hmongmentalk

Fritz Moua. I'm 39 years of age, single father of 4 beautiful girls. My oldest 18, 16, 14 and my baby, 7 years old. I was born in Moline, Illinois but moved to Fresno, California and lived there until my early teens. My family and left California to a small town, Wausau, Wisconsin. Which I absolutely love. The big city living is not for me. Quickly adapting to the small town life style, I soon became a husband and a father at a young age. I worked a night shift job and was going to school to get my nursing degree. As busy as I was, life was good. Everything seems to be falling in place until Thanksgiving day of 2013. It started out as a slight fever and some flu like symptoms. I didn't think of anything much and I just kept brushing it of. Eventually my fever got worse and communicating started to get complicated. Even then, I was so stubborn, I refused to go to the hospital. As I tried to get through this fever, I eventually feel into a massive seizure. I was rushed to the hospital. Hours later, after the spinal tab, results came in and doctors diagnose me with Herpes Semplex Enchephalitis. A rare illness where the Herpes virus, you and I know it as the "Cold Sore Virus" goes and attacked the brain. I was then transported to Marshfield Clinic which is about one hour away. The viral attacked left me with seizure activities and I was often unconscious. At this very moment, I had absolutely no clue what was going on. I was given some anti virus and anti seizure meds and the doctors told my family, "We did everything we could, the rest is up to him." "Even if he makes it through this, he may never be the same due to the amount of damaged done to his brain." When I woke up, I was told there was no cure, but I was very fortunate. After therapy, I was mentally and physically stable. I was then released from the hospital. But, brain recovery was not easy. I could not drive. I couldn't go back to work. I should not be alone. So many "What if questions!" "What if I fell into another seizure?" It could be while I was driving or at work. So much negativity that I eventually was stuck in a dark bubble. No one knew my depression and anxiety sky rocket. The nerves in my brain was damaged from the virus, which severely impacted my sleep. Multiple sleepless nights after nights. I could not fall asleep, and when I did, I could not stay asleep. I often fought chronic fatigue throughout the day. My entire system was out of whack. I was so frustrated I desperately went searching for answers, and everywhere was a dead end. After a long sleepless night, I could no longer stare at the ceiling, I got up and accidently bumped into my old pair of running shoes that was slightly sticking out under my bed. I completely ignored it, walked out of my room and for what ever reason, I turned back and told myself, "What it going to hurt?" Slapped on some old running gear and in the middle winter, I gave it all I could give for 1 mile and it was the best feeling I ever had in a long time. Day by day, 1 mile led to 3 miles, 3 miles led to 10 miles and finally I chased my first half marathon, Wausau Half. Miles after miles, I finished my first Marathon. I broke every rule in the book, and my doctors were right, "He would never be the same!" From city to city, state to states, races after races, marathons after marathons. I even did my first International marathon in Chiang Mai. Throughout my journey, I have met some of the most amazing people I now call my dear friends. I could have not done this alone, I am truly greatfull to have such amazing supporters who stands behind me. This is only the beginning of a new chapter. Next stop, Ultra Marathons and my ultimate challenge, I am mentally and physically ready for my first IronMan. I truly am greatful for a 2nd chance and this time, I'm making every step count.

Lo Phong La "Lil' Buddha" Kiatoukaysy is an accomplished Hmong American backpacking adventurer, speaker, writer, and outdoor diversity & equity advocate. He has hiked over 45,000 trail miles since 1995. He is best known for his calendar year 2010 6,000 mile Eastern Continental Trail (ECT) route which is considered an ultra long-distance hiking first. In April 2020 he completed his second ECT, making him a Double-Triple Crown Thru-hiker, a distinction bestowed to backpackers who have thru-hiked the 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail (AT), 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and 3,300 mile Continental Divide Trail (CDT) in their entirety twice each. With only one more CDT (planned 2021) and AT (planned 2022), he hopes to become a Triple-Triple Crown Thru-hiker. In summer 2021 he is re-hiking the CDT, and has partnered with #stopaapihate co-founding organization the Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), to raise awareness on anti-AAPI racism, bigotry and violence. Follow his adventures on Instagram @lilbuddhahikes

My name is Joshua (“Joanna”) Xiong and I am a 25 year-old Hmong professional living in Los Angeles. I am the second child of eight children whom three were adopted. My parents did not have the privilege to attain higher education and thus pushed us to pursue higher education. I was the first in my family to graduate from college where I graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with my Bachelors in Asian American Studies with a minor in Global Health and from the University of Southern California with my Master of Social Work. I have worked for roughly two years now as a mental health therapist and am currently working as a mental health therapist at a non-profit agency serving disenfranchised and underrepresented individuals. I hope to continue serving our communities and become a champion for other people of color and LGBTQIA+ individuals.

John B Yang is a Shaman and Qi energy healer. He is a meditation and spiritual mentor. He provides spiritual guidance, mental and emotional support for those who seek holistic healing. John's spiritual awakening, lead him to find his higher purpose and higher self. His calling was to do something bigger than himself. A selfless mission to further help his community, country, the world, and humanity. He is a small business owner. John's company Vizion SEO provides digital marketing and website services. He is the Chair for the Minnesota Hmong Chamber of Commerce. He is also currently serving in the US Air Force. John has a long track record of community service, providing his holistic and professional services to help the community, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses. Outside of his work, he enjoys spending time with family & friends, sports, martial arts, outdoor activities, meditation, and holistic healing.

My name is Christian Khang and I've been a certified firearms instructor for the past 4 years. My goal is to provide low cost classes to my community but to provide the highest level of real world training I can. Bad things and evil people have and always will be around, emergency response will always be slower than the person who is already on the scene so it will always be up to the individual to respond to their own crisis. I'm married and have a 1 year old son and I work full time as a cybersecurity engineer. I hate bullies and those who hurt innocent people, this is my driving force for starting my project as a firearms instructor.

A 15 year old teenager is set to make his debut as a pro motorcycle racer, less than one year after first getting on a bike. Aden Thao hopped on a bike for the first time in his life just 11 months ago.

Started at a very young age and was introduce to gaming from his dad.  It lead him to be North America 2018 rank #1 League of Legend player.

Happily married for 18 years, 3 beautiful kids and knowing from day 1 she was the one.  Also make sure to listen to the very end.   John share a romantic story about his 10th anniversary and making her go on a scavenger to find him. 

A young couple dating for 6 years and giving you all a love story on how we met. "I met her in college and ...." -Ju Xiong

Married for about a decade, if she would of walk away I would of lost my chance.  A beautiful episode that is a much listen too.

Hmong American band Paradise, the band is currently working on a new album due to be released in 2021.  They are  working on some acoustic versions of the greatest hits.

The Martial Step is about taking greater lengths beyond the unimaginable; making it a reality.

Lor Lee have over 18 years of experience in leadership positions with responsiblities for the development and implementation of diversity, inclusion and cultural competence initiatives within both education and health care institutions. He bring organization a vision of how to achieve diversity, inclusion and cultural competence while maintaining a sense of common purpose and shared values.  Lor a broad leadership experience includes successfully working with leaders around organization development efforts to achieve greater inclusive team and organizational inclusion. Lor is a strong advocate and compassionate mentor who demonstrates willingness to spend time in support of issues of diversity and inclusion by providing strong, creative, energetic leadership in the development and implementation of initiatives that are tied to the overall business goals of the organization.  He currently hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Saint John's University and a Masters of Science degree in Organization Development from Capella University.

After 20 years of deep hands-on technical and consulting experience, developing solutions that impact millions of dollars of license and service revenues, including working for the top enterprise software companies, I have learned that I am great at 3 things: 1. Developing relationships and teams that have a passion to changes the world. 2. Promote and engage customers, partners, and experts to stimulate, share new ideas to develop execution plans – bringing “What if” to “What is”. 3. Find the creativity, simplicity, and elegant ways to use technologies to enable humans to be more “human”. My mission in life is to build, create and inspire others, and ultimately making the world a little better.

A passionate, driven, and genuine individual, I believe that the most successful businesses have the strong ability to maximize their greatest assets; that starts with their human capital. This can be accomplished by creating a culture that is operationally nimble; fostering high performance teams; focusing on the customer experience; company financial performance; and technological advancements & investments. With over 20 years of dynamic experience; advanced education; and certification, I have successfully supported organizations in meeting its changing business needs and to distinguish its brand in this competitive landscape through my dedication and work as a highly motivated transformational leader.

I will not only challenge you to show up as your best self but I'll also be your cheerleader. I'll guide you through a series of tools and concepts to help you gain new beliefs and habits. I've been a coach for over 10 years and have helped my clients overcome limiting beliefs, create incredible change, and achieve their ambitious goals in all areas of their lives

I believe that diversity should be represented in the film industry and television, not just through their films but their castings as well. I believe that in today's age and time, having a different ethnicity playing a lead role would actually draw more audience and viewers to want to invest in watching a film. I mean let's look at some facts here, minorities can play the lead role just as good as the little roles that are always given to them. Jackie Chan has definitely been a good example of it. Bruce Lee's, Enter the Dragon is a prime example of leading a successful film debut. I believe that a good reason to invest in the importance of having diversity exists in films and television is to display the many great potential actors that we already have.

We've all felt blue here and there, faced with moments that has deeply scarred us. Few people have not felt the pain of a job loss, relationship that's going downhill or the death of a loved one.  Heartache and grief are natural parts of life, but this sadness that persists and interferes with regular activities could be depression.

Hi, I'm Bert Lee, a college speaker, graphic designer and dancer. I understand how confusing and scary it can be for College students to meet expectations and set themselves for success.  As a Hmong American growing up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, I've faced my adversities in project homes, the educational system and within myself. My identity was filled with self-doubt and expectations that I was afraid of. I felt powerless, loss of control over my life and who I was as an individual. This mindset deluded my attitude to think that my life and college experience sucked. It takes courage, boldness and hours of self-reflection to become our best selves.

Efen is the Co-Founder of EnVision Growth. Efen is an Independent Agent with First Financial Security and a Certified National Financial Educators Council. He graduated from the University of Fairbanks, Alaska. Efen is married and has one child. In his spare time, Efen enjoys playing golf, basketball, and shooting.    Before Efen entered the Financial Service Industry, he was a banker, Law Enforcement Officer, and a small business owner.    During his service as a Law Enforcement Officer, Efen saw that he responded to more family domestic violence due to financial crises. Efen believes that providing proper financial strategy and genuinely understand their situation will have a more significant impact.    Efen works mostly with families and business owners.

Rocky Her is an actor, producer, director, fight choreographer and stunt coordinator most known in The Legendary Script (2006), Opposite Blood (2012)), and The Saving (2019). With years of experience in front and behind the camera since 2006, Rocky Her, a film and martial arts enthusiast aims to heighten his talents and skills in bringing about various styles of filmmaking, specifically in the martial arts and action genre to a limit breaking capacity regardless of budget. Proficient in stunt and fight choreography, Rocky hopes to inspire new and hidden talents to emerge and extend into the light of media and show business.

A former freelance League of Legends Head Coach who has done work with multiple Challenger/Master Tier rosters. I am now a variety streamer and commentator for LoL, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Tekken 7

Thinking back to all these times gave me a sense of strength, or at least, that was what I told myself to feel better about what was going on…but I mean, I just didn't know how to feel back then. The two people who gave you your life and sacrificed everything they had to raise me. Literally, kids raising kids. The people who I wanted to want me as much as I wanted them. The people who cooked for me, changed my diapers, gave me this dream of becoming a Doctor, earning a PHD, and making them proud. 

I worked as a neuroscience research lab assistant for three years and I just realized that, you know, that's not the life I wanted to live, because at that point, a lot of the, the researchers were telling me that everything that all the experiments that were done within like a eight hour timeframe had already been maxed out. So if you wanted to establish yourself before to really make any groundbreaking discoveries you'd have to do two a or one week experiments where you're basically away from your family for a whole week, and it's just like, well, I want to be a family man I don't, I love it but not that much you know and so then I decided to do the most amazing thing in my life

The mission of this is to provide insightful, impactful, spiritual, and educational information to individuals. The first hand experiences of what it means to be a Hmong shaman. These experiences are personal and I hope to shed light on our understanding of spirituality.  I was born and raised in Wisconsin. I have a B.A in Psychology and have a passion for mental health counseling and gender & identity studies. At the age of 22 I became a shaman.

ChiaTalks was created by Chia Vang, an expert Realtor in the Sacramento area. It was created to be an educational resource for anyone in the Hmong community who has ever dreamed of buying or selling a home. Have you ever wondered if you have to have the “perfect credit score,” or how much of a down payment is necessary to get the ball rolling? ChiaTalks is here to answer all of your questions and to bridge the gap of turning your dreams into a reality. There is no catch, I am simply here to assist you with the process and to assure you that buying and selling homes is a goal that can be reached and it is not that hard.

If you are starving to get up there my answer is, "commiment!"   You can't get there working one day out of 7 days, expecting you are gonna make it.  You gotta put sweat, blood, tears into it.  The band that made it didn't make it over night, it was many years.  -chee nou

Fishing has always been a part of my family growing up my grandparents to my uncles and dad however my dad wasn't a huge fisherman. But my grandpa was he used to always take us out locally here such as Como Lake, Bailey Lake, Hudson or something like that. It a outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing so I grew into it, we just kind of follow the footsteps of my dad, uncles and my grandpa. -danny khang

My name is Kevin Phoojywg Xiong. I am an artist, content creator, and 1/4 of HAIB.   My main focuses for this channel are music (covers & originals), podcasts, and voicing my thoughts/opinions on subjects that matter to me { in hopes of creating dialogue for my community }. As the new year is here, I will try to be a bit more organized and intentional about everything I do here on this platform. I want to thank you for your love and support that has pushed me this far to put myself out here like this. Forever grateful and speechless, but never silent - KPX

Alot of them were really excited I know really appreciated like one of them came to me and said like. "Did you know you are my idol, I've never seen a actual Hmong dancer and teachers. I'm happy to be giving the opportunity to actually learn from someone that's been doing it."

My name is Mr. Hill and I am on a mission to make sure every student is being recognized for the amazing things they are doing at their school and for their community. What better way to recognize students than with a pair of sneakers?

If I can give a advice to the 21 yr old Tre. I would definitely would of say, work harder. People are remember you by what you did today and working harder will put your career in a longevity. If you don't work hard someone is gonna catch up. -tre xiong

Opening up is gonna be the biggest relief you will ever do.  Once you tell someone else you need help, people will come help you.  There are people out there that want to help you and there people who don't care and so the main thing is opening up first. Second is finding good people, trust worthy people to help you.  -kang

Be proud of being Hmong, cause there was time when I was hesitant and not being proud of being Hmong.  Lastly know yourself worth and know that you have value because kids these days see what other people have and wants to look like them.  Also wanting others to like you, you gotta like yourself first!  -her vang

I never knew it would become Paradise, it didn't start as a band.  It started as 2 individuals just messing around with their guitar and cords.  Trying to kill time. -phong yang paradise band

Have fun live life don't take thing over the top, nothing gets accomplish if you are not enjoying yourself.  I use to take my artistry so seriously, that it took the fun out of it!  -elvis thao

Dan Yang, 27, is a proud alum of Columbia College in Chicago. There he majored in Cinema Science graduating with Cum Laude Honors. He also has close ties with Hmong FIlmmaking community, Dan has been on the committee board of the Qhia Dab Neej Film Festival for the better part of 6 years. He has help teach young students the basics of filmmaking and aiding the advancement of Hmong films. Dan is also one of the producers/directors for the first Hmong Anthology film Spirits Dawn, where he launched a successful Kickstarter Campaign and toured the film to 5 different states as well as raising over $1000 for multiple educational programs. Dan is also a proud recipient of  The Cultural Stars Grant Program, where he produce a film called Rice Street in 2020. 

Tou Ger's mission is to use art and ontological coaching to become a part of the cycle of inspiration; passing it on so that it can be added to by someone else's Being and forwarded until the cycle completes itself in a 360°. To share that inspiration from there once again, only now with more mass. To impact and support as many as possible with that ball of inspiration to pursue their passion with childlike wonder, because he is a firm believer that everyone's true passion + their authentic self will make the world a better place.

He came to Atlanta from Norfolk-Virginia Beach, where he was a reporter/fill-in anchor. While in Virginia, Chenue was well-sourced in local and state government, breaking stories for WVEC. He also was on the front line of hurricane coverage, covered the Virginia Beach Municipal Center mass shooting on May 31, and reported on the Virginia Governor Ralph Northam blackface scandal which swept national headlines.

At one point I wanted to give up film making, I came so close because my parent both said "it's time to give up this foolishness, you been playing around for to long it's time to give it up." One day I had break down my dad said "If you wanted this to do what your doing this bad, me saying this to you wouldn't effect you!"

“Cooking outside is a big part of being Hmong. It's how we've always come together. Cooking outdoors is something we've done for generations. It's part of our shared experience, and that's why we want to offer it at Vinai.” —Chef Yia Vang

They are really good about teaching leadership, they instill it into you. Number, finance, management, cultivating, integrity, how to take care of your people and have a a can do attitude. It establish how to have your own vision, philosophy, pay it forward, teaching it forward and mentoring forward when you made it to the top. -leng xiong

"For me I don't like drama in my life because when I was younger, we had friends. I prefer to be drama free, or maybe it just doing what I'm doing, you worry about what you can control. You worry about what you can do and there is always thing that happens in which you can't control unexpected. So what I focus on is what I can control or what I can change." - seng alex vang

For the single guys out there, "ya'll don't ever give up, if someone like me can do it you can do it too." - dale

Born and raised in Laos, my dad was the youngest of 5 boys. He has 4 older sisters and he currently lives in Milwaukee with his wife (my mom) and 7 children. My dad was a hard working man, gaining many talents and skills along the way. He was a great soccer player, drummer, and pianist during his period in Thailand. Now in the US, he spends his time jamming to songs on blast and sings on his free time.

I met her at the Hmong new year and now that women we speak of is my wife. She enjoy talking to me and she happy to talk to me. But we both we talking to each other for about 1 year, during that time there was friends and family said to me "don't marry her!"

"I was sleeping on park bench, friends couches and theater. There was theater that I acted at and I slept there because it was a trade off by moping and sweeping. It was a life learning lesson thru survival knowing that this is my mission and this is what I want to do as a career in sacrifice to become something or at least I knew I try, if I failed."  -Doua Moua

I decided one day I'm gonna quit my corporate job and I approach my parents. My mom said "you know what go ahead travel, get all this life and experience out of your system. Right now you are 23, you have no kids, no girlfriend, no wife. Because I would rather have you do that now then when you are 29 or 30 and I have a family."

How important is a persons credit score to you before dating them? Listen on as we share our opinions on this new and trending quality

A little frog was born and grew up in a deep well. He had never gotten a chance to explore the world outside of the place where he lived. The inside of the well was the only place he had ever known. The little frog never thought of the world beyond his well. His parents and grandparents also grew up and thought the same way as the little frog.

The last name culture is very close however we divide each other because of it. For example: Hmong Yang can't eat heart base on myth. If you unify the whole Hmong thru culture, religion and love. I think it's the first step you have to do. Then you unite everyone together there is no more last name. Because there is no more my religion is better then yours, there is none of that. It's more of hey your my brother, my sister you need my help I'm there.