Mike Lee is the co-founder and former CEO of MyFitnessPal, the world’s leading nutrition and fitness tracking app that helped millions of people transform their health. Mike grew up in upstate New York, studied economics at Princeton while playing Division I volleyball, and started his career in consulting before making the leap into Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom. After stints at startups and tech companies like Beyond.com and Handspring, Mike set out on his entrepreneurial journey, eventually building MyFitnessPal alongside his brother Albert. What started as a simple tool to help him get in shape for his wedding became a global phenomenon at one point used by over 200 million users, eventually acquired by Under Armour for $475 million.

In our conversation, Mike opens up about his unconventional path—from nearly going to medical school, to teaching himself to code again after years away, to bootstrapping MyFitnessPal with just four employees and no outside funding for eight years. He shares what it was like to work side by side with his brother, the challenges of scaling to 30 million users while running lean, and the surprising lessons from resisting VC money until 2013. We also talk about the decision to sell to Under Armour, his experiences navigating corporate life as an Asian American executive, and the deep fulfillment of hearing from users whose lives were changed by the app. This episode is a candid look at the grit, adaptability, and authenticity that powered Mike’s journey—plus what he’s learned about leadership, purpose, and staying true to yourself along the way.

Jane Wu — visionary director, martial arts enthusiast, and one of the creative forces behind the Emmy Award winning animated series Blue Eye Samurai from Netflix. Her credits read like a greatest hits of blockbuster movies: Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Mulan and more. She was the one responsible for choreographing the iconic Battle of New York final showdown scene in The Avengers. She also worked on some of my favorite television series like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. For two decades, she’s been the unsung architect behind some of the most memorable action sequences in film and animation — and now she’s stepped into the spotlight as a director bringing fierce, emotional storytelling to the screen.

In our conversation, Jane opens up about her journey from Taiwan to the San Gabriel Valley, growing up between cultures, and how that dual identity became her creative superpower. We talk about fighting for authenticity in Hollywood — from catching cultural missteps in Mulan to insisting that shoes come off inside a house in Blue Eye Samurai. She shares the moment she found her storytelling voice, why teaching is her secret superpower, and what it means to carry the torch for Asian American representation. We also dive into how she built resilience in a male-dominated industry, the role parents play in supporting creative dreams, and why her career was less a master plan and more a step-by-step stumble into greatness.

This is a conversation about craft, courage, and carving out a place where your voice can finally be heard — and Jane’s story will inspire anyone who’s ever been told to keep their head down and stay quiet. I can’t wait for you to hear our conversation.

Albert Cheng is one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. Albert runs Prime Video US & Global for Amazon and is responsible for critically acclaimed hit shows such as Fallout, Rings of Power, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and The Boys among others. Albert has made it in an industry where there are few Asian American executives in power, by rising through the ranks at Disney/ABC for close to 15 years.

Albert went from growing up in the sunshine of Honolulu, Hawaii to the freezing cold winters of Cambridge, Massachusetts when he attended MIT. He would go on to become an engineer at Boeing, but his heart was always in entertainment. He quit Boeing to join BCG and attended Harvard Business School where he co-led the Entertainment and Media Club with Hulu founder Jason Kilar.

After HBS, he returned to Los Angeles where his heart was and rejoined BCG before working at Fox. Ultimately, he would spend the next decade and a half at The Walt Disney Company leading the charge to modernize and digitize content and figure out how to monetize it. He was the perfect person for the COO job at Amazon Studios and now he's running all of Prime Video in the United States.

As one of the most prominent Asian American executives in Hollywood, Albert is also paving the way for representation both in front of and behind the camera.

Debby Soo grew up from humble beginnings as the only daughter of immigrants from Taiwan living in a two bedroom apartment in San Francisco with her parents, aunt and uncle, and her parents. She would go on to graduate from Stanford, even though her father had not graduated from college. Her dream was to one day become a CEO.

She started her career in investment banking and ended up in Hong Kong. She returned to the Bay Area to work on Google Maps, literally having teams drive around Africa and South America with a GPS or collecting paper maps.

After graduating from MIT Sloan School of Management with her MBA, she joined KAYAK where she went from a project manager to running APAC to becoming the Chief Commercial Officer. When the opportunity arose, she threw her hat in the ring to become CEO of OpenTable.

Her story is one of fierce resilience and determination. Nothing was going to stand in Debby's way, because she wouldn't let it. I can't wait for you to hear her stories and be as inspired as I was listening to them.

Most people don’t even know that an Asian American woman founded the clothing brand that most Americans have worn. And even fewer know her story. Jenny’s family fled communist China to Macau when she was a baby and she immigrated to San Francisco at the age of 9. She graduated from San Jose State with a home economics degree thinking she would become a teacher. She would end up working at Mervyns and become known as the best denim buyer in the country. The CEO of Gap. at the time, was retail icon Mickey Drexler. Drexler called Jenny out of the blue and wanted her to come to Gap Inc. because of her stellar reputation. He would eventually tap her to start a new value brand because of her impressive rise within the company. Old Navy was wildly successful and would go on to generate $8 billion annually and Jenny would become the President. All while raising THREE children.

Since that time, Jenny has gone on to become CEO of Charlotte Russe and serve on the board of directors for Kaiser Permanente, Levi Strauss & Co.., Affirm, Paper Source, Poshmark, Kendra Scott and Rothy's. As a grandmother, she thought she was done running companies, but Rothy's asked her to step in as CEO last year to turn the company around. Now on top of leading a company, she also has spearheaded a mentorship program from women leadership at Hyundai Motor Company (현대자동차).

Ken's story started in China before he immigrated as a little boy that grew up in Las Vegas. Like many new immigrants, his parents hustled and worked multiple jobs at casinos and restaurants to make ends meet. Ken was entrepreneurial at an early age and started selling greeting cards as a kid. He would go on to college at Boston University, where he now sits on the Board of Trustees. After graduating he had a full-time job, while also selling computer parts out of his apartment. He would go on to open a few Internet cafes in Cambridge. It was clear that he was inspired by his parents resourcefulness and hustle.

He would go on to found Credit Karma in 2007 to bring transparency to an opaque industry of consumer credit reporting. 13 years later he would sell the company to Intuit for $8.1 billion and now serves over 130 million customers.

Ken's is a story of a decades long overnight success, driven by his passion and resilience. He shares about how even he struggled with imposter syndrome, even though he was wildly successful in the world's eyes. I can't wait to share our conversation with you all.

Deb Liu (Former CEO of Ancestry, author of "Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work", Board Director at Intuit, creator of Facebook Marketplaces and Facebook Pay, and co-founder of Women in Product) and Dave explore the significance of executive coaching, the impact of cultural identity on personal and professional growth, and the importance of soft skills in achieving success. Deb shares her experiences navigating challenges in her career, the pressures of societal expectations, and her approach to raising children in a competitive environment. The discussion emphasizes the need for resilience, self-discovery, and the subjective nature of success.

In this conversation, Deb Liu shares her insights on identity, resilience, and the importance of navigating corporate dynamics. She emphasizes the significance of soft skills in leadership, the impact of company culture on career trajectories, and the balance between family and career aspirations. Deb discusses the role of mentorship, the understanding of affinity bias, and the necessity of clarity in career progression. She reflects on her personal mission, the importance of continuous learning, and how failures can serve as stepping stones. Ultimately, Deb highlights the legacy one leaves behind and the impact of our actions on others.

Dave Lu, Silicon Valley tech veteran, startup founder, investor, activist, and Emmy Award-winning producer, is launching an all-new podcast, Hyphen Nation with Dave Lu. He will be talking to influential leaders in the Asian American community and beyond. His intimate conversations will dive into their journeys and explore how they got to where they are today, including all of the challenges and triumphs. The hope is that these episodes will be a form of mentorship and inspire others to write their own stories.