First Generasian

How do you feel comfortable offering opinions in a free form, unplanned environment? How do you trust that what you’re thinking is valid?

I talk about this with a good friend of mine, Emily Chen, who moved to New York from the southern part of China when she was 14. She had to adapt not only to an entirely new country and language, but also to a culture that is heavily biased towards being vocal (sometimes even at the expense of public good, but that’s a separate topic).

We reflect on how our backgrounds may have contributed to the discomfort, how we’ve learned to trust in the inherent value of our ideas, and how to deliver them effectively and with authenticity.

💭 POCKETS OF THOUGHT 💭

“For lots of immigrants, their lives are so preoccupied with other burdens, like survival, and how do you have enough money to pay for rent, to support your children? When your mind is so preoccupied with just the necessities of life, having an opinion on things that are not immediately relevant to you is such a privilege." -Emily Chen

“My parents, like many immigrants who are not very educated, are very practical people. To them, thinking is not very practical.. how would my thoughts change anything? So to them, they want to focus on what’s practical, and to them, it’s what’s actionable.” -Emily Chen

Follow on Instagram: @firstgenerasianpod

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00:00 - Welcome! Intro'ing Emily

01:45 - 5:40 Sharing opinions vs. sharing answers, prepping talking points ahead of time, open discussion as the default mode in the American education system

5:40 - 12:10 Not getting the chance to practice formulating/sharing opinions growing up, immigrant parents & their tendency to be practical

12:10 - 15:00 Practicing at work, focusing on the message and not on the self

15:00 - 18:07 The flip side of being humble, retraining your mindset

18:07 - 23:20 - Sharing only when ideas are "original", caring about perception and being liked

23:00 - 35:45 - Delivering ideas effectively

35:45 - Things you can't control and learning to walk away

In episode 3, I chat with Andy C. Ng, a child of modest immigrant parents who went on to accomplish a lot for himself—NYU, Google, Harvard—just to paint a picture.

But instead of focusing on this accomplishments, we talk instead about how coming from a low-income background makes opportunities feel precious and fragile, how it creates the habit of overextending ourselves, and the tendency to always opt-in.

We discuss how we try to explain our jobs to our parents (A+ for effort?), imposter syndrome, learning to slowww down, and embracing, openly, that we’re all just making sh*t up as we go.

💭 POCKETS OF THOUGHT 💭

“I think a lot of children of immigrants have this experience.. I’m living a life that my parents will never really understand, but it’s also the life that would not be possible without all of their work. It creates a lot of dissonance.” -Andy C. Ng

“We’re just trying to take in the information that we’re presented with at the time, maybe meet it with a little bit of wisdom that we’ve built up, but otherwise we’re just trying our best.” -Andy C. Ng

Follow on Instagram: @firstgenerasianpod

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00:00 - Welcome!

01:35 - Intro'ing Andy

04:47 - Difficulty explaining life and career choices to immigrant parents and the dissonance it creates

11:00 - Zigzagging & processing things in real time

13:50 - Opportunities feeling precious, maximizing experiences & doing too much

16:20 - Figuring things out at Google & deciding to go to grad school

20:40 - We're all just making sh*t up

23:00 - Guarding your time

31:44 - Class differences, feeling like an imposter, and finding people in your corner

42:15 - Tell your story, but to those who can hold it

48:20 - Words to younger self: slow down

What does it mean when someone calls you a “banana”? How is your “home self” different from the “outside self” that you present to the world? How has your connection with your roots changed over time, from high school to now, as a working adult?

We explore all of these topics in episode 2 with Tina Lee (tg-lee.com), a talented Australian product designer, photographer, and entrepreneur who’s currently based in Hong Kong. She’s the creator of "No More Ugly," a beautifully crafted line of leather camera bags that aims to rid the world of ugly design (currently sold out, but ugh, it’s perfection).

I loved reflecting on these questions with Tina and all the fun memories that surfaced from the archives — weekends at Chinese school, bingeing TV shows with grandparents, rewinding VHS tapes — and hope some of our thoughts and memories resonate with you. 

Follow on Instagram: @firstgenerasianpod

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00:00 - Welcome! 

00:21 - Intro'ing Tina, moving between AU & HK

05:40 - What's a "banana" and whether we identify with the term

09:50 - Different high school experiences

16:14 - Home self vs. outside self, hiding or rejecting certain parts of you, and the journey to being comfortable with who you are

25:50 - Binge watching Chinese dramas, renting VHS tapes from Chinatown, and fancy VHS rewinders

27:20 - Chinese school

33:40 - Mindset changes during college/uni and finding comfort in diversity

37:35 - Discomfort and challenges when transitioning into the workforce, and learning the importance of diversity in experience

Anita is a really good friend of mine that I met in Hong Kong, and we casually chat about how her ambitions (and the pandemic) led her from her home in Toronto to working here in Asia right after college.

We talk about romanticizing our family’s homeland, language barriers while working at a Chinese Tech company, and how our immigrant parents feel about us living abroad (hint: not exactly stoked 😂).

Taking risks is hard, and even more so when those closest to you aren’t initially supportive. We talk about balance—staying true to ourselves while acknowledging and understanding where our parents are coming from.

Follow on Instagram: @firstgenerasianpod

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00:00 - Welcome!

01:20 - Intro'ing Anita & how we met

07:41 - Humble upbringings

10:10 - Why we moved & romanticizing our family's home country

17:30 - Interviewing for roles in Asia & Google translating at work

26:30 - Mom's reaction to us living abroad

32:35 - Immigrants parents, survival mode & centering identity around their kids

39:00 - Learning to balance

Hey there! Welcome to episode zero of First Generasian. I'm your host, Jenn, and in this intro episode, I'll share a bit about my background, how I ended up moving from my home in New York City to Hong Kong, and what I hope to share with you going forward on this pod. Thanks for listening!

Follow on Instagram: @firstgenerasianpod