Category: Unconventional Career Choices
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S2 E8: Judy Leia on using music to process the trauma of surviving war, becoming disillusioned after signing with a label, then falling in love with music again on her own terms.

Summary GUEST BIO Judy Leia is a Los Angeles-based singer and songwriter creating cinematic darkpop that blends her ethereal, sultry vocals with a hybrid production of orchestral and electronic elements. Her unique sound can be described as: “Lana Del Rey meets Hans Zimmer in a dystopian film. She began learning piano at age 5 and…
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S2 E7 – Darrel J. Delfin on being a Filipino-American actor, working with his childhood heroes, and finding his niche in voiceover.

Summary GUEST BIO Darrel J Delfin is a 30 year-old Filipino American actor based in Los Angeles, California. He is Kaede in Fena: Pirate Princess, Kazuma Arashiba in Scar on the Praeter, Legatus Laendur & Legate Pumpkee in the Fallen Legion series, General Geshtar in Secret of Mana, and Emilio Baretti in Lupin III vs…
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S2 E6: Summer Swee-Singh on becoming a successful pianist with zero connections, being female and Asian in the industry, the importance of representation, and how colorism affects mixed-race kids.

Summary GUEST BIO Summer Swee-Singh is an AAPI studio/event/touring pianist and keyboardist, string and orchestral arranger, composer, music director, string contractor, backing vocalist, and music educator. Summer graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Legal Studies and a Music Minor. After graduating, she worked full-time at Jones Day San Francisco, a law firm, as…
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S1 E09: Sally on working with young people, Asian representation in media, mental health, gender roles & bisexuality.

Summary This week, Sally shares her experiences growing up as a Taiwanese-Coquitlamite-Torontonian and her thoughts on diversity and inclusivity in higher education. GUEST BIO Sally is a Taiwanese-Coquitlamite-Torontonian-Canadian, working in higher education supporting equitable, diverse, and inclusive student and student leader life beyond the classroom. TERMS Resident student leader – Also called Resident Advisor or…
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S1 E07: Cece Chow (@thetransplanter) on coming out as a trans woman after filling the role of eldest male in a Chinese family, the value of representation, and the definition of true allyship.

Summary This week, Cece Chow a.k.a @thetransplanter, shares what it was like to leave a lucrative career, come out as a trans woman, and become an advocate as someone who was previously assigned the role of the eldest male of the family. We talk about how Asian courtesy can get in the way of allyship,…
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S1 E06: Josh Decolongon (@sommeligay) on bringing diversity to the wine & beverage industry.

Summary Josh Decolongon is an avid lover of flavor experimentation, especially through a queer and Filipino lens. Josh is dedicated to making the wine world inclusive and fun. Josh’s links: Josh Decolongon | @sommeligay | Instagram | TikTok | @readbotelya on IG Mentioned in the show: Book: “I Am Filipino” by Nicole Ponseca Terms: Takeaways:…
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S1 E05: AUSLIN, the artist supermom who’s breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma she experienced as a Hmong American growing up in Wisconsin.

Summary Trigger warning: Sexual assault, self-harm, suicidal ideationSuicide prevention hotline: call 800-273-8255.Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741. GUEST BIO Auslin is a singer-songwriter from Green Bay, WI. Shes been able to sing and songwrite for independent producers and artists all online and all from home. She’s well versed in writing pop, rnb, and edm.…
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S1 E04: Lisa Danaë on being both “not Asian enough” and “not white enough” as a mixed-race dark pop artist.

This week, Lisa Danaë chats with us about being mixed-race, trying to fit in the music industry both in the states and in the Philippines, and finally finding her voice and being accepted into the GRAMMY:NEXT program.


