One in a Billion: Recent Episodes
Mable Chan
One in a Billion is a podcast about Asian values, culture and society – one person at a time.
We interview Asian writers, producers, entrepreneurs and entertainers about what they do, and what drives their choices and decisions. Hosted by Mable Chan (former ABC News producer), “One in a Billion” gives the stage to the young and the bold with a voice and a view that is rarely heard.
Learn more at https://www.oneinabillionvoices.org/
Sheetal Sheth is an Indian American actress, author and activist based in New York City. You may remember her breakout role as “Maya” co-starring with Albert Brooks in “Looking For Comedy in the Muslim World” (2005). Since then, Sheetal’s star keeps rising, appearing in dozens of TV shows and films. In 2013, she got married and soon became a mother to two girls. Then, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. As Sheetal struggled to recover, she was determined to raise her children with a deep sense of pride and love for India. Why? Also, what inspired her to write children’s books for Indian Americans while she was pregnant in New York City?
Click here for more about Sheetal Sheth.
Music used:
What Is Love (Piano) by Zight Sad Ambient Piano by Lite Saturation Free Hopping Piano by Lobo Loco Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1 - II. Adagio by Daniel Veesey
Brand New World by Kai Engel
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Photo Credit: David Goddard
Neil Mody is a media entrepreneur, tech enthusiast and philosopher at heart.
In this open-hearted conversation, Neil shares snippets of his phone conversations with his father that would forever be seared into his mind. What did his father say? Why did Neil tell his mother not to wear a “sari” to his eighth grade graduation? Why did he feel embarrassed by his “Indianness” growing up in New Jersey, and how does he feel now?
Find Your Roots is a history and culture project centering on Asian American voices, perspectives, and experiences. It is a one-on-one, in-depth podcast interview show with Asian “Roots-Finders” seeking to remember the diverse and profound influences of their parents and grandparents. This educational podcast project is designed to promote and preserve the legacy of the countless contributions—as well as forgotten struggles and sacrifices—of our ancestors who paved the way for us today.
We want to include you in this conversation. Share your thoughts. Pitch us a story. To send us your comments or stories, email us at info@oneinabillionvoices.org
or go to our Facebook page or website under “Pitch a Story.”
One in a Billion connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Season 7: Find Your Roots series is produced by One in a Billion Productions, a non-profit educational media company (501c3), with generous funding from PLUS Charitable Trust.
Music used: New Boots Rag by Doctor Turtle Trees In The Wind by Daniel Birch Wherever I Lay My Hat Thats My Wife by Doctor Turtle Sailor's Lament by Jason Shaw Tumult by Kai Engel Spiritual by HoliznaPATREON One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Martial Arts, Kung Fu Master (師傅) , Yoga Instructor, Political Activist Mai Du was just eight years old when she aspired to learn Kung Fu. Then she became a refugee after the Vietnam war fleeing with her family through Thailand and the Philippines before arriving in America.
Today, Mai du is a martial arts instructor, kung fu master and political activist. What formed her fighting spirit? How did her parents’ survival skills mold her mindset?
Check out our conversation!
Music used: Vienna Beat by Blue Dot Sessions Adventure by The Ghost in Your Piano Trophy Endorphins by Andy G Cohen Mountain Monk C by Lobo Loco Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1 - II. Adagio by Daniel Veesey Stormy Blues by Arne Bang Huseby A Yankees Southern Blues by HoliznaCC0 Only Our Footsteps in the Sand by Mid-Air Machine One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Photo Credit: Dat Nguyen
More than a decade after she was labeled as “Tiger Mom” for her 2011 memoir “The Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother,” Amy Chua reflects on her strict parenting style as she traces the roots of her culture to Fuzhou, China. Why did Amy feel right about raising her daughters the same way she was raised by her immigrant parents? What lessons has she learned from her critics in the West? What prompted her to pursue a career in corporate law before teaching law at Yale? And now, what motivated her to write her first novel “The Golden Gate?”
Amy Chua is a Yale law school professor with expertise in international business transactions, ethnicity and conflict, and globalization. She is an author of five non-fiction titles including Political Tribes: Group Instinct and Fate of Nation, and The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America.
Photo Credit: Joel Griffith Music used: I Will Not Let You Let Me Down by Josh Woodward Your Mothers Daughter by Chris Zabriskie On The Clock by Pictures of the Floating World Tumbling Dishes Like Old-Mans Wishes by Jahzzar One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Have you ever felt abandoned by your parents? What would you do to reconcile with them?
24-year-old Angela Li was born in New York City but sent back to Fuzhou, China while an infant to be raised by her grandparents until she turned five. When she entered the U.S, she felt she’d closed the door on her childhood in China. Now, she is just beginning to reconcile with that as an adult.
In this podcast conversation, Angela describes her process of self-healing by starting an oral project of interviewing her parents. “For the first time, I see my mom as a human being.” Angela says.
What did she mean? What did she find?
Music used: Space Full by Andy G. Cohen Rain by Unheard Music Concepts Inside the Moon by Stephan Siebert Mountain Monk C by Lobo Loco Bells In The Wind by Daniel Birch The Shine by Jahzzar One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Have you ever lost your sense of purpose after your loved one suddenly died? Whom do you turn to find strength to renew your mind and spirit?
Born in Sorsogon, the Philippines, Loida N. Lewis, traces the roots of her undying faith that revives her in her darkest hour after her husband Reginald F. Lewis died of brain cancer.
Loida also talks about her new memoir,“Why Should Guys Have All the Fun?” - an Asian American story of love, marriage, faith and running a billion dollar business empire.
Loida Lewis is a business executive, immigration lawyer, philanthropist and activist.
Music used: Dream by Chan Wai Fat Spiritual by HoliznaPATREON Space Full by Andy G Cohen You're Right But I'm Me by Doctor Turtle Undercover Vampire Policeman by Chris Zabriskie One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Have you ever felt the need to know your family history as a way to become whole?
What can you remember about your parents’ immigrant journey or struggle that would help you weave a cohesive narrative for their past sacrifices and your current success?
Born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Fran Chin, tells a compelling story about his father and mother’s voyage from Guangdong, China to escape penury so he and his eight siblings could enjoy a better life here in America.
Music used:
History by Twelvety9
Burn Me Alive by MMFFF
Even When We Fall by FPhilipp Weigl
Lullaby by The Ghost in Your Piano
Inspirational Outlook by Scott Holmes
Horses by Pictures of the Floating World
Mountain Monk B by Lobo Loco
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Find Your Roots is a history and culture project centering on Asian American voices, perspectives, and experiences. It is a one-on-one in-depth podcast interview show with Asian “Roots-Finders” seeking to remember the diverse and profound influences of their parents and grandparents. This educational podcast project is designed to promote and preserve the legacy of the countless contributions—as well as forgotten struggles and sacrifices—of our ancestors who paved the way for us today. We want to include you in this conversation. Share your thoughts. Pitch us a story. To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org or go to our Facebook page or website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.” “One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time. Season 7 Find Your Roots Series is produced by One in a Billion Productions, a non-profit educational media company (501c3), with generous funding from PLUS Charitable Trust. (https://plct.org/welcome/)
Have you stopped and considered what got you here? Who paved the way for you to learn and grow up in America? For first-generation Chinese American Paul Lee who was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, it is time for him and his siblings to remember their cultural roots, and to honor his parents’ incredible immigrant journey to America. It is also time for us to thank his father Sen Lee for his service to America. Sen Lee fought for America in WWII in the United States Armed Forces in Pacific Theatre.
Music Used:
The Wrong Way by Jahzzar
The Family Instrumental by Chad Crouch
Prism by Xylo Ziko
Four Way by William Ross Chernoff's Nomads
Climb by The Ghost in Your Piano
Boss 1: The First Challenge by Komiku
Singing In The Rain Instrumental by David Mumford
Rosedale Daydream Back in the Room by Greg Atkinson
Youk Ra Lom Ai Oh by Les Cartes Postales Sonores
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Find Your Roots is a history and culture project centering on Asian American voices, perspectives, and experiences. It is a one-on-one in-depth podcast interview show with Asian “Roots-Finders” seeking to remember the diverse and profound influences of their parents and grandparents. This educational podcast project is designed to promote and preserve the legacy of the countless contributions—as well as forgotten struggles and sacrifices—of our ancestors who paved the way for us today.
We want to include you in this conversation. Share your thoughts. Pitch us a story. To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org or go to our Facebook page or website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Season 7 Find Your Roots Series is produced by One in a Billion Productions, a non-profit educational media company (501c3), with generous funding from PLUS Charitable Trust.
Do you have a hard time identifying with this kind of Chinese, or that kind of American, and wanting to create a third category of cultural identity? Do you feel so foreign while visiting China as a Chinese American?
Irene Li is a James Beard Award Winning Chef, Co-founder/Co-owner at Mei Mei Dumplings in Boston, Massachusetts. She is also a tech founder, and WBUR (Boston NPR) CitySpace Moderator/ Host.
A Cornell University graduate, Irene Li was part of the college scholar program and majored in cultural studies.
Music used:
Malachite by Andy G Cohen
New Day by Alan Spiljak
Even When We Fall by FPhilipp Weigl
Above the Clouds by Bio Unit
Bathed in Fine Dust by Andy G Cohen
Highride by Blue Dot Sessions
Flux by The Ghost in Your Piano
Oxygen Mask by Andy G Cohen
I Recall by Blue Dot Sessions
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Find Your Roots is a history and culture project centering on Asian American voices, perspectives, and experiences. It is a one-on-one in-depth podcast interview show with Asian “Roots-Finders” seeking to remember the diverse and profound influences of their parents and grandparents. This educational podcast project is designed to promote and preserve the legacy of the countless contributions—as well as forgotten struggles and sacrifices—of our ancestors who paved the way for us today.
We want to include you in this conversation. Share your thoughts. Pitch us a story. To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
or go to our Facebook page or website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Season 7 Find Your Roots Series is produced by One in a Billion Productions, a non-profit educational media company (501c3), with generous funding from PLUS Charitable Trust.
Are you denying your roots if you ignore them? Why should one’s culture be a forethought and not an afterthought? Who defines your cultural identity?
Dr. Elaine Shiang is a retired Chinese American medical doctor at MIT with over 35 years of experience. Episode 1 Don't’ Deny It is her account of her family history in China, their journey to America, her parents’ influence on her and her advice for the next generation.
Elaine is a mother of three adult children - Andrew, Margaret, Irene. All of them were born in the greater Boston area, including Elaine herself. However, Elaine was introduced to the Chinese language early in her childhood and even lived in Taiwan for three years. That experience, she says, exposed her to the wider world and a greater appreciation of the value of embracing your roots.
Elaine also talks about her late husband Dr. Frederick Pei Li who came to America as a refugee. Dr. Li, a Chinese-American physician, was a pioneer of population cancer genetics. For more about Dr. Elaine Shiang, click here.
Music used:Acoustic Fingerpicking 3 by Independent Music Licensing Collective Acoustic Fingerpicking 8 by Independent Music Licensing Collective Brand New World by Kai Engel Undercover Vampire Policeman by Chris Zabriskie Youk Ra Lom Ai Oh by Les Cartes Postales Sonores Asianna by Jean Toba The Lullaby of the Free Hell by Koi-discovery One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Find Your Roots is a history and culture project centering on Asian American voices, perspectives and experiences. It is a one-on-one in-depth interview show with Asian “Root-finders” seeking to remember the diverse and profound influences of their parents and grandparents. This educational series is designed to promote and preserve the legacy of the countless contributions - as well as unforgettable struggles and sacrifices - of our ancestors who paved the way for us today. For more info: Email Info@OneinaBillionVoices.org
How can you make a difference when you are still climbing the career ladder and have little money to spare? How much can you give when you already focus so much of your time and effort to gain acceptance, appreciation, and accolades at work and in life?
Listen to my podcast conversation with Kyung B. Yoon - president and co-founder of the Korean American Community Foundation (KACF). A television journalist, public speaker, Taekwondo instructor.
Music used: One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy You're the Dummy by Derek Clegg Arena 17 Back From the Death Row by Koi-Discovery Adventure by The Ghost in Your Piano Convergence by Pictures of the Floating World Highway Fever by HoliznaCC0
Kyung first came to America after the Korean war and discovered a land of luxuries. But she never forgets how South Korea, her homeland, has grown and developed from a poor country to become an economic miracle when men and women are given equal opportunities for education. Throughout her life and career, Kyung keeps in mind the poor and the needy of the world at the core and center of her mission - as a TV journalist, a World Bank Institute documentary filmmaker, and a Taekwondo self-defense instructor.
Why would a Harvard-educated college graduate and medical school student get thrown out of a UCLA medical residency? What did he do wrong? What did he do right to get back in? And why would he later quit his medical residency to pursue creative projects including documentary-filmmaking in China?
Most intriguingly, how did any of these paths pave the way for his eventual success as a cosmetic surgeon in Beverly Hills? And now, why does he choose to devote his philanthropic passion to promoting a positive image of Chinese people in America?
Tune into my conversation with Dr. Robin Yuan - a plastic surgeon, philanthropist, and author of four books, including the latest “Red Bishop” - a historical fiction novel about his grandfather as the last presiding bishop of the Anglican church in China.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
I Will Not Let You Let Me Down by Josh Woodward
Burn Me Alive by MMFFF
A Perceptible Shift by Andy G Cohen
Golden Sunrise by Josh Woodward
Picture It All by Lorenzos Music
Marty Ladies and Gentlemen by Doctor Turtle
Hlice by Monplaisir
Mountain Island Dreams by Lobo Loco
Highride by Blue Dot Sessions
Canada by Pictures of the Floating World
Steppin' In by Podington Bear
Why does an American-born Chinese philanthropist want to help young Chinese in America reconnect with their roots? Why is that important? What seeded that passion?
Tune into my conversation with Carolyn Hsu-Balcer in Episode #3 “Reconnecting with Your Roots.”
Carolyn Hsu-Balcer is a designer, philanthropist, and art collector based in Los Angeles and New York.
Having lived in Hong Kong, Thailand, and the Philippines, she returned to America (her birthplace) obligingly for college. Her mother told her America is her future because they didn’t have a home in China anymore.
How did Carolyn’s Chinese parents shape her love for country, history, art and culture?
Why was Carolyn so inspired by her great-granduncle Dr. Kuo Ping-Wen - the first Chinese to have earned a PhD in America??
Why does Carolyn believe young Chinese in America should become global-minded?
Music used:
One In a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Youk Ra Lom Ai Oh by Les Cartes Postales Sonores
Lullaby by the Ghost in Your Piano
A Yankees Southern Blues by HoliznaCC0
Mountain Monk C by Lobo Loco
Driving Through Tunnels by Daniel Birch
The Armys March by MMFFF
The Things That Connect Us by Independent Music Licensing Collective
Carolyn graduated from Wheaton College (Mass.) with a BA in Economics and a minor in Chinese Language. After working as a financial analyst on Wall Street and as a Retail Product Developer, Carolyn launched SnoPea Inc. in 1997, a baby clothes company based in New York. SnoPea manufactures and markets infantwear for sale online and in specialty stores across the US, Canada and Japan.
Carolyn has worked to foster Sino-American understanding through education and culture. She has organized seminars on Education in China at major universities in the US and China.
She supports educational scholarships at universities in Shanghai, Nanjing and Taiwan, and at rural schools in Yunnan Province in China. In 2008, she received the Blue Cloud Award for outstanding achievement from the China Institute in New York.
Carolyn has co-edited and co-published the historical biographies Kuo Ping Wen Scholar, Reformer, Statesman (2016) and C.T. Wang: Looking Back and Looking Forward (2008); the artbook A Token of Elegance (2015), a historical and photo survey of cigarette holders as objets de vertu; and Chow! Secrets of Chinese Cooking (2020), an updated edition of a timeless classic about Chinese cuisine and culture and winner of a 2021 Gourmand World Cookbook Award.
Carolyn has organized ground-breaking exhibits of Chinese art including Xu Bing Tobacco Project Virginia (2011 VMFA), Light Before Dawn (2013 Asia Society Hong Kong), Blooming in the Shadows (2011 China Institute NY), Ming Cho Lee: A Retrospective (2011 Ningbo Museum), and Oil and Water: Re-Interpreting Ink (2014 MOCA NY).
She has sponsored the publication of a 13-volume catalogue of the works of the Wuming group of Chinese artists, and the publication of “Ai Wei Wei: New York Photographs 1983-1993”.
Carolyn has produced award-winning documentaries on China and Chinese art, including “Above the Drowning Sea”, “The No Name Painting Association” and “Xu Bing Tobacco Project Virginia”.
Carolyn is currently a member of the Board of Overseers at the MFA Boston, the Guggenheim Museum Asian Art Circle, the Board of Directors of the Wolfsonian-FIU, the Arts Council of the Asia Society, the Board of Friends of Channel 13, and honorary trustee of the Ningbo Museum (China) where she has forged ties with American art & cultural institutions to bring curatorial training to the Ningbo Museum.
Carolyn and her husband have assembled important collections of Chinese Contemporary art, Japanese Shin-Hanga, Inuit art and objets de vertu, which have been the subjects of numerous publications and exhibitions worldwide, including at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Louvre (Paris), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Aldrich Museum, Wellin Museum, Cooper Hewitt, Asia Society Hong Kong, Lenbachhaus Museum Munich, and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
LifeChangers is about Asian philanthropists sharing stories about life-changing turning points that have shaped their mindset and inspired their philanthropic passion. Now, they feel compelled to change the lives of others.
How old were you when you first started making money? 16? 17? 18?
Meet Mei-Lee Ney - an investment advisor, philanthropist, and art collector.
At age 75, Mei-Lee has been working non-stop since she was 10. Why?
Who gave her critical advice about how she could get anything she wanted? And what is that advice?
How did Mei-Lee build and create wealth for herself and others without a college degree? And what motivated Mei-Lee to begin giving away her fortune, and for what causes?
Tune into my conversation with Mei-Lee Ney in Episode #2 “Money Matters”
Music used:
Working For the County by Derek Clegg
Playtime by Jahzzar
Banish by Slinte
Dear Old Dad by HoliznaCCO
Acoustic Fingerpicking 5 by Independent Music Licensing Collective
Gray Drops by Sergey Cheremisinov
Acoustic Fingerpicking 1 by Independent Music Licensing Collective
Love Wins by Lee Rosevere
Sour Grapes by Pictures of the Floating World
Go Tell It On The Molehill by Doctor Turtle
Climb by The Ghost in Your Piano
Florid by Mid-Air Machine
The Dance of the Sky by MMFFF
One in A Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Mei-Lee Ney is the president of Richard Ney & Associates, Asset Management, Inc., a registered investment advisory firm that she joined in 1973. She was the business partner and wife of Richard Ney, author of three books on the stock market: The Wall Street Jungle, The Wall Street Gang, and Making It in the Market, the last two of which she edited. She was co-writer and editor of “The Ney Report,” an investment newsletter, from 1976 to 1999. She also serves on the USC Pacific Asia Museum Board of Councilors, and the Otis College of Art and Design Board of Trustees and is active in several other communities, arts, and education organizations. Learn more about Mei-Lee here.
We kick off Season 6 “LifeChangers” today (August 26th) with a limited special series.
LifeChangers is about Asian philanthropists sharing stories about life-changing turning points that have shaped their mindset and inspired their philanthropic passion. Now, they feel compelled to change the lives of others.
You don’t need to give away a lot of money like Bill Gates to be a philanthropist.
You only need to ask the right question at the right time.
Episode #1 “Am I the Only One?”
What more do you want when you reach the VP level of a top tech company in America?
For Buck Gee - a Chinese-American retired tech entrepreneur and philanthropist, when he became a senior executive at Cisco in the early 2000s, he asked his supervisor, “Am I the only one?” He noticed that he was the only Asian American at that level, and he was unhappy. Why? What did he do about it? That question would become the seed of his philanthropic passion.
Tune into my conversation with Buck Gee in Episode 1 “Am I the Only One?”
(Note: Buck Gee was Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center Business Unit at Cisco before retiring in 2008. In 2010, he co-founded the Advanced Leadership Program for Asian American Executives, an executive education program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has published several Ascend Foundation research papers on the Asian glass ceiling and has written opinion pieces on that issue for the Harvard Business Review and The New York Times.) Buck Gee holds BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Learn more about Buck here. (source: Committee-100 )
Music used:
Xi by Andy G. Cohen
Vienna Beat by Blue Dot Sessions
The Temperature of the Air on the Bow of the Kaleetan by Chris Zabriskie
Which That is This by Doctor Turtle
Thingamajig by Json Shaw
Day Trips by Ketsa
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
We want to include you in this conversation. Share your thoughts. Pitch us a story.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud Season 6 LifeChangers Series is produced by One in a Billion Productions, a non-profit educational media company (501c3) with generous funding from Claudia Lin, Founder/President of Legacy Maker LLC.
What would you do if you’ve written about becoming a Supreme Court justice, dreamed of a life and career in law, put in a lot of time and work to prepare for that track - then one day you change my mind?
Is it a waste of time, money and education at that point?
These are some of the questions that Daniel Christopher “D.C.” Rogers (Harvard Class of ‘12) had to wrestle with during his college years. And what made him change his mind?
In “Where Are They Now?” Episode #6, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews D.C. Rogers - award-winning writer, producer, and actor. D.C. is a story editor for the upcoming Netflix legal show Partner Track. Previously, he was a staff writer on the CW drama In the Dark.
I am happy to be co-hosting this podcast as a contributing commentator. You’ll hear my views about how to figure out what you want to do with your life – before and after college.
“Where Are They Now?” is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).
It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.
“Where Are They Now” is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.
How far will you travel outside of your hometown, your neighborhood, your comfort zone, in order to see the world differently?
Why is it important to keep your sense of insecurity as your companion as you embark on your scientific, academic or philosophical enquiry?
How does failure keep you hungry for success?
Those are some of the questions that have led to surprising discoveries and satisfying rewards for Dr. Neil Shubin (Harvard GSAS Class of 1987).
In “Where Are They Now?” Episode #4, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews Dr. Neil Shubin - A paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and popular science writer. Dr. Shubin made headlines in 2004 when he co-discovered Tiktaalik roseae, a fossil of a creature with traits found in both fish and tetrapods, and has since published three popular science books: Your Inner Fish, The Universe Within, and Some Assembly Required.
I am happy to be co-hosting this podcast as a contributing commentator. You’ll hear my reflection on how I, like Dr. Neil Shubin, first became drawn to a new world of possibilities that would light up my imagination to pursue a path that’s formed who I am today.
————————
“Where Are They Now?” is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).
It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.
“Where Are They Now” is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.
Should a Harvard education prepare you for failure?Should failure be normalized in the course of higher education?Or at the very least, would you want to learn how to take or talk about failure?
Those are the sort of questions rarely asked if you’re a Harvard student who is used to acing your exams, winning accolades or top awards until one day – you suddenly lose what you’ve been taking for granted.
In “Where Are They Now?” Episode #4, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews Sangu Delle (Harvard Class of 2010, Harvard JD & MBA 2016). An entrepreneur, investor, author and philanthropist, Sangu speaks powerfully about his personal struggle with depression after a major business investor died suddenly before wiring the money. A lot were at stakes. Sangu was at a loss for words and found himself in a dark world for a long time before getting back on his feet.
Today, he is a champion for mental health and a vocal teacher about the norm of failure.
I am happy to be co-hosting this podcast as a contributing commentator. You’ll hear my reflection on how I too had rebounded from despair after first losing my mother, before losing my job and my health.
“Where Are They Now?” is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).
It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.
“Where Are They Now” is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.
How do I want to engage in the world?Do I want to be an academic teaching philosophy as a professor?Wouldn’t that be a very inward-looking, insular kind of life?Is that what I want?
Those were some of the questions Janet Hook, (Harvard Class ’77) asked herself before deciding not to pursue a Phd in philosophy.
For Janet, a Harvard graduate with a degree in philosophy and government, her career choice is also a lifestyle choice. She chose to become a journalist right after college.
In “Where Are They Now?” Episode #3, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews Los Angeles Time national correspondent Janet Hook. Janet reflects on her student days at Harvard, and some of the ways in which she has been influenced to choose the path of a journalist. She also talks candidly about her career trajectory and the life of a reporter.
I am happy to be co-hosting this podcast as a contributing commentator. You’ll hear my thoughts about how Harvard fit into my former career as a TV journalist as well.
“Where Are They Now?” is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).
It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.
“Where Are They Now” is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.
Many Harvard Asian American undergraduates I know with immigrant parents who are physicians receive a lot of pressure from their families to be a doctor. But not Divya Narendra, (Class of 2004)
While at Harvard, Divya was given the space and the autonomy he needed to think critically and explore creatively what he wanted as a consumer that was missing in the market. Soon, he became an entrepreneur.
In “Where Are They Now?” episode #2, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews Divya Narendra, CEO and co-founder of SumZero - an online community for professional investors to share business research. Divya’s business mindset was formed during his Harvard days when he launched the Facebook forerunner HarvardConnection, or ConnectU. You may remember his role with Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 feature film “The Social Network,”- a portrayal of the great minds which think alike but also fall apart due to fierce business competition.
I am happy to be co-hosting as a contributing commentator for this episode.
“Where Are They Now?” is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).
It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.
“Where Are They Now” is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.
Remember your college days dreaming big dreams, anxious about your grades, fearful about your future until one day, you find yourself in a different place, at a different stage of life doing very different things than you could ever imagine as a student?
“Where Are They Now?” Is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).
It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.
In episode #1 - We interview Dr. Angela Duckworth - Harvard Class of 1992, Founder/CEO of the nonprofit Character Lab, author of the New York Times Bestseller “Grit,” and the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prof. Duckworth talks about goal-setting, risk-taking, and a "rebellious" detour from her father’s expectations.
I am happy to be co-hosting this Special Series with Harvard student journalist Gemma Schneider (Class '23).
“Where Are They Now” is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) - an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.
With less than ten days before Thanksgiving, my podcast team and I find ourselves counting the innumerable ways that we have been challenged, and the unpredictable opportunities that have come our way in 2020.
So in today’s Season 5 True Colors Episode #10 Reflections on 2020, we each will share our voices expressing our thoughts and feelings about some of these life-changing experiences. But we will kick off with Kira Oman’s story.
Before the pandemic, Kira moved to Hollywood to build her acting and modeling career. But as the coronavirus spread and some of her family members were infected, how did she think differently about her move away from home? How did 2020 impact her career and life priorities? What surprises her about herself that the pandemic has uncovered for her, for the better?
Here’s our conversation.
Music Used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
The Dance of the Sky by MMFFF
Flux by The Ghost in Your Piano
Bumbling by Pictures of the Floating World
Convergence by Pictures of the Floating World
Bells in the Wind by Daniel Birch
Estampe Galactus_Barbere_Epaul_Giraffe_Ennui by Monplaisir
True Colors – a Season 5 Special Series – is about the color of one’s character in a time of crisis.
In this 10-part podcast series, we have expanded our focus beyond Asians to include the African American experiences in Episode #1, Episode #3 and Episode #5.
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud | RadioPublic
Today, tens of thousands of Americans head to the polls.
Our choice of the next president - Donald Trump or Joe Biden - may be hard for some, but it will have immediate and long-term consequences for America in the years to come.
Many of our listeners like you may not be able to choose your country’s leaders for a variety of reasons. But in your own lives, you often make hard choices about where to live and work, or where to raise your children. These choices could be far more consequential with unpredictable and immediate effects on your quality of life and your future than a vote for a president.
And that is the story of Chinese American David Wang and his Shenzhen-born wife Candy Yang.
In 2019, they got married in Boston and had a baby girl. Shortly after, they moved to Shanghai to build their entrepreneurial careers. Just as they thought they would move back to Boston earlier this Spring, they couldn’t. The pandemic paralyzed their move. They decided to pivot.
In Season 5 True Colors Episode 9: Hard Choices - For Better and For Worse - Candy and David talked about their decisions under fast-changing conditions. What did they decide to do? How did that affect their quality of life and career trajectory? What about their young children?
Here’s our conversation.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
The Family by Chad Crouch
The Lean by Derek Clegg
Dead From The Beginning Alive Till The End by Doctor Turtle
Rosedale Daydream Back in the Room by Greg Atkinson
Need by Les Hayden
The Beauty of Maths by Meydn
Flux by The Ghost in Your Piano
True Colors – a Season 5 Special Series – is about the color of one’s character in a time of crisis.
In this 10-part podcast series, we have expanded our focus beyond Asians to include the African American experiences in Episode #1, Episode #3 and Episode #5.
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud | RadioPublic
Three in ten Americans blame China or Chinese people for the Coronavirus pandemic, according to the Ipsos Poll. Anti-Asian harassment, assault and hate crimes have also been on the rise since the outbreak began. However, the racial bias against Asians in America has long existed in everyday life way before the virus.
In Season 5 True Colors: Episode 8: The Bias Before the Virus, Janet Wu, a former Boston-based television journalist at WHDH-TV and media personality, talks about a racially-hostile incident on the subway five years ago that made her confront her identity as a Chinese American.
That subway encounter took Janet on a soul-searching inner journey reflecting on the roots of her culture - China - and her upbringing in her birthplace - America.
Listen to our conversation here.
Janet Wu is currently a reporter for Bloomberg Business News.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Trees in the Wind by Daniel Birch
Tumult by Kai Engel
Perennial by Pictures of the Floating World
Inside the Moon by Stephan Siebert
True Colors – a Season 5 Special Series – is about the color of one’s character in a time of crisis.
In this 10-part podcast series, we have expanded our focus beyond Asians to include the African American experiences in Episode #1, Episode #3 and Episode #5.
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud | RadioPublic
When was the last time you felt your life was turned upside down?
How did you find a way out?
Last Spring when Covid-19 outbreak led to a series of campus closures, forcing tens of thousands of students to move out of their dorms in a matter of days, Kimberly Jung, a graduate student at MIT Engineering School, got the news on her mobile phone.
Stunned, she kicked into crisis-ready mode.
As a U.S. army veteran with three years of combat experience in Afghanistan and emergency response training dealing with natural disasters relief, Kimberly quickly followed orders to move out, and found a critical mission to help save lives.
Ventilators were badly needed in hospitals emergency rooms filled with Covid patients. Kimberly decided to join the MIT E-Vent Team as the chief executive to help guide the engineers to design an FDA approved low-cost ventilator prototype that would soon be picked up by manufacturers not only in America, but around the world.
In Season 5 True Colors: Episode 7 Mission After Mission, Kimberly talks about her mission-driven mindset and calling, which is instantly motivational and simultaneously inspirational.
Listen to our conversation here.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
The Gloaming by Josh Woodward
Return of the Indigo Sparrow by Tropo
That's Exciting by Pictures of the Floating World
Stage 1 Level 24 by Monplaisir
Kimberly Jung is currently the COO of PickleRobots in Somerville, MA.
True Colors – a Season 5 Special Series – is about the color of one’s character in a time of crisis.
In this 10-part podcast series, we have expanded our focus beyond Asians to include the African American experiences in Episode #1, Episode #3 and Episode #5.
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud | RadioPublic
As the Black Lives Matter movement spread across America earlier this summer, many Asian Americans began to reflect on their personal history of struggling for racial equality.
In particular, one civil rights group has pushed for attitude change among Asians to reach across the racial divide and join African Americans and other communities of color in the fight for social justice.
In Season 5 True Colors: Episode 6, Jenny Chiang and Dr. Mabel Lam of the Asian American Commission (AAC) in the state of Massachusetts share their personal story of growing up with and without Black friends, and their own reckoning with the urgent need to come together for the greater good.
Listen to our conversation here.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
The Way I Feel by Derek Clegg
Break Through by Pictures of the Floating World
Rain by Unheard Music Concepts
Chill Out Theme by Komiku
Above the Clouds by Bio Unit
The Army’s March by MMFFF
Silver on the Outside by Heather Christie and Vir McCoy
That’s Exciting by Pictures of the Floating World
Dr. Mabel Lam is a psychologist in Cambridge, MA and a commissioner of the AAC. Jenny Chiang is the Executive Director of the AAC.
True Colors – a Season 5 Special Series – is about the color of one’s character in a time of crisis.
In this 10-part podcast series, we have expanded our focus beyond Asians to include the African American experiences in Episode #1, Episode #3 and Episode #5.
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud | RadioPublic
To whom do you feel indebted for your civil rights and citizenship status in America?
Your parents or your parents’ parents? Or yourself?
Frankly, I had never considered this question until I came across Eileen Huang’s critical letter urging the Chinese American community to confront their anti-Black racist statements and stereotypes.
In her words, “We owe them (referring to Africans Americans) everything.”
In Season 5 True Colors: Episode 5 “We Owe Them”, Eileen makes a case for Asians to acknowledge what she perceives as our racist attitude against Black people in America, and to begin difficult conversations with our parents' generation.
Eileen Huang is a creative writer, and a junior at Yale University.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Break Through by Pictures of the Floating World
Inside the Moon by Stephan Seibart
The Place I Called Home by Julie Maxwell
As the Crow Flies by Axeltree
Dreaming Days by Ketsa
True Colors - a Season 5 Special Series - is about the color of one’s character in a time of crisis.
In this 10-part podcast series, we have expanded our focus beyond Asians to include the African American experiences in Episode #1 and Episode #3.
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes |SoundCloud I RadioPublic
Support Us?
One in a Billion podcast is produced by One in a Billion Productions Inc - a non-profit media productions. (501c3). Support us! Donate.
Imagine this.
You have Covid-19.
You’re running out of breath.
You’re inside a hospital emergency room getting a blood transfusion.
Suddenly this happens. There’s a leak somewhere.
Your bodily fluids spew and splash all over the bed sheets, some of the droplets land on the exposed skin of the emergency physicians and nurses risking their lives to save you.
Is this an impossible scenario?
No.
The lack of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for healthcare workers dominated headline news earlier this year, and continues to be a challenge for some hospitals around America.
In Part 4 of Season 5 True Colors: “Protecting Frontline Doctors & Nurses”, I talked with Dr. Alicia Lu about the risks she faced as an Emergency physician in New York hospitals. Not only did she feel helpless and frustrated, so did her partner Dan Wu. Together, they came up with an idea. It’s called the “1000 frontline suits” campaign.
Dr. Alicia Lu is a New York City based Emergency Physician.
Dan Wu is a Privacy Counsel & Legal Engineer at Immuta, an automated data governance platform for analytics. He holds a Harvard J.D. & Ph.D.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
On the Clock by Pictures of the Floating World
Gemini by Josh Woodward
Driving Through Tunnels by Daniel Birch
Malachite by Andy G. Cohen
First Day of Spring by David Hilowitz
Marimba on the Loose by Daniel Birch
Dreaming Days by Ketsa
True Colors - a Season 5 Special Series - is about the color of one’s character in a time of crisis.
In this 10-part podcast series, we have expanded our focus beyond Asians to include the African American experiences in Episode #1 and Episode #3.
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Support Us? One in a Billion podcast is produced by One in a Billion Productions Inc - a non-profit media productions. (501c3). Support us! Donate.
It’s been four months since the police shooting of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old emergency room technician of Louisville, Kentucky. Her tragic death in her own apartment has triggered ongoing protests demanding police accountability.
As the sound of fury and cries of justice rage on across the country, there is one young African American woman who wants to voice her sorrow in a poem, dedicated to Breonna Taylor.
Why a poem?
“I don’t know Breonna, but she could have been me.” Serina Gousby told me in our podcast interview.
26-year-old Serina Gousby is a Boston-based poet, blogger of her website “The Rina Collective”, and a Development Associate/Boston Writers of Color Group Coordinator at Grub Street. When I saw her reading her poem “In Honor of Breonna Taylor’s Birthday” on Facebook, I was instantly captivated.
In Part 3 of Season 5 True Colors: "Stand With Us”, Serina reads portions of her moving poem and shares her thoughts about racial inequity, her faith, and her fight for social justice.
True Colors - a Season 5 Special Series - is about the color of one’s character in a time of crisis.
*Photo of Serina Gousby. Courtesy of Serina Gousby
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Horses by Pictures of the Floating World
The Ramble by Chad Crouch
Hip Hop Instrumental 2 by Ketsa
Funky Banane Nightclub ID by Checkie Brown
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Support Us? One in a Billion podcast is produced by One in a Billion Productions Inc - a non-profit media productions. (501c3). Support us! Donate.
Who can assure you when you can’t breathe? What do you need to hear from ER Doctors when you are in ICU? In the age of Covid-19, these questions are more pressing and personal than ever.
In Part 2 of our Season 5 True Colors: “Finding Humanity in Emergency”
Dr. Anita Chary and Dr. Paul Chen, both are ER doctors in Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. They vividly describe their experience trying to save lives and to assure Covid patients in those life or death moments. Who can make it? Who can’t? It’s never obvious and often defies logic and reason. Through it all, how are ER doctors themselves changed, when their job is over?
True Colors - a Season 5 Special Series - is about the color of one’s character in time of crisis.
Episode #2 - “Finding Humanity in Emergency.”
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Horses by Pictures of the Floating World
Driving Through Tunnels by Daniel Birch
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Support Us?
One in a Billion podcast is produced by One in a Billion Productions Inc - a non-profit media productions. (501c3). Support us! Donate.
We kick off Season 5 today (July 14th) with a 10-part series True Colors.
True Colors is about the color of one’s character in times of crisis.
How do you respond after you’ve seen the video of George Floyd dying under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis? What can you do to confront anti-black racism in America?
Veteran ABC News correspondent/anchor Ron Claiborne and I (Host, Mable Chan) had worked for years at ABC News Good Morning America. For the first time, we discuss the issue of race, racial profiling, white supremacy, and police violence as he’s seen and experienced in Episode #1 - “Being Black in America.”
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
The Fifth Journey by Ars Sonor and M. Nomized
Undercover Vampire Policeman by Chris Zabriskie
Snow Day by Pictures of the Floating World
New Day by Alan Spiljak
Gemini By Josh Woodward
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, email us @ info@oneinabillionvoices.org
Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch us a story?
“One in a Billion” connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
She never ceases to amaze me.
Sanyee Yuan - a 20 something writer, actor, host, and Harvard graduate - is always chasing the next big opportunity by connecting with people who inspire her creative thought that would turn into a story or a script!
I first interviewed Sanyee in 2012 when she spoke movingly about being raised by a single mom with two jobs, two kids - her and her older sister. Both girls love television and movies.
Since moving to L.A., Sanyee has written numerous blogs about her adventure in Hollywood by focusing on how she overcomes fear and setbacks.
In this episode - the last of Season 4 - Sanyee let us in her latest projects and what keeps her thriving.
Check this out - “This Asian American Life: Cutting My Own Path in Hollywood.”
Music Used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Golden Sunrise by Josh Woodward
Landras Dream by Jason Shaw
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time. Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below: PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
What drives you crazy?
How about being called just that - crazy.
If you are struggling with a mental disorder, you might lash out or turn inward. And when you do, that word “crazy” could feel like a weapon that cuts through your skin.
In this episode “This Asian American Life: Don’t Call Me Crazy” - New York based writer/editor/illustrator Hannah Bae reads a chapter she’s contributed to a new book “Don’t Call Me Crazy” that depicts her personal struggle dealing with her mother.
Her experience is one of thirty three dynamic and intimate voices in this fascinating book about mental health and a guide with helpful resources.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Bathed in Fine Dust by Andy G. Cohen
Highride by Blue Dot Sessions
The Gloaming by Josh Woodward
Which That is This by Doctor Turtle
Undercover Vampire Policeman by Chris Zabriskie
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time. Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below: PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
What’s wrong with bribing your 3-year-old with a gold star? Or, if you’re in China, it’s a red star.
Chinese American journalist Lenora Chu was a new mother when she first moved to Shanghai with her husband, she quickly discovered the authoritarian style of Chinese schooling clashed with her American upbringing in Texas. How? What did she do?
Well, she wrote a book called “Little Soldiers” describing how children are educated and what the education system is designed to accomplish.
Check out my interview with Lenora Chu in this episode - “This Chinese American Life- What’s an education for?”
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Interplanetary Forest by Meydn
The Place I Called Home by Julie Maxwell
You're Right But I'm Me by Doctor Turtle
Meeting the Demon by MMFFF
Little Idea by Scott Holmes
Stage 1 Level 24 by Monplaisir
Estampe Galactus Barbere Epaul Giraffe Ennui by Monplaisir
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time. Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below: PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Have you ever been tempted to trace your roots?
What might pique your curiosity if your mother refused to talk about her parents?
For Scott Tong, he decided to find his home village precisely because no one seemed to remember his grandparents. What happened to them?
Why did they stay in China when his mother fled to America?
Check out my conversation with American Public Media’s “Marketplace” correspondent - Scott Tong - in this episode “This Chinese American Life: Tracing My Roots”
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Upbeat Party by Scott Holmes
Storybook by Scott Holmes
Banish by Slinte
Trophy Endorphins by Andy G. Cohen
Vienna Beat by Blue Dot Sessions
Recall by Blue Dot Sessions
Love Wins by Lee Rosevere
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time. Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below: PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
What if your father called you after you two hadn’t talked for a year?
What if you were looking for a better relationship with him, and you were finding you were running out of time?
In Part 2 of my interview with Mimi Wong, a New York-based writer and multimedia producer, she shared her reflections on those last few conversations with her father, and her inner journey of reconciliation.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
When I Dream by Joseph Blanchard
Redwood Majesty by Joseph Blanchard
Eternal Embrace by Joseph Blanchard
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below: PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
When was the last time you had a talk, or a fight with your father?
What might trigger your urge to call him, or to reflect on what’s been missing in your relationship?
In Part 1 of my interview with Mimi Wong, a New York based writer and multimedia producer shared her story, first published in “How Watching Asian Father on Screen Helped me Face My Own.”
The movie “Searching.” prompted her to dive into deep personal thoughts about her father, Asian fatherhood and media portrayal of Asian masculinity.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Hlice by Monplasir
Inspirational Outlook by Scott Holmes
Little Tomcat by Josh Woodward
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below: PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Why would you give up all that you’ve studied or worked so hard for once you hit a certain life stage and decided to pursue what really makes you happy?
In Part 2 of my interview with Chinese American documentary filmmaker Hao Wu, he talked about giving up the traditional notion of success. Making money. Making parents proud.
Instead, he chose to listen to his heart.
This is a story about pursuing what’s deeply fulfilling for you.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Which That Is This by Doctor Turtle
Xi by Andy G. Cohen
Descent of the Goober Monster by Jesse Spillane
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below: PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
What will you find if you bank on the Internet to fulfill your desire?
How much money will you spend to make your dream come true in this digital universe?
In this 2-part interview with Chinese American documentary filmmaker Hao Wu, he talked about “The People’s Republic of Desire” - a film about live-streaming in China.
It’s a story about the human longing for fame and fortune, as well as love and connection.
Music Used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
I Will Not Let You Let Me Down by Josh Woodward
You Um Ill Ah by Doctor Turtle
Space Full by Andy G Cohen
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below: PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
If you’re a 20 something Asian woman trying to establish yourself as a writer in Tech, listen up.
You can speak up, share your thoughts and yet, nobody hears you.
You’re ignored.
That’s Eda Yu’s story.
In “Don’t Talk Over Me” Eda talks with Lauren Dai, another Asian woman working in Silicon Valley about tough challenges in a room full of white men. Who helped her? How did she get over barriers?
Also, how did she first discover her passion for writing?
Who persuaded her to pursue it through college?
And what is holding Lauren back from writing? What are her fears?
Music Used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
The Wrong Way by Jahzzar
Tumbling Dishes Like Old Man's Wishes by Jahzzar
Crazy Glue by Josh Woodward
Gemini by Josh Woodward
Sands of Windhoek by Mid-Air Machine
Need by Les Hayden
Death by a Thousand Questions by Springtide
So Far So Close by Jahzzar
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
If you have spent a good chunk of your life studying and working like a robot, how would you know to wake up one day, and say “I am not a robot!” That’s Kou Aizhe’s story.
A former librarian and TV journalist, he was inspired by "This American Life" podcast to create his own show “Gushi FM.” The idea is to give voice to real people with real-life experiences and struggles. It’s now one of the most popular podcasts in China since it was launched in 2017, reaching 600,000 listeners and counting.
“Leaving a robotic life to create my own show” is about his thinking at various turning points and crossroads.
This interview will be in Mandarin Chinese.
View Chinese (中文) and English Transcript Click here:
Music credits (sourced from freemusicarchive.org):
Tech Toys by Lee Rosevere
What’s Behind the Door by Lee Rosevere
Sad Marimba Planet by Lee Rosevere
Wilsons Snipe by Chad Crouch
You’re Enough by Lee Rosevere
Wonder Under by Glad Rags
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Part 3 of a Special Summer Series from Shanghai: In Context with Anita Xu: “How can this be...the rest of my life!?”
If you’d invested almost your entire adult life training to be a professional landscape designer, you’d landed at your dream job. But a few years later, you looked around your workplace and you discovered something that would forever change your idea of what is a good life or what is a good career.
What would you do?
That’s what happened to Lu Xiaoya (卢小雅) 3 years ago, when she was 27 years old.
In this Episode 3 “How can this be... the rest of my life !?” Anita talks with Lu about that life-changing moment, and what she did next.
Lu will tell her story in Mandarin Chinese.
View Chinese (中文) and English Transcript Click here.
Music credits (sourced from freemusicarchive.org):
Whats Behind the Door by Lee Rosevere
Curiousity by Lee Rosevere
Sad Marimba Planet by Lee Rosevere
As I Was Saying by Lee Rosevere
I Was Waiting for Him by Lee Rosevere
Curiousity by Lee Rosevere
Wonder Under by Glad Rags
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Part 2 of A Special Summer Series from Shanghai: In Context with Anita Xu.
Can you imagine your life’s mission is to meet the expectations of your parents?
Ever since she was a little girl, Carol pushed herself, moving to a big city from a small town, working her way up and up to satisfy her parents. Now, at age 33, Carol’s lost. Her parents have changed their minds. They ask her to slow down, but it’s too late! Why? Take a listen.
In this Episode 2 “Why Work So Hard?,” our contributing podcaster Anita Xu talks with a close friend Carol Luo about her dilemma.
This interview will be in Mandarin Chinese.
View Chinese (中文) and English Transcript Click here.
Music credits (sourced from freemusicarchive.org & purple-planet.com):
Snipe by Chad Crouch’s Wilson
Fearless by Purple Planet Music
Yorgan by Circus Marcus
Easy Life by Lee Rosevere
Quizitive by Lee Rosevere
Wonder Under by Glad Rags
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Season 4 kicks off with a Summer Special Series from Shanghai: In Context with Anita Xu- "Why Risk It?”
It’s an intimate conversation between digital marketing professional Anita Xu and her college buddy Xu He. Xu He chose to become an entrepreneur after feeling unfulfilled in his first few jobs after graduating from a top journalism university in Shanghai.
Anita, our contributing podcaster, is puzzled. She saw him as a rising star in the journalism world, and she wonders -why risk it?
This interview will be in Mandarin Chinese. You can read an English transcript or check out our website at www.oneinabillionvoices.org.
Music used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Quizitive by Lee Rosevere
Tech Toys by Lee Rosevere
Whats Behind the Door by Lee Rosevere
Theme from Penguins on Parade by Lee Rosevere
And So Then by Lee Rosevere
Wonder Under by Glad Rags
What makes people in China laugh? Why would they spend time and money to go to a stand-up act by an American comedian in Beijing? And, who is he?
This is story about an American scholar turned comedian who dedicates his life to bringing Chinese and Americans together through humor and laughter.
Music Used:
Brad McCarthy's One in a Billion Theme Song
What is love about? Can you show gratitude without spending or giving money?
Can you show care without sacrificing your passion?
To truly show gratitude, must you also sacrifice?
With these questions in mind, I interviewed Jinzhao (JZ) Wang, a 28 year old Chinese American a few months ago.
JZ told me she can’t fully enjoy what gives her pleasure without also feeling guilty. Why? What is her guilty pleasure?
What makes it wrong?
Music Used:
One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy
Mountain Monk C By Lobo Loco
Space (Full) by Andy G. Cohen
You Um, I'll Ah by Doctor Turtle
I'll Be Seeing You by Sammy Fain (Sung by JZ Wang)
Are you the person you or your parents want to be?
Is your personal dream inseparable from your parents? Can it be? Should it be?
That is Angela’s agony.
How does she navigate around a set of cultural expectations to create her own path?
Check out my interview with Angela Tang, a rising senior at Williams College, in Episode #3 “This Chinese Life: Whose Life is This Anyway.”
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Music used:
Brad McCarthy's One in a Billion Theme Song
Andy G. Cohen's A Perceptible Shift
Jesse Spillane's Number 0
Josh Woodward's Under the Stairs Instrumental
Jahzzar's No-End Ave
What does it mean to be Chinese? 415 million Chinese millennials in China wrestle with crushing pressure to live up to a cultural identity and societal ideal.
What are they? How do they cope? What are their biggest fears?
Check out Part 2 of my interview with author/public speaker Zak Dychtwald “This Chinese Life: What does it mean to be Chinese?”
Music used:
Brad McCarthy's "One in a Billion Theme"
Jason Shaw's "Acoustic Meditation"
Doctor Turtle's "Wherever I Lay My Hat, That's My Wife"
Andy G. Cohen's "Space (Full)"
He grew up in a predominantly white suburban town in California.
His parents would take him travelling around the world for work since he was a child.
Then one day, he stumbled upon a movie - “Enter the Dragon” (starring Bruce Lee) that would strike his fancy about another world - China.
That’s where Zak Dychtwald decided to go right after he graduated from Columbia University six years ago. Without a word of Chinese or a drop of Chinese blood, he went in search of himself.
Why China?
Check out my interview with Zak in a 2-part series “This Chinese Life: As a 28 year old white American in China” (Part 2 will be released 9/18).
Currently, Zak Dychtwald is author of “Young China - how the restless generation will change their country and the world.”
He is CEO/Founder of “Young China Group” - a think tank offering educational and cultural insight about millennials in China and America. He splits his time between New York and Chengdu.
Music and Audio Credits:
Brad McCarthy's "One in a Billion Theme"
Andy G. Cohen's Oxygen Mask
Philipp Weigl's "Even When We Fall"
Jahzzar's "Playtime"
Chris Zabriskie's "Your Mother's Daughter"
Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon"
John Boswell's "Bruce Lee Remix- Be Water My Friend"
An unexamined life is not worth living.
What leads one to examine one’s life?
A surprise setback? An unforgettable encounter? An ongoing desire?
All of these experiences tend to re-emerge or surge in our memory as we look back on 2017.
In this last episode of Season 2 “Reflections on 2017: What’s Weighing on My Mind,” we listen to three compelling stories from Maggie Shi, Joel Tsui and Justine Yan. Each embodies a personal awakening during one’s reckoning with the past, present and future.
I hope you’ll find them helpful to your own thinking about this year as we count down to 2018.
Listen to our latest podcast episode “Reflections on 2017.”
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Music used:
Dave O'Brien's Busy Bees
Doctor Turtle's Which That is This
Arne Bang Huseby's Stormy Blues
Lobo Loco's Mountain Monk
Chan Wai Fat's Dream Instrumental
Dengue Fever's One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula Live
Jason Shaw's Landra's Dream
Live music in Kasghar, Courtesy of Justine Yan
She carries the good genes of music and science from the family.
Her grandmothers are physics professors in China, one of them plays the piano as a child.
Her father is a computer scientist, her mother is a medical scholar.
Yet, she struggled to learn the piano as a child. Her head was bored from slavishly following the sheet music. And her heart was burdened with a bitter childhood memory.
But all that changed when she discovered her fascination with computer programming as the pathway to animate her approach to understanding music.
How did Xiao Xiao eventually reach a breakthrough?
How did she combine her head and her heart to break the barrier between the technical and the emotional, the physical and the digital?
How did she confront gender bias and societal pressure as a woman in STEM?
Listen to Episode 6: “She Has Overcome: Cracking the Code of Learning Music” - my interview with Xiao Xiao - an artist, an autodidact, and a technologist with a Phd in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT Media Lab.
Music Used:
Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita No. 1 in B flat major BWV 825
Donal Fox's Partita for Three Characters
Beethoven's Opus 126 Bagatelles
Erik Satie's The Gnossiennes
Maurice Ravel's Sonatine 2nd Movement
Frédéric Chopin's Études
David O'Brien's Busy Bees
Kira Omans was just four months when she was abandoned in a public walkway near a bridge in Zhongshan, China.
Not only was she discovered and adopted to begin a new life in America, she would go on to become Miss Pacific Asian American (2015), a model, dancer, and an actress with her first lead in a new feature film “Shoes.”
How did she get back up when kids kick her down? Who discovered her talent as a actor and a dancer? Why did she enter a beauty pageant she once thought was filled with “airheads?”
Listen to my interview with Kira Omans in Episode #5 “She Has Overcome: Re-imagining an Unforgettable Past.”
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time
Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Music used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees
Jay Man's Playful Fun Days (ourmusicbox.com/)
Josh Woodward's Little Tomcat
Jason Shaw's Solo Acoustic Guitar
What would you do when someone tries to break you down, yelling at you saying “You’re the worst!?”
What would you do when no one believes in your startup idea, saying “it’s too idealistic. It’s never going to work!?”
What would you do when you face humiliating questions and intense scrutiny in front of millions of TV viewers?
Listen to Part 2 of my interview with Kimberly Jung in Episode #4 “Keep Climbing.”
An entrepreneur after overcoming class, cultural and gender barriers to forge a path that puts her at the heart of a bigger mission.
Music Used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees
Jesse Spillane's Untitled
Komiku's Boss 1: The first challenge
Kai Engel's Chance
What would you do when you hit a storm in the middle of climbing to the mountain top? Would you stop? Would you keep going?
She would keep climbing.
What would you do when your parents want you to marry a doctor or a lawyer, go to Harvard or Stanford?
She would rebel. She would choose a different path, become an army officer and an entrepreneur. How? Who is she?
She is Kimberly Jung - CEO/Founder of Rumi Spice.
Kimberly shares the story of her becoming brave, transcending barriers and making tough choices at different crossroads in her life.
Listen to Part 1 of my interview with Kimberly Jung in Episode #3 “Breaking Barriers.”
Music Used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees
Andy G. Cohen's A Perceptible Shift
Lee Rosevere's Love Wins
Jahzzar's No-End Ave
In America, the freedom of speech a First Amendment right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
The right to speak our mind is not only valued in the American culture but expected in our liberal democratic society where voices are votes. The American electoral process expects it, and American citizens demands it.
But what happens when the culture and society in which you grew up devalues or demeans free speech?
In this Episode #2 “Free to Speak?” we interview Chinese and Americans who have reflected on their cultural identity and their right to speak, after watching a controversial speech by Chinese student Shuping Yang at University of Maryland.
As Chinese in America, how freely can you speak? Who try to silence you?
Leanne Fan and Karen Su joined me for a studio conversation. Listen to “Free to Speak?”
Music Used:
Busy Bees by David O'Brien
Travel Light by Jason Shaw
Heroin by Mitch Hanley
It sounds like a simple question, “Are you Chinese?”
But why would someone ask it? And what makes it difficult for someone to answer it?
Eric Liao, our blogger/podcast intern at One in a Billion, started writing a blog about this question a month ago. When I first read it, it overwhelmed me with provocative ideas and perplexing analogies, and many of the underlying sentiments turn out to resonate with many young Asians in America. So we decided to turn that unfinished blog into a full-fledged podcast.
“Are you Chinese?” is not a simple question, as we've discovered after interviewing Eric and listening to dozens of Chinese and non-Chinese in America. It challenges their sense of belonging and individuality. Now, they’re speaking up.
Their experiences tell a story of our common struggle when we’re in our 20s - our struggle to establish our identity and individuality, and our search for belonging.
Listen to Eric’s story in “Are You Chinese?”
Music Used:
Busy Bees by David O'Brien
Xi by Andy G. Cohen
The War Drums of Peace by The Marian Circle Drum Brigade
Marty Ladies and Gentlemen by Doctor Turtle
The Encouragement Stick by Doctor Turtle
Grey Snow by John Woodward
How often do you hear these questions - “How high have you scored? How many hours do you work? How much have you done?”
Quantity is, of course important. It is a metric of output or outcome. We live in a results-driven economy that relies on quantifiable data to measure growth and success. But that alone can’t be enough to define the meaning and purpose of your work, can it?
Earlier this year, I wrote a blog about “Productivity & Purpose” after hearing a warmly personal and illuminating interview with Maria Popova, founder of “Brain Pickings” on “On Being with Krista Tippett.”
In this season for reflection, our listeners have asked me to share my blog again through narration. I hope you’ll find it helpful to your thinking about this year before embracing the new one!
Listen to our latest podcast episode “Reflecting on 2016.”
We want to include you in this conversation
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page, or our website at ChinaPersonified.com under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Music Used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees, 1648/5 (Album) Audio Network
Subscribe to "One in a Billion" below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
This year, I’ve promised my husband to be in Boston for Christmas and New Year. For the first time, it hit me how important it is to him that we celebrate Christmas, not in New York, or in Hong Kong (my hometown), but Cambridge our new home. I realize that his heart is forming roots to this place we’ve settled down for more than two years now. And in this season of longing, this is where he feels belonged. For me? It seems that I always feel belonged where I am most needed. Last month, I was able to spend more than two weeks with my father in Hong Kong, sitting with him mostly in silence while watching him watch TV, eat lunch or nap in the daybed as he coped with numerous issues including Alzheimer and Parkinson. A conversation was nearly impossible due to his cognitive decline and hearing difficulties. My gift for him was nothing more than my presence, punctured with periodic storytelling. Our quiet time together - my sitting by, being close, rendering care and reminiscing the way my father once was, the way we once were. I tried not to think about the future, but fully immersed in the moment we were sharing. How do you savor your time with your family? Listen to our latest podcast episode “Are You Home for Christmas?”
Our website bloggers Fang Guo and Xiao Fu had both written about their changing relationship with their parents earlier this year in “The Day My Father Fell” and “Dreaming of a New Beginning.”
Now, our listeners request to hear their voice narrating their blogs for this Holiday Season. I hope you’ll find them a cozy companion to your thoughts about our evolving identity and ties to your home.
We want to include you in this conversation
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page, or our website at ChinaPersonified.com under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Music Used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees, 1648/5 (Album) Audio Network
Julie Maxwell’s 25, Piano Soul
Chris Zabriskie’s Your Mothers Daughter, Music From Neptune Flux
Chris Zabriskie’s Undercover Vampire Policeman, Undercover Vampire Policeman
Chris Zabriskie’s The Temperature of the Air on the Bow of the Kaleetan,Undercover Vampire Policeman
Josh Woodward’s Under the Stairs, Breadcrumbs
Jason Shaw’s 12 Mornings, Audionautix: Acoustic
Subscribe to "One in a Billion" below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
What Makes You Different?
How often do you feel different from your peers in America? Under what circumstances do you find your values at odds with your immediate cultural environment? How do you assert your sense of uniqueness?
Listen to our latest podcast episode “What Makes You Different?”
Twin sisters Chellie and Sara Zou narrate their blog about how they see race as multi-racial kids in Indiana.
http://chinapersonified.com/how-i-see-race-as-a-multiracial-kid/
Zara Zhang will read her story about “Warm Water.”
http://chinapersonified.com/warm-water/
We want to include you in this conversation
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page, or our website at ChinaPersonified.com under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Subscribe to "One in a Billion" below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Music Used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees, 1648/5 (Album) Audio Network
Josh Woodward's Once Tomorrow, Creative Commons Music
Jahzzar's The Shine, Jamendo Music
Sláinte's Banish, Beejayzus Records
Hyson's Whispers, Honest Music
The first time I wanted to deny that I was Chinese, I was 17 years old facing another 17 year-old. She was tall, blonde and huge from Chicago.
“Where are you from?” She taunted me as I was sitting quietly in the corner, watching with wide-eyed wonder every teenage girl dancing up a storm on a chair or on a table. It was our Friday night “break out and dance” party inside a private high school outside of Detroit.
“Hong Kong.” I muttered softly because she looked intimidating. She was three times my size, a full head taller, and scowled while staring me down. I had just arrived in America several weeks ago. I was the only Asian girl in the room, and this was my first encounter with a mean white girl.
“What? HANG? KANG? Where’s that? What are you? Japanese?”
Her rapid-fire, mid-western accented English coming out of her big mouth was bitingly cruel. I first stuttered a little, then gave it a go. “I am Chinese... from Hong Kong.”
“Chinese!? No, you’re not. You are Japanese!!!”
She started cracking up so loudly that I suddenly felt an urge to quickly agree with her, just to shut her up! Can you believe that? No, I didn’t say a word. She kept it up for another minute, calling me Japanese and pulling my hair. I felt shame, small and shrinking in fear.
What made me think of this insulting bullying scenario from my teenage years, were the numerous intimate stories I heard while moderating the “Why Not Me” open-mic storytelling forum at Harvard on Oct 14th. The event was designed for Asians to share experiences of bias and barriers that put them on the outside looking in.
Many students who previously kept secret their immigrant experiences of being ostracized, ridiculed or shut out have decided to come forth and share their painful experiences. Some have described a breakdown, others recounted their breakthrough. Throughout the evening, I saw many in the audience wiping their weepy eyes, including me.
What dawned on me is how the “ugly American” image is still alive and kicking today, decades later. Not only in high school or college, but in the larger culture. We see it play out in politics, on TV, and even in our own homes and neighborhood.
But I also believe that we can enable the better angels of our nature to emerge and embrace our diversity – in our schools, our workplace, our churches and our communities.
I invite you to listen to One in a Billion “Why Not Me? Part 2.”
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at ChinaPersonified.com under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time. Music Used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees, 1648/5 (Album) Audio Network
Jason Shaw’s Acoustic Meditation, Music by Audionautix
Andy G. Cohen’s Warmer, Creative Commons License
Axeltree’s The Thorn Revisit, Free Music Society
Julie Maxwell’s Dark Wonder, Bandcamp
Josh Woodward’s Hollow Grove, Jamendo Music
Kevin Macleod’s Cattails, Incompetech ———————— Subscribe to my podcasts below: PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
Snap Judgments. Stereotypes. Implicit Bias.
They exist everywhere, across and beyond Harvard.
When I was a graduate student in the Regional Studies East Asia Program, I had experienced attitudes and comments that were sprinkled with presumptions from faculty and administrators whom I thought, would or should know to suspend judgment before they begin an enquiry. That enquiry could be as simple as a casual conversation or a probing question that would lead them to know me, as a person, before making reckless remarks. That was my assumption or expectation, you see. Well, I didn’t see it then. This is what I still recall.
The day I handed in my thesis (more than 20 years ago), I went into my department program administrator’s office and yelled, “I did it!’’ Margaret looked up from her desk, cluttered with piles of paper, and smiled, “Nice job! You’ve proved to be more than a pretty face!” “What? Wow…” My heart froze a bit. “Was that a back-handed compliment!?” I stood and wondered, stunned and speechless.
Margaret knew me as someone with a TV on-air background as an international correspondent with field experiences in a glamorous profession. Perhaps she thought I could run around the world covering breaking news but not buckle down to read books and write a paper? Perhaps she thought I would throw my hands up one day and just drop out? Perhaps she has seen that happen at Harvard? Whatever that was, I would never know. But what I know is this – it felt so out of line. What was particularly striking was the emotional gusto in her tone as if I was to be congratulated for having succeeded in surprising her, and proving her wrong. Obviously that was a rather harmless incident, one of several other instances where I felt like I was viewed as a “less than” until proven otherwise. My response?
I swallowed it, in silence, in disgust and brushed it off.
Twenty years later, Harvard is home to an ever-growing number of international students with complex and diverse backgrounds and experiences before they arrive. The university is increasingly active in exploring ways to invite them to speak up, share stories so we can understand one another better.
Earlier this Fall, I was invited by the Graduate School of Education to moderate and produce “Why Not Me?” the first open-mic storytelling event at Harvard (“The Moth” style) via live streaming on YouTube, and taped recording for my podcast “One in a Billion.” Tracie Jones (Assistant Director of the Office of Student Affairs at the Graduate School of Education) saw a critical need to better serve the rising number of Asian students who aren’t always ready to talk about anxieties and vulnerabilities due to race, class, sexual orientation or stereotypes. Their personal stories drive home the point “Why Not Me?” in their pursuit of a more fulfilling life.
Listen to this Special Edition of “ One in a Billion“ “Why Not Me? Part 1.”
We want to include you in this conversation. To send us your stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at ChinaPersonified.com under “Pitch a Story.”
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Music used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees, 1648/5 (Album) Audio Network
Doctor Turtle’s It Looks Like The Future, But It Feels Like The Past, Flush Your Rolex
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Flush_Your_Rolex_1416/it_looks_like_the_future_but_it_feels_like_the_past
Dave Keifer’s New Moon, Howdy Persephone
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Dave_Keifer/Howdy_Persephone/NEW_MOON
Doctor Turtle’s Know No No-Nos, Flush Your Rolex
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/Flush_Your_Rolex_1416/know_no_no-nos
TRG Banks’s The Silver Bus, Dreamland
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/TRG_Banks/Dreamland/The_silver_bus
MMFFF’s The Army's March, The Dance of the Sky
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/MMFFF/The_Dance_of_the_Sky/The_Armys_March
Andy G. Cohen’s Monkeybars, Through the Lens
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Andy_G_Cohen/Through_The_Lens/Andy_G_Cohen_-_Monkeybars
————————
Subscribe to my podcasts below:
PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud
I spent most of my 20s pretending that I had no fears. Fears are messy. They mess up my optimism, my can-do spirit, they hold me back. I turned a blind eye to them so they wouldn’t slow me down. I realized that I had chosen a career, television news, that is relentlessly fast-paced and fiercely competitive especially in America’s top media town - New York. I was laser-focused on learning everything I could about the nature of the industry, the demands of my job, and the dynamics of my colleagues and supervisors. I tried to make friends with everyone, I did my best to deliver results as asked, and sometimes I even pushed myself to exceed expectations. I thought I had everything right and well and I would surely get that promotion I was eyeing next. I was dead wrong.
One day, I found myself lying on the floor, having collapsed from hyperventilating over the loss of the promotion to another colleague. I was a mess, crying uncontrollably over the blatant bias in favor of a co-worker whom I thought was lazy, manipulative and frequently flirtatious. “Where’s justice in the world!?” I still remember yelling out inside myself even as I was being wheeled out on a stretcher to the hospital emergency room. I couldn’t contain my emotional outburst. I had a nervous breakdown. I was 24.
That incident scared me about myself. I lost my nerves! Wow, I could handle breaking news stories from 4 alarm fire to bloody shooting in Chinatown, but I couldn’t handle my own emotion. It also taught me that I had been investing so much energy and even attachment to a promotion. I wanted to be recognized for my work, and I thought I deserved it. But when I was in the ER, a kind colleague came to visit me and reminded me that even if I was right and my boss was wrong, I was not in charge. This promotion isn’t about me, it’s about the boss and what he saw was the right fit not just for the job, but also for the workplace. It dawned on me then that I was probably working for the wrong person at the wrong place and the wrong time.
I share this story because among other things like office politics or implicit bias in the outside world, it exposes deep pride and fears in my inner world that I never quite explored until I had a breakdown.
In my interview with Alison Chen and Franklin Chen (no relation to Alison), they opened up their struggle in their journey to find a job after graduation and to find acceptance and recognition in American workplace. What struck me about our conversation, is their candor and acceptance about what scares them. As I listen and think back on what was lost on me in my 20s, I learn that fear will pass if we let it come to us, let it stay and show its nature, and also let it go away.
Listen to “One in a Billion” “Face Our Fears.”
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page, or our website at ChinaPersonified.com under “Pitch a Story.” Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Music Used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees, 1648/5 (Album) Audio Network
MMFFF’s Rebirth of the Golden Sun, The Dance of the Sky (Album)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/MMFFF/The_Dance_of_the_Sky/Rebirth_of_the_Golden_Sun
Julie Maxwell’s Redefining, Piano Soul (Album)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Julie_Maxwells_Piano_Music/Piano_Soul/Julie_Maxwells_piano_music_-_Piano_Soul_-_19_Redefining
Julie Maxwell’s Hide and Come Find, Piano Soul (Album)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Julie_Maxwells_Piano_Music/Piano_Soul/Julie_Maxwells_piano_music_-_Piano_Soul_-_26_Hide_and_Come_Find
Before I launched my media startup in 2012, I never imagined that one day, I would form a company to create a digital platform for young people from China and America to share personal stories and to build a network community.
That was a quantum leap from my job for decades as a TV journalist writing and producing for American network news in New York.
But over the years, I knew I was also getting restless and curious about what else I could do with my background as a producer and storyteller. I had served as a volunteer in different roles and contexts, including being a mentor to young Asian journalists, and a “Big Sister” to a “Little Sister” born to Chinese parents from Fujian province struggling to adjust to new immigrant life in America. These were highly rewarding work. But I was never ready to quit my job to pursue that type of work full time. I let my restlessness and curiosity sit for one year after another. I did nothing to tend to them. I enjoyed the stable income, a stimulating work environment and exciting lifestyle in New York. In essence, I lacked motivation to jump ship.
But one day, something pushed me over the edge.
My job at ABC News was on the line. The network was about to restructure the news division; thousands of jobs including mine could be cut. I faced a fork in the road that offered two choices – I could accept a buyout that gives me the cash and freedom to pursue something else, or I could sit tight and let the axe fall where they may once my contract expires in a year. Although there was no imminent threat that I would be laid off, somehow, the idea of taking the money to pursue something else was highly liberating.
I had already invested more than twenty years of my life working in American network news, I felt I had maximized the opportunities available to me. When I talked to my close friends and advisors, I was encouraged to hear that they thought I had always been an entrepreneurial problem-solver. Their optimism boosted my optimism. Once I decided to take a leap, a net appears.
Like Q, founder of 2RedBeans, I dared not quit my job before I felt I had some resources and time to take risk. How do you think about risk?
In our two previous episodes with Q, she shared her incredible search for husband in “Finding Love in America: Reality Bites and Are You The One?”
In this episode “Is Entrepreneurship Right For You?” we listen to the back story of Q’s journey as an entrepreneur. We have included your voices in this conversation – including this question “is it every too early to become an entrepreneur?” I have also interviewed Tim Rowe, founder of CIC (Cambridge Innovation Center) who began his entrepreneurial life when he was a kid in middle school!
Listen to “One in a Billion” “Is Entrepreneurship Right for You?”
In our next episode, “Face Our Fears” I’ll talk with two young Chinese who recently graduated from Harvard and Boston University about unpredictable challenges they face in trying to land their dream job in America.
What is holding you back from getting your foot in the door? What scares you? How do you manage your anxiety?
We want to include you in this conversation.
To send us your stories, just go to our Facebook page, or our website at
ChinaPersonified.com under “Pitch a Story. “
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Music Used:
David O'Brien's Busy Bees, 1648/5 (Album) Audio Network
Jahzzar's Good Night, Sele (Album)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/Sele/good_night_f
Andy G. Cohen's Land Legs, MUL/DIV (Album)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Andy_G_Cohen/MUL__DIV_1198/Andy_G_Cohen_-_MULDIV_-_02_-_Land_Legs
Lee Rosevere's Puzzle Pieces, Music for Podcasts 2 (Album)
freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rose…_Puzzle_Pieces
TGR Banks' The Silver Bus, Dreamland (Album)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/TRG_Banks/Dreamland/The_silver_bus
Finding Love in America: Are You the One?
Since I began dating seriously in my 30s, I found myself often asking if the guy I was seeing at the time was “the one” I wanted to settle down with for the rest of my life. Frankly, I was less “husband hunting” than on the lookout for a devoted life partner in a committed relationship. To me, devotion, honesty and loyalty are paramount. At various stages of my decades of dating, I had almost given up on the notion of “marriage” until one day, out of the blue, “Mr Right” walked into my life. Really. Almost literally. We first met through mutual friends on the street! (Harvard campus – on Alumni Reunion Day) That was April 2013. We clicked almost instantly. Our connection was constant and natural. It was as if, all our lives, our different choices and paths had prepared us for this moment, to meet and to fall in love. We got engaged in six months, and we got married six months later.
I think that’s how life unfolds for many of us. We keep looking and looking – for love, for a job, for that incredible opportunity that will change our lives forever. But we don’t often realize that every moment of our experience, when we are mindful of its lessons to us, is teaching us how to get ourselves mentally and emotionally ready for that moment when unexpectedly, it will just come to you.
Remember in “Finding Love in America series: Part 1: Reality Bites," Q (nickname for Qinghua Zhao, from Xian China) was under immense pressure from her parents to find a husband and have children when she was about to turn 31.
She had failed to find a match for years until one day, she unexpectedly stumbled on someone who signed up on 2RedBeans, the dating website she’d eventually launch to help herself and many Chinese singles like her find a life partner. 90 days later, she knew “he is the one.” How did she know? As an engineer, how did she get herself ready to launch a startup?
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time.
In our next episode, “Is Entrepreneurship Right for you?” Q will tell us how she found light at the end of the tunnel? Why she kept going? And where is the source of her strength?
We also want to include you in this conversation! What are your questions about being an entrepreneur?
To send us your questions and stories, Just go to our website at ChinaPersonified.com under “Pitch a Story."
Or email me your audio story (maximum 5 minutes) to info@chinapersonified.com before our deadline next Tuesday. September 27th. I may contact you for an interview, or include your voice in our next episode the following Tuesday on October 4th. I’d love to hear from you.
Music Used:
Lee Rosevere's Puzzle Pieces
Dave O'Brien's Busy Bees
Philipp Weigl's Subdivision of the Masses
What do you look for when you are seeking “the one?”
I believe the answer lies mainly in when you are looking and why.
When I was in my 20s, dating in America was a form of self-discovery. “The one” was usually someone, Chinese or non-Chinese, who opened my eyes to something new, something fun and exciting, something profound and intriguing. This “one” would be a bridge made of all kinds of materials that made it unique. This unique bridge, not a final destination, was what I wanted.
I was always attracted to quirky, charismatic and challenging characters who would make me laugh, cry, think hard, think again, try hard and try again. You may call that a teacher figure, a father figure, a mentor, a hero – but never a husband. I suppose I was indulging in this kind of self and life exploration because I could. My parents in Hong Kong never gave me pressure to marry.
Now I realize it’s very different for Chinese millennials seeking “the one.” Most of them are the only child, facing tremendous pressure from their parents in China to settle down, get married and have kids while still in their 20s.
But finding love in America is challenging for anyone at any age. It’s especially tough if you’re a woman approaching 30, and suddenly single after a 6-year relationship was over. That was Q’s story.
“Q” is nickname for Qinghua Zhao, from Xian, China. Her parents in China were getting anxious, and she told me she began “aggressive dating.” She went online, met many “good people” as she called them, but none was her match. While husband hunting, Q also hit a crisis in her professional life.
What would she do to find her husband and turn her life around? Honestly, I found her choices and grit amazing.
Here’s a hint:
Before she found her husband, she founded a start-up 2RedBeans a dating website for Chinese in America. She turned her personal problem into a business opportunity that would help other people just like her. How?
Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
“One in a Billion” is listening to #China , one person at a time.
If you are a parent, what does your child’s name say about you?
In America, most parents pick a name that reflects the femininity of a girl, the strength of a boy, or their own personality and individuality.
In China, a child’s name often embodies the parents’ hopes and dreams. They are idealistic and aspirational. If you want your son to aim and fly high, name him “Ling!” That’s Richard Yan’s Chinese name.
His parents wanted him to follow in his father’s footstep to “fly across the Pacific Ocean” to America for higher education and a better life.
“Ever since I can remember, my parents have been telling me about the meaning of my name and stories about my dad while he was studying in the U.S. in the 1980s. We started learning English at a fairly young age as well, to prepare ourselves to go overseas to study. That has always been part of my identity and aspirations.”
Born in Wuhan and raised in Shenzhen, 31 year-old Richard has been living the “American Dream” as a Chinese dreamer. He has succeeded in getting financial aid and scholarship, graduating with degrees from Dartmouth and NYU (MBA) that would soon put him in high paying jobs on Wall Street.
But one day, he hit a roadblock. He quit. He decided to launch his own company at 30. What is it? Why?
Listen to "One in a Billion" my podcast interview with Richard in “Living Your Father's Dream?” Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?
"One in a Billion" is listening to #China, one person at a time.
Music Used:
Lee Rosevere's Live the World
Dave O'Brien's Busy Bees
Mitch Hanley's The Dinghy, Bow
Angel Lam's Eyes in the Sky 2
Muyi Xiao first caught my eye with her urgently captivating photo collection titled “Married Young.”
It’s a story about teenage parents in China.
One photo shows a 16 year-old mother, gazing adoringly at the sleeping infant in her arms.
Another photo caption says Jian and Mei are expecting a baby in a few months. They were 15 and 16 when they got married.
I was scratching my head going…what? Why? Why so young? What about school? What’s the story here?
As I kept clicking more pictures for clues, I stopped asking questions. I started seeing each photo through the eyes of these children. The camera has turned my focus to the happy faces, thin bodies and tiny bed, projecting a reality that is immediately pure and profoundly provocative. They seem to be speaking back to me through these photos, saying “I’m a mother and I am happy.” “We’re having a baby. We are going to take care of each other.”
These touching images left me in awe.
Who’s behind the camera? That led me to Muyi Xiao .
Born in Wuhan, China, 24 year-old Muyi has worked for Reuters and Tencent for a couple of years before moving to New York for a Magnum fellowship, and a new media training program at the International Center for Photography.
I tracked down Muyi for a cup of coffee in New York. We talked like old friends for an hour, and I knew, I had to interview her for my new podcast.
Muyi’s story is about a girl who knew early in life that growing up in a rural family with no money, no connection, and parents with no college education or exposure to the West, she has to be independent, persistent and positive.
But still, how does a girl who’s failed the college entrance exam in China, notoriously known as Gaokao move on with her life? Where could she go? How did she end up in Beijing? Why did she pick up a camera and how did that become her passion and calling in life?
Let her story inspire you.
Music Used:
Angel Lam's Eyes in the Sky 2
Song of the Deep
Qi Gang & Chang Jin's Blueness
Mitch Hanley's The Dhingy, Bow
Mitch Hanley's Heroin
Mitch Hanley's The Dhingy, Stern
I saw Mojia Shen for the first time in a YouTube video G(irls) 2015 summit after a friend told me she would make a great interview for my new podcast, One in a Billion. The minute she started talking, I was intrigued.
Her voice is strong, earnest and engaging.
How did she develop such a passionate persona, speaking directly to camera in English, her second language? That was just the first of a billion questions I had. Where did she come from? What’s her back story? What is she doing now?
Next, I googled her. In 0.61 seconds, 1800 results popped up.
In her Linked In profile – she writes “ I am a Made in China Robot turned Creative Human.” Almost immediately, I felt like I understood her. Her essence and her quest.
At age 19, Mojia knew where she came from, what she was expected to do, and she had worked hard to follow rules, fulfill everyone’s expectation, earn her marks and deliver results. Then came a surprise. When she got early admission offer from Beijing University, a top school in China, she turned that down. Why?
Her story in Episode #1 “Choosing Uncertainty” epitomizes a dream that is commonly shared among all of us. A dream to live a truly meaningful and fulfilling life.
What’s perhaps most uncommon about Mojia is her courage to push her limits. In the eyes of her world – her parents, her friends and her community, she was already perceived as having achieved the best. Yet, she was defying that definition of success. She chose to disrupt her sense of identity of where she belonged. She chose to join a global community of pathfinders and innovators to explore what is possible for her in life.
Learn more at chinapersonified.com/episode-1-titl…reative-human/
Music Used:
Dave O'Brien's Busy Bees
Mitch Hanley's The Dhingy, Bow
A 16 year-old girl from Hebei province decides to come to America after spending nine years at a Chinese army youth school. She is 21 years old now. A rising junior at Wellesley College and a budding social entrepreneur, Mojia Shen calls herself a “Made in China robot turned creative human.”
One In A Billion is a platform about this rising generation of entrepreneurs, artists, and other creative types.
Learn more at ChinaPersonified.com