Welcome to Season 6, Episode XX! Our guest today is Shang Saavedra, the founder and CEO of Save My Cents, the popular site, blog, and coaching resources on personal finance. Saavedra teaches readers the key habits and behaviors needed to become less fearful of money and live life with joy. Saavedra was named one of the "Twenty-five Most Influential New Voices of Money" by TIME/NextAdvisor in 2022 and is an Expert Reviewer and Contributor at CNET Money.

Her mission is to change your financial life, one cent at a time, with a focus on mental health. She also does that through her book Wealth is a Mindset: Change Your Mind, Change Your Money… released about a year ago in January 2025 by our favorite publisher, Third State Books. Wealth is a Mindset provides practical, concrete applications of Saavedra's mindset-changing research based methodology called "Trigger, Action, Reward."

In our conversation, Saavedra shares how she began Save My Cents, some of the key things she's discovered throughout her consulting work, ways for students to learn about personal finance, the Three Root Causes of Money Problems, and so much more.

To learn more about Shang Saavedra and how to better tackle your personal finance, you can visit her website Save My Cents, watch her YouTube Channel @SaveMyCents, follow her on Instagram @SaveMyCents, and of course buy Wealth is a Mindset published by Third State Books.

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 [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 10! You'd be hard pressed to find people who have absolutely never heard of the aerospace company Boeing. But have you heard of their first impactful aeronautical engineer? That person was Wong Tsu, a Chinese born prodigy who was educated in both the UK and US. He helped develop many of the practices still used today.

In today's episode, we talk about his life, his career, the discrimination he faced, and his lasting impact in the world of aeronautics. Now, Boeing and the Smithsonian have acknowledged his impact, but he still isn't a household name.

We begin the episode by catching up on the final part of the Olympics and sharing some thoughts on the start of the F1 season. We end the episode with another segment of "What Are We Listening To?" Today we talk about The Many Daughters of Afong Moy audiobook as well as the music of Sarah Kinsley and Tiffany Day

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 [email protected].

Segments

• 00:25 Intro: Talking Sports and Flying
• 11:27 The History of Wong Tsu, The First Asian American Aeronautical Engineer
• 25:24 What Are We Listening To? The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, Sarah Kinsley, and Tiffany Day

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 09! On a few rare occasions, we've invited more than one guest at a time, and we're doing it for this episode! Today's guests are Julie Leung and Angie Kang. Both are award-winning creators. Julie is an author with multiple titles to her name while Angie is both an author and illustrator. Their latest work, Navigating Night, is written by Julie and illustrated by Angie, and it will release on March 10.

Navigating Night is the heart-warming story of a girl who helps guide her dad on his route delivering Chinese take-out food from their restaurant. She does this every night because her English is better than his. This wonderful picture book focuses on an element of the immigrant experience that some Asian Americans face, needing to help support their parents in business and family matters. We love how it celebrates the unique bond between immigrant parents and their children.

Julie Leung has a long history of writing picture book biographies that include The Truth About Dragons (a 2024 Caldecott Honor book and winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature), Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist (winner of the 2021 American Library Associations Asian/Pacific American Award for Best Picture Book), A Banquet for Cecilia, Mr. Pei's Perfect Shapes: The Story of Architect I. M. Pei, and The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee.

Angie Kang is the author-illustrator of Our Lake which received a Caldecott Honor, the Charlotte Zolotow Award, and the Dilys Evans Founder's Award. She's a 2026 Sendak Fellow and the 2025 Ezra Jack Keats Fellow at MacDowell, her writing and artwork has appeared in The New Yorker, The Believer, Narrative, Ecotone, Best Small Fictions, and elsewhere. On her website, she shares several great samples of her paintings, short form comics, poetry, fiction, and essays.

In our conversation we discuss their journeys, what they hope readers get from Navigating Night, how Angie decided on the artwork, what Julie likes about Picture Book biographies, what it's like when a book releases, and so much more.

To see more of Julie's work, you can visit jleungbooks.com or follow her on instagram @jleungbooks. To see more of Angie's work you can visit angiekang.net or follow her on instagram at @anqiekanq. We highly recommend getting Navigating Night for you or as a gift for others!

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 [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 8! What do you get when you mix Jamaican Reggae with Hawaiian music. This isn't the set-up for a joke, it's an episode on Jawaiian music, sometimes called Island Reggae. Today we talk about the origin of Jawaiian music, who some of the key musicians were, why it resonated with so many Hawaiians, and some of the small controversies around it.

We go more in-depth on three key musicians who have made a HUGE impact in Jawaiian music: Brother Noland, Fiji, and J-Boog. To get an idea of the spirit of Jawaiian, then look up their work!

In our recurring segment, we do some celebrations of the API in the 2026 Winter Olympics. Although we recorded before they were over, we wanted to celebrate what's happened so far for Asian Pacific athletes. We also take time to rant a bit about the really two-faced coverage of Eileen Gu, Chloe Kim, and Alysa Liu.

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 [email protected].

Segments

• 00:25 Intro
• 01:56 The History of Jawaiian Music
• 15:50 Celebrations and a Little Rant About API in the Olympics

Top Picture is Brother Noland

Bottom Picture is J Boog

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 7! Our guest today is Lydia Kang, a professor, medical doctor, and acclaimed author, Her latest book is K-Jane, and it's the story of Jane Choi, a typical Nebraskan teen who loves Husker football and is a total banana. That all changes when her parents find out they're expecting a baby, and Jane goes on a mission to become an expert… or at least more knowledgeable about her Korean heritage and pop-culture. From K-pop to K-dramas, through Korean Food and Language, and pretty much K-everything, Jane immerses herself in it. Released on October 21, 2025, K-Jame was received a Starred Kirk's Review and was selected as a Kirkus Best Young Adult Book of 2025.

Lydia writes young adult fiction, adult fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The practicing physician and associate professor of Internal Medicine has also gained a reputation for helping fellow writers with their medical accuracy in their writing.

Her previous work includes Opium and Absinthe, Star Wars: Cataclysm, The November Girl, and Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything (one of your favorite nonfiction books). In our conversation, Lydia shares her journey to authorship, how she writes authentic awkward teen moments, what it means to be Asian American, and so much more.

To learn more about Lydia, you can visit her website lydiakang.com, follow her instagram @lydiakang, read her poetry and essays, and of course buy any of her books.

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 [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 6! We're back with Part 2 on The History of the Patel Motel Phenomenon. If you haven't listed to Part 1 which was S06E04, then we'd love it if you go back and list to that one for more context.

In this episode, we continue the history, talking about what the predominantly Gujarati motel and hotel owners did when they were faced with racism from banks, insurance companies, customers, and the professional organizations that were supposed to be fighting for ALL the owners in the lodging industry.

We take time to share about the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) which the Indian American hotel owners created to help lobby on their behalf and create a more level playing. One of most impactful projects was the creation of the 12 Points of Fair Franchising, a document that recently was updated.

In our recurring segment we bring you another segment of Racist or Not, where we share a phrase or saying and discuss whether it's racist… or not. Today we're talking about the phrase "It's All Chinese to Me."

If you support 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 [email protected].

Segments

• 00:25 Intro: Our Thoughts on Minnesota and ICE
• 05:25 The History of the Patel Motel Phenomenon, Part 2
• 17:40 Racist or Not: It's All Chinese to Me

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 5! Our guest today is XiXi Tian who is both a lawyer and acclaimed author. Her latest work is the novel All the Way Around the Sun, a YA Romance that focuses on themes of belonging, identity, and overcoming trauma. In it, the main character Stella, a Chinese-American protagonist who's forced into a college roadtrip with her childhood friend turned rival. Their complicated history is made even more difficult as Stella navigates how to overcome the grief of a recent family tragedy.

We love how it's a complex story with some familiar themes, and really showcases the difficulties of expectations, both internal and external, that can create familial habits and routines. And these habits can actually be a hindrance to facing and overcoming grief.

XiXi Tian was born in China and immigrated to the United States when she was a year old. After college, which included Harvard Law School, she decided to pursue her love of writing and published her first novel, This Place is Still Beautiful, a story about two Chinese-American sisters who respond to a racist attack against their home.

To learn more about XiXi, you can visit her at xixiwrites.com, follow her on Instagram @xixiwrites, and of course buy All the Way Around the Sun or This Place is Still Beautiful. 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 [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 04! When it comes to immigrant groups in the U.S., especially Asian Pacific immigrant groups, it's not unusual to see certain industries become almost synonymous with specific communities of people. We saw it with Chinese laundromats, Thai restaurants, Vietnamese nail salons, Cambodian donut shops, and more.

For Indian Americans, one of those industries was the motel business. So in this episode, we're here to share the origin and history of the Patel Motels as well as how families got into the business in the first place. We also share some of the challenges the business owners faced in the U.S. on the road to becoming dominant in the field.

We start the episode by sharing what's on our social media feeds. We close it with a new recurring segment called "Racist or Not" where we take a phrase and talk about whether it's racist… or not.

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 [email protected].

Segments

• 00:25 Social Media and Road Trip Memories
• 14:32 The History of the Patel Motels, Part 1
• 27:50 Racist or Not: White on Rice

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 3! Our guest today is the amazing author V.T. Bidania. She is of Hmong descent and was born in Laos and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. A prolific author with over 20 titles published already, her latest work is the very personal fictionalized memoir A Year Without Home which details her family's escape from Laos after the end of the Secret War in Laos and the Vietnam War.

A Year Without Home was released on January 13, 2026 and published by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers. It's her debut middle grade novel and written in a unique style with lyrical verse. Told through the eyes of eleven-year-old Gao Sheng, Bidania does an amazing job of immersing the reader into the joys of what it was like to live in Laos as well as the challenges and horrors of fleeing as refugees.

Her previous works are the Astrid and Apollo series and the new spin-off Extraordinary Eliana series. Both uplift Hmong culture in a joyous informative way. In our conversation, V.T. shares her journey to writing, the challenges of researching for A Year Without Home, how she decided to lay things out in the book, why the book is even more important now than ever, and a lot more.

To learn more about V.T. Bidania and the Hmong culture, you can visit her website vtbidania.com, follow her on Instagram @vtbidania, and of course purchase or any book int he Astrid and Apollo or Extraordinary Eliana series.

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 [email protected].

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 2 ! Have you been caught up in the ube craze? For many people, especially in Southeast Asia, it's not a trend, it's a beloved food staple. This is most true in the Philippines where Ube is ubiquitous with many of their sweets. So in this episode, we talk ube… What is it? How is it used? What contributed to its rise in popularity, and more.

We also take time to explain the differences between ube, Okinawan sweet potato, and taro, and we wax poetic about our ube memories. Finally, we take time to talk about some specific restaurants (like Kasama in Chicago, Illinois and San & Wolves Bakeshop in Long Beach, California) and dishes to look for if you want to try ube (we highly recommend ube macapuno ice cream, ube crinkle cookies, ube matcha lattes, and sapin-sapin.

We begin the episode with some talk about New Years resolutions, 2025 Women's world champion figure skater Alysa Liu, and ube memories. At the end of the show, we also share another segment of What Are We Watching where we talk a little about Heated Rivalry as well as YouTube matcha content creators Michelle Kanemitsu, emily wada, and ur mom ashley.

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 [email protected].

Segments

• 00:25 Introduction… Talking New Years Resolutions, Celebrating Alysa Liu, and Sharing Ube Memories
• 12:34 The History of Ube
• 25:57 What Are We Watching? Heated Rivalry and YouTube Videos

Ube Cheez Pandesal by San & Wolves Bakeshop