Braids & Jade: Recent Episodes
Jhanay Williams
The bilingual rate of Black Americans is only 7.4 percent. Jhanay Williams, host and founder of Braids & Jade, meets expats, travelers, language experts, and entrepreneurs who are on defying this statistic and undergoing their own language journey.
The podcast is dedicated to helping people of color learn Asian languages and shining a light on professional and personal opportunities gained from learning a new language.
This week we're in Thailand! Discover Mackenzi Bell-Nugent, a certified yoga instructor, professional dancer, English teacher and two-time cancer survivor.
Mackenzi and I discuss dismantling white supremacy in the wellness and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) spaces, overcoming social anxiety when learning a language, and what she's looking forward to with the recent reopening of Thailand's borders.
Where to Find Mackenzi Bell-Nugent:
Show Notes:
Be The Match
Learn Thai Language with Ling
Simply Learn Thai Language
Are you a person of color learning an Asian language? Connect with us at info@braidsandjade.com.
Make sure you follow us on social media:
Instagram: @braidsandjade
Facebook: @braidsandjade
Twitter: @_braidsandjade
This week we head back to China - Nanjing, China, to be specific, to meet with the visual anthropologist, content creator, and ex-pat, Briana Lennet.
Briana and I discuss what the heck a contemporary anthropologist actually does (admit it, you don't know either), dismantling systems of oppression that black students face, living in China in the age of COVID, and ways we're keeping our mental health in check.
Where to Find Briana Lennet
Website
YouTube
Are you a person of color learning an Asian language? Connect with us at info@braidsandjade.com.
Make sure you follow us on social media:
Instagram: @braidsandjade
Facebook: @braidsandjade
Twitter: @_braidsandjade
In this week's episode, I meet Brittany Edwards, author of Taiwan: An Underrated Paradise. Blending travelogue and guidebook, this book chronicles Brittany’s encounters with culture shock and the places and people she meets while living in Taiwan. Her venture reminds us what it means to explore - beyond the picture-perfect moments and into the history of a place and the journey to self-discovery.
Brittany and I discuss learning Mandarin, reclaiming the "spark" once we moved back to the U.S., and applying to a Fulbright Program.
Where to Find Brittany Edwards
Youtube
Show Notes:
Fulbright Program
Traveling Black Women Network
Are you a person of color learning an Asian language? Connect with us at info@braidsandjade.com.
Make sure you follow us on social media:
Instagram: @braidsandjade
Facebook: @braidsandjade
Twitter: @_braidsandjade
In our very first minisode, I had the chance to talk to Renée, a model, dancer, actress, entertainer, and trailblazer who moved from New Jersey to the vibrant city of Seoul, South Korea.
Renée and I discuss building out a freelance career in Asia, the thriving black creative community in Seoul, and learning how to finance study trips to Korea.
Where to Find Renée Simone
TikTok
Youtube
Show Notes:
Renée's Korea Times Interview
Viki
Are you a person of color learning an Asian language? Connect with us at info@braidsandjade.com.
Make sure you follow us on social media:
Instagram: @braidsandjade
Facebook: @braidsandjade
Twitter: @_braidsandjade
Hasani knew at a young age that learning Chinese would unlock a whole new world for him. Now, he's a Schwarzman Scholar living in Beijing and running a successful TikTok page showcasing his life exploring China.
Hasani and I discuss his journey to fluency, and the highs and lows of living abroad as a black student.
Where to Find Hasani
TikTok
YouTube
Are you a person of color learning an Asian language? Connect with us at info@braidsandjade.com.
Make sure you follow us on social media:
Instagram: @braidsandjade
Facebook: @braidsandjade
Twitter: @_braidsandjade
Jonathan's 10+ years in Japan sound like a dream - from living in the tranquil countryside to moving to Tokyo and launching an international video production agency, BENTO LABS. Now, Jonathan faces a new journey: moving back to the United States.
Jonathan and I discuss the highs and lows of learning multiple languages, Japanese work culture, and what he's looking forward to the most once he's stateside.
Show Notes:
The Black Japan Experience
Where to find Jonathan:
Are you a person of color learning an Asian language? Connect with us at info@braidsandjade.com.
Make sure you follow us on social media:
Instagram: @braidsandjade
Facebook: @braidsandjade
Twitter: @_braidsandjaade
Living with a chronic illness is scary - discovering you have a chronic illness in a foreign country where you don't speak the language fluently is even scarier. This, however, didn't sway Rumbiey, founder of Purposefully Healthy from discovering her passion in Traditional Chinese Medicine and sleep research in Shanghai.
Rumbiey and I discuss life in China as a black student, working with traditional Chinese doctors, the current political climate of Sino-African relations, and empowering people of color to own their space.
Where to Find Rumbiey
Website
Are you a person of color learning an Asian language? Connect with us at info@braidsandjade.com.
Make sure you follow us on social media:
Instagram: @braidsandjade
Facebook: @braidsandjade
Twitter: @_braidsandjade
Show Notes:
BOSS LADY Shanghai
Articles on Sino-African Relations:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/podcasts/the-daily/cobalt-climate-change.html
https://www.csis.org/analysis/where-africa-china-relationship-headed-2021
https://thediplomat.com/2021/12/is-the-africa-china-relationship-at-its-lowest-or-highest-level-yet/
Tayler was in her mid-twenties when she decided to take the plunge and move to South Korea. Little did she know this decision would help launch her wildly-successful Youtube series Tayler With An E, where she showcases her day-to-day life as a black woman living in South Korea.
Note: This interview was recorded in 2021.
Only 4% of black Americans hold a degree in world languages - and only 5% of all students who study abroad are black, why is that?
Braids & Jade explores societal topics that have caused the major racial divide in the language-learning community, specifically within travel and language-learning groups in Asia, one of the large growing and influential global networks in the world, with very little POC representation and leadership.