Alison Qu has been gifted with her wide-eyed view of the world, which brought her from China to Chattanooga, Tennessee in pursuit of her dream to become a country music star in her early teen years.  During those impressionable years, she became passionate about theater and was able to truly lean into the arts as an outlet for all her bubbling creativity while discovering herself.  Alison’s journey led her to create a space for other Asians to not only let their inner rockstar shine on stage, but to let go of any shame of pursuing the arts as a passion and an actual career for some.  She may not be in the ‘country’ anymore, but she is blazing trails of her own in the city and rightfully deserves a tip of the hat.   

To learn more about Alison Yueming Qu and all her many accomplishments and ongoing projects, please check out the following links:

https://www.alisonyuemingqu.com/

https://companyone.org/

Today we’re going to interview Courtney Pong, the owner of The Rozzie Square Theatre AND ComedySportz- an improv platform in Boston. Courtney’s story has a lot of the aspects we love to highlight about women leaders- she balances her creative and entrepreneurial passions while lending a strong voice for Asian women in the Boston comedy scene. Our interview today though will focus on the side of being a first that is often erased- the mistreatment of women when they speak up about injustice and the personal harm they encounter when breaking the glass ceiling. 

In 2019, Courtney shut down a comedy show at her own theatre. When a number of comedians and the emcee made a series of misogynistic and racist jokes, Courtney interrupted their set, apologized, and offered all audience members full refunds. Her swift decision led to a long period of online abuse and death threats by men- predominantly involved in the Boston Stand Up Scene.

Today we’ll talk with Courtney about the fear women leaders live with and how she keeps going back everyday. 

Stand Up comedy is America’s greatest threat and Courtney is fighting it with jokes about couples who love each other. Here we go!

check out Courtney's space: 
https://www.comedysportzhouston.com/

As a professional and former athlete, Amy discusses her journey of pursuing her passion for figure skating before hanging up her skates to choose a more secure profession. Amy talks about the added pressure that professionals and athletes of color face to shatter the glass ceiling above and break ice underfoot. 

If you remember watching the Olympics in the 90’s, this episode will call back some of your favorite figure skaters of the past. So put away that bowl of Wheaties and get your boba ready for this fun episode.

Amy Chen is VP of Ascend.
https://www.ascendleadership.org

We start off our awesome conversation with Amy about our shared hatred of LinkedIn while acknowledging the necessary evil of social media.  This writing angel uses her ‘third space’ to connect the inner writer, specifically in immigrants encountering language barriers, to their fields of expertise.  We discuss racial disparities in academia to accent bias.  Why isn’t the English language considered sexy when spoken in a Chinese accent when the Boston accent recently polled as one of the sexiest in America?  Have your mind blown and tummy tickled by this thought-provoking but hilarious episode.

Amy Cheung is a Lecturer in the Writing and Communication Center at MIT. Her research examines identity development and the relation of identity(ies) to the experience of education and civic inclusion. She has taught in courses and workshops on qualitative research methods, qualitative data analysis, and reflective professional practice. Previously, Amy served as a Co-chair and Editor of the Harvard Educational Review. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Amherst College, M.Ed in International Educational Development and Graduate Certificate in TESOL from Boston University, and Ed.D in Culture, Communities, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Outside of the university, Amy is an advocate for Boston's Chinatown, having variously served as a non-profit professional, board member, and volunteer in the community.  She is also a proud Quincy (‘Quin-Zee’) native. 

Not only does his luscious hair inspire envy, but so does his ability to poignantly express his observations with depth and humor.  Irving Ruan opens up to us about how he discovered his inner writer after a depression-fueled magic mushroom experience, and paints a picture of his childhood through Cheetos-colored lenses.  He gives us his view of ‘diversity’ as a concept vs reality and credits Ocean Vuong for emphasizing Asian-American presence over representation.
 
Irving Ruan is a Chinese American writer, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, engineer, and former startup founder.  Named by Paste Magazine as one of the best humorists writing today, Irving is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine. His writing has appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Funny Or Die, CollegeHumor, Hyphen Magazine, The Bold Italic, and elsewhere.

In this episode Lijia and Diana spill tea with Irene Li. Irene is the chef and owner of Mei Mei Restaurant and co-author with her siblings of Double Awesome Chinese Foods (2018). She is a five-time James Beard Rising Star Chef nominee and is involved with a number of community organizations. 

Today we will be discussing Irene about her recent article on Medium (linked in the show notes) as well as what it is like to be a 2nd generation Asian-American chef and owner of a Chinese restaurant. We also discussed what it takes to be successful as a minority and the cost of it.  

Just a quick note: Irene has done several interviews regarding her business practices responding to Covid, therefore this episode we will not be too focused on the topic surrounding Covid. If interested, please see links below of her other interviews. We also posted Irene’s article we discuss in the interview in the show notes as well. 

Edible boston interview: https://www.edibleboston.com/blog/2020/5/5/irene-li-mei-mei-restaurant-boston

Wbur interview: 

https://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2020/05/13/reopening-with-coronavirus-restrictions

Irene article in medium

https://ireneshiangli.medium.com/8-totally-achievable-ways-to-show-up-for-racial-justice-when-youre-white-and-own-an-asian-2dcc72768e55

Mei mei boston:

https://www.meimeiboston.com/

What’s in a name?  Does the Americanization of a name change a person’s identity? 

In this episode, Lijia and Diana discuss the origin of their Chinese names, what it says about their parents’ values and wishes for their children, then delve into the evolution of selecting their American names to their name choice today.