“Just because your parents wanted the best for you in one way doesn't mean that you rebelling doesn't mean you still can't give back to them by living a good life.” Michael Wong is basically a cultural anthropologist for Asian America. A Seattle-based commentator, Michael’s best known for Asian Verified on Instagram + TikTok, and also writes a monthly column for The Stranger, a Seattle newspaper. This is the first of many conversation with Filipino entrepreneurs GUEST-hosted by new FrieMMd of the Pod, past guest, and Filipina entrepreneur Lisa Angulo Reid.  LEARN MORE instagram.com/asianverified thestranger.com/collections/79782549/asian-verified GUEST HOST (Lisa Reid): https://dearflor.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Day in and day out, you work with these people — doctors, engineers and developers from India — I felt compelled to tell the story of a diaspora in this broken immigration system.” Vidyut Latay — an award-winning documentary filmmaker - and director of ALIEN: AMERICAN DREAM DENIED - a new documentary (on Amazon Prime) that spotlights the emotional journey of high-skilled, documented immigrants as they seek permanence in a country that benefits from their talent, but denies them a home. Immigration continues to be a hot-button topic in today’s political climate —from H1-Bs to greencards as paths to citizenship — for highly-skilled foreign tech workers — which many of us only have a surface-level understanding of, despite it impacting so many of our friends, family members, coworkers, and neighbors. Raman will be moderating a panel / screening of ALIEN on March 2, 2025 at Ridgefield Library in Connecticut (registration link below).  Vidyut was also director of her debut groundbreaking documentary "Beyond Silence" — which screened on PBS, at film festivals around the world, won awards, was part of UCLA curriculum, and was also invited to the Incloodu Deaf Arts Festival — England’s  first media and arts festival for the hard of hearing. Vidyut’s also worked on award-winning documentaries like  "Waiting for Superman" and "Kailash" and back in India, she was an executive producer for India's premier television networks - Zee TV and Zoom. You’ll enjoy this far-ranging conversation on not just immigration, but how Vidyat meets her calling to address meaningful social issues through documentary filmmaking. LEARN MORE vidyutlatay.com FILM: primevideo.com/detail/Alien-American-Dream-Denied/0POGXJDM96X5YYZ4XQLTB9CR9S SCREENING (3/2): ridgefieldlibrary.librarymarket.com/event/hold-documentary-alien-111504 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we wrap 2024, here’s the year’s “minority voices for all our majority ears.” While it’s certainly been a long and winding year, we hope our conversations have shared some relief and perspective. So why not give us the gift of a fresh 5-star review? apple.co/2Le6lpM Featuring the voices of Kamala Harris, Isaac Saul, Edel Rodriguez, Kris Stith, Ed Rigaud, Najoh Tita-Reid, John Pepper, Ursula Jones, Linda Clement-Holmes, Bonnie Wan, Bernice Ang, Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, Seif Hamid, Claire Yoon-Elvers, Andrew Tarvin, Veera Hiranandani, Mariko Tamaki, Sudha Ranganathan, Ida Abdalkhani, Wendy Nguyen, Nir Eyal, Kathy Macleoud, Lisa Angulo Reid, Chris Schmicker, Vanessa Huynh, and Pedro Martin. Heard something you liked? Be sure to go back and check out each guest’s full episode. And special thanks to YOU for your continued support of our podcast and amazing guests!  As we march ahead into a very interesting 2025, let us know what YOU think - [email protected]  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“She asked, ‘do you go by Peter or Pedro? You're writing a memoir - shouldn't, you know?’ I'm writing a story about myself and I don't know myself — so I'm going to take the journey with the character.” ” Pedro Martín is creator of MEXIKID, a graphic memoir about Pedro’s Mexican-American childhood and family in the 1970s - specifically a road trip to Mexico to their legendary abuelito - who may or may not have been part of the Mexican revolution. Mexikid has received tons of critical acclaim —  listed as a top book of the year by NPR, the NY Times, The Guardian, the Boston Globe, Amazon, the NY Public Library and more — and it’s won ALL the awards, from the Newbery, the Eiser, the Harvey, and more. Once you’ve read it, you can see why. Pedro - who sometimes goes by Peter - grew up the son of sharecroppers in California, and now lives in Kansas City, where he was an artist for Hallmark for 27 years - working on lots of really interesting projects, including the company’s foray into animation - including creating the Asteroid Andy cartoon shorts. Peter shares a really deep conversation on not just origins - but that of his storytelling journey. We can’t enough great things about Mexikid - this book may just be one of our top holiday picks - for any adult or kid in your life.  LEARN ABOUT PEDRO pedromartinbooks.com instagram.com/mexikidstories BOOK: Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir - goodreads.com/book/show/63249742-mexikid MENTIONS FILM: Paper Moon (1973) - imdb.com/title/tt0070510 PERSON: wikipedia.org/wiki/Viggo_Mortensen SHOW: Asteroid Andy - lostmediaarchive.fandom.com/wiki/Missing_Asteroid_Andy_Shorts_(2008%3F_-_2011) BOOK: The Road, Cormac McCarthy (graphic novel adaptation) - www.goodreads.com/book/show/207003520-the-road FILM: Captain Fantastic (2016): imdb.com/title/tt3553976 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Growing up, emotional support was non-existent. Rightfully so, because they went through hell and back - their entire journey of having to escape and redoing life in a foreign country. There was no time to look back.” Vanessa Huynh is a rising professional in Chicago - who Raman met in NY on an “intergenerational” panel, where Vanessa was one of the “younger folk” at our event. And while there are some slight differences in how we processed growing up between two worlds, Vanessa’s a fellow old soul in her acceptance - and take on how her parents had to process and present the world to her growing up - so much more than bridging the cultural divide. Hoping this very personal, non-political conversation can provide a respite from all the other noise around us... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vice President Kamala Harris' speech from Howard University on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the morning after, I’ll leave some fresh comments at the top of the episode. It was crushingly hard to tell my daughter before she went off to school. We're probably all asking ourselves, how did we get here?  So easier to just re-air this Quarantined Comics episode from August 2022 about the vibrant and harrowing graphic novel Berlin, by Jason Lutes, which I've actually referenced in many conversations over the past few months. It’s a small distraction in an eerily prescient conversation about a comic book written about Germany in the 1930s. And if that's too heavy right now, head over to YouTube and watch “day drinking” clips with Seth Meyers — the ones with Rihanna and Dua Lipa are works of art.  To paraphrase Mehdi Hasan: While a majority of our fellow Americans may have voted for an unhinged demagogue — the rest of us need to stick together. Solidarity is about to become the most important word in our political vocabulary. We need each other. And so, for the next four years, solidarity is the name of the game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“ Growing up in Hawaii is a really, really special experience — natural beauty, family and community. But you're really trying to fit into a local culture that has such a complex relationship with Caucasian people.” Chris Schmicker is a a Honolulu-born and New York City-based writer and brand marketer who’s currently working on a debut short fiction collection set in contemporary Hawaii. Chris is Hapa — half Japanese & Chinese, half Swiss & Irish — we first met on our previously aired ANA AMAM panel. Growing up on an island - literally, and migrating to the mainland, Chris has many different, but similar experiences, which he brings to life in a very thoughtful way. Navigating our personal, sometimes terrible, sometimes convenient superpowers of code-switching was something we discussed navigating on the personal and professional fronts, growing comfortable into the adults we’d one day become.  LEARN MORE https://www.chrisschmicker.com/ MENTIONS PERSON: Martha Stewart: wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Stewart BOOK: Sharks in the Time of Saviors (Kawai Strong Washburn): goodreads.com/book/show/45892255-sharks-in-the-time-of-saviors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We wanted something that was familiar, but also Filipino — the whole culture of the older sister that knows and gives advice without judgment.” Lisa Angulo Reid the co-founder and CEO of Dear Flor, the first Filipina-owned cannabis company that makes gummies that are 100% vegan with 100% Filipino flavors like ube, calamansi, and buko pandan. Founded by Lisa and her husband Brian, Dear Flor’s mission is to bring Filipino culture to the world, one flavor at a time. Sharon + Lisa are OG Chiefs, but Lisa + Raman only met a few months ago at an industry event (AMAM FTW) where they bonded over nerdiness and marketing.  Lisa’s journey into entrepreneurship began after a successful 20+ year career in advertising and marketing, where she led transformative campaigns for some of the world’s most loved and trusted brands. She’s also an advocate for Asian women leaders and spearheaded NYC’s inaugural Philippine American History Month celebration which featured Filipina trailblazers Loida Nicolas Lewis and Nicole Ponseca. You’ll enjoy this conversation among new friends about growing up in the south, building a personal business, and relating what we do to both our parents - and our kids.  LEARN MORE dearflor.com instagram.com/lovedearflor MENTIONS CHARACTER: Sookie Stackhouse - wikipedia.org/wiki/Sookie_Stackhouse PERSON: Susie-quesada (Ramar foods) - bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/profiles-strategies/2018/09/the-teacher-who-took-over-a-frozen-food-empire.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I didn't ask my dad many questions, and now I'll never know. And I could call my mom up right now, but I'm not going to do that because - ‘the culture’ - we don't really ask each other personal questions.” Kathy MacLeod is an illustrator and cartoonist - the author of CONTINENTAL DRIFTER, her debut graphic novel - a memoir about a youth split between growing up in Bangkok, and her first summer camp experience in Maine. CONTINENTAL DRIFTER is a coming of age story about a girl caught between two worlds - her home of Thailand, where her mom is from, and her discovery - and reconciliation with reality of - the  exotic, idyllic America of her father. Kathy’s work was an accidental discovery (and a happy surprise) - a classic childhood story of seeking belonging, but not being sure where we can find it. While it’s a fun graphic novel geared for kids, at times it can be a heavy drama of understanding for all of us. It’s really tender, and it has a lot of heart. Kathy’s work has appeared in The Believer, Catapult, The Hairpin, and Lucky Peach. After spending most of her life in Bangkok, Thailand (with a four-year interlude at Wesleyan University), Kathy is currently living in Berlin, Germany. While our chat didn’t cover much about her work, we covered a lot about the stories we each carry with us about the relationships we have with our families.  LEARN MORE instagram.com/kathy_macleod BOOK: Continental Drifter - goodreads.com/book/show/111672623-continental-drifter MENTIONS BOOK: Blankets (Craig Thompson): goodreads.com/book/show/25179.Blankets BOOK: Ducks (Kate Beaton): goodreads.com/en/book/show/59069071-ducks SHOW: Felicity: imdb.com/title/tt0134247/ BOOKS: Ramona Quimby (Beverly Cleary): goodreads.com/series/40341-ramona-quimby PERSON: Chanel Miller - wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanel_Miller Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices