On this episode of the podcast, we have Kristine Citarella. Kristine Citarella is the CEO and Founder of Spark OBM Agency, where she helps online coaches and entrepreneurs streamline their systems, scale with ease, and step fully into their CEO role without the tech headaches. With a background in corporate product management and over a decade of experience in marketing, operations, and project management, Kristine brings both big-picture strategy and roll-up-your-sleeves execution to the businesses she supports.

As a mom of two boys and a first-generation Filipino-American, Kristine knows firsthand the juggle of building a business while raising a family. She has built her agency around that same balance of structure and freedom. Her team of skilled professionals spans tech, social media, and design, allowing Spark OBM to provide comprehensive support for coaches who are ready to grow sustainably.

Through her done-for-you operations support, scalable launch systems, and VA placement services, Kristine has become the behind-the-scenes partner that personal development and relationship coaches rely on to launch group programs, simplify their backend, and actually enjoy their business again. When she’s not managing systems or mapping out scalable offers, you can find her chasing her toddlers in New Jersey, sneaking in a coffee run, or dreaming up her next business venture. You can connect with her on instagram at @spark_obm.

On this episode of the podcast, we have Justine Lee. Justine leads the development and management of all artist and organization-focused programs at Asian American Arts Alliance (A4), a nonprofit serving AAPI artists and cultural groups across disciplines.

Previously, she facilitated bridge-building conversations featured on NPR, CBS Evening News, and BBC. Her work with the AAPI community includes Hyphen Magazine, Chinese for Affirmative Action, CAAM, and the Self Evident podcast. Justine advises WE ACT, an environmental justice nonprofit.

She resides in Astoria, Queens with her husband Glen and daughter Olive.

If you are in the NYC area, we invite you to attend A4's September Town Hall on the topic of "Traditions" on September 25, 2025, as well as their event, Artists for Liberation: A Panel Discussion on Asian American Cultural Organizing for Change on October 8, 2025.

On this episode of the podcast, we have Jerome Viloria, who I met through the dance community. Our journeys have followed similar journeys of integrating our identity into our art and our careers serving the AAPI community, through the theme of art as a form of wellness.

Jerome is a queer, non-binary public health professional based in Astoria, NY by way of the Hudson Valley. With a BA in Biology and minor in Philippine Studies, they moved on to pursue an MPH in Community Health Sciences & Practice at NYU, answering a call to destigmatize sexual and mental health by means of community-level education.

As a mid-career level public health practitioner, they have amassed experience in sexual and mental health research; community programming; grant writing; academic advising; and teaching at the University-level. On the artistic side, they have been a musician and dancer for 17 years, covering strings (violin, viola, cello), percussion (piano, kulintang), indigenous dance (Maranao, Maguindanao, T’boli, Tausug, and Yakan), modern (hip-hop, jazz funk, waacking), and singing (tenor). They have the best of both worlds, helping  forge a path to something only they can create.

Jerome is currently pursuing their Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) at NYU, with a focus in nonprofit leadership, workforce development, and education. They seek to understand sources of health information, how they formulate our beliefs, and how community engagement can inspire positive health behavior change. They’re excited to take the next step in cultivating themselves as a nonprofit leader at Apicha CHC. Outside their professional realm, Jerome is an active musician, dancer, and gamer. You can find them performing with Kinding Sindaw during Queensboro Dance Festival 2025! Here is the  performance schedule.

And if you’re in the NYC area July 26th, we invite you to attend the 2025 NYC Summer Filipino Community Resource & Health Fair at APICHA. More info here!

On this episode of the podcast, we have Andrew Suseno, who I met through his workshop Brotherhood in Motion: Explore Masculinity through Movement & Reflection. It was a powerful space for Southeast Asian men to move through and discuss concepts of strength, manhood, resilience, and care using a framework designed by Moving Rasa. 

Andrew Suseno is a Chinese-Indonesian American movement artist and Doctor of Physical Therapy, living on Lenapehoking land. Certified in Feldenkrais and Laban Movement Analysis, Andrew is the founder of Moving Rasa, a pioneering initiative that blends indigenous Indonesian philosophy with somatics and improvisational movement to help people reclaim agency and build meaningful connections.

Andrew’s work centers the Southeast Asian diaspora, including an ongoing Virtual Healing Space for Southeast Asian men in partnership with ManForward, and Moving Rasa Weekend workshops with Kilusan Wellness supporting AAPI communities in the Bay Area. Moving Rasa is a proud recipient of a two-year American Rescue Plan grant, delivering culturally specific healing programs for AAPI survivors of sexual assault nationwide.

One participant reflected, “I mourned the colonization of my motherland through the caring touch of my body as land.”

Brotherhood in Motion will be offered again on Saturday, May 31st in Philadelphia, and Saturday, June 22nd in New York City 10am - 4pm. You can learn more about the workshop and sign up here!

On this episode of the podcast, we have Robespierre Dornagon, one of my best friends for over 15 years! Listen as we reflect on the importance of community and communication, and reminisce on lessons learned witnessing each other grow and evolve over the years. 

Robes is the Founder of DirectStory an advertising resource group created by advertisers FOR advertisers to connect. Network. And grow their careers. He is also an Associate Director of Paid Social at Hearts & Science (a media agency) where he leads and coaches teammates on how to excel in their advertising careers. 

If this conversation has piqued your interest to be in conversation with us, I encourage you to check out DirectStory, and join us for their first fireside chat that I’ll be a part of on the topic of “The Power of Connections and Networking.”

Please join us in this conversation that will be valuable for anyone across any team especially if you are in the Advertising or Non-Profit industries. Priyal and Paul are joining this conversation with years of professional experience to share with us how building a strong network has led them to so many opportunities.

When: Tuesday, April 8th @ 5:30pm ET

Where: Online via Google Meet

To join just sign up on there Google Form here: https://lnkd.in/eGXPAqQ8

This is a free event to attend, so please join - it is open for anyone to come, listen in, and ask questions to our speakers! We can't wait to be in conversation with you all!

On this episode of the podcast we have Isidora Torres, author of Working with Feelings, to discuss the topic of Dimensions of Care.

As a daughter of Filipino immigrants, Isidora greatly emphasizes understanding family dynamics and how they inform generational patterns. She has published work on her exploration as a Filipino-American within American culture and the impact of acculturation on identity. 

As a People Operations and Culture expert, Isidora has developed a genuine interest in the intersection of emotion and work, expanding on her findings about the cultural and emotional landscape of the workplace in her book, Working With Feelings: Caring For Your Employees Through Cultural Humility and Emotional Fluency. She previously held People Operations roles at various startups and advocates for developing soft skills. She holds a Masters Degree in Counseling from Northwestern University. 

Listen as we cover a range of topics from:

• What it’s like to show up as Filipinos in the Human Resource/People field
• Remembering our Babaylan history, and what it means to hold the healer/caretaker role
• How do we take care of ourselves as caretakers so we don’t burn out

If this episode has piqued your interest to be in conversation, I encourage you to bring your questions to the virtual office hours that we’re hosting on Monday, Feb 17th at 7pm ET. The event will be donation-based, and we’ll be giving the proceeds to Filipino families impacted by the LA fires.

More info on the event to be shared on our IG!

It’s about time! On this episode of Kapwa Konversations we welcome Tanvi Mittal, a coach and facilitator who holds reflective spaces, to join us to discuss all things related to time. You’ll hear us connect on:

• Our relationship with time growing up in our cultures 
• Where do you find flow vs. resistance?
• Time as a concept – is it something you own? Experience? Something else?

We think this is the perfect season to reflect on time as we begin to close out this year and make space for what’s next 

If you feel called to be in community with us, please join us for a  virtual workshop on December 16th from 7pm to 8:30pm EST. 

Tanvi and I will guide you through reflective and somatic practices to help you slow down, think spaciously, and share how you move with time in your own life.

You can expect to leave with reflective prompts, somatic practices, and insights from your own life that deviate from cultural scripts of "time."  

Here is the link to register.

We’d love to see you all there!

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all well. I'm excited to catch you up on life since we were last on the air in early 2022! In this into to season 2 of the podcast we'll go into:

• what I've been up to these past 2 years
• why bring back the podcast now?
• what am I learning/re-learning?
• what's next for this season of the podcast?
• what topics will we cover?

I look forward to being in kapwa (to see the self in the other) with you all again!

Hi Everyone. We are hopping on the mic to share a bonus episode of what we've been up to since season 1 ended, what the vision for Kapwa Yoga and the podcast looks like for 2022, and an invite to our first event of the year:

Kapwa Currentsea: Healing Our Money Stories

March 26th 3-5:30pm EST

It will be a virtual space where we offer a combination of journaling, conversation, embodiment, and yoga to release the hiya (shame) around our money stories and remember that our inner worth is priceless.

It would be an honor to be in kapwa with you all there!

In the meantime, we can be in conversation through IG and TikTok.

Christine is a professional actress onstage and onscreen. Most of her experience has been in the regional theatre and she has worked at Tony Award-winning companies such as the Public Theatre (in NYC), the Alley (in Houston), the Denver Center and Utah Shakespeare Festival. She recently Guest Starred on CBS’ Magnum P.I. as a 1986 Imelda Marcos!

She was a theatre kid in my teens and started out at the performing arts programs at Douglas MacArthur High School in San Antonio, TX and the School for Creative and Performing Arts at Chula Vista High School in San Diego. She went on to the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts 2-year program and received her BFA in Musical Theatre at the Boston Conservatory before going on to the graduate classical acting program at the University of Delaware Professional Theatre Training Program on a full scholarship.

Christine considers herself a “multipotentialite”, having explored careers in non-profit, education and religious environments. She studied at NYU's Steinhardt School of Education and got an MA in Educational Theatre (focusing on colleges and communities). She also did graduate work at Andover Newton Theological School in the Theology and the Arts program. 

Christine is also a singer and songwriter. She spent years directing music in various churches, singing in several bands and is often a featured vocalist at special events.  

Christine is a certified 200-hour registered yoga teacher through Yoga Alliance. She received her training through the Deep Yoga School of Healing Arts. She has taught yoga at EF International Language School, Ginseng Yoga, Vara Healing Arts, Generation Yoga and privately. Christine's teaching style is alignment-based with a strong meditation/philosophy-orientation. She will often chant during Savasana and her sequences have a playful quality. She always mixes a little sweat with lots of breath. Her classes are great for beginners and those that are seeking less intensity/low impact.

She is the founder of a Facebook forum to connect Filipino-heritage yoga devotees called "PYN-Pilipino Yoga Network". Christine also founded a collaborative called Kapwa Yoga Network, inspired by Philippine psychology and Filipino indigenous wisdom, who work throughout the diaspora to discover their roots as they develop as Filipino/a/x yoga instructors. 

Christine offers live music for yoga and has been a guest performer at several studios across the country. Her music has also been featured on "Yoga Chat with the Accidental Yogist" and "Sacred Mondays with Mystic Pete". Her 10 1/2 minute song meditation, "Halika Na/She" is available on iTunes.

She is also a conscious/new age writer and has been published in LA Yoga Magazine and Namaskar Magazine. You can connect with her through her website, IMDB, Facebook, or Instagram. If you are interested in coaching or consultation, you can contact her via email at [email protected].

If you feel called to connect further, you can follow us on Instagram at @kapwa.yoga. We also just recently joined Clubhouse and you can connect with us there @kapwakonvos. This podcast is a part of Kapwa Yoga, a movement and mindfulness practice that combines my background in yoga, dance and organizational psychology. You can find out more about our services here. Thank you, Maraming Salamat, and catch you on the next conversation!