What have books meant to you, and have you felt represented in books? Maybe you frequented the library every week after school, or you were assigned literature in English class. Maybe you read a book with the Pulitzer Prize - what does it even mean for that book to receive that award, given the publishing industry still has a long way to go with regards to diversity and inclusion?

As part of our digital communities series, we're elated to be joined by Hilary, someone who’s been consciously discovering community on her own around a specific interest: her love of books. Tune into this conversation to hear us chat about:
⟡ Hilary's intention for creating a bookstagram
⟡ Her hope of discovering marginalized and underrepresented narratives to further educate and inform herself
⟡ What we are unlearning about the culture around books
⟡ How Hilary has felt seen in navigating her disabled identity with the support of BIPOC disabled bookstagrammers & authors
⟡ Some of our most impactful childhood reads!

We're so encouraged by how intentional and critically Hilary approaches each book and book review she encounters. If you're ever looking for a new book to read, check out @hilaryreadsbooks for recommendations and thought-provoking reviews.

Interested to hear follow up thoughts? Join us on our IG on Tuesday, January 12th at 8:30pm PST where we'll go live to share our reflections on this episode and the topics of decolonizing our bookshelves and finding digital communities!

Books mentioned:
⟡ The Mysterious Benedict Society
⟡ Get a Life, Chloe Brown
⟡ Cemetery Boys
⟡ Disability Visibility
⟡ The Pretty One
⟡ Sitting Pretty
*the links above will direct you to a page that supports ordering books from your local bookstores!

Bookstagrammers mentioned:
⟡ @sitting_pretty
⟡ @bookedwithemma
⟡ @thunderbirdwomanreads
⟡ @diversifyyourshelf

More about Hilary:
Hilary is an engineer who works in the accessibility space and a bookstagrammer.
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hilaryreadsbooks/
⟡ medium: https://medium.com/hilaryreadsbooks

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://beacons.ai/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun

Thank you for tuning into our last episode of 2020 & our last guest of the year! Last but not least, we have MD who was part of our series centering the voices of international students & visa workers. And boy... do we have an UPDATE for y'all. You're going to have to tune in to hear the updates, but let's just say MD is free of his golden handcuffs and you can get some neat insight into the popular platform that is TikTok.

Episode that features MD:
⟡ 68. His 13-Year Fight to Stay in the US ft. MD Ma

More about MD:
⟡ TikTok: @mdthekiddo
⟡ Instagram: @mdthekiddo
⟡ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdxyma/

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://linktr.ee/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun

We got to catch up with Jen in ep 101 about how remote med school has been going. Our guest this episode is Dahee, another fellow student in the health field currently attending Harvard Dental School remotely all the way from Korea!

Now, Dahee gets to share her first semester in Korea and what a blessing it was to be able to reconnect with old friends she hasn't seen since leaving Korea for college, as well as spending an extended amount of time with family in Korea. And... turns out that she'll be heading to Boston in 2021! So she's been extra reflective of this past year, and we got to ask her of her vision of becoming a future health practitioner and what she holds dear to her heart.

Episode that features Dahee:
⟡ 67. Persisting Through COVID-19 & Visa Restrictions En Route to Harvard Dental School

More about Dahee
⟡ Instagram: @dahee1002

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://linktr.ee/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun

John has been going through many changes in 2020! He graduated from college earlier this year, he is now working his first full-time job, he's beginning this job remotely due to the pandemic, and he also was watching the 2020 presidential election very intently as an international visa worker. Also, you might remember from ep 66 that John was not sure where he was going to end up living for the rest of year - so where is he at now? Join us for this catch up with John as he shares what he's had to navigate in these transitions in order to feel some sense of security that has always been... not quite present.

Episode that features John:
⟡ 66. How the American Dream Has Failed International Students

More about John
John was born in Seoul, South Korea. He spent his elementary school years in South Korea, while attending middle school and high school in the U.S. After graduating from Princeton with a B.S. in Computer Science, he is now working as a software engineer at Robinhood.
⟡ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssuh/

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://linktr.ee/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun

What moments have made you appreciate home, family, and your culture more? Sophia shares how Na He's episode about her immigration journey motivated her to appreciate her parents in a new way. Na He shares how not getting to go to Korea gave her newfound motivation for making Korean dishes from scratch. We talk about our favorite Korean dishes, so you may not want to tune in on an empty stomach!

Episode that features Na He:
⟡ 66. How the American Dream Has Failed International Students

More about Na He:
Na He was born in Seoul, South Korea. She spent her childhood and half of her pre-college schooling in South Korea, and the other half in America (Florida and Virginia). She received her B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University (and a minor in Art Practice). Currently, she’s working for Gusto as a software engineer.
⟡ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nahejeon

Episode about Sophia's childhood friend who taught in Korea:
⟡  18. Learning about South Korea through living in South Korea as a Fulbright scholar ft. Zoya Hsiao

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://linktr.ee/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun

Remember Mark & Julie with their mild, medium, spicy conflicts? We do, and they're back to share MORE- just kidding. We find their honesty and vulnerability to share these intimate discussions with us so inspirational, and we were eager to check back on them especially during the pandemic. Are they physically together or apart? How are they continuing to hold their relationship high and care for one another as the external world continues to be unpredictable? Mark & Julie share the importance of communication, setting expectations, accepting change, and being open to new experiences no matter how long your relationship has been or how little or big of a physical distance there is between the two of you.

Episode that feature Mark & Julie:
⟡ 62. Resolving Conflict With Your Romantic Partner

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://linktr.ee/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun

Ysabel's high school students grew up seeing police patrol their schoolyards, and began questioning their surveillance during the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Eager to bring others into the discussion and learn about police brutality beyond the U.S., they organized "International Solidarity Against Police and State Violence: Panel on Chicago, Mexico, and the Philippines," a conference that examined the universal effects of police brutality and state violence.

Episode that features Ysabel:
⟡ 55. The American Education: The Promises, Falterings & Musings

More about Ysabel:
⟡  https://instagram.com/ysabelmariah

About HANA center:
⟡  In Korean, HANA means "one."  HANA’s mission is to empower Korean American and multi-ethnic immigrant communities through social services, education, culture, and community organizing to advance human rights.
⟡  FIGHTING YOUTH SHOUTING OUT FOR HUMANITY (FYSH): FYSH is HANA Center's social justice youth leadership council. Stronger as one, we can create positive systems change that uplift the most vulnerable people in our communities. We make our voices heard by developing and leading campaigns, mobilizing young people to take collective action, educating legislators & holding them accountable, and sharing experiences and knowledge to fight and shout out for our collective humanity. Find FYSH on Instagram and Facebook.

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://linktr.ee/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun

You heard from Jen Ren in ep 60 about the eclectic fields and careers she's pursued since entering college (as a refresher, it ranges from animal welfare to tech to design to medicine... really the list goes on). Now, let's get up to speed how the beginning of med school has been going for Jen! (read: remotely, all on Zoom).

A common misconception of med  school is that the curriculum is rigid, and students are limited to only learning topics and issues that solely fit under the category of "medicine," leaving no time to explore other interests. However, we were delighted to hear Jen share how there have been many intersections with medicine that she's been able to explore in her short time at school: from looking into food and medicine, bringing in her design thinking and innovative mindset to a student organization, as well as learning about the social & structural determinants of health that address factors of SES, race, etc.

For Jen, med school, while having constraints of operating under COVID circumstances, has just been another arena of exploration and testing personal hypotheses, as well as building strong community despite physical distance.

Episode that features Jen:
⟡ 60. Testing Hypotheses: From Animal Welfare to Tech to Medicine and Beyond

More about Jen
⟡ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenren

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://linktr.ee/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun

We're ending this year by surpassing 100 published episodes total and 45 featured guests. We're humbled by the reception to our content and our growth over the last year. When 2020 began, we had no idea we would reach this stage.

Another exciting announcement: we're a finalist in the Best Hosts category of the Asian Podcast Awards! Again, we wouldn't be here without you all, and if you're a member of the  Asian Podcast Network, go support your favorite podcasters by voting for them by December 24th. Otherwise, you can follow @asianpodcastnetwork and @jerryjwon for updates on the event. This awards event is a collective win for our community - we've been able to connect with more AAPI podcasters than ever before, more AAPI changemakers/thought leaders/inspirational figures all through bamboo & glass.

Finally, we're on the lookout for more incredible guests to host on bamboo & glass in 2021. If you are interested or know of anyone, you can DM us on Instagram or email us at [email protected].

Thank you again, we love you, get excited for 2021~

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://linktr.ee/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun

Do you have a framework for defining your career values and your company’s values? After working as a product manager (PM) at fintech startup Affirm for 10 months, Christina shares the exciting challenge of defining Affirm’s identity, values, and contribution to the fast-growing fintech industry, and how COVID-19 has shaped the trajectory of fintech. 

We also discuss:

• How important is it to love the problem space you work in?  
• Should you choose a team/company based on the manager you’ll be working with? 
• How does the answer to those questions change depending on if you’re at a startup versus a big tech company? 
• What factors determine our job satisfaction, and the career decisions we’re making based on our reflections?

Episode that features Christina:
⟡ 61. Creating Her Own Doors of Opportunities Within the Tech Industry

More about Christina!
⟡ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geechristina
⟡ Twitter: https://twitter.com/christinagee12

About Fintech
⟡ Fintech is technology that provides financial services to businesses or consumers.
⟡ Affirm enables you to buy now and pay later with no late fees or surprises.
⟡ Shopify's "Future of Commerce" report

Follow us on:
⟡ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooandglass
⟡ links to various platforms: https://linktr.ee/bambooandglass
⟡ website: https://www.bambooandglass.buzzsprout.com
⟡ Da Eun: https://www.instagram.com/daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: https://www.instagram.com/sophiasysun