Welcome back to Don’t Be Strangers, a social experiment and community of wholesome conversations that focuses on deepening connections through stories of everyday people. **I’m your host XinYi, and I typically meet my co-hosts for the very first time while recording! If this sounds fun to you, please consider applying to co-host a future episode.

In case you didn’t know, Don’t Be Strangers also has it’s own e-Pen Pals Club as well as a public Discord Server where anyone can come through to chat! And with new teammates whom have volunteered to share their time in growing this community, I’m supperr excited to see where Don’t Be Strangers go from here! While I’m no longer actively seeking to expand our team at the moment, if you want to contribute in any way, please don’t be shy to reach out and say hi. You never know how we could potentially collaborate!!

Today I’m chatting with Viveca Chow who is a NYC-based influencer and actress who is full of zeal and bursting with life. My first impression of her says that she’s someone who truly enjoys life, and I feel like you can hear it in the way she speaks and the energy in her voice. Get ready for a treat as we dive into topics such as…

With that, please meet Viveca…

Welcome back to Don’t Be Strangers, a series of wholesome conversations that focuses on fighting social isolation through stories of everyday people. I’m your host XinYi, and I typically meet my co-hosts for the very first time while recording! If this sounds fun to you, please consider applying to co-host a future episode.

Sign ups for our Pen Pals Club for September is due Sunday August 28th. This upcoming month, my Pen Pals Club Nudge Friend Hajar will be helping me with running an optional Kickoff Call where you’ll get to meet all the pen palers. It’ll be similar to the conversational game nights that we already do but only among the pen palers. Speaking of friends of Don’t Be Strangers, I’m looking for people to volunteer their time on this team. As I’ve grown this project from a podcast to a pen pals club to a Discord server and more, I’m realizing that I need help if I want to keep this sustainable for myself. If you’re interested in anything I’ve mentioned, all that information can be found on instagram @dontbestrangers!

On the topic of pen pals, today I’m chatting with Pen Pal Central of Instagram. I felt extra honored because while she prefers to stay anonymous online, she was still interested in chatting with me and sharing her story. And naturally, because we both care about pen palling, there’s a lot of overlap in our communities. I’m ever grateful for social media because it was thanks to the power of instagram that we met. She has amazingly positive energy, and I feel like she’s exactly the right person to run an account that shares submissions of people’s bio’s in the hopes of finding pen pals.

Prepare yourself for a fun conversation as we dive into topics such as…

I hope this chat fills you with as much joy as it filled me with. With that, please meet Pen Pal Central…

Do you love meeting new people? Do you like games? Do you like conversation? If you enjoy conversational card games such as Table Topics or We’re Not Really Strangers, we’ll be playing a similar game: Don’t Be Strangers Q&A Edition, where everyone will have a chance to answer thought-provoking questions inspired by the podcast.

Welcome back to Don’t Be Strangers, a series of wholesome conversations that focuses on fighting social isolation through stories of everyday people. **I’m your host XinYi, and I typically meet my co-hosts for the very first time while recording! If this sounds fun to you, please consider applying to co-host a future episode.

Some special announcements is that we’re hosting two free events this month. I would love to see you and have you plug into the community! This Sunday August 21st, we have a free Life Vision Manifestation Workshop where I’ll also include a free eBook that I wrote for you to take home with you upon completion of the workshop. Next Sunday August 28th, we will have our second ever conversational game night. All that information can be found on instagram @dontbestrangers!

Today we’re chatting with a past Pen Paler of this community, April, who is a fellow travel enthusiast and a truly romantic soul, you’ll see what I mean. She’s exactly the reason why I feel so passionate about Don’t Be Strangers. Because of this community and podcast I’m building, I was able to connect with her. And I hope that if you, as a listener, have any itch to find super cool people who want to know you deeply, that you take the initiative to join our Pen Pals Club or Discord channel!

I was furiously taking notes while editing this episode because there is just so much gold! Get ready to feel hugged as we touch on topics such as…

With that, please meet April…

Do you love meeting new people? Do you like games? Do you like conversation? If you enjoy conversational card games such as Table Topics or We’re Not Really Strangers, we’ll be playing a similar game: Don’t Be Strangers Q&A Edition, where everyone will have a chance to answer thought-provoking questions inspired by the podcast.

Co-Host: Molly Ho (@mollyhostudio) / Host: Xinyi Xan (@xinyixan)

Welcome back to Don’t Be Strangers, a series of wholesome conversations that focuses on fighting social isolation through stories of everyday people. **I’m your host XinYi, and I typically meet my co-hosts for the very first time while recording! If this sounds fun to you, please consider applying to co-host a future episode. Or if you’re into community building and making friends, we now have a Pen Pals Club and Public Discord channel open to you. All that information can be found on instagram @dontbestrangers!

Today we’re chatting with Molly a fellow female digital nomad and business owner focusing on digital products and marketing. I almost met her in Playa Del Carmen through a mutual friend who ran into Molly casually at one of the popular remote office coffeeshops over there. And just as I was reaching out to Molly to ask for a coffee date, Molly told me she had just left for Oaxaca. The irony of all this was that I had just left Oaxaca to hang out in Playa Del Carmen, so we essentially swapped places. But we just kept in touch through direct messages on instagram until one day when she posted a job listing to find an assistant to help run her business and I thought… why not. I’m a huge student of life so I like trying things out just to try it because I never know what I’m going to learn about myself or the world through it.

After one job interview video call we decided that maybe it’d just be better to host virtual co-working sessions between as accountability partners working on passion projects, her with her business, and mine with my brand Don’t Be Strangers and its every evolving sub-projects that I keep imagining and trying to start. At the point of this recording, we’ve had weekly coworking calls for 3 months and over these 3 months, I’ve come to feel like I’ve known Molly for years.

I really adored this conversation because you can hear how much we were smiling through audio only. Get ready for a lot of story times as we share…

Do you love meeting new people? Do you like games? Do you like conversation? Grab your favorite drink and join us for the 1 year anniversary of Don’t Be Strangers Podcast + community with a game night celebration! If you enjoy conversational card games such as Table Topics or We’re Not Really Strangers, we’ll be playing a similar game: Don’t Be Strangers Q&A Edition, where everyone will have a chance to answer thought-provoking questions inspired by the podcast.

Do you love meeting new people? Do you like games? Do you like conversation? Grab your favorite drink and join us for the 1 year anniversary of Don't Be Strangers Podcast + community with a game night celebration! If  you enjoy conversational card games such as Table Topics or We’re Not Really Strangers, we'll be playing a similar game: Don't Be Strangers Q&A Edition, where everyone will have a chance to answer thought-provoking questions inspired by the podcast.

Welcome back to Don’t Be Strangers, a series of wholesome conversations that focuses on fighting social isolation through stories of everyday people. I’m your host XinYi, and I typically meet my co-hosts for the very first time while recording! If this sounds fun to you, please consider applying to co-host a future episode. Or if you’re into community building and making friends, we now have a Discord channel open to you. All that information can be found on instagram @dontbestrangers!

Also… July is the official one year birthday of Don’t Be Strangers! We’re celebrating with a public free virtual game night on Sunday July 24th. It’ll be small groups, conversational style, answering questions from past podcast episodes. You’ll get to meet other cool potential new friends who are all into deep-talk. I’ll just be chill with good vibes. Sign-ups are currently open and linked from the instagram page!

Today I’m speaking with my friend Sophia, founder of Uncomfortably Comfortable. Matt of Episode 17 actually connected us, and now I’m part of her creative community for getting out of our comfort zones as creators!  Just as of 2 days ago, I attended the first monthly meeting of UC for the 2nd cohort of 2022, and I’m definitely drawing on ideas of how Sophia nourishes her community to see how I can build mine. I think it’s really cool because there’s a lot of overlap between the values of UC and DBS, but catered towards different groups of people. While UC is specific to creatives, DBS is meant to be a space that helps connect optimistic students-of-life who are seeking deeper connections!

Sophia is just full of good energy and you’re about to feel it as we dive into topics such as….

Do you love meeting new people? Do you like games? Do you like conversation? Grab your favorite drink and join us for the 1 year anniversary of Don't Be Strangers Podcast + community with a game night celebration! If  you enjoy conversational card games such as Table Topics or We’re Not Really Strangers, we'll be playing a similar game: Don't Be Strangers Q&A Edition, where everyone will have a chance to answer thought-provoking questions inspired by the podcast.

Do you love meeting new people? Do you like games? Do you like conversation? Grab your favorite drink and join us for the 1 year anniversary of Don't Be Strangers Podcast + community with a game night celebration! If  you enjoy conversational card games such as Table Topics or We’re Not Really Strangers, we'll be playing a similar game: Don't Be Strangers Q&A Edition, where everyone will have a chance to answer thought-provoking questions inspired by the podcast.

Welcome back to Don’t Be Strangers, a series of wholesome conversations that focuses on fighting social isolation through stories of everyday people. **I’m your host XinYi, and I typically meet my co-hosts for the very first time while recording! If this sounds fun to you, please consider applying to co-host a future episode. Or if you’re into community building and making friends, we now have a Discord channel open to you. All that information can be found on instagram @dontbestrangers!

Also… July is the official one year birthday of Don’t Be Strangers! We’re celebrating with an public free virtual game night on Sunday July 24th. It’ll be small groups, conversational style, answering questions from past podcast episodes. You’ll get to meet other cool potential new friends who are all into deep-talk. I’ll just be chill with good vibes. Sign-ups are currently open and linked from the instagram page!

Today I’m speaking with my friend Nathan of Crawl Across the Sky whom I first met in a FB group called Asian Creative Network. Occasionally I scroll through the newsfeed in that community and like posts and comments to send some good vibes. Well, apparently I had liked one of Nathan’s posts and he tried to friend me. I asked him who he was (because I forgot that he was one of the people’s who’s post I liked) and he told me that he thought I lived in his part of the world due to the context of the post he shared (the one that I liked). And then, me being me, was like, hey why not. I accepted the friend request and soon after we had our first video call.

My first impression of Nathan from 2019 is that he’s a multi talented artist who does graphics, illustrations and paintings, and is a musician. Extremely well read and it showed in the way he spoke. And honestly, I left that first conversation lowkey intimidated by how cool he was.

In this conversation, we touch on topics such as…