First Generation Burden

Bashan Aquart is the Executive Creative Director of AKA, an entertainment agency in New York City and one half of the Director duo Jams & Bash. Notably, one of their clients this year was The Band’s Visit, which won the 2018 Tony Award of for Best Musical. We talk about his upbringing in Newark, New Jersey with a Jamaican and Southern background. We also discuss how his family’s professional music careers affected his youth get into the importance of understanding culture and storytelling and how that was engrained in him in his early days at SpotCo. We also grade the Space Force logos (they’re not good).

Ro the Show is a fighter, trainer, and an IBJJF Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Pan American Champion and World Champion. We talk about his upbringing in the Philippines, his first memories of arriving in New York as a child, how he started fighting, and what it means to fight. We also discuss his core values, and how he dug himself out of personal lows to become the success that he is today.

Kelly Shami is an artist and jewelry designer based in New York City, and is currently the Creative Producer at Parkwood Entertainment. We talk about growing up in New Jersey with roots in Syria and Lebanon. Also we discuss her personal fashion, her start with Nylon Magazine, her collaborations with Pintrill and Nike, and her upcoming book on cocktails. We even get to discuss why the Yankees are the best sports team New York has to offer.

Andre Andreev is a director raised on action movies and pick-up soccer. In his native Bulgaria his mother managed a local movie theater while his father worked as a graphic designer. We discuss how he came to the United States, by way of Seattle, how he met his business partner Dan Covert and started Dress Code, and how their recent experience at the Tribeca Film Festival was with their short film about Milton Glaser "I HEART NY".

In the Season 3 opener, we talk to Ida Woldemichael, a Harlem based creative director with Everytown. The heart of her work is design for political activism, and branding. Her work spans from design with top-tier agencies to notable non-profit organizations including: Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Clinton Foundation, Hillary for America, NYC Votes, and USAID. We talk about her family's origins in Eritrea, her experience working on the Hillary campaign and the disappointment of election night, and the role of multiculturalism in commercial design.

Alexandra Beener is a producer living and working in New York City. She was born in Seoul, Korea and was adopted into a non-Korean family as a baby. We talk about the complexities of foreign adoption, her identity issues involving race at a young age, and the what it means to be a minority even in your own family.

Joe Carolino an Art Director and Designer at Nike in Oregon. He grew up in a Vietnamese household in Washington's section 8 housing and only realized his true Filipino parentage as an adult at 22. We talk about how he joined a gang at nine years old, found love in graphic design, and what the discovery of his biological father's history as a drug dealer in the 80's meant to him and his family. Also, we discuss about his latest project called FlyBox which is based in his love of 90's Basketball. It sounds intense, but we have a really fun time.

Zipeng Zhu is an art director, designer, illustrator, animator and Young Guns winner living in New York City. We talk about his upbringing in China, where he grew up speaking Cantonese and Mandarin, while learning English in a Chinese boarding school. We discuss his journey to the United States to study at SVA, his first professional experiences at Sagmeister & Walsh, and the challenges of being an immigrant business owner in the United States. And then we end on Justin Bieber's dick, firrealz.

Christine Sienicki is a dancer, model, and actress who has been a member of the legendary Radio City Rockettes since she was 18 years old. We talk about her upbringing (being of Filipino, Czech and Polish descent), her first big gig performing at the Super Bowl, and the steps it took to join the Rockettes. Also, we joke around a lot and tell a couple of stories that we've never told before.

Khary Randolph is a comic book artist and creator from Boston, Massachusetts who found his way into comics' inner circle with a who's who's of properties under his belt including Spider-Man, X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hellboy, and Teen Titans. He's recently worked on "We Are Robin" for DC and co-created the character Mosaic for Marvel. We talk about his upbringing, his transition into the competitive field of comics, and the challenges of inclusion and diversity within the creative field.