Just a conversation among friends trying to make sense of modern dating, identity, and connection as WBCs.

In this episode, we’re joined by Anna (Half-French half-Chinese) and Bill (Canadian-born Chinese) to talk about dating across cultures, shared backgrounds, stereotypes, attraction, and why some connections just feel easier to navigate than others.

From growing up in very different environments in Europe, North America, and China, we reflect on how our upbringing shaped the way we date, communicate, and relate to people. Anna shares how being exoticised growing up made dating feel complicated for a long time, until moving abroad and meeting people who shared similar multicultural experiences. Bill talks about growing up surrounded by overseas Chinese and other Asians in Canada and Shanghai, where dating “Asian” always felt natural rather than intentional.

We get into the funny, awkward, and very real moments of dating as people who live between cultures and with stereotypes and labels on us and why shared values, openness, curiosity, and communication matter more than fitting into one exact background.

We unpack:

• Dating while growing up WBC

• Exoticisation, stereotypes, and feeling “different”

• Why some connections feel instantly familiar

• Shared background vs. Shared values

• Dating in Europe, North America, China

• Why communication and curiosity matter more than labels

• The unspoken comfort of being understood without overexplaining

Follow us on Instagram @backtotheroots.pod

In this first episode, we finally introduce ourselves and our names (and their meaning behind them). We talk about what it felt like growing up as the “little foreigner”- the 小老外- no matter where we were. From daily moments to family dinners, from favorite comfort foods (both Western and Chinese) to trying to figure out where we belong.

We share our individual stories growing up, and the differences between Europe and the U.S. when it comes to multiculturalism, where we felt seen, where we didn’t.

And somewhere along the way, without really noticing, we started growing into our Chinese side, learning to appreciate it, reconnect with it, and eventually embrace the fact that we’re not one or the other.

The way we think, act, and move through the world today is a mix of both and that’s exactly what makes us unique as WBC.

We unpack:

• Growing up as the “小老外” aka little foreigner in different environments

• Favorite foods and early cultural influences

• Europe vs. America and multiculturalism

• Slowly growing into and embracing our Chinese identity

• What it means to be “both”

Follow us on Instagram

@backtotheroots.pod

This is our pilot episode… and you can tell.

We forgot to introduce ourselves, jumped between topics, and didn’t quite know where we were going — but maybe that’s also the point.

Growing up Western Born Chinese often feels a bit like that too.

It’s less of a polished introduction and more of a real starting point: two people trying to make sense of identity, culture, and everything in between.

This podcast is for anyone who grew up between worlds, who has ever felt “not quite enough” of either side, or who’s just curious to understand that experience a bit more.

In this episode, we get into:

• how we met (and why we instantly related)
• what “Western Born Chinese” means to us • moments that shaped how we see ourselves
• why we wanted to create this space and community

Welcome to Back to the Roots!

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @backtotheroots.pod