OFF THE WOK

Although Asians have been associated in one way or another throughout Hollywood's history, their roles have rarely been significant. Many Asians were typecast to roles like the weak nerd in glasses who helps out the main protagonist, or as an evil mystical person out to get the protagonist and fail. Either way, they were relegated to second-class roles. That, however is finally starting to change with the advent of Asian movies with a wholly Asian cast. Successes like Crazy Rich Asians, Minari, and Kim's Convenience are starting to cement the Asian presence within Hollywood. But, It's only a start and it's still going to take time, and it also won't make up for all the years where Asians have struggled to get in. Our guest Danny Lam can attest to that. Danny moved from Canada to LA to pursue acting opportunities and discusses his struggle with it. We get into topics like stereotypical roles for Asians, the differences in roles between Asian men and women, lack of Asian role models, and acting as a career path.

We are always looking to share other people's experiences with us! If you'd like to be a guest on our show, email us at [email protected] and let us know! Give us a follow at offthewokpodcast on Instagram so you don't miss out on any new episodes! Thank you and we appreciate you wok'ing with us.

PS: If you enjoy our episodes, please consider supporting us at ko-fi.com/offthewok, every little bit counts to keep the lights on and to continue providing you with great and awesome material!

Mental health has always been a taboo subject among Asians and growing up, you weren't expected to talk about your anxiety, or your stress, or even your feelings to your parents or even anybody because of the stigma attached to it. That you saying anything would somehow bring shame to not only the family but yourself, that it shows weakness or that it's just another excuse where you're complaining. The problem with not having this outlet though, is that it gets bundled inside you, and sooner or later, it's either going to explode in a bad way, or lead to some potentially long-term mental issues that could have been resolved earlier if only someone would have listened.

We are always looking to share other people's experiences with us! If you'd like to be a guest on our show, email us at [email protected] and let us know! Give us a follow at offthewokpodcast on Instagram so you don't miss out on any new episodes! Thank you and we appreciate you wok'ing with us. 

PS: If you enjoy our episodes, please consider supporting us at ko-fi.com/offthewok, every little bit counts to keep the lights on and to continue providing you with great and awesome material!

How does one go from doing accounting at McGill University in Montreal to Dropbox in San Francisco? Our guest Brendan Wong can give you a little insight into that. A native Calgarian, Brendan tells us how he was working in finance in Canada to get his CPA, before checking himself and deciding to move to San Francisco. From there, working at Ernst and Young, his first client was Zynga and that's where his foray into tech began...If you wanna hear more, be sure to listen to the rest of his adventure. I'll give you a hint, it ends in Hong Kong.

We are always looking to share other people's experiences with us! if you'd like to be a guest on our show, email us at [email protected] and let us know! Give us a follow at offthewokpodcast on Instagram so you don't miss out on any new episodes! Thank you and we appreciate you wok'ing with us.

Talk to any Asian parent and they'll tell you that education is the key to success. So when our guest Leanne Lam told her parents that she was dropping out...AFTER she already dropped out, it's safe to say her parents weren't pleased. But it turned into the best decision she ever made as from there she started a very successful events company called Le Lumiere Events. Join us as Leanne gives us the reasoning behind her dropping out of university, how she got into the events space, the hurdles and barriers she's had to overcome, how COVID is affecting her business, and a ton of other topics too numerous to name. On top of that, we delve into her podcast Beyond the Label that she recently started and her vision for it. If you haven't yet listened to it, get on it and start!

If you'd like to inquire more about Leanne's events or her podcast, you can DM her on Instagram at either @leanneblu or @theblu.journal.

We are always looking to share other people's experiences with us! if you'd like to be a guest on our show, email us at [email protected] and let us know! Give us a follow at offthewokpodcast on Instagram so you don't miss out on any new episodes! Thank you and we appreciate you wok'ing with us.

We are starting a new sub-series! And we are calling it... dat Asian hustle! It will focus on individuals and their accomplishments, their successes, failures, and how they got to where they are today. We're hoping that these stories break the stereotypical traditional career path of Asians and to let our listeners out there know that if you wanna do something, just fucking do it. And what better way to start than with us. In this episode, Lance talks about starting his bubble tea business Banana Jaks at the tender age of 23 and all the struggles accompanying it including the crazy long days/nights, the literal shit you gotta clean, what doing business with family is like, and just figuring it out as you go. All this and more on today's episode!

1 year later and finally we are seeing some progress in the fight against COVID. With vaccinations in full swing, our hope is that everyone will be vaccinated by fall. What hasn't seen progress? Racism. According to stopaapi.org's national report, almost 4000 cases of discrimination and racism have been reported between March 2020 to 2021 in the US. And these are the cases that were reported, there are probably thousands more unreported. In Canada, the situation is just as bad if not worse on a per capita basis, with anti-Asian hate crimes rising by 700% in Vancouver alone. As a podcast centered around Asians growing up in western society, seeing the rise in cases every day hit us hard. Although racism has always existed, it's like COVID made it okay to be racist. this needs to stop. We are not a virus. hate is a virus and we cannot let the conversation die on this.

To learn more, please visit stopaapihate.org. Read more stories and become more aware of the situation. Let's stand together in this.

We are always looking to share other people's experiences with us! if you'd like to be a guest on our show, email us at [email protected] and let us know! Give us a follow at offthewokpodcast on Instagram so you don't miss out on any new episodes! Thank you and we appreciate you wok'ing with us.

Picture this: you're traveling in Hong Kong and start getting hungry so you're searching for places to eat. Easy right? Hong Kong is like the mecca of food in the east, with everything from fine dining to local food stalls on every street. There's a catch though, you need to eat a gluten-free diet. And in a city where gluten is like the second ingredient after salt, finding a restaurant that offers gluten-free dishes with no cross-contamination, or heck, even finding a place where the waiter will understand what gluten-free means, will be much more difficult than you think. This is a problem faced by our guest speaker Vanessa whenever she travels. Vanessa shares her gluten interactions with us, from when she first got diagnosed to some of her reaction stories. The types of food she can and can't eat, how she manages to eat gluten-free when her partner and her family don't, and more.

Gaming nowadays is considered cool. People scramble for the latest sold-out systems or newest hottest games because it's not only fun to play, but is also now socially acceptable. Gaming has evolved into a recreation for both the young and old, and this evolution has turned it into the billion-dollar industry it is today. Esports is now a thing and can be considered a full-time job with the possibility of earning millions from it.

But it wasn't always so, esports wasn't an everyday word 10 years ago and was probably non-existent in the 90s (with the exception of perhaps Asia). Back then, there was a negative stigma associated with being a gamer, with images of an overweight nerd closed up at home drinking chocolate milk or pop by the gallon coming to mind. Being Asian, stereotypically, you were put in that gamer category as well, but why? Why are Asians automatically labelled as gamers? If you've ever played against someone in a game and they've said "stop going all Asian on me", then you'll know what I mean. Join us as we discuss this topic with Johnny, a self-professed longtime gamer. Johnny gets into the details of when he started gaming, his own evolution as a gamer (he presently streams his games via Twitch) and how he dealt with the stereotypes surrounding him "growing up gaming".

For any listeners that can relate to this, let us know your "growing up gaming" stories at [email protected]. Follow us @offthewokpodcast on Instagram as well. Thank you and we appreciate you wok'ing with us.

If you'd like to check out Johnny's Twitch and the games he's currently playing, you can find him at www.twitch.tv/jonnie5.

Let's talk about the concept of who am I? But not in the context of that awesome 1998 Jackie Chan movie, but more in a cultural context as an Asian born to immigrant parents in Canada. Growing up, we get influenced by two cultures, one from our family, and one from outside our family, a western influence. Both are equally strong and as such, it can be difficult to know what you identify as. Are you Chinese? Are you Korean? Are you Canadian? Or are you both? It's a great conversation to be had and on this episode, we are joined by Angela who herself was born in South Korea and moved here at a young age (so I guess that makes her 1.5 gen lol). She talks about her experiences growing up in Canada and how she identifies herself. Join us as she shares some great memories along with some sprinkles from Lance and I.

Be sure to catch Angela on some more conversations on her podcast called The Why Moments! A podcast that details intimate 1 on 1 stories with people and their major turning moments.

As well, please tell us your stories at [email protected] or visit our instagram @offthewokpodcast. If you'd like to speak on our show, please contact us as well!