewed Khmer-American community leader Sovanna Devin Pouv back in November. Sovanna was born in the refugee camps after the Khmer Rouge, and lived his early childhood years in Chicago before moving to Lowell, Massachusetts where he has been living there with his family since then. Sovanna has been involved in nonprofit specifically with th...

(S4, EP 5) Chicago WBEZ reporter Odette Yousef joined me as a guest for this episode. Odette recently hosted Season 3 of Motive Podcast (available on all streaming services) which takes a look at the history of the underground white supremacist movement in Chicago during the 1980s. Odette reflected on her experiences interviewing a former white supremacist, and what she learned about the movement and how this is parallel to the current white supremacy movements of the past decade. Odette talked ...

(S4, EP 4) Josina Morita is my special guest for this week's episode. Josina is currently serving her elected role as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District in Chicago and all of Cook County which in 2016, she became the first Asian-American to do so countywide. She is also the founding chair of Asian American Leaders Caucus (AALC) in Illinois. She discussed the water injustice and inequity issues that have harmed Chicago's marginalized communities and how places like Flint ...

(S4, EP 3) Kalaya'an Mendoza (He / Him / SIya) shares his community organizing experience over the years, and more recently, during the 2020 racial civil unreast. Kalaya'an discusses his work in helping to promote nonviolent civil resistance, and also through his co-founding work Across Frontlines, an organization that works alongside frontline human rights defenders to protest against state-sanctioned violence. We talk about the Asians for Black Lives solidarity work, the mental, spiritual, and...

(S4, EP 2). Khmer-American author Loung Ung joined me for this episode. She is best known for her international best-seller First, They Killed My Father. She recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of her debut book which chronicled her survival as a young child during the Khmer Rouge genocide from 1975-1979. This book would later be turned into a Netflix film in 2017 that Angelina Jolie would direct. In this interview, she shared her reflections writing this book, and how this has aided in her...

(S4, EP 1) Vietnamese-American singer TRACE joined me as my first guest to kick things off for Season 4. Fresh off her latest single and video release, "Cool Women", TRACE shared her experiences becoming a singer-songwriter in the American indie music scene, and her relationship with her mother Carol Kim, a Vietnam-War survivor and also a well-known Vietnamese singer in the Paris by Night series. She went into the struggles of mental health and reconciling her relationship with her father throug...

I am excited to ring in the 2021 year with a new 4th season with a fresh lineup of incredible guests for this show. I decided to name this season’s theme, “Process” after reflecting on what has been a turbulent 2020 year marred with civil unrest, the global pandemic and the recent US election. in the aftermath of these events, I think of how the Asian American communities in particular are processing the challenges and losses from this past year, and how we as a community can learn from these ex...