Feisworld Podcast

Chris is the author of the book called Balls: It takes some to get some, because "Changing your gender from female to male takes balls. And if you’re gonna do it in front of 500 coworkers at the largest ad agency in Boston, you better have a pretty big set!"

Prior to focusing on Balls as a freelance writer, Chris was the EVP Group Creative Director at Arnold Worldwide - this is the company I've been working for for the past 2 years. 

Chris' transition from female to male took years and it was a part of his memory that is very painful to look back on. Chris made a decision to step out of his comfort zone and tell his story, a success story that other transgender people, their parents, families, friends, and everyone else can relate to, and to understand what it means to us, what it means to be human.

• It's been 20 years, why coming out now? 
• FAQ - what's OK or ask, and what's not to a transgender person
• Family dynamics and how Chris revealed his story to his nieces 
• Chris' take on Ben Carson's "Bathroom Bill for Transgender People"
• "I'm a storyteller, not an activist."
• The impact Chris had on others through writing and speaking 
• What transgender people can do to help others

Show notes, tools and resources: https://www.feisworld.com/blog/krista-tippett?rq=Krista

Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author. This is a rare interview where Krista was the guest, and I was the host. Many of Krista' fans (myself included) wanted an opportunity to hear directly from Krista. How did she pursue the path of creating On Being? What are her hopes and dreams for the show (a Top 50 iTunes podcast)? Where did Krista come from and what inspired her to do what she does today?

In 2014, Krista received the National Humanities Medal at the White House from President Obama for “thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence, on the air and in print."

I first discovered Krista Tippett on National Public Radio and was immediately drawn to the sound of her voice and the structure she brings to a topic. She discussed and probed existential questions. She was spiritually bold.

我的嘉宾与众不同，因为她是我的妈妈！很多人问我这一辈子给我启发最多的人是谁：妈妈！毫无疑问。今天，我把她的智慧和故事分享给大家。

妈妈是大画家，没错。但是我们的话题完全没有停留在她过去的辉煌之中。“人一定是要向前走的。” 退休之后的她，作出了一个常人难以想象的决定－妈妈要挑战自我，创作一生中规模和难度最大的120副佳作：中国历代皇后。

在这一集的播客里面，你会听到的话题包括：

希望了解李湘皇后绘画的进展，请加入她的Facebook. 你也可以拜访她的门户网站。我正在为她制作一个新的，以皇后题材为主的网站。请加入我的电邮新闻，或是直接和我联系: feisworld(at)gmail(dot)com

关于李湘：

李湘在北京故宫博物院工作了 40 年。由于她有深厚的西方画与中国画的基础，在中国著名艺术大师的传授下，她成为了故宫主临摹室的书画临摹和修复专家。80 年代中，李湘把传统艺术深入研究后加以发挥而首创了中国历史上第一套完整的红楼梦人物，赢得了国际社会的关注和广泛好评。李湘最有代表性的艺术收藏品之一：“红楼梦”的 413 位人物图将在中国海南一个全新概念的文化公园中展示。各大媒体撰写了关于她的文章和书籍。李湘也很荣幸的在国内外开办了个人画展，包括美国，西班牙，新加坡，泰国，日本，和韩国。

李湘的艺术博学早已获得了中国书画界的高度认可和尊重，其中包括著名画家书法家, 启功, 范增，董寿平，周汝昌，王蒙，周策纵等及末代皇帝的弟弟溥杰。溥杰称她为“我们这个时代最非凡的艺术家之一”。在过去的 20 年里，李湘在中国知名的拍卖行担任艺术总监，专业画家和鉴赏家。同时，她对于中国美术史的全面认识也被一位知名的国际电影导演看重，希望与李湘再次合作制作一个巨型中国历史题材的影片。当李湘来到波士顿后已被邀请在纽约大都会艺术博物馆，波士顿美术馆，密歇根大学艺术馆担任艺术顾问。这些博物馆的中国馆馆长认为：李湘精通古代和现代中国绘画，一定会对波士顿以及美国的艺术事业有积极的影响和卓越的贡献。

李湘希望能够把中国古代绘画技法传授给新一代的艺术家。教学初衷是结合古代与现代中国绘画技巧，国画与西画的原理和应用。作为一位艺术知识份子，李湘希望能够继续她这一辈子最热衷的艺术创作和教育事业。

First episode recorded in Chinese! 

Target audience: Mandarin speakers, intermediate to advance Mandarin language students. :)

Email me at [email protected] if you want an English translation, free of charge.

我今天的嘉宾是曾晓露（Pam Chang），一个超过了20年的朋友。

曾晓露来自艺术世家。爸爸是中国数一数二的艺术鉴定师。晓露在澳门长大，我们11岁的时候第一次见面：她的3个小妹妹，每一个都把她看成女英雄，拉着她的手不放。一个拉不到的就放声大哭。

15岁那年，晓露住在我北京的家一个夏天，我们那时的经历我至今不忘：一起学习英文，吃麦当劳，买衣服，录制自己的音乐（中英文都有！）。我爸爸还帮我们制作的CD的封面。

高中2年级以后我就去了美国读书，但是和晓露的联系没有间断。2010年的7月，我们两个人头脑一热，决定一起去欧洲旅行。两个星期的时间我们廉价周游了10个国家，12个城市。记忆深刻。我们经常好几天睡不到几个小时，吃的东西也非常勉强。因为我们两个一起，决定任何困难都可以度过。

最惊险的我们在罗马的时候，遇到了当地的黑手党（一个面相不善的餐厅小生）。我去洗手间的时候晓露以为我被保驾，一个人坐在外面的她提心吊胆。我出来的时候晓露深深叹了一口气。

没有想到的是欧洲之行的后面两年，晓露的生活有了很大的改变。她继续去世界各地旅游，经常一个人。在我们的播客上，她第一次告诉我她当时的想法和迷失的感觉。

去年这一年，晓露没有选择安逸的生活，而是置身一人来到了法国巴黎。这一回不是旅行，而是工作。她的这一抉择让我们很多人都很惊讶。一个人在异国他乡，一个非英语的国度，一个30岁的女性，怎么可能适应呢？我甚至问了我自己同样的问题－我自以为是个探险家，但是我也许也会感动非常害怕。

晓露说当她接到巴黎工作的邀请时，她感觉自己的经历全都联系在一起。“我是一个整体，而不是零碎的。学过的东西都应用到了。” 

在这一个小时的时间里，晓露用透明的语言和我们讲述她在巴黎第一个月的经历。更重要的是，她作为一个女性的自我挑战。一句话：选择自己的人生真好。

我希望我们的谈话可以产生共鸣。

Joining me on the Feisworld Podcast today is Jordan Clayton, an SVP of UX (User Experience) at Arnold Worldwide.

UX has become increasingly popular over the years across all the industries (technology, marketing, medicine and beyond), but most schools still haven’t figured out a systematic and effective way to help students learn more and be properly trained on UX. As a result, many young, ambitious, creative souls find it challenging to find a UX position they qualify for.

This podcast isn’t a your crash course to UX, but a lesson with deep insights to how a UX designer thinks, what he looks for in hiring, what prototyping is. Jordan offers his point of view, lessons learned and interplays through his unique career path.

Jordan also argues that UX isn't just about making things useful and usable, but more fun, compelling, inspiring and more emotionally engaging as well.

Beyond UX, Jordan is known as a well-dressed charismatic leader in the office. How does he achieve this kind of credibility? The answers live in his cross-disciplinary vision to design, fashion and music. And Jordan appreciates small things life, every day.

I hope you enjoy this conversation and thank you so much for choosing to spend your time with us. I feel very privileged to be able to do this.

To learn more about Jordan, connect with him on LinkedIn. He admits that he's most actively on Twitter (@jordan001).

Show Notes (Time is Approximate):

• How long have you been here [at Arnold] and what exactly is it that you do here? [5:00]
• What are some of the things you were doing early on in your career that everybody else around you wasn’t? (counterintuitive learnings) [10:00]
• Most people struggle with presentation skills. How do you prepare yourself for a client presentation? How did you learn in school and on the job? [12:30]
• What do you look for in a new hire? [17:30]
• What are some of the things that you want people to know about you at Arnold, but they don’t yet? [20:00]
• What are some of the off-brand, off-work styles that you like? [23:30]
• What do you think is the latest thing that you’ve learned? [26:00]
• What do you do in the first half an hour or sixty minutes of your day? [28:00]
• Close the day with good feelings, thoughts, and set the tone for the next day. [30:30]
• How do you go about meditation, what's your approach? [32:30]
• One of the struggles I have is healthy eating, and I’m looking for tips from people who seem like they live healthy lifestyles [35:00]
• Where did you go for your last vacation - private island?! Once in a lifetime experience [37:30]
• Family influence - photography, music, entrepreneurship [40:30]
• What does living and fulfilling life mean to you? [45:30]
• What is it that you love? What sparkles joy into you? [49:00]

Andrew and Kevin Atherton are living my childhood dreams. I had to put them on this podcast.

Did you dream about flying as a child? I did, nearly every single day. I loved reading comic books and imagined myself as a superhero. I often dressed like one as soon as I came home from school.

Recently, my mom and I went to see our first Cirque du Soleil show ever in Boston. The show was called Varekai. While every single act was extraordinary, there was one particular segment that left both of us perpetually in awe.  Two very similar looking men flew across the entire stadium over the heads of thousands of audience, then balancing on their heads and hands 50+ ft in the air. They formations looked like paintings, statues and art we had not seen before.  They are superheroes to me.

As soon as I returned from show, I looked up "Varekai aerialists straps" and found Andrew and Kevin Atherton, the identical twins, the original performers and creators behind Varekai duo-straps. I emailed them right away without expecting a response. To my surprise, they replied within 24 hours with such enthusiasm to join me on Feisworld.

To prep for my interview, I sourced questions from Facebook and Twitter to add to my list. During our conversation, I discovered that Andrew and Kevin are amazing storytellers who not only answered all the questions, but also dove deep into how they engage each other on stage as well as their intimate connections with the audience.  "We bring them on stage with us!"

Andrew and Kevin were born and raised in the UK. They were professional gymnasts for 17 years before transitioning to aerialists at Cirque du Soleil for 16 years so far with no sign of slowing down. In fact, they both recently decided to create a new show and move to New York City in 2016. (They will be announcing details and sharing behind-the-scenes updates with you via the News section of their brand new website - a collaboration between Athertons and Feisworld!)

To learn more about Andrew and Kevin, please visit their new website, Facebook, Instagram (@andiatherton and @kevin.atherton).

Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave your comment below and share the podcast with your family and friends. You can also email me here. Your support will keep me on track and bring many other sung and unsung heroes to this podcast.

iTunes feed and subscription (and leave us a review!)
Non-iTunes RSS feed

Show Notes (Time is Approximate):

In the past year or so, I find myself increasingly attached to audiobooks. One of the books not only   spoke to me emotionally but also offered tactics I am able to apply daily, especially during the preparation and making of feisworld podcast.

Dorie Clark is the author of this book, one of my new favorites, called Stand Out. There's a very important and useful idea not found in her book that you will hear in this podcast conversation.  

Many people jumping into the entrepreneurial world has something different about them. Many people in Silicon Valley (investors, technologists, customers) have a mental image of what a successful startup entrepreneur looks like (i.e. Mark Zuckerberg). If you don't look like that, they may pass you over because you don't fit what they are looking for. Rather than sticking on that point, Dorie explains that if you continue to work hard and push through that early stage, to the point where customers, and later the press have noticed the results you created, you will find that you do stand out. People will have an easier time remembering your face, your name and your company because you don't look like everyone else.

Unlike seeking advice from the world's top 1% who has established a system that worked for them, 10, 20, or even 30 years ago, Dorie painted a path that's recent and relevant to people like us who want to stand out, build a personal brand and a legacy that matters in today's crowded marketplace filled with with influencers, products and information.

How can you get started? Dorie made it easy by offering you this Free Stand Out Self Assessment to do exactly that.

To understand how Dories went from where she was to where she is today,  we discussed the turning-point question. In other words, I want to know about the event or person Dorie had experienced that doubled or tripled her speed to success. Find out what a bike sale on Craigslist has to do with this [35:00].

Luck can be essential in many situations, but luck alone isn't enough. When the right opportunity presents itself, are you ready? If not, Dorie's message via this podcast and tactics offered in her book will help you get ready because she believes that "Fortune favors the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur

To learn more about Dorie, please visit her blog  http://dorieclark.com, and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Show Notes (Times are approximate):

Notable Q

I interviewed Chris Yen, an actress and entrepreneur from a proud lineage of Wushu and Tai Chi masters. Her mom, Bow Sim Mark, is one of the premier Chinese martial arts practitioners. Her brother, Donnie Yen, is currently the #1 Kung Fu action star in Hong Kong whose latest film Ip Man 3 will be released in 2016.

Chris recently launched a fashion brand (June 2015) called ChrisYenFusion featuring athletic inspired casual wear. Chris had never worked as a fashion designer, yet she was determined to be an entrepreneur with the support of family and friends. She recalls the experience as an 8-month boot camp.

I have always been fascinated by women who are unmistakably curious and resilient. Chris is certainly one of them.

"We should always stay fluid and let our minds be reshaped. You can equip and empower yourself with knowledge, which is really the thing that nobody can take away from you." - Chris Yen

Together in this episode, we explored Chris' origins and traveled to the time when she was growing up in Boston and trained Wushu with her mom (Bow Sim Mark) every day. We talked why she made the decision to create a fashion line, in an industry that has always been crowded and competitive. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing a colleague, Renee Herendeen from Arnold Worldwide, on the feisworld podcast. Renee and I work on several of projects together.  We share similar beliefs when it comes to life at work and outside of work.

One morning, Renee said to Carrie (my coworker) and me: "You two should come to my Zumba class on Tuesdays."

"Did you say Z.U.M.B.A?"

Though I teach Taekwondo (a form of Korean martial arts) to adults and children at my dojang once in a while, instructing a crowd of people you've never met to learn how to dance seemed out of my reach. For those of you who aren't familiar with Zumba, it is an aerobic program inspired by a variety of Latin dance movements performed to upbeat, sassy music. It is a fun, relaxing and sweat-dripping workout that engraves a permanent smile on my face.

Some of the dots began to connect for me.  For months I had known Renee, I often wondered why she handles stressful situations with  ease, why she doesn't loses her temper, why she listens (while many other don't). etc. etc. More importantly, the way she carries herself isn't just surface-level, but something much more profound.

I couldn't wait to ask Renee about her "secret origin" stories. What made her into who she is today? What was it like to pursue a life in dancing while her peers followed a traditional path?  What's the difference between a Day in the Life of a Dancer vs. Marketing Director? 

This 40-min podcast is to answer these questions and much more. Such as Renee's experience in taking a Stress Management Course at Mass General Hospital, and her decision in teaching Zumba to women in homeless shelters.

If you are (or if you know someone who is)  fresh out of school, in career transition, I hope you find this episode resonating and insightful. Please share your comments and I look forward to hearing from you.

To learn more about Renee and her Zumba classes, please follow her on Facebook. You can also sign up for her Zumba lessons taught at O'Malley Tae Kwon Do Center this summer (starting Sunday, 6/28)

Show Notes:

•  When did you get started with dancing? [1:45]
•  What are some of the most memorable experiences you’ve had? [3:45]
•  What was a day in the life of a dancer in NYC? [5:45]
• So, In addition to Zumba, what do you do to keep your creative engine working? [10:00]
• What is something that you don’t carry on the surface of yourself? [13:00 ]
•  What are some of the counterintuitive things they’ve taught you at MGH? [15:15]
•  I want to hear about your meditation routine (can include link to youtube in comments) [21:15]
• What is a day in the life of a marketing director at Arnold [23:00]
• What was it like teaching Zumba to homeless people? [32:30]