This is our second episode in a three-part series talking to Asian American moms who are faith and spiritual leaders in Oakland and the East Bay. In this episode, we talk to Erina (@erinakimeubanks), a second generation Korean American mom of Black and Korean kids. Erina is a co-pastor, with her husband, of Bethel Community Church (@bethelcommunitysl) in San Leandro. We learn about how Bethel was an aging congregation on the brink of closure when Erina and her husband were invited to be part of reviving the community. Erina talks to us about how copastoring models a move away from hierarchy to shared leadership, collaboration, and cocreation, how she infuses pastoral care with Korean American values of hospitality, and how to engage church communities in racial and social justice work by starting with the question of how to be a good neighbor.

Learn more about - and contribute - to the Shuumi Land Tax: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/shuumi-land-tax/

Thank you to New Hope Covenant Church in Oakland for sponsoring this episode as part of its True Home grant.

For our first episode of Season 2, we invited a friend of ours, Gala, who works at the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity. Gala shares about her experiences working at Interfaith, offers wisdom on pursuing a decolonized faith and humbly speaks about the challenges of integrating anti-racist practices into her personal and community life. We appreciate Gala's candor, humility, and reflective spirit and the reminder of how our favorite song can be nourishing to our spirit and bodies. For the resources that Gala mentions, check out the links added in these episode notes: 

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity:https://www.im4humanintegrity.org/

Coming Full Circle - The process of decolonization among post-1965 Filipino Americans Professor Leny Strobel: https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Full-Circle-Decolonization-Post-1965/dp/1522842373

SamaSama Cooperative: https://samasamacooperative.org/

In this Season One closer, Cheryl and Sarah take questions from you, our loyal listeners. 

We're branching out a bit geographically for this episode and talking to Diana, a multiracial Asian and white mom hailing from Hayward. Diana talks to us about her work as an academic librarian at Cal State East Bay (RIP CSU Hayward), how she got involved with SURJ, which organizes white people for racial justice, and what it's like being a multiracial woman in that space. We also heard about Diana's childhood in Dixon, California, about her identity as a yonsei (4th gen Japanese American), and the cultural breaks caused by internment. We appreciated hearing about how Diana lives with deep and thoughtful intentionality about cultivating connections with her Japanese American heritage and committing to an antiracist family life.  

To learn more about SURJ, visit https://www.surjbayarea.org/

And check out the delicious Japanese food at Sapporo in Hayward: https://www.sapporohayward.com/

"We're not people you would think would start a nonprofit."

In this episode, we talk to our friend Amy, a San Francisco Asian Mom and the founder and executive director of Jubilee Immigration Advocates, a nonprofit providing free and low cost immigration legal services in the Bay Area. Amy talks about being a somewhat atypical nonprofit founder and exec director, her value for collaborative leadership, and how professional mentors have helped her embrace her own background coming from a family of working class immigrants from China and Hong Kong, and as a working mom. We also discuss how all of us have come to treasure our identities as Asian American women - sometimes careful and conscientious, but also passionate and risk-taking.

You can learn more about Jubilee Immigration Advocates at jubileelegal.org.

On this episode, we talk to our very pregnant friend Michelle about all of the hopes and expectations that accompany first time motherhood, including navigating a multiethnic and multilingual partnership with her Oakland born-and-raised husband. This was a sweet and nostalgic episode for Cheryl and Sarah, as we recalled our own journeys to motherhood, and funny stories around birth and first time parenting. 

We welcome Andrea, a mom we met when all our kids went to preschool together, to speak about growing up in a mixed family that spans generations and places: Hawaii, Japan, Peru and the Bay Area.  Andrea, an long time educator of Oakland Unified School District, shares about how her early experiences related to language and immigration shaped her passion for language justice and heart for newcomers. Working in education for 20+ years, Andrea has made an indelible impact on a generation of OUSD students she has taught. She shares some fun teacher stories that speak to her longevity -- stories full of meaningful run-ins with former students that reflect the depth of her impact and care. Andrea drops some pearls of wisdom for young professionals who seek a career in education...wisdom that can really apply to all of us in professions in which we use not only our critical thinking skills but also our emotional energy. Lastly, we also hear about how motherhood shifted her work boundaries and how her daily routine as an Oakland teacher has made Oakland feel like home. 

In this episode, we talk with Tram, who came to the US as a refugee from Vietnam at 3 years old about her professional transitions -- Tram was an editor at Colorlines, one of the first print magazines that focused on communities of color, authored a book called We are All Suspects Now post-9/11, and is currently working in public heath policy. Tram shares how her activism work covering racial justice issues and promoting health equity has shaped her thoughts about raising her mixed-race child who is of Vietnamese, Black, and Mexican American decent. She is especially proud her son's process of exploring the many sides of his identity at such a young age. We also think her Asian mom superpower of "graceful fierceness" shines through when speaking about the strength she has gained from motherhood. 

Throughout our conversations, all of us connect about experiencing "Oakland moments." You know, those moments that typify what it means to live here: whether it's a meeting a stranger who you feel like you've known forever or randomly meeting a famous person's cousin during the work day. We realize that as big as Oakland may be, there is something very intimate about our Town. Tram describes it beautifully when she says Oakland is a place where "kindred spirits" meet. So to all our fellow Oakland-ers out there (past and present), we are proud to call you family.