Continuing our series on "career changemakers," we were delighted to sit back down with Reina (for the third time on our podcast!) to circle back to our conversations about being an Asian woman in classical music (ep 15) and advice about breaking into tech (ep 16). Now, Reina gets to share with us her reflections on her career transition from pursuing music as a profession on the East Coast to now working as a full-time software engineer in San Francisco, including
⟡ how her curiosity about tech's potential helped to overcome her imposter syndrome,
⟡ what it was like attending an intense coding bootcamp like the Grace Hopper Program, which was also a tight-knit community of womxn,
⟡ the connections between music and tech she is now able to appreciate a year into her full-time job,
⟡ reminiscing on the aspects of music we've grown to appreciate now that we've all stepped away from the professional music world, and
⟡ how she hopes to bridge these 2 disparate worlds later in life.

Watch our highlights for this episode!
⟡ Her First Venture into Tech: Gameboys & Grace Hopper | https://youtu.be/pPwr19iUIbQ
⟡ What Classical Music Has Taught Us | https://youtu.be/s7PMlY5D3oA
⟡ Advice for Pursuing Your Dreams | https://youtu.be/0iT8m2aa-gI

More about Reina!
⟡ instagram: @reinairu

Follow us on Instagram @bambooandglass
⟡ Da Eun: @daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: @sophiasysun

It's been a while since we've caught up with each other and our listeners, so we wanted to share what was on our minds in April 2020. We chat about Da Eun's Cosmos cohort and an activity @itstiffanytrieu led about unleashing and re-parenting our inner child. We also gush about our favorite Korean drama, Pinocchio, which explores justice and corporate responsibility in the broadcast journalism industry. Other topics include overcoming our fear of trying new things, working from home during quarantine, and evolving definitions of success. Despite being close friends for 8 years, we learn a lot about each other and hope you have fun peeking into our lives!

Disclaimer: About a month after we recorded this episode, news about the violent killings of Black folks made international news. We dedicate two episodes to identifying our own anti-Black thoughts and actions and learning how we can be better allies to Black folks: "56. Inviting Asian Americans into Solidarity with Black Folx" and "57. How Should I Engage with Social Media for Black Lives Matter?" And of course, we will, and encourage you to, continue learning and taking action. Through this episode, we’re excited for you to get to know the things that bring us joy and anxiety, and we hope you also consider tuning into stories of Black folks - stories of both joy and of anxiety. Check out @wocpodcasters on Instagram, an account that features Black podcasters. 

Watch our highlights for this episode!
⟡ "Sneaking Around to Watch Our Favorite Korean Dramas" |
https://youtu.be/sJT7fdpsi6g

The episode title is a question we have been asking ourselves time and time again throughout the Black Lives Matter movement. Especially during shelter-in-place, we can’t have the same ad hoc conversations with friends we used to have in person, so most of us are using social media to share resources and encourage followers to take tangible action. It’s interesting to see how social media has become our main way of communicating with folks and for information to be disseminated. We wanted to share our personal observations of how people are using social media, especially when it comes to propelling the Black Lives Matter movement, and how we've been continuously rethinking the roles that we should be playing ourselves. We cover social media phenomena such as #BlackoutTuesday, Yellow Peril Supports Black Power, #8CantWait, our thoughts on performative allyship and virtue signaling, and how we plan to use our platform moving forward for conversations and amplifying Black voices. We are by no means experts on this, and we hope to show that we too are learning alongside you.

**update: I had a great conversation with a listener who let me know that while Aoki did provide arms early on, the Black Panther party's practice and belief from the beginning was about needing armed self-defense against the police, so Aoki is not fully responsible for this as we had questioned in this episode. (sharing this because we want to be transparent about what we're learning even after recording the episode and about the great conversations we get to have with you all!)

Please feel free to DM us on Instagram @bambooandglass to continue the conversation!

“Now that we have knowledge, let’s also learn compassion, let’s learn grace, let’s learn words of invitation. Let’s get rid of shaming, let’s get rid of flexing. Let’s really try to reach people."

During the last few weeks, the murder of Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd, and countless other Black folx gained international attention. Many of us took to social media to implore others to learn about racism, police violence, and how the model minority myth encourages Asian Americans to stay silent. In this episode, we discuss why it's important for Asian Americans to be in solidarity with Black folx, barriers to doing so, how discussions about racism have unfolded over social media, and how to compassionately invite others into the lifelong journey of becoming more anti-racist. We are honored to be in conversation with Julie Yeeun Kim and hear her perspective as an educator and person of faith.

About our guest: Julie Yeeun Kim is an artist based in Los Angeles, CA. She is also a lecturer in the Department of Asian American Studies at CSU Long Beach. Having grown up as an undocumented immigrant her mission is to speak truth to and against systems of injustice, such as poverty and racism. Read her writing at https://julieyeeun.com and follow her on Instagram and Twitter @julieyeeun.

Watch our highlights for this episode!
⟡ Please Stop Flexing Your "Wokeness" | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rilYUPbPjWA

Schooling is a very formative part of our childhood and upbringing; it took up 8 hours of our day, 5 days of the week, for at least 16 years of our lives. It's made us think about the purpose of education, and how this was shaped throughout history. Ysabel Ojoylan joins us to share what she's learned about

• the supposed ideals of American education and how in the modern day we fall short of these goals
• policy examples as well as personal stories and observations that have shaped what education now looks like (i.e. would you choose to send your child to a private school or public school? is education truly a right or is it still a privilege?)
• and findings from psychology that can truly transform education equity.

⟡ Find Ysabel on Instagram! https://instagram.com/ysabelmariah

Watch our highlights for this episode!
⟡ Understanding the Goals of American Education | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJh9pCOcZqk
⟡ Simple Interventions to Transform Education | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yc4uZKucx4

Articles & Organizations mentioned:
Tandem
https://www.tandembayarea.org/
"Since 2003, Tandem® has engaged the whole community to ensure all families have the resources, skills, and confidence they need to support their children’s kindergarten readiness. We do so by meeting families and community members where they are, respecting and building upon their strengths, and supporting them to maximize their impact both in their own families and within their community."

Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle Over Educational Goals
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/83f1/d25e7816bea96f3d0a8ae1eb3f73b58e93b7.pdf?_ga=2.207588115.1608249595.1589129786-1282056498.1589129786

Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/choosing-a-school-for-my-daughter-in-a-segregated-city.html

Rosenthal's Work on Expectancy Effects
https://psych.wisc.edu/braun/281/Intelligence/LabellingEffects.htm

Follow us on Instagram @bambooandglass
⟡ Da Eun: @daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: @sophiasysun

Have you ever wanted to watch comedy writers riff off each other to create unforgettable dialogues? Marie Cheng, who works as a staff writer for a Disney Channel live-action family comedy, takes us behind the scenes at some of the biggest production companies, including Disney, Dreamworks, and Nickelodeon. She shares about the moment her parents bought in to her passion for animation, why she transitioned from animation to writing, the unique stories she's excited to tell, and how cultivating genuine relationships - not schmoozing - has opened doors to amazing opportunities. She also shares how she navigates tricky power dynamics in the writers' room and how taking acting classes enables her to establish a stronger rapport with other writers and actors. 

Marie Cheng is a comedy writer, performer, and cartoonist. Learn more about her at https://mariewcheng.com

Watch our highlights for this episode!
⟡ Navigating Tricky Power Dynamics in the Comedy Writers' Room | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXrf9i3H7Lg

Follow us on Instagram!
⟡ @bambooandglass
⟡ Da Eun: @daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: @sophiasysun

Do you remember the childhood question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" For Susan, this was a no-brainer: actress! But life is not always kind to the young dreamers, and after some tribulation, she found herself on the path of becoming a young, successful pharmacist. We have the honor of sharing Susan's story, of what her career trajectory as a pharmacist looked like as she secretly hoped to realize her dream of becoming an actress, and the grit and courage it took for her to take that leap of faith of leaving a stable career to one fueled with passion. She shares with us how she feels "more like herself" as an actress, the struggles of balancing a full time job with her side hustle, the magic and fulfillment of going through a myriad of emotions just by sitting and watching a film, and how she's learned that career pivots into passion require action and a willingness to grow.

Watch our highlights for this episode!
⟡ Gaining Family's Support to Go After Your Dream | https://youtu.be/-HDFQXBr-MY
⟡ A Leap of Faith: From Side Hustle to Full-Fledged Career | https://youtu.be/AKFCE-mvL1o

More about Susan
⟡ Instagram: @susancho_
⟡ Love, 엄마 (Jubilee Fellowship Film): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyQuP7vWXTk

Follow us on Instagram!
⟡ @bambooandglass
⟡ Da Eun: @daeunkm
⟡ Sophia: @sophiasysun

Minji Chang - entrepreneur, community activist, Executive Director of Kollaboration, producer, actor, podcast host, and so much more - shares it all: how she connects the dots among all her endeavors, tough love that she received and now gives others, her gradual transition into the entertainment industry, and how her definition of success has expanded and shifted. Working in the entertainment industry requires commitment and often hard-fought buy-in from loved ones, and Minji also shares how she's been able to balance committing to her craft and giving herself permission to try new things. 

Follow Minji on Instagram @minjeezy and listen to her podcast @firstofallpod, which is available on all podcast platforms.

We talk a lot about our experiences as womxn in tech, but have you ever wondered what we really work on? This episode, the spotlight is on Sophia, who works as a product manager for the HoloLens and Remote Assist at Microsoft, and Da Eun gets to ask her some of the nitty gritty questions behind:

• the differences between virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality,
• the challenges of being a product manager on an enterprise product,
• and what's been most surprising and fulfilling about her work during this time of COVID-19 (spoiler alert: she never thought her product could be used by doctors to help them conserve the use of PPE and still effectively diagnose patients!)

Sophia, you are an inspiration to many others out there, and we hope you continue to find fulfillment in your work and are recognized for it!

Watch our episode highlights (you'll see Sophia showing her HoloLens 2!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCefnpG9gyE&list=PLDsh_DnbS1s6gjkjWBwrZSG87-au3W55Q

More on Sophia's work at Microsoft:
Why she loves working on mixed reality - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sophiasysun_1year-hololens-hololens2-activity-6572610235700252672-AWht
20 Questions on her life as a PM at Microsoft - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20-questions-my-life-pm-microsoft-hololens-sophia-s-sun/
An introduction to Remote Assist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-C6GE2gFYw&feature=youtu.be

For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we're sharing 11 works created by Asians and Asian Pacific Americans that we love. Our recommendations span memoirs (Know My Name and Dear Girls), film (Yellow Rose), science fiction short stories (Exhalation), Korean drama (Crash Landing on You), graphic novels (American Born Chinese and They Called Us Enemy), conversational podcast (First of All), narrative podcasts (Moonface), TV show (The Good Place) and essays (Trick Mirror). We hope you get an opportunity to experience the talent and wisdom that Asians and Asian Pacific Americans are sharing with the world! Visit our YouTube channel for episode highlights.