Podcasts about aapi

Rachel Maeng joins Eric Kasimov to talk about NIL, college sports, influencer marketing, athlete brands, and the money changing the system.Rachel is a former Rutgers student-athlete, fractional COO, NIL strategist, and founder who built and sold an influencer agency. She explains why real NIL is different from revenue sharing, why college sports keeps getting more expensive, and why access still matters.Topics covered:Why influencer marketing is the prequel to NILWhat real NIL actually looks likeHow revenue sharing and roster caps changed college sportsWhy paid athletes face more fan pressureWhy sports has turned into a money gameThe gap between top programs and everyone elseHow recruiting rankings and camps shape opportunityWhy athletes are being asked to become media companiesWhy internships, mentors, peers, and sponsors matterChapters in This Episode00:00 — Rachel Maeng on her current work00:34 — Fractional COO work, NIL, and representation01:42 — Rutgers, student government, and alumni advocacy03:27 — Rutgers in the Big Ten and the reach of major universities05:13 — Why Rachel chose Rutgers06:55 — Big schools, small schools, and the future of college athletics07:18 — Women's flag football and Title IX09:23 — Cutting sports, roster caps, and international athletes12:57 — Syracuse, football spending, and donor ROI14:14 — Why college teams are hiring GMs16:16 — Student fees, tuition, and the cost of college sports18:00 — NIL money, fan pressure, and athlete criticism19:39 — Recruiting rankings, camps, and access22:43 — College sports deficits and the money problem25:36 — The growing gap between top programs and everyone else27:10 — Recruiting facilities, spending, and shared governance29:13 — Sports betting, expansion, and more games32:10 — Rachel's view on NIL35:43 — Why Rachel watches more college sports now37:35 — Flag football, NFL expansion, and global growth39:17 — Youth sports, cost, and the money game43:55 — Athletes as media companies46:15 — TikTok, creator marketing, and the road to NIL48:31 — Advice for young women in sports and business54:50 — AAPI representation and women in sports business57:50 — Sponsors, mentors, peers, and building community59:10 — Internships, networking, and real career experience1:03:38 — The enrollment cliff and the future of college1:10:37 — Staying curious through podcasts, documentaries, and daily learning1:11:26 — LA, the Olympics, and travel realities1:15:51 — How to find Rachel MaengConnect with Rachel Maeng:X | LinkedIn | InstagramConnect with Eric & SportsEpreneur:SportsEpreneur.com | X | LinkedInEric on LinkedIn | XRelated SportsEpreneur NIL ContentDid You Know You're Paying for College Sports?Brendan Sorsby Bet on His Own Team and Is Somehow Still Eligible to PlayThe Protect College Sports Act Explained: NIL, Transfers, Antitrust, and the Future of College Sports

APEX Express is a weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community.   This Pride Month—queer and trans AAPI community strength. On this episode, host Miata Tan is joined by guests from three organizations building queer AAPI community on their own terms. They explore what it's like to find joy, organize together, and show up for each other in this moment.   QTViệt Cafe Collective Learn more about QTViệt Cafe Collective and their new documentary Đồng Quê: Of the Same Womb Website | Instagram | Join the Collective Catch the film at an upcoming screening:  June 14 — World Premiere | 22nd Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival | Presidio Theater, San Francisco  June 20 — Screening + Q&A with filmmaker Sage Tran | Hosted by the Q Corner | San Jose    Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride (QHIP) Learn more about QHIP and their upcoming workshops, events, and campaigns Instagram | Website | 5th Annual Elk Grove Pride   Lavender Phoenix (LavNix) Learn more about Lavender Phoenix and their Leadership Exchange program Website | Instagram | Leadership Exchange Program   Previous Episodes A Conversation with Lavender Phoenix: The Next Chapter — March 26, 2026 Trans & Queer Hmong Rise: Organizing in Central California — October 24, 2024 8 Years of QTViệt Cafe! — August 22, 2024   Transcript ​[00:00:00]  Miata Tan : Hello and welcome. You're tuning in to APEX Express, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I'm your host, Miata Tan. We're nearly halfway through June, and Pride Month is in full swing. Pride is a time to celebrate, honor, and dig into the deep political history of queer and trans communities. And tonight, [00:01:00] we're zooming into a few distinct queer Asian American communities right here in Northern California. First, we'll hear from a collective of queer and trans Vietnamese artists, activists, and organizers based in the Bay Area, who have a brand-new documentary out this weekend. Then we'll dive into the political organizing of queer and trans Hmong communities in Fresno and Sacramento. And we'll close out the show with a queer Asian American community leader and some different ways that you can get involved this summer. Okay, let's get into it. First up, my conversation with QTViet Cafe Collective. And before you ask, no, QTViet Cafe is not a brick-and-mortar cafe that serves coffee. They are a Bay Area-based creative cultural hub for queer and trans Vietnamese liberation through gatherings, art showcases, cultural programming, and more. QTViet Cafe is a part of Asian Refugees United, [00:02:00] and tonight we'll be discussing their new documentary, Dong Hoi: Of the Same Womb. It is premiering this Sunday, June 14, as part of the 22nd Annual International Queer Women of Color Film Festival in San Francisco. Dong Hoi asks viewers what it means to return to a homeland, to a community, to yourself. Here's my conversation with the QTViet Cafe Collective. Miata Tan: Thank you all so much for joining me today on APEX Express. Sage, perhaps you can start us off. would you be able to introduce yourself and share a little bit about what the QTViet Cafe Collective is?  Sage Tran: My name is Sage. I use they/them pronouns. One of filmmakers/digital archivists for QTViet Cafe Collective. we are a cultural hub where we focus on, diasporic themes around intergenerational Vietnamese and identity and queerness. We do a lot our [00:03:00] events and workshops and gatherings around food, remembrance, and, our gay and they selves.  Miata Tan: Lovely. Jessie, who are you and what brought you to QTViet?  Jessie Nguyen: Sure, my name is Jessie, and my pronouns are they or Jessie, and I've been part of the collective since, 2018. I think I found the collective in a place in my life when I was really searching for ways to, bring an intersection to all parts of my identities, QTViet Cafe Just like Sage said, it's a creative hub, it's a cultural hub that is really dedicated to uplifting queer and trans Viet liberation through ancestral practices , different, forms of art and intergenerational connection. yeah, I just really appreciate the ways that QTViet Cafe has just been so dedicated to our, art and then also uplifting our art to really, bring forth community, organizing work, solidarity [00:04:00] work and our own, like, queer and trans Viet excellence  Miata Tan: Love that. Jean, could you share a little bit about yourself as well?  Jean Pham: Thanks for having us here. my name is Jean Pham. I use they/them pronouns. i've also been a part of QTViet Cafe since 2018 when I had first moved here to the Bay Area. Like Sage and Jessie had shared, QTViet Cafe is, it's a really special space. I think as d- diasporic Vietnamese, speaking broadly, like culturally we experience being displaced on many different levels. Um, when people say that it's a cultural hub, really tangible in a, in a lot of the activities and things that we do. we've hosted like art residencies. We cultural dinners. We have language groups. QTViet Cafe, it really exists to fill a need. and I think part of that need brought us, to the culmination of this specific project, to bring us back into Vietnam  Miata Tan: Yeah, lovely. And we can pick up from there your trip to Vietnam. this, was captured by Sage recently in a documentary. Sage, could you speak more about what, this new doco is about? where did this project come [00:05:00] from? Sage Tran: this project emerged from a collective hunger for wanting to return back to the motherland. for years of doing a lot of gathering here, specifically in the Bay Area, we've been able to stay rooted in the territories here. And, we all came to a consensus like , what would it be like to gather a bunch of us and connect with our siblings, brother, sisters, family, chosen fam out in the motherland? that became a seed that we cultivated, planted, tend to, and we fundraised with a lot of community support to get about 13 of us out uh, Vietnam. maybe Jessie can talk a little bit more about this, but Hai and Ma are the, folks who founded QTViet Cafe Collective [00:06:00] Jessie, Ma, and Hai. They all three went to Vietnam in 2022 and built a lot of beautiful connections of like local drag artists, queer trans collectives out there. That's kind of what birthed Dong Khoi.  Miata Tan: so  I've been lucky enough to, watch the film already. Donghui is the name of the documentary, but it's also the name of the performance that came together Jesse, perhaps you can speak to this this journey more and I know QTViet C- Cafe's been around since 2016,  this project goes back, a few years as well Jessie Nguyen: Yeah, sure. I can speak a little bit about that and just chiming into, like, what Sage already shared. there was a small group of collective members that that came up with the idea of, like, what would it be like for us as, queer and trans Viet diasporic folks to go to the homeland. the original intent was for that trip to happen in 2020. And it [00:07:00] actually, because of the pandemic, I think obviously things were, logistically it just didn't work, but that, dream, like, surfaced again, so the question came up about, like, what would it be like for us to travel together to the homeland as a collective and also share our art, to , connect with other Viets in Saigon. You know, when we're in the Bay, so much of our work is really centered around gathering communities around our food, our art, and our stories. And so it really made sense for us to think about what would that look like in Vietnam. And so in 2022, as Sage was mentioning, me, Hai, and Ma,, went to Saigon and just kind of explored, like, what is the creative scene like and were able to connect queer and trans Viet artists who are doing insanely inspiring creative work. we connected with folks from the Baxiu Collective, and they're a group of, queer and trans Viet artists who are doing drag in different, performance spaces in queer bars in Saigon. And then I think in that moment we're like, “Wait, we would love to [00:08:00] collaborate with you.” from that unfolded, a, a year-long , like, planning of, what would it look like for us to do a shared showcase together. And so we identified built relationships with a queer bar in Saigon. and then so leading up to the homeland trip, we planned this showcase where it would be a mix artists from our collective and artists from their collective, and then a whole, a whole performance that unfolded. And I think in the year of 2023, that year I think we ended up fundraising, about 50K in order to really subsidize and support the whole journey of getting us to Vietnam. Like, stipending artists and creatives that we were collaborating with. it was, one of the biggest projects I think that QTViet has ever been a part of and really undertaken, and I think it definitely is, like, a huge highlight for, like, my time with QTViet. Miata Tan: Lovely, and it's so beautiful to see it all come together in the documentary. Jean, could you speak to your experience? I understand this was [00:09:00] your first time ever visiting Vietnam  Jean Pham: Yes, it was my first time visiting Vietnam. so I had a well of emotions in terms of the lead-up to it. Like Jesse was sharing, you know, originally the plan was we were gonna go in 2020. That had to shift, you know, shelter in place and everything. A lot of the work that we do is reconnection, right? as diasporic Vietnamese being displaced from our ancestral land, as queer and trans people, um, a big rallying point for many of us is feeling displaced from our own families. And so part of, like, returning back together is fighting against it. It's like, what if we reconnect ? You know, what if we re- reunite? You know, w- if we're traveling together as queer community, we can really see and understand what it's like to be uh, Vietnam for ourselves. And so it was really, like h- it had this like gravity around it, and I think it made me really nervous but also excited. that being said, you know, a lot of other folks who are part of our cohort, even though they had gone to Vietnam before, a lot of them had also shared this is their [00:10:00] first time going without family, And we're going specifically towards, queer and trans community in Vietnam, which is also a departure from their other experiences too. Jessie Nguyen: Can I just add something? Because I just really loved what Gene shared. I just think that, yeah, I think that you really spoke to something there about how we can spend our whole lives, like, having this understanding of homeland that is actually quite disconnected from our queerness and our transness. And similar to, like, many other folks in the collective, like, I have been to Vietnam, multiple times before, but never in the context of centering my queerness and transness because I just wasn't sure, like, what felt safe. You know, without having, like, fluency in the language or even knowing, like, how to express my queerness in Vietnam. Oftentimes it just felt… I felt pretty invisibilized there, you know, because, like, being there with family, I just show up as, like, a, a family member, There's so much that is a part of me that is expressed through my queerness and my transness that [00:11:00] is that isn't as visible. And so I think that being in a space as a collective gave us permission to do and to feel deeply woven into our cultural experience was, like, in- in- incredibly liberating.  Miata Tan: Yeah. That's really beautiful, Jessie. I also noticed in the film your aunt was also, part of it as well, so you were able to hold that familial side of yourself as well as the queer side. Could you speak more to that?  Jessie Nguyen: Yeah. I was just watching the documentary yesterday too, and I was like, oh my gosh, I– it was so sweet that my aunt had a moment in that documentary. the thing that I was really interested in was trying to weave my connection with my family to, like, my connection with, like, my chosen queer family, And I think that became very possible when, we did the homeland trip. I'm, I'm not fluent in Vietnamese, and I'm especially not fluent in trying to articulate what it means to be queer and [00:12:00] Vietnamese. And so the idea of inviting QTViets to my aunt's home was, like, a way to be like, “Hey, this is who I and here are my– here's my community.” And maybe if I can't actually, like, articulate that, like, I I want my aunt to, like, feel that sense of, like, care and connection of my community. And then to me that felt like a way of inviting my Vietnamese family to this part of my life. I think that it's, it's oftentimes hard to even do that here in the Bay. You know? Like, the connection that I have to my blood family and then my connection to my chosen family here in the Bay, like, can feel quite separate. keeps me coming back to QTViet is that we always make space for that intergenerational connection that doesn't invisibilize our queerness and our gender identity . Miata Tan: Sage, could you speak more to this theme of family? It seemed to be really core to the documentary tell us about how that felt as the director, like being behind the [00:13:00] camera but also part of the QTViet team on this trip?  Sage Tran: directing and being behind the camera had a lot of challenges. I think there's something where I'm not sure if y- like folks can relate to this, but when you are filming something with your iPhone or on your camera, there's a connection and a disconnection that happens at the same time. You're not able to fully present, but you are. I was straddling the line of like is this shot looking beautiful and also crying I think there was a moment where we were in a taxi or Grab car, and it was Hai, Jesse, and Jesse's aunt, she was dropping some heavy moments, and I just remember we're all crying in the car while the Grab driver is like blasting music, and it's like a super bumpy road. People are honking at us, and it was just like such a funny and rocky, symbolic, memory I just was like, “Wow, I can't [00:14:00] believe I'm getting to document this” like historical moment, not only for Jesse, but just like for the collective and what does it mean for folks who are queer and trans that can't have moments like this. It's just like kind of a reminder to slow down and being like, ” Okay,” am I getting to embody this moment while holding the stabilization of the camera?” And I think still I find that to be a challenge, but a, a really fun dance of filmmaking, directing and being there. Miata Tan: Yeah, definitely. I can't imagine trying to keep the camera still while you're bawling your eyes out.  Sage Tran: Yes.  Miata Tan: Jean, we've talked a now about this connection of blood family and found family as well. could you speak a bit to the QTViet Cafe family that sort of came together on the trip, but also this wider, Vietnamese, queer community you were able to find over there in Saigon? Jean Pham: Every step of the way it felt really [00:15:00] good because when, like, you know, we were traveling together as this, this giant mass of just gay people. and so I always felt like, oh, I could kinda be off guard, I understand that, like, for a lot of Korean trans people, w- when traveling we're on high alert, there's just a lot of unpredictability. There is safety in numbers. There's safety in communities. I felt like, you know, the QTViets have my back. There was a bigger group that came together in SFO, and we just t- all booked the same flights. And then there were some people who were coming, like, a little bit later. I had been with QTViets at that point for about six or seven years, and so there was a lot of trust already built. With the Saigonese Viets, it, it was like a, just a natural kinship. You know? It was like, it was also as if like we were just friends off the bat or there was just this shared understanding. We had a gathering, and I think this is featured in the documentary. after gathering, people were just kind of, getting to know each other in in their flat, and they were teaching us how to walk in heels, and it was so lovely. And I remember thinking like, “Oh gosh, what music do I play here? How do I set the mood?” But the, th- I think the reality is, [00:16:00] you know, Rihanna is like a common language, like among gay people. Everyone under like … It was, it was funny 'cause like, you know, I would, you know, I would play music that I would just listen to. Like, they're just, pop girlies that would play in the States. And, yeah, gay people, like, they, they just love a diva no matter where you are. And so that that was really nice. But r- truly, like, the DIY drag scene in Saigon is huge, and it c- it's, like, so varied. And, I do wanna shout out, like, all the queens and the Baxio Collective and all the trans artists who really helped, make our show and, like, really helped hone in our craft. And they were pr- they were strict, you know? They were like, “You have to come here early, and you have to come in, like, days before. And we're gonna have to practice over and over again.” And they had, like, really specific notes on how to make the show better. And so it was interesting as a culture exchange they were learning, how we were operating in terms of how we organize and a- I think a lot of the spoken word, slam poetry style that, like, some of our members were bringing. And from them, we were [00:17:00] learning a lot of the theatrics on really how to, like, have a show and really think, holistically about all the different components. Miata Tan: Jessie, could you speak more to the show? Uh, what did it look like? How did it feel? Jessie Nguyen: So back in 2022 was when we discovered that there is actually one queer bar in Saigon, and it's in District 4. this bar called Bar Zinga. And it's, like, in this alleyway. It's pretty divey. And so when we were there in 2022, we actually spent uh, New Year's there, and we got to know the owner, and we got to know, like, what they envisioned for the space, which is they've been using it as a space for, drag, drag performances, music sets, and things like that. And we're like, “Oh, wait. Maybe this could be a good spot for us to do something for QTViet.” And So essentially the vision for the show was for us to collaborate with, Babel and Yat, who are the co-founders of Bạc Xỉu Collective, they are incredible, like, production artists and drag artists.  we [00:18:00] invited folks from the collective, if they wanted to share some of their art as well. And so we had… Let's see. I remember Irene, who is one of the poets and also, like, OG QTViets, shared, some poetry, and then we had also Hai sharing some erotica. Me, Hai, and Lan did a ao dai fashion runway show.  and then there was, Oh, Judy and Hiroshi who did, like, a whole, like, lô tô, so that was, like, based off of, like, like a Vietnamese game, and they did a whole performance on that. yeah. So it was kind of, like, cool to be in this space and inviting folks from the community to come in, and it was a full house. people were feeling so nervous, but the, also the energy of, like, I can't believe this is happening. You know? that the art that we've created in the Bay, that we get to share it in Saigon. Miata Tan: So beautiful. yeah, it's really nice to see this, cross-cultural, international, connection that you've built with, the folks in Vietnam. Sage, could you speak more to, the [00:19:00] documentary itself, what you hope viewers will take away from the film, and especially seeing depiction of, of queer joy in the performance? Sage Tran: I think what I hope viewers take is like the power of remembering and the power of remembering with community. Cause I think like also editing this film, I'm like, I remember exactly what y'all said word for word. It's like ingrained in my head.  I think there was something that, Jean, you said in… You said something where like it doesn't matter if you're Vietnamese, it doesn't matter where you were born. It matters and it doesn't, but also like there's so many cross-cultural connections and parallels that, tie us all together. And I think, on the theme of remembering and leaning into our joy and our creativity, there's so much that can unlock with, just living our truths. I think, yeah, I think that's what I hope viewers take away with  Miata Tan: Beautiful. and the documentary will be premiering, this [00:20:00] June, as part of QSMAP here in the city in San Francisco. We have A little bit of time here, so I'd love to talk about, uh, what else QTViet has on the horizon, campaigns, workshops, other performances. Jean, Jessie, would either one of you be able to speak to this?  Jessie Nguyen: The only thing that is really on my mind around QTViet is that we are celebrating our 10-year anniversary in September. And I don't know what that's gonna look like, but I think that it definitely is gonna be a invite and just a opportunity for us to reflect on everything that we've been able to cultivate as a collective, and also just to notice, like, how much we've evolved. I think that when so many of us joined in 2016 to 2018, we were, younger queers who were really looking for community and maybe felt pretty isolated. And I know that, like, where I am today, my connection to my Vietness and my queerness, like, feels so deeply ingrained. And a [00:21:00] huge part of that is because of having a container like QTViet. I was also gonna talk about Ordinary People, because it's actually a show that we're doing a audio visual storytelling performance that is led by one of the QTViet members, Jop, uh, Nguyen. And it's gonna include, several other QTViet members that are gonna be, contributing as, like, a band. there have been music and songs and videos and animations and, yeah, lots of different elements to really bring to life, like, what it feels like for our parents to, experience their homeland, their escape, their journey here, and then also how we really, how we connect to that story. Miata Tan: Thank you for sharing, Jessie. Sadly, this interview is airing after the Ordinary People performance, but I'll play a little snippet in a bit. Jean, final question. with this 10-year anniversary of QTViet Cafe, how do you see your recent [00:22:00] adventures informing your work? How you organize, how you gather Jean Pham: I think after the trip, there was, like, a re-invigoration of, purpose honestly, like, a new wave of renewed energy and also new people who were joining the space. we started practicing a lot more solidarity work. I think almo- almost immediately after returning, there were a few events that was in solidarity with, Palestine. And as we were returning from the trip, last year was also the 50th anniversary of the war in Vietnam ending, and so we used that as an opportunity to draw connections between how, the conditions of the Vietnam War was truly, like, politically activating for a lot of young people in the '60s, similarly to um, the genocide uh, Palestine was politically activating for people now, uh, and how, like, have a shared struggle. with 10 years of QTViet Cafe, I think it's more evident that QTViet is an, like, entity, a group that needs to exist. and we always invite people to join us. if anyone's listening who is diaspora queer and trans Vietnamese, is looking [00:23:00] for community, you know, looking for language classes or, like, just, uh, ways to build, you know, we're always more than happy to join people. You know, last year, Jessie and a a couple other friends organized this amazing trip to New York. there was really this big energy around uniting all the different scattered parts of QTViets all over and coming together and understanding that, you know, we, we all, um, um, have a lot in common. and so I, I do think that was really uplifted and highlighted in our trip, this feeling of, like, you know, we're not- we're actually not so alone, and there's so many of us, and we're, like, we're all so powerful. Miata Tan: Beautiful. I think that's a perfect place to end. Thank you all so much for joining me today Jessie Nguyen: Yay. Thank you so much  Sage Tran: Thank you so much. Thank you.  Jean Pham: I know, this is so lovely. Thank you. Miata Tan : That was Sage Tran, Jean Pham, and Jessie Nguyen with the QTViet Cafe Collective. Their new documentary, Dong Hue: Of the Same Womb, premieres this Sunday, June 14th at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco. That's part of the 22nd Annual International Queer Women of Color [00:24:00] Film Festival, this year featuring 47 films, 10 world premieres, all totally free and open to the public. so if you're in the Bay, this is well worth your time. You can also catch QTViet Cafe's new documentary in San Jose on Saturday, June 20th at a screening hosted by the Q Corner, followed by a Q&A with Sage Tran, the filmmaker that you just heard from. For links to these events and more about QTViet Cafe and how you can get involved in the collective, check out the show notes for this episode. That's on our website at kpfa.org/program/APEXexpress Coming up next, queer and trans Hmong communities in California's Central Valley. But first, here's a taste of Ordinary People, a recent live performance by QTViet Cafe recorded in Oakland last month. ​ Miata Tan : [00:25:00] [00:26:00] [00:27:00] That was a live recording from Ordinary People by the QTViet Cafe Collective,  in Oakland last month. This is APEX Express, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Tonight, in honor of Pride Month, we're turning our attention to queer Asian American communities right here in Northern California: who they are, how they organize, and the future they are fighting for. Miata Tan: My next guests are Shai Chang and Christine Thao from Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride, also known as QHIP. QHIP grows out of Hmong Innovating Politics, a grassroots advocacy group based [00:28:00] in Fresno and Sacramento, and focuses on building community and political power for queer and trans Hmong communities in California's Central Valley. Here's my conversation with Shai and Christine. Miata Tan : You both so much for joining me today on APEX Express. Could you share a little bit about yourself? Who are you, and what is your work with Hmong Innovating Politics? Shai Chang: Hi, my name is Shai, pronouns are they and them. I'm trans, non-binary, also Hmong, located in Yokuts Valley, Fresno, California. the work that I do in Hmong Innovating Politics is that I am a community organizer. I'm the Fresno Trans and Queer Community Organizer, I work specifically in the program called Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride, or QHIP, Q-H-I-P. And we do a lot of really great work with our trans and queer, in particular, like, intersectional folks, people of color within our, our communities and our members and our base to organize to fight, fascism, racism, also, like, transphobia and forms [00:29:00] of hate, moving us towards social justice and liberation. Miata Tan : It's really important work, and I'm excited to get into more of what, Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride looks like, Christine, could you share a little bit about yourself? who are you, and how long have you been with, HIP and QHIP?  Christine Thao : Thank you so much for inviting my name is Christine Thao. I use she/they pronouns, and I am currently here on Nisenan, occupied Nisenan land here in the South Sacramento area. my role is the Sacramento, Trans Queer Community Organizer. And so I came into HIP, back in 2020, so during the COVID pandemic, and, um, I came on board as the administrative assistant. um, in 2024, I transitioned into the community organizer role.  Miata Tan : Lovely. Yeah. Can't wait to get into the work that you do and the campaigns. to ground us in the history of, Hmong communities in America, Shai, could you speak to, who [00:30:00] the Hmong Americans are? I know that Fresno and Sacramento is home to some of the largest populations of Hmong people in the States. Shai Chang: Yeah, definitely. so the Hmong communities are from Southeast Asia, very much like indigenous folks that live within the mountain ranges and the hills. and the reason why we came to America was because of the Secret War the war that happened in Southeast Asia. one of our community members General Vang Pao was involved within this war and then pulled in the rest of the Hmong community to be part of this it is to say that, like many of our young men during that time was pulled into the war, and they were 13, maybe even 14, 15, and younger who were, pulled into the war to fight for America, um, with the promise of that America was going to give them a place that they could call home it was in 1975 where the war ended and, that's when the military went ahead and was able to, because of Ronald Reagan signed, um, a letter for immigration for, [00:31:00] these Hmong folks and refugees to come into the United States. Miata Tan : Yeah, perhaps you can take us back to then, 2018 when, QHIP sort of came to life. what was the need that you were seeing for, queer and trans Hmong people in, in specifically Fresno and, and Sacramento where you all are based?  Shai Chang: the way Hmong communities have always existed was very much to be lay low, you know, not be sticking your head out. And so to be very clear, it's that we are still struggling, economically. we are still very much struggling racially. The ICE attacks definitely impacted our communities we are still very much immigrants and still very much not necessarily having a place of home. But internally is that the Hmong community still very much holds on to, like, the, the traditions. And so they're very patriarchal, um, very strict gender roles, and because of these things have then developed into, gender-based violence [00:32:00] as, like, trans and queer folks, it's that we definitely do experience another deeper layer of the oppressions, especially also in our community because there isn't actually any language in Hmong to talk about what trans or queerness is, where there's no exact word to describe, like, gay or lesbian and things like that. So there is definitely, like, an erasure that also has happened, and in the Hmong community is actually very conservative. Uh, But HIP was already a very progressive organization. And so it was in 2018 because of Hmong innovating politics coming to Fresno. it was at the Hmong New Years, I saw them. I was like, “Oh my gosh, I know who you are. I love you. Like, if there's anything I can do, please let me know,” ‘ Mai Thao was able to pull me in. It was like, “Hey, I want you to do something with us.” and with- was then funded three thousand dollars through HIP, to be able to go ahead and organize for whatever it means for me to trans queer Hmong work. during that time, it grew from, like, me, three people to having, like, fifteen people, [00:33:00] meet, once a week for three hours, and then another three hours we would go out and hang out. and so it really became this place for a social space for particularly, and, and I will name it, it's that majority of the folks in that space was gay cis Hmong men. And it wasn't until a year later from that first time that we first met in 2018 to we had a really hard conversation about our future, about the political work that that we should be doing. and so I've been with HIP for four years, and we've officialized during that time QTPIP to be a program, within HIP, and yeah, it's been really good. I don't have to worry about funding and things and organizing around that front end, and HIP has been able to be s- very supportive in being able to see that, and we can really work on the ends of what does it mean for us to organize around liberation and being on the ground with our community  Miata Tan : Yeah, definitely. It's interesting to hear about the progression from [00:34:00] perhaps a group that was maybe more apolitical moving into that political space.  Shai Chang: we've also been, struggling still even now to land on what it means for us to fight more intersectionally. that's where, like, QHIP and Queer Hmong and intersectional pride comes from, right? Is this word intersectional, coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, is that We do have these cross identities that exist within ourselves. And so would love to have Christine talk more about what actually this issue is within not just Hmong communities, Hmong and trans queer communities. Christine Thao : Thank you, Shy. so Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride, we officially launched the program back in 2024. our QHIP program, It is open to young people between ages, 18 to 25. uh, young trans queer folks. Some go to college. Some, currently looking to be employed. Young people who are impacted, [00:35:00] young people who want to get involved, right, who, who do care about, this work, and who care about social justice, it's a eight-month program And our gatherings are, we call them our huddles, our QHIP huddles. And they're, we do them about biweekly, I can speak a little bit for Sacramento.  we've been meeting up at a cafe. We also use our office space. And, this is just a really a moment in time for our members to, bring up and have critical conversations about things that are happening in their lives or things that they're seeing in their community. Miata Tan : Perhaps you could speak more to the organizing piece. What does this look like? Um, what sort of work are y'all up to? Shai Chang: Some of the ways in which we have organized, in our community is through the framework of BBB. It's our belong, believe, become, and it sounds really cheesy, but this is really how we mobilize our people, we know as trans and queer people, especially as a person of color, we don't know and have enough spaces of [00:36:00] belonging. we actually have a, such a hard time believing in ourselves, and because of that, we have such a hard time in becoming. And this sounds like the story of literally just transitioning. when you Transition is that you really need to have a space of, believing in yourself. You need to have a space in which you can belong, where you are safe, and then through that you can actually become and this person that you have always wanted to be. This is how we mobilize and organize our members and our community because once they start practicing this ability to be able to believe in themselves, have the spaces for them to organize and organize with other people. and to figure out, like, , what is our campaign strategy? What is the ways in which we wanna win in our community, right? And Uh, in gender-affirming care in Fresno and the Central Valley was very, very hard. many of the times folks will have to go to, like, the bigger cities like LA SF to get their care that they needed. We need actual, like, [00:37:00] materialistic wins for our communities so that way they can get to where they need to be. when I'm talking about Materialistic things, it's that, we need them to be housed. We need them to have the affordable, uh, care. We need them to have, the affirming care that they are needing, we know how hard it is for, in particular, trans and queer people to be able to afford literally anything. and it's so much more harder for them to find a career or a job, in a place where they actually also can live and exist through their identities. we've seen the, impacts of, ICE and immigration on our own communities these were, like, the works that were coming out constantly for our communities to fight for, these kind of justice issues, through these ways, we've been able mobilize and move our people to what does it mean for us to actually start thinking about a campaign strategy for us to win some kind of materialistic need and, of course, we work with youths a lot, right? So where is our youth justice at? And this is literally our youth justice, right? We're having our young people share their voices. We [00:38:00] have our young adults organizing in the community, um, doing protestings, and fighting against the system. in particular, more recently, this, board of supervisor in Fresno County banned and denied, LBGTQ books in the Fresno County libraries. and we've organized to get people to show up to write letters and to really be there, and hundreds of people shown up and yet they still continue to, not hear their own constituency and their own community They continuously vote against us. that's why HIP is political, right? Is that we have our civic engagement side, is that, okay, well, it sounds like we need to vote them out, right? And that's what is it mean, and that's what it's about now.  Miata Tan : Yeah, I hear you. It sounds like you're really helping to build political power within Hmong communities in, in Fresno and Sacramento. I'm curious, what has wins look like, uh, for your groups there? how have, you perhaps helped to show those material, changes [00:39:00] for your young people? Shai Chang: Uh, to be honest, it's not much, We're still very new into formed more as a social group in 2018, and just finally became, you know what? Let's be political as f***.  Let's be authentic as f***, you know? y'all really wanna make trans and queer identities political, Then let's be political. and we've just started mobilizing, moving around those kind of things and identities only just more recently, right? As Christine mentioned, in  But the wins that we can really claim a name is that we have a 100% retention rate for our members. yeah. Um, we have tripled the amount of members that we had since then. and we are so excited for us to be able to, like, move and mobilize with our people intentionally and not just like, “Oh, we just need to be here for critical mass,” it is a two-part, right? It's that, one, we need critical mass. We And the other part of this is that we [00:40:00] people to come in intentionally to be a part of this movement work. I actually went to present about QHIP more recently, and they asked, “Oh my gosh, is there any, like, open meetings that you have flyers about? Like, when do y'all meet? And then, like, do you have a flyer for that? And I can share it with, my members.” And I was like, “Actually, we do meet, and it– we do meet biweekly on Fridays. The members themselves are holding the space for the meeting. and so I can ask them about that, but I also wanna let you know that it's not necessarily an open invitation for folks to just come in whenever they want.” We want people to come in intentional, and we want people to engage intentionally. And this is how we want us to move away from this autopilot into being able actively making changes and fights for our communities that will win us materialistic wins. Obviously in this administration, in the Trump administration, um, it has not been easy. just two years ago, they actually closed, the only LGBTQ [00:41:00] homeless shelter in Fresno, and a lot of folks now have, like, a hard time understanding where to go and what and how to navigate it. the Fresno, like, LGBTQ center also closed their doors for, like, the first time in, like, a long And so there is a lot of different impacts as impacting our community, from, like, LGBTQ centers closing, LGBTQ-serving organizations slowing down, And the way that our members and our community and our base have been organizing is As a community resource with one another is that like, ” Hey, I have an extra bed. Y'all can come sleep and crash ” there.” you hungry?” Let's go get food.” Right? Really checking with each other and also being able to ask our community for funding as So HIP, we were able to organize and did a fundraiser back in March 50K. That's huge we also know there are impacts that also is beyond us, too. it was with this past, like, Hmong New Year [00:42:00] that we did, that we wanted to do a Hmong New Year action, an action to really fundraise for our families who were detained by ICE. And so we did a mutual aid fundraiser, asking our community members to donate money, and we were able to raise… we only did it for, like, three hours, and we were able to raise $700. So we're like, ” What if we kept going?” Right? And that's where our fundraiser for 50K came from. so there is, like, ways in which we are trying to organize and mobilize our communities. And, to be very honest is that HIP and, QVIP is not necessarily a direct service organization and not necessarily in that way. I think many of the times people see HIP as like, “Oh, you're here to save us,” we're not that, right? We're really here to mobilize with our community, uh, we have our youth organization over in Edison High School, they were pushed into a small classroom, storage room, actually, for band and also, sports as well. And so it, it was being disruptive a lot. one of our [00:43:00] previous, like, young adult members recognized that, and they were like, ” Sh-uh, Shy and HIP, Please, can y'all do something about this issue?” And we're like, “No.” But we'll do it with you, right? and so we came in, we taught them about organizing, and literally those youths were able to organize themselves to have a classroom now, they remember that. They hold onto that, right? Regardless if we were here or not, they will still be able to know that and hold onto And so it's very much like that as well with our members, is that we want them to be able to organize within among themselves without having the need of, of HIP and entities being able to, have the, have the solution for them Miata Tan : mm, that makes a lot of sense. Really being able to work with community and give them tools so then they can continue to build is something really powerful that, you do at both HIP and QHIP. I'm curious, with this very challenging political moment that we're living through, not only for queer and trans folks, but immigrant communities as [00:44:00] well, how are you holding this, this pain alongside, trying to also celebrate and honor your communities, um, and especially your queer and trans community members? Shai or Christine,  Christine Thao : At HIP we have what is called third spaces, and third spaces are heart spaces. these are, spaces where our young people, they continue to, build their organizing. They get to organize with one another and with HIP, to hold space to build community, to build belongingness, To show up, be present, make connections. is also a space where our young people, they get to decompress as well,  in a world where it feels so chaotic, we do a lot of, the hard stuff with organizing, but then organizing can be so fun. and our young people, they get to see both sides, right, get to experience that. What I'm holding onto is being [00:45:00] engaged and getting involved, it is, Um, How can we connect our young people, to our community partners, right? To make those connections, to build deeper, this year it looks like us, being more intentional about our capacity and who we are, building out with, um… I'm on, I'm currently on the planning community for Elk Grove Pride, and so, uh, our young people are also a part of that, where they get to lead a role, and create, spaces of celebration, right? there's A lot of different opportunities our young people are also involved in, and, it, it is that wanting our young people to, feel empowered to get involved in these spaces as well.  Miata Tan : Yeah. Lovely. Thank you so much, Christine. It sounds like you're really able to create, a beautiful space and community for your young people. Shy, uh, to close out, I'd love to know what's on the horizon for QHIP. It's Pride Month. unfortunately this episode is airing after Fresno Pride, but, perhaps you could [00:46:00] speak a little bit to that and what else is on the horizon. Shai Chang: Sure thing. the first thing I need to say is Happy Pride Month. so Happy Pride Month, everyone. Fresno always hosts their Pride parade, always the first Saturday of, of the Pride month it is On Saturday, June 6. Pride parade over at Tower District in Fresno. it's gonna be very fun. It's super exciting. We will be marching in there all together, and the theme for this year is, Pride Without Border. we're gonna be Extra powerful in calling out all of the different, struggles that our intersectional folks are all facing and being able to march together in liberation. what's also coming up next is, I- I'm foreseeing it to happen probably next month or in August, is that we will have a third space event to really celebrate Pride. we spend all our energy to be part of the Pride parade preparing our members and supporting them, but we haven't necessarily celebrated QHIP's [00:47:00] own Pride, you know, we work very politically in election works, and so we always have a bunch of these like, door hangers, Vote yes on Prop 3,” things like that, right? And so we have so much of those paper, and so what we usually do during this, like, Pride event that we do in QHIP is that we- we use these as an opportunity for us to do trash drag. it's an opportunity for us to get glammed out everyone gets to participate creating this, like, image through the trash drag. And so we're excited to be able to do that, so please keep on the lookout. Miata Tan : Sorry, why is it called trash drag? I'd love to know.  Shai Chang: It's because, like, we had s- you know, this much f- okay, we, we have a lot of flyers from the our elections, And especially this year. You know how in, in the mail you'll get so much, like, ” Vote for this person, vote for this person.” all of this is all paper that is then thrown away without any second thought. and we will make them, and we'll make, like, thousands of copies , right? But we never are able to pass it all out. what we do is that we will go ahead and reuse them one last time for [00:48:00] them to have an opportunity for them to shine, We'll have them split up into teams, and then use all the different trash that they can gather and use, and glue them, tape them , staple them to make a dress, to make an outfit for this one person that they're gonna designate to be the drag mother for their team. Miata Tan : I love that. That sounds like so much fun.  Shai Chang: Yeah. We're gonna be doing it in Fresno and also in Sacramento, so we'll figure out a ways for everyone to be involved.  Miata Tan : Oh, how wonderful. Christine, could you speak to what events are coming up in Sacramento for us?  Christine Thao : We are also having, um, Elk Grove Pride on June 20th. It's from 5:00 to 9:00. it's gonna be at the Elk Grove Laguna Town Hall. And so community is very welcome to attend. It is a free event. Think of it like, kind of like a resource gathering with, um, some really amazing performances we have, a lot of like, BIPOC TQ, artistes, and then also vendors [00:49:00] as well. So please show up and, would love to, to meet folks and connect with folks in these spaces.  Miata Tan : Beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing, Christine, and we'll be sharing all the details of how you can get involved and learn more about QHIP and HIP at the end of this episode as well. Thank you both so much for joining me today.  Shai Chang: Thank you so much for having me. Miata Tan: That was my conversation with Shai Chang and Christine Thao at Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride, also known as QHIP Miata Tan : this is APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. To close out tonight's show, I have one final guest. Cynthia Fong is the lead organizer at Lavender Phoenix, also known as LavNix, A Bay Area organization building power for queer and trans Asian and Pacific Islander communities. You may have heard of them. Their new executive director joined us on [00:50:00] air just a few months ago. Here's a short conversation with Cynthia Fong on Queer Joy, community power, and what LavNix has coming up this summer Cynthia Fong: Thank you so much for having us. My name is Cynthia. I use they/them pronouns, and I'm here with Lavender Phoenix. Lavender Phoenix, we build trans, non-binary, queer API power through organizing in the Bay Area. We work with our members to demand true solutions to care and safety, and we're excited to be here with you all. Miata Tan : I'm so excited to close out the episode with you. And as we're in Pride Month, I hoped you might be able to share a little bit about queer joy and how Lavender Phoenix is celebrating that at the moment, honoring each other.  Cynthia Fong: Yeah, absolutely. Especially in times like this, times of escalated violence against our communities, we know that queer joy, queer resistance, and queer power are truly antidotes to the systems that are making us sick. For us, that means in our work, we fight for care not cops, [00:51:00] we fight for budgets that truly reflect the needs of our people, we fight for a free Palestine, and we fight to abolish ICE. If you agree with all of the things that I just said we also do a lot of leadership exchange programs, and that is where we really cultivate that belonging and community in our trans and queer API community. Miata Tan : Oh, I love that. Could you share a little bit more about the leadership exchange with our listeners?  Cynthia Fong: Yeah, absolutely. This is one of our time-honored traditions. It's called the Queer Leadership Exchange, it's also known as LEX. And this program will run for two weekends in July. we aim to provide training on fundamental organizing skills, trans and queer history in the Bay Area, and really to provide an opportunity for trans and queer Asian and Pacific Islanders to connect with, with each other in a space that's made by and for us. We invite you to apply if you are trans or queer [00:52:00] and if you identify as Asian or Pacific Islander. Our deadline is July 1st. And in these two weekends, we usually gather with about 20 to 30 folks, and it's really interactive. We have a mix of activities that we invite people to, to skill up on and, and really to become the leaders that our movements need. Miata Tan : Love that. Could you share a little bit about some leaders you've seen come out of these programs? Like, what does that look like? How are they, helping to, to organize community?  Cynthia Fong: the folks who graduate from our LEX program, it, it's really a wide range of people, whether it's trans and queer APIs at work in other nonprofit sectors. It's also our folks who may be supporting our community in other ways, like as artists, as students, educators, as therapists. We see a lot of people take these skills and translate them into a variety of different sectors that we know trans and queer API people… we're everywhere, more and more so now. And we would [00:53:00] love every single one of us to be grounded in our histories when we do that work. And not only our histories, but also in a firm sense of belonging with one another, to know that we're not alone, to know that there are other trans and queer Asians and Pacific Islanders here in the Bay Area, all of whom share these values of wanting to build working class power. Miata Tan : that's so nice, a more multi-generational, multi-sector,  ​ Cynthia Fong: And, you know, we take it as an opportunity, too, for us to build with other organizations and people who, who are like-minded. We don't take it for granted. We know the Bay Area is a place where it's very diverse, where We are actively fighting for what values we believe in and whose agenda we are willing to put in power. And so we really welcome a wide range of people. No matter where you are, the real important thing is you, you share our values. you believe in true solutions to care and safety that are not rooted in systems of policing or incarceration  Miata Tan : [00:54:00] That's really powerful. to close this out , Could you share a little bit more about what's on the horizon for Lavender Phoenix later in the year? You mentioned a few of the campaigns, Care Not Cops. perhaps if you wanna dive into some of those.  Cynthia Fong: Yeah, absolutely. Um, we are joining a really big coalition of people from Alameda to Sacramento to San Francisco, all of whom are paying a lot of attention to our budgets, when you say Care Not Cops, we see our budgets to really be that moral document that show us where our priorities are. For us, June is Pride Month, but it's also budget season, Um, it gives us a really big opportunity to be as loud as we can about what we believe. and in San Francisco with $16 billion, it's quite shameful that we have our community partners like the San Francisco Community Health Center, Lyric, our youth programs being defunded, all the while new jails are being opened, all the while the police are getting new toys, they're [00:55:00] showing us that the money exists but it's not for us. And so we join the voices that are demanding for a people's budget, and we know that that's gonna be an ongoing fight. We've been in it for a few years now, and we plan to continue. In terms of our organization, we're actually super excited to say we have 100% of our membership really diving into what the next five years looks like for us. Folks may remember we came onto APAICS to announce a name change a few years ago. We were formerly known as API Equality Northern California. We came on APAICS a few years ago to share that we've changed to Lavender Phoenix, and we anticipate some new changes on the horizon being announced at the end of the year as well, hopefully with deeper clarity about what the next five years will look like for us. Miata Tan : Ooh. Interesting. It's not a new name change, is it?  Cynthia Fong: No, no. We, we're gonna stay… We're keeping the t- we're keeping our name. We love our name. We love the history in our name. But it's really just the theory of [00:56:00] change, you know? I think our moment today is very unique, very different, very politically tumultuous, and we wanna be sharp. We wanna know what we're organizing for, what we're organizing against, and, and what it means for us to build power.  Our last theory of change process is what resulted in us focusing on leadership programs, leadership development. It is also where we decided that healing is really important for our people. It's also where we decided that safety is really important for our people. And so I anticipate that it's gonna be a deepening not, not a change, but a deepening of how we orient to this bigger picture of our movement for liberation and justice. Miata Tan : So beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing, Cynthia. Um, it was really lovely to speak with you.  Cynthia Fong: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. I, hope to come Back soon. Miata Tan : That was Cynthia Fong with Lavender Phoenix. If you want to learn more about LavNix, we sat down with their team earlier in the year. Find that episode and their leadership exchange program in the show notes. Tonight, we also heard [00:57:00] from the QTViet Cafe Collective and Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride. Links to all of these organizations and their upcoming work are at kpfa.org/program/APEXexpress. This is APEX Express KPFA, airing every Thursday evening at 7:00 PM. Thank you for tuning in tonight APEX Express is a proud member of the Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality, a network focused on long-term movement building, capacity infrastructure, and leadership support for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders committed to social justice. Learn more at aacre.org. This program produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Miata Tan, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by me, Miata Tan. Get some rest y'all.   The post APEX Express – 6.11.26 – Pride, Power, and Queer AAPI Voices appeared first on KPFA.

On Friday, May 08, 2026, Hudson Mohawk Magazine Network Roaming Labor Correspondent Willie Terry attended the "NYS Asian American and Pacific Islander Summit AI For All" at Albany Empire State Plaza. The New York State AAPI Summit is an annual landmark legislative event uniting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) legislators, community organizations, advocates, and activists from across New York. In this labor segment, part one of two, Willie had a chance to interview one of the participants, Dr. Henry Zhu, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist based in Brooklyn, NY. He is the founder of the private practice  Mind-Body Wellness and also practices as part of the clinician team at Behavioral Health of New York (BHNY).

On Friday, May 08, 2026, Hudson Mohawk Magazine Network Roaming Labor Correspondent Willie Terry attended the "NYS Asian American and Pacific Islander Summit AI For All" at Albany Empire State Plaza. The New York State AAPI Summit is an annual landmark legislative event uniting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) legislators, community organizations, advocates, and activists from across New York. In this labor segment, part two of two, Willie had a chance to interview one of the participants, Dr. Henry Zhu, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist based in Brooklyn, NY. He is the founder of the private practice  Mind-Body Wellness and also practices as part of the clinician team at Behavioral Health of New York (BHNY).

On this episode, we're very excited to welcome booktuber, and now published author, Cindy Pham to chat about her debut novel, The Secret World of Briar Rose, a sapphic dark retelling of the legend of sleeping beauty, following a jaded thief who, while searching for her missing sister, finds herself transported into the dream world of her fallen kingdom's slumbering princess. We chat with Cindy about the inspirations behind her debut, as well as how her experience reviewing books have prepared her to be on the other side as a published author.Follow Cindy on Instagram at @readwithcindy and check out her debut novel The Secret World of Briar Rose available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authorsSupport the Books & Boba Podcast by:Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merchFollow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebookThe Books & Boba May 2025 pick is Blob by Maggie SuThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast CollectiveMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCNAATCO returns to The Public with their production of Shakespeare's trilogy, HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS, adapted and directed by Stephen Brown-Fried. Condensed into two parts and performed in rep, experience this saga of a nation spinning wildly out of control. Part 1: Foreign Wars kicks off with the funeral of King Henry V, leaving his infant son on the throne and sending the country into decades of spiraling chaos both abroad and at home. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later, as nascent domestic feuds rapidly metastasize into the full-blown civil war known as the War of the Roses.Henry VI - The Public

We return from our APAHM hiatus with our May 2026 edition of Good Pop's monthly Asian American entertainment news roundup "Do We Want This?", we celebrate the end of Heritage Month by checking out some new upcoming projects, Park Chan-Wook's next big thing, White Lotus casting news, and badass commencement speeches.What's Popping? - Paddington the Musical, Top ChefFollow our hosts:Marvin Yueh - @marvinyuehJess Ju - @jessjutweetsHanh Nguyen - @hanhonymousFollow the show and engage with us at @goodpopclubPart of the Potluck Podcast CollectiveProduced by HappyEcstatic MediaMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCNAATCO returns to The Public with their production of Shakespeare's trilogy, HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS, adapted and directed by Stephen Brown-Fried. Condensed into two parts and performed in rep, experience this saga of a nation spinning wildly out of control. Part 1: Foreign Wars kicks off with the funeral of King Henry V, leaving his infant son on the throne and sending the country into decades of spiraling chaos both abroad and at home. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later, as nascent domestic feuds rapidly metastasize into the full-blown civil war known as the War of the Roses.Henry VI

On this episode we discuss our May 2026 pick is No-No Boy by John Okada, one of the earliest in the Asian American canon following the story of Ichiro Yamada who returns home to Seattle after serving 2 years in prison for refusing to serve in the military during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War 2. We're excited to dive into this Asian American classic from 1957, who's publication journey is just as interesting as the story itself.Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authorsSupport the Books & Boba Podcast by:Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merchFollow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebookThe Books & Boba June 2026 pick is The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi VoThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast CollectiveMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCNAATCO returns to The Public with their production of Shakespeare's trilogy, HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS, adapted and directed by Stephen Brown-Fried. Condensed into two parts and performed in rep, experience this saga of a nation spinning wildly out of control. Part 1: Foreign Wars kicks off with the funeral of King Henry V, leaving his infant son on the throne and sending the country into decades of spiraling chaos both abroad and at home. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later, as nascent domestic feuds rapidly metastasize into the full-blown civil war known as the War of the Roses.Henry VI - The Public

A loud boom was heard around the Bay State yesterday caused by a meteor, charges are filed against the bus driver involved in a deadly crash in Virginia that killed five MA residents and AAPI heritage month is coming to a close but that doesn't mean the fun is. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you make your way to Boston and stop by the 1965 Freedom Plaza, near the Embrace statue, you'll find dozens of names etched in the tiles. Those names honor icons in Boston's history who may not be as well known, including Harry Hom Dow. He was known for breaking barriers in the legal world and through his civic life, and it was because of that work that Embrace Boston and Everyone250 chose to name this year's "Embrace Honors" after him. Nichole talks with one of the honorees, Suzanne Lee, President Emeritus of the Chinese Progressive Association, along with Embrace Boston's President and CEO, Imari Paris Jeffries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We close out AAPI month by taking a look at the modern classic class-satire brought to you by Director Bong Joon-Ho - PARASITE. I'm deadly serious.PLUGGABLES:Ellie: @elessar42 on Bluesky, Letterboxd, and Medium; @football-in-tuxedos on Tumblr, Podcasting's Biggest Night available wherever Pods are Cast.Leif: @leifbradshawsings on instagram, @leifbradshawmusic on Facebook, linktr.ee/disneyoutlandsCOMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Reach out to your congressional representative to express your support for the NO FAKES Act! Fight the clankers! https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-the-no-fakes-actSupport the showSam: @DemiSemme on YouTube, Tumblr, BlueSky, and most other social media platforms (NOT eX-Twitter). Visit our Tumblrs at sixdegreesofstarwars.tumblr.com and ier-6d.tumblr.comTheme Music provided by Refractory Period: @RefractoryPeriodTheBand on Instagram, linktr.ee/RefractoryPeriodForever Mutual Aid LinksE-Sims for Gaza: https://gazaesims.com/Click to Help: https://arab.org/click-to-help/Anti-Imperialism support for people across the world, organized by Kandakat_alhaqq:  https://linktr.ee/kandakat_alhaqqCampus Bail Funds: https://campusbailfunds.com/6DOSW is a Pro-Union podcast. Please support artists by contributing to the Entertainment Community Fund if you can: https://entertainmentcommunity.org/how-get-help-and-give-help-during-work-stoppageThe views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.

In this update, I'm sharing a little of what's been on my heart lately — learning as a storyteller, creating space through 1:1 Career Sessions with aspiring professionals, and celebrating our AAPI community by spotlighting Antonio, founder of Silver Screen Club.Whether it's career, culture, or community, the goal is the same: use our stories to open doors, build connection, and remind people that their voice matters.Your story matters. Keep building. Enjoy!

Bebe Demure hosts Part 4 of Curly Bright's unprescedented special FOUR PART takeover of the WEView for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month; featuring a total of FOURTEEN FilAm entertainers talking representation, icons, colleagues, shows, backstage, and incoporporating their heritage into their burlesque, drag, and nightlife personas. Take a listen to the 14th session of "The WEView" panel discussion show featuring: BEBE DEMURE, your moderator in Roanoke, VA & soon to be Boston, MA: https://www.instagram.com/bebedemure/ | https://bebedemure.substack.com/  GRANDMAFUN, panelist in Nashville, TN: https://www.instagram.com/grandmafun/  JOY RIDER, panelist in Montreal: https://www.instagram.com/joyridermtl/ | https://www.joyriderburlesque.com/   SAFFRON SOLEIL, panelist in Richmond, VA: https://www.instagram.com/saffronsoleil/ | https://linktr.ee/saffronsoleil  Produced by Viktor Devonne for the WEBurlesque Podcast Network Want advice, submit a question for discusison, or get consensus if you're the asshole? Submit a letter from the audience: https://weburlesque.wordpress.com/the-weview/ Feedback and Curiosities: weburlesquepodcast@gmail.com  (this conversation was recorded on 3-29-2026)... all opinions are those of our guests; this is a production of WEBurlesque, executive produced by Viktor Devonne and guest co-produced by Curly Bright.)

APEX Express is a weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. On this episode, host Miata Tan is joined by guests from the South Asian Coalition, an emergent national network committed to collective liberation and solidarity. Together they explore what it means to build South Asian political power in this moment—and how cross-movement solidarity can shape a more just, multiracial future. Learn more about the South Asian Coalition Website | Instagram | Policy Priorities   The South Asian Coalition was convened in October 2024 by: Manavi, Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, Muslims for Just Futures, and Raksha.   Transcript ​[00:00:00]  Miata Tan : Hello and welcome. You are tuning in to APEX Express, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I'm your host, Miata Tan. Tonight, we're focusing on South Asian communities and the organizers working to build political power. South Asians are one of the fastest-growing racial groups in the United States, Over six million people [00:01:00] and roughly a quarter of the Asian American population. South Asian is used as a broad umbrella term for people with roots in countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and sometimes Afghanistan. Though exact definitions can vary across communities and organizations. And as we'll talk about tonight, within the South Asian diaspora who call the United States home, you have a mix of nationalities, religion, immigration status, and more. Tonight, I'm joined by four people working to address the issues impacting South Asian communities in the US and beyond. At a time when questions of belonging, safety, and political power continue to shape immigrant communities across the country, South Asian organizers are building new forms of solidarity while also grappling with the diversity and complexity within their own communities. The first voice you'll hear is Sabiha Basrai Sabiha is the daughter of Muslim Gujarati immigrants and has been [00:02:00] organizing with the Bay Area-based Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA, since 2009. Here's Sabiha helping us to understand how South Asian political organizing has evolved in the United States, especially in the post 9/11 era Sabiha Basrai: Thanks for the opportunity to do some reflection this year marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11, which was a real a political flashpoint that absolutely changed my life because I was a 19-year-old college student trying to figure out a lot of things about how the world works and my place in it, and my own identity and the multiple identities I hold. Uh, and also where my responsibilities lied in solidarity, not just with other Muslims who were being targeted, but our broad immigrant diasporas and allies, uh, who have experienced discrimination in different forms from the state. So thinking about the ways in which- organizing happened in the, months and years after 9/11 to support immigrant [00:03:00] rights that was really a time in which new projects formed, um, or existing projects kind of found a new focus. ASATA as an organizing project, as a group of volunteers, has both done things like shown up to support folks being called up for the NCR's Special Registration Program and also participate in direct action protests in solidarity against the war, and has continued to be part of coalitional work regionally in the Bay Area. And, you know, more recently, uh, when we think about the ways in which our communities under, are under increased pressure with the Trump administration's immigrant policies, there have been also opportunities to build more relationships and make sure that as we advocate for our community's rights, we're doing so in formation with others, not just focusing on one particular bad piece of legislation, but connecting that to a larger story, to really build towards liberation for all of us. I'll [00:04:00] just add, too that those relationships that were kind of seeded and invested in in that moment of crisis and anxiety and fear have endured in many ways to now. The fact that that very ecosystem is actually growing in this moment is a testament to the relationships that were built in those days. Miata Tan : That was Sabiha Basrai grounding us in the history of South Asian political organizing in the US. As she mentioned, for many South Asians, 9/11 marked a particularly mobilizing moment, one that helped our communities organized and built solidarity. To help us better understand how that moment influenced the evolution of progressive South Asian activism, we now turn to Deepa Iyer, South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. Deepa leads projects on solidarity and social movements at Building Movement Project and brings more than 25 years of experience in Asian American organizing and advocacy Deepa Iyer: I think that I would say that there [00:05:00] were, looking back, a couple of trends and themes that we can pull out from that time. one is that there was definitely a shift in the general consciousness of South Asian communities about our place in American society, our understanding of racism, Islamophobia, and also the role of the state. And so we had a situation where both hate violence and state violence were actually being endured by South Asian, Muslim, Arab communities. And so I think that there was a shift in the ways in which our communities began to think about ourselves in the United States. A second piece is the growth of a field, an ecosystem of South Asian organizations in the wake of the attacks and the global war on terror. So we began to see a lot of groups that were actually formed or becoming more staffed up in the weeks and months after 9/11. For example, the Sikh [00:06:00] Coalition was actually birthed the evening of the attacks, and an organization that I was close to, SALT, was also emerging and forming in the months after 9/11 as well. So we began to see that a, a field was growing. And the third, sort of theme I would point out that Sabihah alluded to is this sense of solidarity, that instead of sort of being siloed as, you know, South Asians working within just our communities and just talking about certain specific issues, there was real sense that we needed to collaborate and build bridges with Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and, Black communities in the United States to understand the trajectory of racism and xenophobia, and how they were all kind of coming together in the weeks after 9/11. Those three themes and trends are what, when I look back, I see coming up over and over again in our messaging and in our advocacy. Miata Tan : [00:07:00] That was Deepa Iyer, as you heard from Deepa, collaboration across movements was essential in helping South Asian communities to understand and respond to the waves of xenophobia in the wake of 9/11. Now we turn to Rajiv Narayan and Farah Mahesri, who lead national policy work at the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA together they launched and now co-lead ASATA's new political base building group, ASATA Power. Rajiv begins by reflecting on what South Asian communities are facing today and what has and hasn't changed since 9/11. Rajiv Narayan: I think unfortunately many of the challenges present in the early 2000s remain today. They take new form. Some have evolved and transformed, but they were ex- existed in, in much the same form following 9/11. One of the, the instances in which I, I learned about that is at the recent South Asian Coalition convening where we did this exercise in mapping a number of [00:08:00] historical and present day events, as well as a future vision of things that are important to our organizations and to our movements. And something that we reflected on together in the convening is that a number of these attacks on our communities have waxed and waned, uh, at different periods in time, dating back to the, the 1960s and truly at, even at the beginning of, you know, the 19th century and the late 18th century. And so, to answer your question specifically, in the early 2000s, like Deepa and Sabihah mentioned, we've dealt with, uh, an incredible expression of Islamophobia of, uh, anti-Brown and anti-Black racism and hate speech. There was a, in, in general a skepticism and unwelcoming of South Asian communities. And unfortunately with the current federal administration and political discourse in our country, uh, a number of those same themes are relevant today and take on similar forms, whether they're in [00:09:00] response to what the federal administration is doing in countries like Iran or previous administrations have done in Afghanistan or Pakistan. I think all of those events underscore all the more so that it's important for our organizations to, organize together, much as we did in the early 2000s, to address these harms, to remember what they look like at previous stages of history, and to fight to prevent them again from happening in the future. Miata Tan : Farah, perhaps you could speak a bit to the organizing. What did that look like, a few years ago, and what does that look like today? How has that changed? Farah Mahersi: Rajiv and I started ASATA Power a couple of years ago specifically to be able to look forward to practice radical imagination, and fight for not just protection of our communities, which we will always do. That is built into our DNAs. It's what we know. It's how we move. And also to fight for things that we want, to build the world that we want to live in so that we're not constantly caught in these cycles. And as we're doing [00:10:00] that, we are learning a lot about how organizing is happening today, the BLM movement, Black Lives Matter, and incredible street power, but also that movement's ability to change our national discourse and change what is baseline, what we should be demanding, and how we are visioning a future that is built on policies governance and hard material changes in our lives is profound. beyond that, also the Palestine solidarity movement over the last couple of years has rewritten every book about organizing. And so I think that it is an interesting moment of both a little bit of sadness, to be honest, that we are still fighting some of these same fights and we are still in some of these same dynamics that we have been for 25 years, and the profound opportunity that we have to build power and to look forward, and I think that is, more true in the Bay Area than it is almost everywhere else. Uh, because of what our workforce looks like, because of the sheer [00:11:00] amount of wealth that is accumulated in this little corner of our world, and also when you look around at the political power and people who hold political power or are running for political power and elected office around the Bay Area, you could really start to see not just how South Asians are increasingly politicized and increasingly looking to build electoral and political power, but also s- very specifically progressive political power. And so when you look to Congress now, The progressive caucus is full of South Asian progressives who are leading the charge, who are doing some of this critical work, that's part of our organizing strategy, is to be part of those conversations and to continue to push and to continue to, again, advocate for policies and changes at that big level to make the future we want possible. Miata Tan : I love that. Coming together to dream and really fight. Rajiv, you are leading this work at the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action. Can you speak more to why the Bay Area [00:12:00] is a, like, a distinct microcosm in this progressive South Asian movement? Rajiv Narayan: Of course. So Farah and I, we both work together at ASATA Power, and ASATA is sort of political power building project within the auspices of, uh, ASATA which has been operating in the Bay Area for more than 25 years now. I think what makes the Bay Area a microcosm of the South Asian diaspora is a tremendous amount of diversity and, uh, a set of interrelated intersectional challenges. So you have, uh, folks of South Asian descent with all different immigration histories. So I'm, for example, a person, um, who has birthright citizenship in the United States as I was born here. But there are folks who immigrated here, like my parents and had to attain their citizenship uh, through the, the US legal system, and folks beyond that who are refugees or asylees or are undocumented due to a variety of political and social and economic pressures. And so we all coexist in this same space across an economic gradient. So there are folks [00:13:00] who are very well compensated in the tech sectors and healthcare sectors sometimes, uh, characterized, uh, as part of a, a model minority myth, um, as representatives of the South Asian diaspora, um, within the San Francisco Bay Area and the United States broadly. And then there are whole variety of South Asians who are working in less well-compensated, often quite exploited industries. For example, in, care industries as people who are providing childcare or senior care services, people who are working in the restaurant industry folks who are lesser compensated within healthcare as well as in tech industries and other ways. Of course, those economic positions interact with the political and legal system. So for example, even if a person might be, um, well-compensated in a tech job in the Bay Area, um, which they attained by way of an H-1B visa that person might be subject to exploitative labor conditions based on the, uh, the legal configuration of how H-1B [00:14:00] visas are treated. For example, that you depend on your employer for your immigration status in this country, which changes the worker-employer relationship in a way that makes it very difficult to identify workplace abuses. beyond that, we also have a diverse range of South Asians across the age gradient. So we have folks who are quite young, who are in Gen Z, and are entering politics in a completely different way than somebody like myself or Deepa entered politics at, in earlier in, in our lives and experience it today, which provides an opportunity for us to learn from earlier generations and to also share lessons from our political experience. So like with many things, the Bay Area has it all, the good and the bad, and ASATA and ASATA Power work within that, that space to identify opportunities for solidarity. Miata Tan : That was Rajiv Narayan and Farah Mehestri. Through their work with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA, Rajiv and Farah are helping to build South Asian political power here in the Bay Area and [00:15:00] nationwide. The ASATA team and all four of our guests tonight are connected through the South Asian Coalition, a network of local and national organizations focused on advancing policy issues affecting South Asian communities and building shared spaces for strategy and collaboration. To better understand this evolving movement of progressive South Asian action, let's return to Deepa Iyer, who shares how and why this coalition came together Deepa Iyer: Yeah. I really appreciate Rajiv bringing up, um, how- what is happening in the Bay Area is part of a larger movement. And what I would say about this ecosystem, this field that I talked about earlier, and I've been able to understand this through the course of the work I've done, but also a book I've written about post 9/11 America, is that so much happens on the coasts, and we often forget that there are organizations and are communities that are really [00:16:00] growing in other parts of the country, right? You know, I grew up in Kentucky, um, and there are places like Kentucky and Indiana where you are seeing, um, more South Asians settle and build their lives there. So one of the things that I think has been important in thinking about as we come up on this 25th anniversary of 9/11 is how our coalition of South Asian groups, how that field has grown with these additional organizations, in geographic areas that are different, as well as the ways in which folks are organizing. So now we've got, for example, groups that are working with Bhutanese refugees or Nepali-speaking community members, or groups that are organizing around the exploitation of community members based on caste. These are, um, really important movement interventions and organizations that are growing. one of the key aspects of network infrastructure is the ability to connect with each other, [00:17:00] not to flatten our experiences and say we're all the same, but to actually find some threads of commonality in our shared struggle and our experiences, and to also know that together as collectives, as Farah mentioned earlier, we can actually build the futures that we wanna see. One of the really, I think, inspiring pieces of coalition building that I've been fortunate to work with and support along with, um, everyone here is the South Asian Coalition, which is this emergent network of now 35 organizations around the country, and this coalition really seeks to build relationships and strengthen relationships, engage in peer learning and skills building, make it clear that there are certain policy issues that we need to uplift and to advocate around, and to create opportunities and pathways for solidarity with larger movements. This coalition and the infrastructure that it's been [00:18:00] creating is a way for us to look at our ecosystem of South Asian organizing in this moment, and to really see what happens when we galvanize our power collectively. Miata Tan : and Deepa, can you share a bit about the various co-conveners that make up the South Asian Coalition?  Deepa Iyer: So the South Asian Coalition, um, as we've mentioned, is this emergent network of groups that address various issues but are aligned around shared values. And the groups that really came together to co-convene it include Asad the Power, as well as Muslims for Just Futures, Raksha, which is an organization in the South, and Manavi, which is based in New Jersey. And these four organizations really had the vision to set up the structure for the coalition. the organization where I work at, Building Movement Project, supports the coalition through infrastructure, so providing facilitation, providing resources, policy analysis, and creating the container to support [00:19:00] movements in that way, which is so critical for coalitions. Miata Tan : That was Deepa Iyer a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. after the break, we'll hear more from organizers and advocates working to address issues shaping South Asian communities today. Stay with us  [00:20:00] [00:21:00] that was “Phenom” by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. You are tuned into [00:22:00] APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I'm your host, Miada Tan. Tonight, I'm joined by four people who are working to address the issues impacting South Asian communities in the US and beyond. Back in March, organizers, advocates, and community leaders from across the country gathered in Washington, DC, for a national convening focused on the challenges and possibilities facing South Asian communities today. Here's Sabiha Basrai with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA. She speaks about how this coalition of progressive South Asian groups formed and why this moment called for it. Sabiha Basrai: So this new emergent South Asian Coalition had its first convening in Washington, DC in March, and this was, the culmination of, a little over a year of monthly Zoom calls which started because [00:23:00] we knew we were on the verge of a Trump re-election. Uh, we knew that there was this ecosystem of South Asian activism and organizing across the country. Some of us knew each other from previous collaborations, but some of us didn't. New organizations were forming, and there was this recognition that we need each other in order to face what's coming, and we are stronger together. And we know that being South Asian is not a monolith, uh, that we deal with within our own communities based on labor exploitation, caste discrimination, anti-Muslim violence. And when we talk to each other, when we connect, we give ourselves the best chance at being able to move through those pieces of pain and build towards a future where we can all feel a sense of belonging, feel represented, and an agency in shaping that future together. So what started with a few conversations with a few folks, grew steadily [00:24:00] and, um, and through some intentional work to, to kind of invite each other in, which is of course an ongoing process, we were able to unite under this umbrella called the South Asian Coalition. Uh, we committed to some shared political points of unity and kind of community agreements to really set some expectations with one another on how we could move well in formation. And, made sure we had pathways to share information with each other so that someone like me working in Oakland could understand what, uh, someone working in Texas or in Georgia was facing, what local policy positions they were needing to, to navigate. And, uh, we could give each other advice, give each other moral support, and also sharpen our political understandings. So, uh, these kind of, uh, regular check-ins was one way of just understanding what we were all facing and feeling connected. But, actually being together in person was remarkable. I cannot overstate how much of a difference it makes to be able to share [00:25:00] space and see each other as whole people and not just representatives of a particular organization or a particular issue area, and, have those in-between moments where we actually build, build some friendships. One of the things that was also really important for me to understand when we met together was just how important that intergenerational work is. we had folks in the room who were, in their 50s and 60s who had been doing this work for decades. And we had folks in the room who were in their 20s for whom 9/11 was, something that happened in history. The conversations that were happening across generations informed the way that we think about ourselves as a coalition and helped me also to let go of some of the constraints that, kept my imagination small about what we were capable of. I was really grateful that so many people attended and chose to prioritize that work. It's hard, you know, to take a pause from The daily work to leave, fly to [00:26:00] DC take those risks as well because for many of us, uh, going through TSA is no small thing. There's a lot of harassment and racism that still permeate, you know, these institutions. So not to minimize just the effort that ta- it takes to convene and really make the most of our time together. One of the things that we did while we were in DC together was hold a congressional briefing to really, uh, amplify and share the issues that were coming up for our communities that folks were already working very hard on. Miata Tan : That was Sabiha Basrai with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA. Now let's return to Rajiv Narayan, another member of the ASATA team and co-lead of their political action group, ASATA Power. Rajiv will take you inside the congressional briefing that Sabiha mentioned and how South Asian organizers from across the country shared the issues shaping their communities and what support is needed now Rajiv Narayan: We in ASATA Power worked in [00:27:00] collaboration with a number of the organizations in the South Asian coalition, to put together a congressional briefing on the issue of South Asians and immigration in the heart of Washington, DC, in the halls of Congress in Capitol Hill. And we were fortunate to do so in collaboration with Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Grace Meng. we had a number of, speakers representing, different perspectives and political struggles within the South Asian, uh, space in the United States, especially as it relates to immigration. So, for example, we had representatives from the Dalit Solidarity Forum talking about the plight of oppressed workers, caste-oppressed workers, in New Jersey working in a Hindu temple.  ​ Dr Roja Sunganthy-Singh – Dalit: I stand here as a Dalit, formerly known as an untouchable in India's caste system, speaking for over two hundred skilled Dalit artisans who were brought to the US from India to build the largest Hindu temple in New Jersey. In their words, ” We are the Indian stone workers of America, workers [00:28:00] rescued by the FBI in twenty twenty-one from forced labor conditions constructing the BAPS temple in New Jersey. we were brought to the US on R one visas and compelled to perform construction labor for over eighty-seven hours a week and paid just a dollar twenty an hour. Rajiv Narayan: We heard from, um, the executive director of the Sikh Coalition talking about Sikh truck drivers and religious workers and their experience under the federal regime's, uh, rule-making efforts. Harman Singh – Sikh Coalition: Uh, Punjabi Sikhs began entering the US trucking industry in large numbers during the nineteen eighties, and Sikh truck drivers and business owners have played a critical role in addressing driver shortages over the past several years. Unfortunately, Sikhs in this critical industry have become the subject of harmful rhetoric and policy from this current administration. These drivers are being excluded solely because of their specific immigration status and regardless of their driving histories, skills, knowledge, or English proficiency.  Rajiv Narayan: We heard from, the executive director of Asian Refugees United, who [00:29:00] spoke about the experience of Bhutanese refugees who have been rendered stateless by the current administration's, deportation efforts Robin Gurung – ARU: Because of the ethnic cleansing campaign of Bhutan government, more than hundred thousand Bhutanese citizens were forced to flee the country. For twenty years, I lived in a refugee camp in Nepal. In 2008, the government of this country came to rescue us. We were promised safety and security. But last year, that promise was broken. As of March 2025, over seventy of our community members are deported to Bhutan, the same country that persecuted us and made us refugees. These community members are kidnapped from their homes and jobs. They have been taken from their routine ICE check-ins. We know due process was not followed. Rajiv Narayan: We also heard from the executive director of Raksha, a domestic violence organization based in the Southern United States that has played an instrumental role in supporting South Asians who have been the victims [00:30:00] and who are now survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence, about the needs for supporting these kinds of organizations, with federal dollars and through the grant-making systems conditions. Aparna Bhattacharyya – Raksha: For thirty years, we have supported community members in navigating interpersonal violence, but also waves of racism and policy backlash.  South Asian and Indo-Caribbean survivors need safe places to turn, safe places that speak their language, understand their unique immigration and cultural needs. Raksha recently had $700,000 in OVC grants terminated by DOGE. additionally, we are still waiting for OVW sexual assault cultural funds for five months, where we have gotten no determination of whether we're getting that funding or not. Five months. Rajiv Narayan: We also heard from, the director of the South Asian American Justice Collaborative, which is currently, before the US Supreme Court in the birthright citizenship case, and [00:31:00] filed this foundational amicus brief detailing the story of South Asians in the United States going back to the 1600s. Klapana Peddibhotla – SAAJCO: Our brief pushes back against this notion that we are forever foreign.  South Asians actually arrived on these shores in the sixteen hundreds, and by the seventeen hundreds, South Asians were already asserting their rights here. In an Afghan immigrant actually fought in the Civil War in the Union Army. by the late nineteenth century, the largest farming group in Central California was formed by Punjabis. Today, South Asians are one of the largest immigrant populations in the US, but many families are caught in immigration backlogs that last for decades and make them vulnerable to the President's executive order restricting birthright citizenship. Rajiv Narayan: Across all of these speakers, you know, the, the, the message became very clear that we have so many different struggles, but they're all [00:32:00] united by a sense of solidarity for each other's political experiences under the same system of exploitation and oppression, and that there, there's so much that Congress can do in this moment to support the South Asian diaspora in the United States and, and even abroad in some cases. for ASATA Power's part, we, had the opportunity to put together over the course of the last year a policy brief on undocumented South Asians, and it was during the congressional briefing that we shared some pretty startling statistics that we, collected and collated from a number of public sources. And so what we were able to identify for the room is that there are about eight hundred thousand to nine hundred thousand undocumented South Asians in the United States, and because there are only six point five million South Asians in the US, both those who are undocumented and those who have birthright citizenship or are otherwise naturalized, refugees, asylees, and, and everyone in between. Of those six point five million South Asians One in eight of [00:33:00] them is undocumented, which is shocking and not something that somebody would understand at the outset given these problematic narratives like the model minority myth and whatever you see these days on X or Twitter about South Asian immigrants. So it's important for us not only to, to set the narrative straight and to identify both the diversity and opportunity for solidarity across our struggles, but to do so in the halls of power and to speak that truth to power directly. Miata Tan : That's Rajiv with ASATA Power reflecting on a recent congressional briefing in Washington, DC he helped to organize alongside other progressive South Asian leaders, organizers, and activists. Here's a snippet of Rajiv's opening remarks at the briefing Rajiv Narayan: I want to draw your attention to the slide behind me, they'll show a couple of images of South Asian community members who've been impacted recently by the horrific policies and practices of the federal administration. These members include Sheraz Fatehali Sachwani, a forty-eight-year-old citizen of Pakistan who died in ICE [00:34:00] detention last December. They include seventy-three-year-old Harjit Kaur, who was arrested during a routine ICE check-in, separated from her family, and deported to India without notice. I should say, I grew up seeing Harjit Kaur behind the counter at Sari Palace in Berkeley. She would help my mom try on saris. Her home was here. Her community was here. You know, these are just some of the names and stories of community members who have been affected by immigration policy as of late, and we hope that you will keep them in mind as you hear from our speakers today. There are many more we were not able to picture or name, but their stories are just as important. We'll be making many asks over the course of today's briefing. Some of those include the following: Congress should not increase funding for ICE or Border Patrol, including providing funds for detention facilities, especially in this funding moment. We have to remember that ICE is not a long-standing American institution. It was created in two thousand and two, recently, as part of the Homeland Security Act following nine [00:35:00] eleven. Miata Tan : That was Rajiv Narayan with ASATA Power speaking at a recent congressional briefing in Washington, DC. The briefing was part of a larger national convening organized by the South Asian Coalition, bringing together progressive South Asian groups from across the country. Now let's return to Deepa Iyer, who leads projects on solidarity and social movements at Building Movement Project here's Deepa reflecting on her takeaways from the congressional briefing Deepa Iyer: I think that there were so many pieces in that briefing that maybe people didn't know about that organizations are struggling with, and part of it is that, um, our communities, and Sabihah said this earlier, are not a monolith, right? And there are so many different ways in which we are experiencing what is happening right now in the United States, the fractures and the fissures that we're seeing. Rajiv spoke so well about the community needs and issues. One thing I'll lift up is actually the impact on nonprofit [00:36:00] organizations. Several of the groups that were, uh, speaking at the briefing noted how the attacks on nonprofits that are specifically working on issues like immigration in terms of losing federal funding and grants, being forced to certify that they are not addressing issues work that deal with undocumented immigrants, as well as the ways in which, um, nonprofit organizations are being, in some ways, seen as doing risky and un-American work. there is the, the exploitation of domestic terrorism as a frame that is being used right now to target certain nonprofit organizations. This is something that I think is not necessarily known to many people in terms of the ways in which national security, immigration issues are also affecting the nonprofit sector as a whole. And where I work at the Building Movement Project, we really look at the nonprofit sector and the health of the nonprofit sector, and we're [00:37:00] seeing that these types of external threats, the spotlight on organizations that are on the front lines, including South Asian groups, um, Muslim groups, Palestinian groups, that are working with, um, immigrant communities, queer and trans community members that are providing- Vital language access, service provision, community safety are really under threat right now, and this includes many of the organizations that were present at the, coalition's convening. So that's something that I also wanna lift up, that in addition to our communities who are facing the impact of the current moment in really acute ways, our nonprofit sector and our organizations are also dealing with a range of constraints and threats and difficulties. So that is one thing that came up over and over again. Miata Tan : That was Deepa Iyer with the Building Movement Project, highlighting the pressures facing the nonprofit sector right now, [00:38:00] especially as it relates to South Asian organizers, advocates, and communities. Let's return to Farah Mahesri with ASATA Pawa.  Farah Mahersi: One of the other things that I am very proud of for this congressional briefing that we did was that it was us telling our own stories and us presenting our own policy recommendations. There was no need to have, like, an expert come in and talk on behalf of our communities or try to represent our communities. We were the experts in the room, and we were really recognized and seen as that. As Rajiv mentioned, you know, there, the room was packed with Hill staffers and congressional staffers who were taking diligent notes as we spoke our truths Miata Tan : That was Farah Mahesri with ASATA Pawa reflecting on the recent congressional briefing she helped to organize, one that brought greater visibility to the experiences of South Asian immigrants. You'll hear more on how South Asian activists, organizers, and community groups [00:39:00] are mobilizing after this. Stay with us ​ Miata Tan : [00:40:00] [00:41:00] [00:42:00] That was Lion on the Hunt by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. You are tuned into APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I'm your host, Miata Tan. Tonight, we're talking about South Asian organizing in the United States and how community leaders are responding to immigration challenges, political representation, and the shifting landscape of civil rights back in March, organizers and advocates from across the country gathered in Washington, DC for a national convening focused on the challenges and possibilities facing South Asian communities today. Here's Rajiv Narayan with the Alliance of [00:43:00] South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA, reflecting on the importance of honoring both the diversity of the South Asian diaspora and the shared struggle that connects these communities Rajiv Narayan: Something I appreciate about, your work, Miata, at APEX Express, is to highlight both that diversity of the South Asian diaspora and the many struggles and experiences that unite our political experiences and our commitment to social justice. It, it used to be, and in, in some places it still is the case, that folks will use an over-broad group to represent all of the South Asian diaspora. For example, talking about all Brown people as Indian or Desi or to, to collapse all the differences in our community. And part of the power of the congressional briefing is that we are able to show that what it means to be South Asian is at once an incredibly diverse expression and at the same time a collective expression of solidarity. We can do two of these things at the same time. We can recognize our differences and fight for each other. One of my [00:44:00] favorite takeaways that I, I heard from Deepa at the briefing is that there are some staffers that came up to her and said, “I've never heard my story, my experience, my political struggles represented in a panel in this building in front of other congressional staffers.” And that's something that we can do, and we should do more of. There are so many ways in which we can tell the stories and highlight the campaigns of folks from different parts of the South Asian diaspora who are all fighting for a better life for all of us. Miata Tan : That was Rajiv Narayan with ASATA, in the recent congressional briefing that Rajiv helped to organize through the South Asian Coalition, organizers also pointed toward the future of South Asian organizing in the United States and the role of a new generation shaping it. back to Deepa Iyer with Building Movement Project. Here, Deepa Iyer: Some of the young folks that are entering or working at nonprofits now, supporting South Asian nonprofits don't have a living memory of 9/11 and the global war on terror, [00:45:00] and they have been politicized in different ways, right, over the last eight years, for example, the pandemic global wars, et cetera. And so there are a couple of ways in which I've been thinking about how we can support South Asian young people. so for example, how can we share historical analysis and political analysis so that young people understand that they are part of a trajectory of South Asian activism that actually started well before 9/11, before the 1960s, right, and that continues to today, so they don't feel fragmented. So that's something I've been sitting with a lot. Another is around pathways into public service and community service and into the nonprofit sector. So how could we support young people in terms of building their skills, in having pathways open to them into our nonprofit organizations? And then finally, how do we support them, um, so that they, can do this work for the long run? You know, we all struggle with burnout, we all [00:46:00] struggle with sustainability. what are some lessons learned that we can pass on? What are some best practices? that's something that's been sitting with me quite a bit since the gathering that we had, and I hope that the coalition will really think about, supporting young people's leadership and finding different avenues and pathways to do that. Miata Tan : That was Deepa Iyer reflecting on how movements can better support the next generation of South Asian organizers. Within the South Asian coalition, that work also means building long-term infrastructure for better collaboration. Now back to Sabiha Basrai with ASATA. Sabiha Basrai: I'm also really appreciating that the South Asian Coalition is this model for creating a container for many, many organizations to unite as a group while maintaining regional focus and individual issue priorities. I also wanna name that the place where I first learned how to do national coalition work was as a member of the National South Asian Coalition that ASATA had been part of. [00:47:00] It was facilitated by a group called SALT which played such a critical role in the post 9/11 era and continued to then work on DACA, creating resources for undocumented South Asians, along with other issues facing our diverse diasporas. And SALT closed a few years ago. It was a decision that I don't understand and was- has really left me with a lot of sadness and confusion. but I al- I know that sometimes institutions do end, but that the work does not end and the relationships do not end. And the South Asian Coalition is this emergent space that, um, is not led by any one organization. it is a space that is being invested in collectively, and we're really moving at the speed of trust so that we can be really laying that strong foundation that supports the work ahead. I'm really sitting with the ways in which sometimes this labor of Building the container, creating the container, [00:48:00] investing in the network. It's sometimes invisible labor, but it is the most critical because without it we can have moments of mass mobilization, but then that wasn't actually building any power over the long term. And I'm really looking forward to all of the very good work ahead, because I trust the relationships and the containers that we're building. Miata Tan : That was Sabiha reflecting on the collaborative infrastructure that the South Asian Coalition is helping to build. Now let's return to Deepa Iyer. I asked Deepa what campaigns are on the horizon for the coalition, especially as this year marks 25 years since 9/11. Deepa Iyer: As Sabiha mentioned, the coalition is a space for invested leadership, and so there are lots of different campaigns that groups within the coalition are eyeing and taking on. One of them Rajiv mentioned already is the fight around birthright citizenship. And so there are groups like SACHCO and others that showed up with a South Asian [00:49:00] delegation at the Supreme Court on April 1st when that case was being heard, and it was really great to see so many South Asians out there in a delegation along with other communities, to raise their voices on this really vital, pivotal issue. And so that is a campaign that some of the groups within the coalition are going to continue to be lifting up as we get the results of that case and moving forward. Another one that you mentioned, is around the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and there are groups that are considering, along with others in other movement spaces what does narrative strategy look like as we go into this time period? How do we think about the fact that we're marking the 25th anniversary in the same year that we're marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, right? how do we use 9/11 and its anniversary as a lens through which we understand empire, through which we understand the ways in which domestic [00:50:00] policies are being recirculated against other communities? And also this piece around awareness and education. this is an opportunity to share some of the personal experiences that many of us have around that moment in time, but also the ways in which our communities have built up themselves as well as the solidarity with other communities. So I think there are lots of ways in which organizations are thinking about that anniversary and how they can, utilize that moment, to draw greater attention to our community's experiences. Miata Tan : Rajiv, Farah, would you like to add anything about upcoming campaigns and how you're thinking about the South Asian political power movement moving forwards?  Rajiv Narayan: Yeah, I'm happy to talk about one sort of continuing campaign, which is that, like I mentioned, we put together this policy brief on undocumented South Asians, and we had this great opportunity to circulate and talk about it on Capitol Hill in DC. But it's also important for us to bring that story home. And so part of [00:51:00] what we'll be doing, um, for the remainder of, of this year is identifying opportunities to do town halls both, with community members and potentially with elected officials to help educate, do political education about the nature of undocumented peoples in the South Asian community. A large part of what we did in that policy brief is to collate all these numbers to tell you, how many folks might be undocumented, what is the proportion of undocumented people in the South Asian community. But an important, equally important contribution of that report is the nature of undocumented experiences. Why do people become undocumented? What are the factors that put them in that position, and what does it mean for a person to become undocumented? How can we support them, not just in different policy prescriptions, but also the ways that we talk about undocumented people and the South Asian community as a whole? So that'll, that'll be, um, a focus that we have, uh, and a contribution that we hope to make both in the, the Bay Area and beyond.  Farah Mahersi: I'll add to that, that it is election year. It is [00:52:00] a… I feel like we say every election is a critical election, and I do believe that that is very true this year. And so ASATA Power, as a political organization, will be making endorsements and talking through not just that it is important to vote, but it is really important and critical for us in this moment to vote for progressive candidates who are part of our, what is often called like a build coalition, who are here to help us build this world that we are dreaming of, who are aligned on policy positions. The other thing that we are working on locally and nationally is around the war budget. So as a group that has been so directly impacted by the global war on terror 4.5 million Muslims around the world who have been killed by US war-making in that global war on terror, and just watching kind of what the United States foreign policy in particular over the last couple of years has been, we have a particular point of view and a particular interest on tracking and watching things like the [00:53:00] largest, request for a defense budget in US history. How are those dollars being spent, And how those dollars that are being spent abroad to do war-making are also having a boomerang effect and coming back to impact our communities at home. So the same technologies that were developed and used in war-making through the global war on terror that impacted, uh, so many of our communities around the world for 25 years, a lot of that is the same technology that ICE is now using to go after undocumented South Asians in the United States, right? And so that's another way in which we really see our struggles are interconnected, and that we are wanting to dismantle als- a lot of these systems of harm, and also, again, at that intersection between both hate violence and state oppression that's happening. Miata Tan : That was Farah Mahestri with ASATA and ASATA Power. As she shared, ASATA Power is focused on the midterm elections and how war spending and post 9/11 policies continue to affect South Asian communities today. [00:54:00] To close out, we return to another ASATA organizer, Sabiha Basrai. Sabiha Basrai: So I wanted to bring the conversation back locally to the Bay Area again, and just thinking about, the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, which is, part of a network of AAPI and Asian organizing in the Bay Area as a space where South Asians progressive South Asians can actually build community, sharpen our political analysis, embrace our responsibilities here in the Bay Area in this political moment. And just also, lifting up that ASATA currently is working on things like the Oakland Arms Embargo or local community defense against ICE , environmental justice projects, and also looking for more ways to fight supremacist ideologies of Hindutva but in collaboration with anti-Zionist Jewish community activists. these are opportunities that we have here in the Bay Area. And also thinking about ways that we participate in mobilizations. Like, we show up for Reclaim MLK Day, [00:55:00] International Working Women's Day, May Day, the Trans March every year because we understand our responsibility to show up and to show up consistently. And so when I think about the South Asian Coalition and this moment of, okay, we've been trying to- we've built- been building towards this convening and this congressional briefing, and now we're on the other side of this moment, and we are kind of reflecting and coming back together around how we maintain this energy. Also wanted to highlight,  Some of the amazing work that many of our coalition members are, are already doing. One is Savaira, so Savaira United Against Supremacy is actually a coalition of work as well, they focused, their energy on addressing Hindu nationalism and and Hindutva ideology and the, and the many ways in which, the supremacist ideology is kind of insidiously part of institutions, policy even cultural work, uh, within our diaspora. they're so committed to both, like, [00:56:00] resisting the tides of hatred but also combating all forms of supremacist politics and the intersections between them. so their, their work has been a big part of my political education, and I'm really glad that they're part of this coalition. Every member of the coalition is bringing analysis and experience that cross-pollinates to the rest of us. So I'm looking forward to just more of that   also considering what ASATA's role is and how ASATA working in the Bay Area alongside so many other amazing organizing projects here can be strengthening those relationships nationally. Miata Tan : That was Sabiha Basrai with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA.  This is APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. APEX Express airs every Thursday evening at 7:00 PM. And with that, we're at the end of our time here [00:57:00] tonight. We really appreciate you for tuning in to listen, and a huge thank you to our wonderful guests. For a transcript of tonight's episode, please visit our website. That's kpfa.org/program/apex-express  We've also added links on the episode page for tonight's show so you can learn more about the South Asian Coalition, ASATA, and all of the organizations we've talked about tonight, along with their upcoming campaigns as well. APEX Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Miata Tan, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by me, Miata Tan. Get some rest y'all. The post APEX Express – 5.28.26 – Building South Asian Power appeared first on KPFA.

As we wrap up Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, many in the diaspora will also be getting ready to vote, some for the first time. Next we'll hear from the younger generation. Ralph Leaño Atanacio works with AAPI Youth. They are a queer Filipinx immigrant, and the Co-Director of the South Bay Youth Changemakers. It's an organization that builds up Asian American youth voices by fostering leadership and increasing their civic participation.With so much happening in the Bay Area and the world, we wanted to know: what do the younger generations from this diaspora care about? And do they still see elections as the only medium for change? Crosscurrents host Hana Baba spoke with Atanacio and they begin by describing the issues that have become central to their conversations about the future.

On Wednesday's show: Ken Paxton will take on James Talarico for a U.S. Senate seat in November. And there was a surprise -- at least to some -- in the Democratic primary for Harris County Judge. We pore over those and other results from Tuesday's primary runoffs as we discuss the latest developments in politics.Also this hour: We learn about a new report that looks to the future of Fort Bend County, which could see a population above two million by the year 2050.And we talk with folks involved in this year's Haapifest, celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander films and filmmakers here in Houston. Watch

we took the most intense beginner ballet class in the world, we're trying to prevent alzheimers, and we're celebrating AAPI month! nami matcha ⭐️

we took the most intense beginner ballet class in the world, we're trying to prevent alzheimers, and we're celebrating AAPI month! nami matcha ⭐️

On this episode, we welcome author Vincent Yu to chat about his debut novel, Seek Immediate Shelter, which follows the stories of several members of a small town community in Massachusetts, who have to deal with the consequences of their impulsive actions when a faulty mass alert is sent our warning them of an imminent missile strike.Follow Vincent on Instagram at @vinyu12 and check out his debut novel Seek Immediate Shelter available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authorsSupport the Books & Boba Podcast by:Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merchFollow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebookThe Books & Boba May 2026 pick is No-No Boy by John OkadaThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast CollectiveMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCNAATCO returns to The Public with their production of Shakespeare's trilogy, HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS, adapted and directed by Stephen Brown-Fried. Condensed into two parts and performed in rep, experience this saga of a nation spinning wildly out of control. Part 1: Foreign Wars kicks off with the funeral of King Henry V, leaving his infant son on the throne and sending the country into decades of spiraling chaos both abroad and at home. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later, as nascent domestic feuds rapidly metastasize into the full-blown civil war known as the War of the Roses.Henry VI - The Public

AI search tools like ChatGPT and Google AI are changing how patients discover local wellness providers, but what does that actually mean for your acupuncture practice?In this episode, I'm joined again by website designer Samantha Mabe of Lemon & The Sea to talk about what's really working right now when it comes to showing up in AI-powered search results. We break down why strong SEO fundamentals still matter, how niche messaging helps both humans and AI understand your expertise, and what you can do right now to strengthen your local online presence without trying to “hack” the algorithm.We also discuss how AI evaluates trust, expertise, reviews, credentials, and consistency across your website and social platforms, plus why clear messaging matters more than ever.In this episode:Why SEO is still the foundation for showing up in AI search results How blog posts and conditions pages work together strategically What AI tools are actually looking for when recommending local practitionersFind It Quickly02:57 - Meet Samantha Mabe05:06 - SEO Still Matters10:34 - Blogging for AI Queries13:18 - Niche Messaging Wins17:13 - Conditions Pages vs Blogs21:06 - Trust Signals and Links24:57 - Local Listings Consistency27:47 - Test Your AI Presence33:25 - Social Proof and VideoConnect with Samantha MabeWebsite: lemonandthesea.comInstagram: instagram.com/lemonandthesea

February 24, 2020, started out like any other day for journalist and television anchor Dion Lim of San Francisco's ABC News. Planning her pitches for the morning's editorial meeting, she checked her Instagram account and saw a message from someone she didn't recognize. Attached was a horrifying video in which men were beating and yelling racist slurs at an elderly Asian man who had been collecting cans in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. Lim felt compelled to investigate the story, help the man who “looked freakishly like my dad,” and bring the perpetrators to justice. Thus began Lim's four-years-and-counting quest to bring attention to the appalling rise of anti-Asian hate and violence in America, which she chronicles in her new book. Featuring an emotional foreword by actress and outspoken anti-Asian harassment advocate Olivia Munn, Amplify! My Fight for Asian America (from Third State Books) brings readers on an eye-opening journey alongside Lim, who has unwittingly become a national hero for her relentless fight for Asian American visibility. Through deeply personal anecdotes about her own life as a Chinese American, exclusive interviews with survivors, activists, and historians, and incisive historical context, she provides the very first book to tackle one of the biggest political and social controversies of this century from the perspective of the AAPI community. Come meet Lim and hear her story. See more Michelle Meow Show programs at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a special AAPI Month program featuring prominent Bay Area Asian American elected officials. We'll hear from BART Board Director Janice Li, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, and San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee member Uma Rao Krishnan. What drives them in the ultra-competitive Bay Area political scene? What are their goals, and how do they go about achieving them? About the Speakers Janice Li was first elected to the BART Board of Directors in November 2018 and was re-elected in 2022. Li served as president of the Board in 2023, and as vice president in 2022. Janice was born in Hong Kong and moved to the U.S. at a young age. In 2013, Li moved to San Francisco and began working at the SF Bicycle Coalition. Li currently works at Chinese for Affirmative Action, a San Francisco-based organization that has led Asian American civil rights advocacy for over 50 years. She leads the Coalition for Community Safety and Justice, a local coalition that addresses hate and violence targeting Asian American and Pacific Islander communities through community-based programs. David Chiu is the city attorney of San Francisco, the first Asian American to lead one of the country's top municipal law offices. Previously, he represented the half million residents of eastern San Francisco as a State Assemblymember for seven years. For six years, Chiu served as president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Before holding elected office, he served as law clerk to Judge James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a civil rights attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, a criminal prosecutor at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, Democratic Counsel to the U.S. Senate Constitution Subcommittee, and general counsel to a public affairs technology company. A founding member of API Equality, he also served as president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area.Uma Rao Krishnan is a Gen Z activist, organizer, and engineer bridging the worlds of technology and politics. She holds a B.A. in computer science with a minor in public policy from UC Berkeley and is currently pursuing her Master's in data science there, with a focus on the tech-civics intersection. Krishnan is the co-founder and president of the SMC AAPI Alliance, an organization dedicated to empowering San Mateo County's AAPI community in civic engagement and political action, most recently leading Prop 50 mobilization efforts and anti-Trump actions, including No Kings, where she has served as emcee. First elected as an ADEM delegate at just 21 years old and the highest vote-getter in county history, she has since been re-elected twice and also serves as a member of the San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee and board member of the California Democratic AAPI Caucus.    See more  Michelle Meow Show programs at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What we do with our 20s is often a topic of extreme risk. Among some of these risks, are dating men. In this week's episode, we talk about all things being invited to the BTS concert, our personal dating success stories, and read your insanely horrible dating experiences. We hope you can enjoy this week's episode of Asian Glow Podcast. For deleted clips of this episode:  IG: @clarenceeangelo  IG: @asianglow.podcast Tik Tok: @asianglowpodcast     For more yapping with the rest of the Glow Gang, join our community discord server and watch our livestreams on Youtube every other Tuesday:   Discord: https://discord.gg/ReGGDAFw7s   Youtube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/c/ClarenceAngelo Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Good Pop Culture Club is taking a quick mid-APAHM break so this week, we're dropping in the latest episode from fellow Potluck Pod Books & Boba (Marvin's other podcast) for those of you interested in the latest Asian Ameican book & publishing news. Good Pop episodes will resume in June!--For our mid-month book news check in for May 2026, we catch up on the latest Asian American publishing announcements as well as check in on some of the latest news and tea from the greater book industry.Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:The First White Hair by Yasmin ZaherThe Dragon Thief by Ellen OhIt Begins with the End by Samira AhmedSummers in Syria by Shifa Saltagi Safadi; illust. by Hatem AlyOur Built World: An Architectural Journey Along the Silk Road by Fiyel Levent; illust. by Daby Zainab FaidhiSheen by Cindy PonOur Chinatown Market by Jasmine Fang; illust. by Thai My PhuongBook news mentioned on this episode:TokyoPop launches Children's imprintBooks & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authorsSupport the Books & Boba Podcast by:Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merchFollow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebookThe Books & Boba May 2026 pick is No-No Boy by John OkadaThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast CollectiveMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCNAATCO returns to The Public with their production of Shakespeare's trilogy, HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS, adapted and directed by Stephen Brown-Fried. Condensed into two parts and performed in rep, experience this saga of a nation spinning wildly out of control. Part 1: Foreign Wars kicks off with the funeral of King Henry V, leaving his infant son on the throne and sending the country into decades of spiraling chaos both abroad and at home. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later, as nascent domestic feuds rapidly metastasize into the full-blown civil war known as the War of the Roses.Henry VI

Grace and Alvina have an odds and ends episode where for AAPI or AANHPI Month they discuss their Asian American identities and how that's affected their careers. Then they discuss a recent report on book banning from Pen America, and then special guest Alison Morris joins to discuss celebrating birthdays, and then Alison gives some book recommendations! They end as always with what they're grateful for. Click here to become a Patreon member: https://www.patreon.com/Bookfriendsforever1.    Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Bookfriendsforever_podcast    Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookfriendsforever_podcast/

Bebe Demure hosts Part 3 of Curly Bright's unprescedented special FOUR PART takeover of the WEView for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month; featuring a total of FOURTEEN FilAm entertainers talking representation, icons, colleagues, shows, backstage, and incoporporating their heritage into their burlesque, drag, and nightlife personas. Take a listen to the 13th session of "The WEView" panel discussion show featuring: BEBE DEMURE, your moderator in Roanoke, VA: https://www.instagram.com/bebedemure/ | https://bebedemure.substack.com/  LADY MABUHARY, panelist in New York City: https://www.instagram.com/ladymabuhay/ | https://www.facebook.com/ladymabuhayburlesque  MAJA JERA, panelist in Columbus, OH: https://www.instagram.com/majatheejera/ | https://linktr.ee/majajera  LECHE FLAN, panelist in Nashville, TN: https://www.instagram.com/vintagefilamglam/  | https://vintagefilamglam.carrd.co/  Produced by Viktor Devonne for the WEBurlesque Podcast Network Want advice, submit a question for discusison, or get consensus if you're the asshole? Submit a letter from the audience: https://weburlesque.wordpress.com/the-weview/ Feedback and Curiosities: weburlesquepodcast@gmail.com  (this conversation was recorded on 3-29-2026)... all opinions are those of our guests; this is a production of WEBurlesque, executive produced by Viktor Devonne and guest co-produced by Curly Bright.)

When students at Simsbury High School discovered that there was little to no data on Asian American students in Connecticut, they launched a new project to change that. Through out this year, these students have been collecting oral histories from Asian American voices across Connecticut in the oral history project “Make Us Count.” The project debuts at a community-wide event happening this week at Simsbury High School. It will feature best-selling author Celeste Ng. Michelle Henry is an English and Asian American Studies Teacher at Simsbury High School. She helped develop this project with students. She was named Educator of the Year by the Granby-Simsbury Chamber of Commerce. Today, we hear from her and the students behind this project. We'll also hear from Jason Oliver Chang, who helped get Asian American and Pacific Islander studies in all Connecticut public schools. Guests: Jason Oliver Chang: Associate Professor of History and Asian American Studies and Department head of social and critical inquiry at the University of Connecticut Michelle Henry: English and Asian American Studies Teacher at Simsbury High School Raelyn Medina - Senior at Simsbury High School Vivian Amsterdam - Senior at Simsbury High School Dhriti Mallavarapu: Senior at Simsbury High School Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Victoria Lai has lived several careers in one lifetime: presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, entrepreneur, and now business advisor and nonprofit COO. But her biggest pivot came when she nurtured her passion for making ice cream on nights and weekends while working a serious government job. In this extra sweet episode, Victoria walks us through how a $25 Craigslist ice cream maker and a promise to herself led to Ice Cream Jubilee, the award-winning DC-area business celebrated by Food & Wine, the Washington Post, and Thrillist, and what it felt like to eventually sell the business she'd spent nearly a decade building. She also opens up about her family's Chinese immigrant history and how it shaped both her flavors and her sense of purpose, and why she considers her latest pivot back to mission-driven work the most fitting chapter yet. Chapters: 00:00.160 Welcome to She Pivots 00:28.360 Guest Introduction: Victoria Lai 01:58.160 Childhood Memories and Family Influences 06:57.320 The Path to Law School and Government Work 10:58.576 Finding Inspiration in New York City 13:02.754 The Birth of Ice Cream Jubilee 26:36.392 Taking the Leap: From Government to Ice Cream 32:46.677 "Ice cream-preneurship" 36:07.043 Achieving Success and Letting Go 39:02.320 A New Chapter: Coaching and Personal Growth 44:18.680 Closing Thoughts and Gratitude 44:40.626 Podcast Credits You can keep up with Ice Cream Jubilee at their website, www.icecreamjubilee.com Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really helps!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration. She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success. Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates. She Pivots is proud to be an iheart podcast.Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jessica talks with Karin K. Jensen, writer, journalist, dancer, & dance instructor.Karin K. Jensen is a local news writer for the Alameda Post, where she covers local government and book reviews, and is the author of The Strength of Water, an Asian American Coming-of-Age Memoir, which received a coveted starred review from Kirkus and appeared on the annual Kirkus List of Top 100 Indie Books. It also won awards from The BookFest, International Book Awards, and the San Francisco Book Festival in 2024. She has written for AsAm News and NewsBreak, winning NewsBreak editorial awards on the topics of #StopAsianHate and #AAPI Voices. For her work, Authority Magazine named her a Social Impact Author.Karin makes her home in sunny Alameda, California, where she also enjoys teaching at the Alameda Ballet Academy and performing historical dances with the Period Events and Entertainments Recreation Society (PEERS).Follow Karin's work at Karinkjensen.blog and on Instagram @karinkjensen~About The Ampersand Manifesto:What happens when you refuse to choose just one path? On The Ampersand Manifesto, host Jessica Wan sits down with “the most interesting people at the dinner party” – those who have made their mark in two or more seemingly different worlds. Through candid conversations, we explore what it takes to navigate multiple callings, find the connection points between them, and redefine success on our own terms. Together, we're co-creating The Ampersand Manifesto: principles for leading a multi-passionate life.~About your host, Jessica Wan:Executive Coach | Classical Singer | Former Marketing Leader & Tech ExecutiveJessica helps founders and leaders make the invisible visible. With 20+ years of experience scaling brands like Apple, Smule, and the San Francisco Opera, and as an ICF-certified executive coach, she provides the clarity and strategy needed to lead bravely and find fulfillment in a multi-passionate life.Work with Jessica: Book a Free Intro CallJoin The Cohort: An Ampersand Community for Dual-Career ProfessionalsFollow the Journey: @ampersandmanifestoConnect: Jessica's LinkedInListen: Singing Excerpts~CreditsCo-produced and hosted by ⁠Jessica Wan⁠Co-produced, edited, sound design, and original music by ⁠Carlos Schmitt

After scrapping a first recording that didn't feel right, Alyssa and Nadia land on a topic that's been sitting in the background: what it actually means to be Filipino-American when you're a generation removed from the immigration story. Nadia is 100% Filipino by heritage — but both her parents were born in the US, and that one fact changes almost everything.The conversation gets specific fast. Nadia recalls arriving at Northeastern's Filipino club and learning there was a taho night — a dessert she'd never heard of. She looked Filipino, but didn't always know the script. A visit to the Philippines brought the same dissonance: people addressed her in Tagalog expecting fluency, only to find she couldn't follow along. Alyssa notes that neither parent spoke Tagalog at home, so there was never a natural path to absorb it — though Nadia still holds herself accountable for not seeking it out.They also get into what it's like to be Asian in mostly non-Asian spaces — something Nadia encounters more in Boston than she ever did in the Bay Area. Outside the community, all Asian identities tend to get collapsed into one. It's frustrating, but Nadia also finds unexpected comfort in her Asian friend group: there's something grounding about being around people who look like you, even when the specific cultural backgrounds differ. The episode closes with both of them acknowledging there's a whole other conversation waiting — including whether the Philippines even belongs in the "Asian" part of AAPI.TakeawaysBeing fully Filipino by ancestry doesn't guarantee fluency in Filipino culture — especially when your parents were also raised in the USLanguage is one of the clearest markers of cultural connection, and its absence tends to surface guilt even when it wasn't really a choicArriving somewhere you're "supposed" to belong and realizing the connection isn't automatic is its own specific kind of dissonancePeople outside a community tend to collapse all Asian identities into one — frustrating, but not always maliciousThere's real comfort in being around people who look like you, even without shared cultural specificsGrowing up in a diverse environment like the Bay Area creates assumptions about normalcy that other places quickly disruptNavigating multiple cultural contexts builds something useful: the ability to hold different worldviews without defaulting to one as the obvious baselineCultural identity isn't a fixed destination — for most people, it's an ongoing negotiation between origin, upbringing, and what you decide to learn nowChapters0:10–0:52 — Do-Over: Why the First Recording Didn't Make the Cut0:52–2:14 — AAPI Heritage Month and the Filipino Moment on TikTok2:14–5:08 — Growing Up Filipino Without the Philippines5:08–7:43 — The Taho Moment: When You Look the Part But Don't Know the Script7:43–10:19 — Why Tagalog Wasn't in the House — and Whether That's Anyone's Fault10:19–12:19 — Being Lumped In: How Non-Asians Read Asian Identity12:19–14:29 — The Quiet Comfort of Your Own Community — and What Boston Made Visible650.701.7686 (o)650.332.2739 (f)510.673.8712 (m)Sports & Dance Rehab | Pilates | Group ClassesOn the Move Physical Therapy501-D Old County Rd. Belmont, CA 94002web - http://www.onthemovephysio.comemail - alyssa@onthemovephysio.comIG - https://www.instagram.com/onthemovephysio

In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Gigi Elbert, CEO of SASE, sits down with Karen Horting, executive director and CEO of SWE, to explore the experiences of Asian American and Pacific Islander engineers in STEM and what it will take to build stronger pathways into leadership. Gigi and Karen unpack why Asian Americans are represented in the workforce but remain underrepresented at the highest levels — with Asian women making up less than 1% of promotions from senior vice president to the C-suite, according to research from McKinsey & Company. They also discuss the growing gap between being “career ready” and navigating the workplace, including understanding unspoken professional norms. Plus, hear how SASE and SWE are helping students move from the classroom to the boardroom through mentorship, leadership opportunities, and community building. — The Society of Women Engineers is a powerful, global force uniting nearly 45,000 members of all genders spanning 90+ countries. We are the world's largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology. To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit membership.swe.org.

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 20! With Christina Baal Owens is a nationally recognized advocate and nonprofit leader dedicated to advancing racial and gender justice in the United States. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, where she leads efforts to uplift the voices and rights of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women and gender-expansive people. Before joining NAPAWF, Christina built a career at the intersection of civil rights, labor, and strategic communications. She's held leadership roles in various organizations that have promoted equity and representation, including key positions at the Service Employees International Union, where she helped to elevate the voices of workers—particularly women and immigrants—in national policy conversations. At NAPAWF, she continues this work by championing issues such as reproductive justice, economic equity, immigration rights, and community safety. Christina is committed to ensuring that AAPI women are not only included in national conversations, but centered in shaping the policies that impact their lives. Enjoy the conversation! In our conversation, Christina shares how it feels moving from Interim Executive Director to the full-time Executive Director, what NAPAWF is prioritizing, some future issues they want to tackle, and so much more. You can learn more about NAPAWF by going to their website NAPAWF.org, following their Instagram @napawf, or reading some of their research. AND you can of course Donate to support them.  If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

How a lingering ocean heatwave could affect our weather and sea life here in SoCal. UCLA has a new tool to teach Asian American and Pacific Islander history to Gen Z. And the labor activist Dolores Huerta is honored with a new mural in L.A. Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.comSupport the show: https://laist.com

What does it actually mean to be seen—and to belong—without having to earn it, explain it, or change yourself just to be understood? That's the question at the center of this conversation with Eugene Yi, an Emmy-winning director known for powerful documentary work including Free Chol Soo Lee, The Rose: Come Back to Me, and his latest HBO film The A-List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas. On the surface, The A-List brings together 15 voices across the Asian American and Pacific Islander community—Connie Chung, Sandra Oh, Bowen Yang, Kumail Nanjiani, alongside people you may not know yet, but should. But this is not a celebrity documentary. It's intimate by design: no performance—just people speaking honestly. A story rooted in AAPI identity, diaspora, and lived experience. And what stands out is that even these leaders and public figures have felt like they didn't belong in the rooms they were in. This is a universal challenge. People trying to find their place.People trying to be understood. And what you see in this film is a community of people who have felt unseen—realizing those shared experiences don't just connect us, they strengthen what community actually is. If you've ever felt unseen, you're not understood or need to change everything you are to belong. This conversation on REPPIN will help you feel less alone in that experience, and see it differently. Full Conversation here: https://open.spotify.com/show/1tq2vuZiWLvhmTMaaWX2w8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is no national museum of AAPI history in Washington, D.C. But last year, Rhode Island became home to a one-of-a-kind AAPI History Museum, right in the heart of Providence. We learn more about the mission of the museum – and how visitors have responded – from its founder and executive director, and a New England scholar.

Join us on the Yellow Chair Collective podcast as Director Soo Jin Lee welcomes Dr. Monica Soni, Chief Medical Officer of Covered California, in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month. In this insightful episode, they discuss the importance of whole-person care, the challenges faced by the AAPI community in accessing healthcare, and the significance of mental health awareness. Dr. Soni shares her personal journey and offers valuable insights into navigating healthcare coverage, emphasizing the importance of preventive care and the rights of individuals to receive care in their preferred language. Tune in to learn more about how Covered California supports diverse communities and the steps you can take to ensure your well-being.

Part 2 of Curly Bright's unprescedented special FOUR PART takeover of the WEView for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month; featuring a total of FOURTEEN FilAm entertainers talking representation, icons, colleagues, shows, backstage, and incoporporating their heritage into their burlesque, drag, and nightlife personas. Take a listen to the 12th session of "The WEView" panel discussion show featuring: CURLY BRIGHT, your moderator in Washington DC: https://www.instagram.com/curlybrightproductions/ | https://linktr.ee/curlybrightproductions  HONEY BEE ROSE, panelist from Chicago: https://www.instagram.com/ohoneybeerose/ | https://roseburlesque.com/  YARI, panelist from Philadelphia: https://www.instagram.com/yaridrag/ | https://www.the-henn-house.com/  HONEY BUN BUN, panelist from Washington DC: https://www.instagram.com/aapi.anthologies/ | https://www.instagram.com/happy.bun.bun/ LIL'Y CON CARNAGE, panelist from Washington DC: https://www.instagram.com/notgenghiskhum/ | https://beacons.ai/bewbletea  Produced by Viktor Devonne for the WEBurlesque Podcast Network Want advice, submit a question for discusison, or get consensus if you're the asshole? Submit a letter from the audience: https://weburlesque.wordpress.com/the-weview/ Feedback and Curiosities: weburlesquepodcast@gmail.com  (this conversation was recorded on 3-25-2026)... all opinions are those of our guests; this is a production of WEBurlesque, executive produced by Viktor Devonne and guest co-produced by Curly Bright.)

This week we're celebrating AAPI month and the recent Drama Desk nominations with guest Maria-Christina Oliveras. "MCO" was just nominated for her current performance in the new Tony-nominated play THE BALUSTERS, but long before that, she was part of the original team that created the groundbreaking musical HERE LIES LOVE. This listener request musical is an unusual piece created by "capital A" artist David Byrne that tells the story of the famous Filipina dictator, Imelda Marcos. Tune in this week to learn a little about the political history of the Philippines, the United States' possible influence on the Marcos regime, and how creating a disco musical about it all started in a basement. Be sure to catch Maria-Christina in THE BALUSTERS on Broadway until June 7th! You can also follow her on Instagram at @mcoliveras. If you enjoyed this episode, check out another one featuring more innovative theatre that found its way to Broadway: PASSING STRANGE with Todd Underwood. Join us on ⁠⁠PATREON!⁠⁠ for bonus episodes and conversations while supporting the show for only a few dollars each month! Share our posts and videos on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠. If you're feeling like giving back, check out our ⁠⁠TeePublic Store⁠⁠. The profits we receive are donated to ⁠⁠Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS⁠⁠. More than anything, thank you for being part of this wonderful podcasting community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The latest on all the celebrity gossip headlines in 'The Scoop.' Also, Sophia Bush on her new film 'Broad Trip.' Plus, celebrating AAPI month with a woman's viral adoption story. And, what causes brain fog and how to keep your brain healthy.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 19! Our guest today is Sruthi Chandrasekaran. She serves as The Asian American Foundation's Director of Data and Research. She leads strategy development and implementation for the Data and Research team and targeted studies that identify and address the needs of the AAPI community.  The Asian American Foundation, or TAAF, is the leading organization advancing safety, belonging, and prosperity for the AAPI community. Through groundbreaking programs, essential research, and cross-sector partnerships, TAAF addresses our community's most persistent challenges. We love their vision which states, "An America where opportunities to participate in all aspects of society are equally accessible, and individuals and communities are not rendered invisible, nor singled out for false stereotypes, discrimination, or hate on the basis of race."  On May 1st, TAAF released the sixth edition of the Social Tracking of Asian Americans in the U.S. Index, AKA the STAATUS Index. This year's STAATUS Index was created with the collaboration of NORC at the University of Chicago. In this essential study, they examine how Americans view AAPI communities and how AAPIs understand their own place in the country. To learn more about TAAF, you can visit their website https://taaf.org/, download the STAATUS Index, visit their AAPI History Hub for great educational resources, follow them on Instagram @taaforg, or donate to support their work. Enjoy the conversation. If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.  

In this inspiring episode of Reading With Your Kids, host Jed Doherty welcomes debut picture book author and Wall Street executive Ashley Lam, here to celebrate her new children's book "Wrapped With Love: Wonton Noodle Day With Grandma." Ashley shares how the story was inspired by watching her young daughter cook wontons with her grandmother during COVID. Those long days in the kitchen became a powerful reminder of intergenerational love, AAPI family traditions, and the importance of slowing down in a "go, go, go" world. She talks about how food is her mother's love language, and how this book is a tribute to the special bond between her mom and her daughter—something Ashley herself didn't experience growing up with busy, hard‑working immigrant parents. A key theme of the book is embracing imperfection. Ashley opens up about being an eldest daughter and immigrant child who always chased perfection, and how meaningful it is to see her mother now telling her granddaughter that every wonton can be unique—and still perfect in its own way. Jed and Ashley also discuss forgiveness, letting go of resentment, and how strong extended family support allows her to balance motherhood, finance, and creativity, especially during AAPI Heritage Month. In the final segment, Jed chats with graphic novelist Rosena Fung, creator of "Living With Viola," a moving graphic novel about anxiety and identity that helps kids and families talk openly about mental health. This episode is perfect for viewers searching for AAPI children's books, family read-alouds, and stories about grandparents, culture, and emotional wellness.

Meet Cute and Manta Present: I've Become A True Villainess - Part 6. Original story by Flowing honEy. After she wakes up trapped in the body of a story's villain, one woman fights to escape her tragic ending. Based on the hit Manta webcomic, I'VE BECOME A TRUE VILLAINESS stars Rebecca Rose, Shogo Miyakita, Suzie Rai, and Hao Feng, in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month. The magicians attack Seria and she might not have enough power to fend them off. Then Rouche arrives. Story by Orin Calcagne. Directed and Produced by Liz Fields. Sound Editing and Design by Eliot Krimsky. Story Editor: Amarlie Foster. SVP, Production: Lucie Ledbetter. Starring: Rebecca Rose, Shogo Miyakita, Hao Feng, Suzie Rai, Allen Enlow, Katie Flamman, Jimmie Yamaguchi, Kenny Wong.Enjoying I've Become A True Villainess? Get even more of Seria and Rouche with the full story, available only on Manta. Follow @MeetCute on Instagram and @MeetCuteRomComs on Twitter & TikTok.Check out our other rom-coms, including KERRI with Pauline Chalamet, IMPERFECT MATCH with Arden Cho, and DUMP HIM! with Minnie Mills. Check out our other dramas, including FIRE & ICE with Chiara Aurelia and Jack Martin, and POWER TEN.  Check out our other fantasies, including A PROPHECY OF INCENSE AND SNOW and I'VE BECOME A TRUE VILLAINESS. Have a crush on us? Follow Meet Cute, rate us 5 stars, and leave a review! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Book Lounge by Libby, Joe is joined by Jananie K. Velu of thisstoryaintover to celebrate AAPI Month with a stack of incredible Asian lit you'll want to add to your TBR immediately.  Together, they dive into a wide range of must-read books highlighting stories that span genres, perspectives, and lived experiences. From deeply personal narratives to sweeping, unforgettable storytelling, this conversation is all about discovering books that stay with you and expanding your reading list to celebrate these voices all year long.  Whether you're looking to build out your AAPI Month reading list, discover new favorite authors, or simply find your next great read, this episode is packed with recommendations that bring heart, perspective, and unforgettable storytelling.  Looking for the video version of our show? Check out the Libby App YouTube channel!  Link to our full book list:  Find all the books mentioned in Season 3 on Libby Life!  Book recommendations:  Jananie's Picks:  We Dance Upon Demons - Vaishnavi Patel  Burn the Sea - Mona Tewari  Capitalists Must Starve - Park Seolyeon  Natural Beauty & Immaculate Conception - Ling Ling Huang  Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead - Mai Nguyen  A Kiss of Crimson Ash - Anuja Varghese  Breasts and Eggs – Mieko Kawakami  Tall Water – SJ Sindu  Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop - Hwang Bo-reum   Joe's Picks:  Counterattacks at Thirty & Almond – Won-Pyung Sohn  Séance Tea Party – Reimena Yee  What You Are Looking For is in the Library – Michiko Aoyama  The Midnight Taxi – Yosha Gunasekera  Convenience Store Woman & Earthlings - Sayaka Murata  Detective Aunty & Moonlight Murder - Uzma Jalaluddin  Shoutout: Strange Pictures, Strange Houses & Strange Buildings - Uketsu  Who's in this episode:  Jananie K. Velu - Links  Time stamps: 00:00:00 Title 00:00:23 Intro 00:01:06 Catching up with Jananie K. Velu! 00:02:20 What are Jananie's guiding lights when choosing for her imprint 00:03:57 Starting the reading recs 01:03:46 Outro   Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode in Libby. Library friends can add these titles to their digital collections for free in OverDrive Marketplace and Kanopy. Check out our Cumulative List for the whole season, or this list for today's episode!  Looking for more bookish content? Check out the Libby Life Blog!  We hope you enjoy this episode of Book Lounge by Libby. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can watch the video version of our show on the Libby App YouTube channel. Keep up with us on social media by following the Libby App on Instagram!   Want to reach out? Send an email to bookloungebylibby@overdrive.com. Want some cool bookish swag? Check out our merch store at: http://plotthreadsshop.com/booklounge!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jiyoung Han's debut novel Honey in the Wound follows multiple generations of women with magical gifts in early 20th century Korea, against the violence and oppression of Japanese control. Han joins us. Cover art courtesy of Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster

The characters of The Memory Museum, the debut short story collection from M Lin, are millennial Chinese women in their home country and among the global diaspora, whose stories reflect experiences of contemporary China and migration from the present day to the near future. M Lin discusses her debut. Cover art courtesy of the publisher

The Outer Country, a debut novel from Davin Malasarn, follows multiple generations of a family split between Thailand and the United States. Malasarn drew from his own life for its story, including an experience of conversion therapy when a monk is called to perform an exorcism on a young boy exhibiting effeminate traits. Malasarn joins us. Cover art courtesy of the publisher

In this powerful press interview, Dr. Stephanie J. Wong and director Eugene Yi to discuss The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas. This is the next chapter in The List Series created by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, streaming on HBO Max on May 13. Through deeply personal conversations led by journalist Jada Yuan, the documentary explores what it truly means to be AAPI — centering themes of identity, ethnic pride, belonging, resilience, and community.  Interviewees such as Sandra Oh, Tammy Duckworth, Kumail Nanjiani, Schuyler Bailar, and Bowen Yang move beyond polished soundbites into honest reckonings with culture, discrimination, family, and self-discovery. Eugene Yi shares the vision behind creating a space where vulnerability could thrive on camera, why authentic storytelling matters now more than ever, and how these intimate narratives challenge stereotypes while celebrating the richness and complexity of Asian and Pacific diasporic experiences.  

Curly Bright co-produces this unprescedented special FOUR PART takeover of the WEView for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a total of FOURTEEN FilAm entertainers talking representation, icons, colleagues, shows, backstage, and incoporporating their heritage into their burlesque, drag, and nightlife personas. Take a listen to the 11th session of "The WEView" panel discussion show featuring: CURLY BRIGHT, your moderator in Washington DC: https://www.instagram.com/curlybrightproductions/ | https://linktr.ee/curlybrightproductions  PINAY GRIGIO, panelist from Seattle: https://www.instagram.com/pinay.grigio/ | https://linktr.ee/pinaygrigio  ARIANA AMOUR, panelist from New Orleans: https://www.instagram.com/lovejustlied/ | https://21stcenturyburlesque.com/21-questions-with-ariana-amour-burlesque-new-orleans  BETH AMPHETAMINE, panelist from Baltimore: https://www.instagram.com/beth.a.bmore/ | https://beth-amphetamine.carrd.co/  Produced by Viktor Devonne for the WEBurlesque Podcast Network Want advice, submit a question for discusison, or get consensus if you're the asshole? Submit a letter from the audience: https://weburlesque.wordpress.com/the-weview/ Feedback and Curiosities: weburlesquepodcast@gmail.com  (this conversation was recorded on 3-22-2026)... all opinions are those of our guests; this is a production of WEBurlesque, executive produced by Viktor Devonne ang guest co-produced by Curly Bright.)

Meet Cute and Manta Present: I've Become A True Villainess - Part 5. Original story by Flowing honEy. After she wakes up trapped in the body of a story's villain, one woman fights to escape her tragic ending. Based on the hit Manta webcomic, I'VE BECOME A TRUE VILLAINESS stars Rebecca Rose, Shogo Miyakita, Suzie Rai, and Hao Feng, in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month. Seria is at Laurel Manor with Rouche and things are heating up between them. For one thing, they're sharing sleeping quarters. Magicians arrive to Laurel Manor to rid it of its demonic energy. Story by Orin Calcagne. Directed and Produced by Liz Fields. Sound Editing and Design by Eliot Krimsky. Story Editor: Amarlie Foster. SVP, Production: Lucie Ledbetter. Starring: Rebecca Rose, Shogo Miyakita, Allen Enlow, Jimmie Yamaguchi, Kenny Wong. Enjoying I've Become A True Villainess? Get even more of Seria and Rouche with the full story, available only on Manta. Follow @MeetCute on Instagram and @MeetCuteRomComs on Twitter & TikTok.Check out our other rom-coms, including KERRI with Pauline Chalamet, IMPERFECT MATCH with Arden Cho, and DUMP HIM! with Minnie Mills. Check out our other dramas, including FIRE & ICE with Chiara Aurelia and Jack Martin, and POWER TEN.  Check out our other fantasies, including A PROPHECY OF INCENSE AND SNOW and I'VE BECOME A TRUE VILLAINESS. Have a crush on us? Follow Meet Cute, rate us 5 stars, and leave a review! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet Cute and Manta Present: I've Become A True Villainess - Part 4. Original story by Flowing honEy. After she wakes up trapped in the body of a story's villain, one woman fights to escape her tragic ending. Based on the hit Manta webcomic, I'VE BECOME A TRUE VILLAINESS stars Rebecca Rose, Shogo Miyakita, Suzie Rai, and Hao Feng, in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month. Lina corners Seria on the Archduchess's terrace, then is swallowed by the moon! Callis accuses Seria of hurting Lina.Story by Orin Calcagne. Directed and Produced by Liz Fields. Sound Editing and Design by Eliot Krimsky. Story Editor: Amarlie Foster. SVP, Production: Lucie Ledbetter. Starring: Rebecca Rose, Shogo Miyakita, Hao Feng, Suzie Rai, Ainsleigh Barber, Allen Enlow, Katie Flamman, Kenny Wong.Enjoying I've Become A True Villainess? Get even more of Seria and Rouche with the full story, available only on Manta. Follow @MeetCute on Instagram and @MeetCuteRomComs on Twitter & TikTok.Check out our other rom-coms, including KERRI with Pauline Chalamet, IMPERFECT MATCH with Arden Cho, and DUMP HIM! with Minnie Mills. Check out our other dramas, including FIRE & ICE with Chiara Aurelia and Jack Martin, and POWER TEN.  Check out our other fantasies, including A PROPHECY OF INCENSE AND SNOW and I'VE BECOME A TRUE VILLAINESS. Have a crush on us? Follow Meet Cute, rate us 5 stars, and leave a review! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet Cute and Manta Present: I've Become A True Villainess - Part 3. Original story by Flowing honEy. After she wakes up trapped in the body of a story's villain, one woman fights to escape her tragic ending. Based on the hit Manta webcomic, I'VE BECOME A TRUE VILLAINESS stars Rebecca Rose, Shogo Miyakita, Suzie Rai, and Hao Feng, in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month. Callis wants Seria back, even though he's married to Lina! He swears he'll get a divorce. Seria and Rouche attend the wedding feast as a couple… is Seria getting butterflies for Rouche? But this wasn't in the original story! Story by Orin Calcagne. Directed and Produced by Liz Fields. Sound Editing and Design by Eliot Krimsky. Story Editor: Amarlie Foster. SVP, Production: Lucie Ledbetter. Starring: Rebecca Rose, Shogo Miyakita, Hao Feng, Suzie Rai, Ainsleigh Barber, Allen Enlow, Katie Flamman, Kenny Wong.Enjoying I've Become A True Villainess? Get even more of Seria and Rouche with the full story, available only on Manta. Follow @MeetCute on Instagram and @MeetCuteRomComs on Twitter & TikTok.Check out our other rom-coms, including KERRI with Pauline Chalamet, IMPERFECT MATCH with Arden Cho, and DUMP HIM! with Minnie Mills. Check out our other dramas, including FIRE & ICE with Chiara Aurelia and Jack Martin, and POWER TEN.  Check out our other fantasies, including A PROPHECY OF INCENSE AND SNOW and I'VE BECOME A TRUE VILLAINESS. Have a crush on us? Follow Meet Cute, rate us 5 stars, and leave a review! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices