Blue Hearts: Recent Episodes
Maggie Guan
Blue Hearts is a podcast where we interview inspiring individuals and engage in deep conversation, diving into philosophical topics like passion, purpose, happiness, self-improvement, and everything in between.
Our tenth episode features Silen Naihin, a 19-year-old Minerva student interested in tech and entrepreneurship. Silen is the co-founder of Impress, a tool for YouTubers to test thumbnails and titles pre-production to maximize views and engagement.
Silen shares some very interesting and insightful points on what happiness is (Eudaimonia -> long term happiness vs. Hedonia -> short term happiness), how he believes self-improvement is self-awareness (and how to gain both), how to get out of a trough, the ideal version of himself, and much more. I personally love how he stated that awareness is a combination of both personal reflection and conversations with other people, as you can understand so much more through feedback. I learned so much from this episode, and I'm sure you'll gain a ton of value from it as well!
I hope you enjoy! Have an incredible day :)
-Maggie
In our 9th episode, I talk to Jeff Zhang: a recent graduate of Cornell University, interested in CS, entrepreneurship, and engineering.
Jeff the founder of Boba Chats, a platform where people can engage in open and authentic conversation, about values, dreams, and struggles and much more. They hope to build a positive family atmosphere and foster lasting relationships.
This is actually our first in-person podcast episode! Here, Jeff and I dive into his aim to give the Asian community a voice, what it means to love others and ourselves, our ideal types, and much more. I hope you guys enjoy ;)
-Mags
Mrs. Byrne is the principal of Dublin High School. She has taught for 12 years before becoming DHS's principal for 5.
Mrs. Byrne loves to travel and cares about experience, connection, and adventure. She has backpacked through Europe, lived in Spain for a year and a half, spent four months mostly by herself in Thailand, Burma, India, and Nepal, and had adventures in several other countries.
In the first half of our eighth episode, we discuss Mrs. Byrne's love for travel and adventure, how she finds the balance as both a parent and administrator, and how and why she decided to pursue education and administrative work. In the second half, we dive into her definition of success and happiness, her dreams and purpose, what makes a great leader, and so much more.
I hope you enjoy this episode!!
- Mags <3
Stephanie Su is currently a high school senior and an incoming freshman at UC Berkeley. She's the lead director of Superposition, an international non-profit that aims to bridge the gender gap in STEM. Superposition has reached 300,000 people in 105 countries and created the Bay Area's largest all-women and non-binary hackathon at Uber HQ.
Stephanie is also the founder and executive director of Ad Astra Youth, which helps student-led initiatives create social impact through consultations and mentorship, and an intern to the CEO at Fiveable, which academically and socially empowers young people through live streams, free study resources, and community.
In our seventh episode, we discuss Stephanie's aim to empower women and minorities in STEM, as well as to help others achieve their goals of social impact in their organizations. We dive into the definition of happiness and success, fighting the fear of judgment, and how Stephanie's worldview changed over time.
Check out her personal website: http://stephsu.me/
Visit Superposition's official site: https://superposition.tech/
I hope you guys enjoy listening! Have a great day <3
-Mags
In our 6th episode, I talk to Kristen Fang, the founder and college counselor of College Lead, a Youtube channel focused on providing college application advice. Kristen graduated from Harvard University in 2019 with a degree in Computational Neuroscience, and she currently works in business operations in a high-growth startup called Cocoon.
We cover many topics in this episode, including the difference between working at a startup vs. a large corporation, the importance of habits and setting systems, lessons learned as a founder, the meaning of life, and the importance of relationships. I had a great time talking to her, and I'm sure you'll get something out of this episode <3
Check out College Lead: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCitTwYmnrSSo1YmH12IrFyg
Here's Kristen's Personal Website: https://kristenfang.com/
The articles Kristen wrote about lessons learned from failure:
Pt 1: https://tinyurl.com/km4bt8fy, Pt 2: https://tinyurl.com/2djak9mf
Thanks so much for tuning in!
- Mags
In our fifth episode, I talk to Macy Lee, a sophomore at UC Davis and the founder of Talang Dalisay, an international mental health organization based in the Philippines, for and by the Filipino youth. She also loves writing and public speaking, currently writing for the California Aggie and having spoken at various conferences and schools in and out of the Philippines since she was 14 years old. Macy also loves cows!
In this episode, we dive into Macy's experiences with writing, speaking, and expressing herself through her content; what "true love" really means; what comprises a meaningful friendship; and so much more. Through her words, Macy conveys plenty of wisdom, confidence, and authenticity, and I'm sure you'll get something out of this episode :)
Find Macy here: https://www.macylovescows.com/
Here's Talang Dalisay's website: https://www.talangdalisay.org/
Check out Macy's Youtube channel (Macylovescows): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIMwtPx5lUa2sQNHlgVL7Ew.
Have a great day everyone!
-mags
Grace Ling is a designer at Electronic Arts and the founder and design lead of the Design Buddies community, which has accumulated over 19,000 members. She creates content for social media and her blog to help out students, designers, and community builders.
In our fourth episode, Grace shares her passion for art and biology, bringing ideas into life, and fostering communities, with the ultimate aim of making those around her happy and providing a medium for others to share their voice. She also shares her story of overcoming bullying and other obstacles, channeling her energy into running and other activities to improve herself and inspire others.
Check out her website: https://www.grace-ling.com/.
Join Design Buddies: https://www.designbuddies.community/.
Follow Grace on Instagram: @irungracepace
I hope you guys will take something out of this episode!
-Mags
Kyler is a junior in Portland, Oregon, and he is the co-founder and CEO of Spark Teen, a company that works with teen founders to build impactful companies. This episode dives pretty deep, as he shares incredibly insightful points about purpose, happiness, and the meaning of life.
Kyler seeks to make a generational change, with teenagers embracing failure and hustling in the real world, ultimately pursuing what's meaningful to them. We even touch on the topic of SATs and college, where he believes we should find the point of least trade-off between pursuing your passions and keeping up your activities and grades for higher education.
Check out Spark Teen: https://www.sparkteen.org/about.
I hope this episode serves to inspire you :)
- Maggie
In our second episode, I talk to Calix Huang, a junior in the Bay Area who's passionate about startups and full-stack software engineering.
Calix is the founder of LaunchTech and is currently focused on building Hours, a platform that boosts productivity for students through virtual study groups. He's also taken on many software engineering intern roles, including those at Hack+ and Restvo.
In our episode, Calix shares the passion he has for building platforms out of nothing and eventually distributing them to consumers, as well as the dedication and grit it takes for him to gain the knowledge and keep working even when things get tough. I especially love his point about how success can bring fulfillment, yet it's not the same as- only a contributing factor in- happiness.
Here's Calix's personal website: https://calix.dev/.
Check out Launch Tech: https://launchtechllc.com/.
Sign up for Hours: https://hours.zone/.
Thanks so much for tuning in!
-Maggie
In our first ever episode, I interview Ellen Xu, a sophomore in San Diego who is researching and raising awareness for Kawasaki Disease, is greatly involved in Elevate the Future, and has excelled at several other activities.
We talk about perseverance in both the arts and athletics, her passion for business and technology, motivation, time-management, the definition of success, and so much more. We really hope you gain something from our conversations!
Check out Ellen's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYJc3PrHy1qQ1CB79j5_75w.
Listen to the Elevate the Future Podcast: https://www.itspmagazine.com/elevate-the-future.
Learn more about Kawasaki disease: https://kdfoundation.org/aboutkd/.
Thank you guys so much for tuning in!
-Mags
Introduction segment for Blue Hearts, a podcast where we interview inspiring individuals and dive deep into philosophical topics, including passion, purpose, happiness, and everything in between.