In Homecoming’s Season 2 finale, Arun Saigal, the Cofounder and CEO of Thunkable, a Y Combinator-backed startup that allows anyone to build their own mobile apps without any coding experience, joins me on the podcast! Previously, he’s held a variety of leading roles at tech companies including Quizlet (where he built and launched the first version of the Quizlet Android app), Khan Academy, Aspiring Minds, and Google. He was also named to Forbes 30 under 30 in consumer technology. And if that isn’t cool enough, Arun conducts orchestras like the San Francisco Civic Symphony, plays viola and mridangam (a South Indian classical drum), and beatboxes in several San Francisco-based music groups.

In this episode, Arun talks about his upbringing in Boston, his time at Phillips Academy and MIT, Thunkable and how it got started, the future of the no-code movement, his music, and important lessons about starting a company and staying optimistic that he’d want to pass on to the listeners.

Also listen to the very end of the episode for my brief Season 2 recap!

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

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Thunkable’s website: https://thunkable.com/

Follow Thunkable on social media: https://twitter.com/thunkable, https://www.instagram.com/thunkable/, https://www.youtube.com/thunkable, https://www.facebook.com/thunkable/, https://www.linkedin.com/company/thunkable/

Connect with Arun: https://twitter.com/aksaigal?lang=en, https://www.linkedin.com/in/aksaigal/, https://www.youtube.com/user/aksaigal

San Francisco Civic Symphony website: https://www.sfcivicmusic.org/

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Asian American Community and Justice Organizations: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CGLrII9ycdPPcavGkatzGpoqGsdwJm46AgDXVWla3H8/edit

GoFundMe links for the victims of the Atlanta shooting: https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/atlanta-area-spa-shootings-fundraisers

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Thank you to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!

In part 2 of my conversation with Sydney Ji (go listen to part 1 from last week if you haven’t yet!), hear them talk about their orientation to and from whiteness and their Asian identity, invisible disabilities, intersectionality, and the work they hope to do in the future.

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

Season 2 of Homecoming is wrapping up next week! Thank you all for listening and for your support!

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Follow Sydney: https://www.facebook.com/sydney.y.ji, https://www.instagram.com/kumoshii/

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Asian American Community and Justice Organizations to donate to/volunteer at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CGLrII9ycdPPcavGkatzGpoqGsdwJm46AgDXVWla3H8/edit

GoFundMe links for the victims of the Atlanta shooting: https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/atlanta-area-spa-shootings-fundraisers

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Thank you to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!

In part 1 of my conversation with Sydney Ji, UC Berkeley ‘17 and an international customer service assistant at the Berkeley International Office, listen to them talk about their experiences grappling with their racial identity and class privilege as they were growing up in Cupertino, CA and transitioning to UC Berkeley.

*CW: Sydney talks about their mental health during their time growing up in a pretty toxic environment and discusses suicide.

Next week, in part 2, Sydney will talk more about their time at Berkeley, invisible disabilities, their work at the international students’ office, and more!

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

Season 2 of Homecoming is wrapping up at the end of this month! After this episode, there are just two more left...and then on to Season 3! :) Thank you all for listening and for your support!

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Follow Sydney: https://www.facebook.com/sydney.y.ji, https://www.instagram.com/kumoshii/

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Thank you to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!

In this episode, Yale University senior Mariko Rooks joins me on the podcast! Mariko is majoring in the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and is a dual Master of Public Health candidate at the Yale School of Public Health in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. She is involved with a number of organizations like USA Water Polo, the Japanese American Citizens League, and Changing Womxn. Today, she talks about her Black, Japanese American, and Asian American identities; her research and thesis work in public health; her work in all of the organizations that I mentioned above; and...BTS??? Mariko also reads one of her amazing poems at the end of the episode!

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

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Follow Mariko: https://www.instagram.com/marikorooks/

Mariko’s recent article about BTS: https://www.itsyozine.com/posts/bts-story?fbclid=IwAR003OEb-895VYyqMb0cEK_qliI8oChGXtX-vbaBFY2mn972XTLB0l1fu7k

Her recent poem for The Young Buddhist Editorial: https://www.youngbuddhisteditorial.com/articles/squirrels-and-foxes?fbclid=IwAR1bsdc3LLzWoB7_axcH3sbGJY7pO1Opoa9lO-jCmisQIVcFJWXSKdU3VIE

Mei Chen’s article on Mariko in The Yale Symposia: https://www.yalesymposia.com/history-lp/2020/5/22/black-yonsei-a-superheroine-origin-story

USA Water Polo Racial Equity & Reform Task Force: https://usawaterpolo.org/news/2020/7/16/general-usa-water-polo-announces-appointments-to-racial-equity-reform-task-force.aspx

Japanese Americans Citizens League: https://jacl.org/

Changing Womxn Collective: https://changingwomxncollective.org/index

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Thank you to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!

Today, Miss Washington Teen USA 2020 Marianne Bautista joins me on the podcast! Marianne talks about her experiences as an Asian American/Filipina American in the pageant world, what she’s been up to during her reign as Miss Washington Teen USA, racial + body type + class diversity within pageantry, what she thinks the future holds for pageants, and so much more!

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

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Follow Marianne: https://www.instagram.com/mariannebautistaa

Follow Miss Washington Teen USA: https://www.instagram.com/misswateenusa

Learn more about Miss Washington USA/Miss Washington Teen USA: https://www.misswashingtonusa.com/

History of pageants resources I referenced in the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ySl20yfzrbue9hLJpCSIAqM6kEzrfhVrTny-sNRmhWQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Thank you to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!

This Saturday, I welcome K.J. Roelke, a fellow member of the Springfield, Missouri community and cohost of the Korean adoptee podcast “The Janchi Show”! K.J. talks about his identity as a Korean adoptee, Asian American, and disabled person; his journey of learning about what being Korean American and Asian American means to him; how his faith and racial identity intersect; and, of course, his podcast! K.J. and I also bond over being Asian Americans in the majority-white Springfield, Missouri. (P.S. One of the funniest moments from the episode is at 32:14...hear K.J. make the most artistic metaphor of all time.)

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

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KJ’s website (contains links to his social media, SoundCloud, and YouTube): https://kj.roelke.info/about/

Please go support “The Janchi Show”! The hosts K.J., Nathan Nowack, and Patrick Armstrong (3 Korean American adoptees) interview other adult adoptees, eat/drink Korean cuisine, and celebrate everyone's unique identities! Listen to and learn more about “The Janchi Show” here: https://janchishow.com/

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Thank you to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!

Thailand has a long history of political unrest and protest, but a new wave began in February 2020 after a popular opposition political party was ordered to dissolve. The growing pro-democracy movement has been calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a military chief who seized power in a 2014 coup and was later appointed after controversial elections in 2019. Protestors are calling for amendments to the constitution, a new election, curbs on the monarchy and the king’s powers, and an end to the harassment of activists and state/monarchy critics. So throughout 2020, hundreds of thousands of protestors gathered on the streets and college campuses all over Bangkok, hundreds have been arrested, and dozens have been injured from things like water cannons and tear gas that the police have used.

In today’s episode, Anna Naiyapatana, a senior at Georgetown University from Bangkok, Thailand, talks about reconciling with her American and Thai identities, the history of the pro-democracy movement and the 2020 protests, her social media/news group เฟมินิสต์หน่อย (@feministnhoi), conversations about feminism and gender equality happening within the movement, and her unique perspectives as a Thai student studying in the U.S..

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

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เฟมินิสต์หน่อย (@feministnhoi) Twitter and Facebook: https://twitter.com/feministnhoi?lang=en, https://www.facebook.com/feministnhoi

Resources on the history of Thailand’s pro-democracy movement and protests: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uLhWf1TRwXqkW_aqLRXjJlB6VEEk4Hg3-W-r27gthy0/edit?usp=sharing

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Thank you to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!

In this Saturday’s episode, I interview David Moriya and Emi Lea Kamemoto, the co-founders of the organization Strong Asian Lead, a grassroots media and entertainment company that provides educational and career resources to creatives of the Asian diaspora and is redefining how the entertainment industry tells Asian American stories. David is a fifth-generation Japanese American activist, photographer, screenwriter, and historian, and Emi is a mixed race, first-generation Japanese and American activist, community organizer, and DEI strategist. The two of them share their journeys of better understanding their Japanese and Asian American identities, how they got started in media, the kind of community they’re building through Strong Asian Lead, and other issues that have to do with diversity and Asian voices in Hollywood.

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

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Strong Asian Lead website: https://strongasianlead.com

Strong Asian Lead Instagram and Twitter: https://twitter.com/strongasianlead, https://www.instagram.com/strongasianlead_/

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Thank you to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!

John Hoang, a sophomore at Earlham College originally from New Mexico, is this week’s guest on Homecoming! He shares his story of how and why he is so interested in politics, why he’s so adamant about getting young people out there involved in political action and civic engagement, and how his LGBTQ identity inspires him and motivates him to do so, as well.

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

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Thanks to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!

Because the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us, and there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding vaccine distribution, I wanted to bring an expert—someone who has been directly involved in national and global efforts to combat COVID-19—onto the podcast. That is why, in this episode, I am joined by Dr. Saad Omer, the Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, a professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, and the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. He has served on several advisory panels including the U.S. National Vaccine Advisory Committee and the World Health Organization Expert Advisory Group for Healthcare Worker Vaccination. And more recently, he has been a critical member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicines’ Committee on equitable allocation of vaccine for the novel coronavirus and the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) Working Group on COVID-19 Vaccines, both of which have assisted the CDC and the NIH in devising their COVID-19 vaccine allocation system.

Dr. Omer will be answering some questions about COVID-19 in the U.S. and around the world, how he and others devised “equitable” vaccine allocation systems, the new strain of the virus, and how all of us will be impacted by the pandemic years down the road.

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Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content!

You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod.

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Learn more about Dr. Omer’s work: https://www.saadomer.org

Follow Dr. Omer on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/SaadOmer3

NASEM Framework for Equitable Allocation of the COVID-19 Vaccine: https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/a-framework-for-equitable-allocation-of-vaccine-for-the-novel-coronavirus

WHO SAGE Prioritization Roadmap for COVID-19 Vaccine: https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/who-sage-roadmap-for-prioritizing-uses-of-covid-19-vaccines-in-the-context-of-limited-supply

Dr. Omer’s interview with Senator Chris Murphy on “What You Need to Know About the COVID-19 Vaccine”: https://www.facebook.com/senchrismurphy/videos/1739485072886858

Resources I compiled for this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HaYh48vuMLubVn_jW468IRaWOtu_Y6rJQ6YBHrcVvYQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Thanks to mariokhol and Pixabay for the music!