One in a Billion

How can you make a difference when you are still climbing the career ladder and have little money to spare? How much can you give when you already focus so much of your time and effort to gain acceptance, appreciation, and accolades at work and in life?

Listen to my podcast conversation with Kyung B. Yoon - president and co-founder of the Korean American Community Foundation (KACF). A television journalist, public speaker, Taekwondo instructor.

Music used: One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy You're the Dummy by Derek Clegg Arena 17 Back From the Death Row by Koi-Discovery Adventure by The Ghost in Your Piano Convergence by Pictures of the Floating World Highway Fever by HoliznaCC0

Kyung first came to America after the Korean war and discovered a land of luxuries. But she never forgets how South Korea, her homeland, has grown and developed from a poor country to become an economic miracle when men and women are given equal opportunities for education. Throughout her life and career, Kyung keeps in mind the poor and the needy of the world at the core and center of her mission - as a TV journalist, a World Bank Institute documentary filmmaker, and a Taekwondo self-defense instructor.

Why would a Harvard-educated college graduate and medical school student get thrown out of a UCLA medical residency? What did he do wrong? What did he do right to get back in? And why would he later quit his medical residency to pursue creative projects including documentary-filmmaking in China?

Most intriguingly, how did any of these paths pave the way for his eventual success as a cosmetic surgeon in Beverly Hills? And now, why does he choose to devote his philanthropic passion to promoting a positive image of Chinese people in America?

Tune into my conversation with Dr. Robin Yuan - a plastic surgeon, philanthropist, and author of four books, including the latest "Red Bishop" - a historical fiction novel about his grandfather as the last presiding bishop of the Anglican church in China.

Music used:One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthyI Will Not Let You Let Me Down by Josh WoodwardBurn Me Alive by MMFFFA Perceptible Shift by Andy G CohenGolden Sunrise by Josh WoodwardPicture It All by Lorenzos MusicMarty Ladies and Gentlemen by Doctor TurtleHlice by MonplaisirMountain Island Dreams by Lobo Loco Highride by Blue Dot Sessions Canada by Pictures of the Floating World Steppin' In by Podington Bear

Why does an American-born Chinese philanthropist want to help young Chinese in America reconnect with their roots? Why is that important? What seeded that passion?

Tune into my conversation with Carolyn Hsu-Balcer in Episode #3 "Reconnecting with Your Roots."

Carolyn Hsu-Balcer is a designer, philanthropist, and art collector based in Los Angeles and New York.

Having lived in Hong Kong, Thailand, and the Philippines, she returned to America (her birthplace) obligingly for college. Her mother told her America is her future because they didn't have a home in China anymore.

How did Carolyn's Chinese parents shape her love for country, history, art and culture? Why was Carolyn so inspired by her great-granduncle Dr. Kuo Ping-Wen - the first Chinese to have earned a PhD in America??

Why does Carolyn believe young Chinese in America should become global-minded?

Music used:

One In a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy Youk Ra Lom Ai Oh by Les Cartes Postales Sonores Lullaby by the Ghost in Your Piano A Yankees Southern Blues by HoliznaCC0 Mountain Monk C by Lobo Loco Driving Through Tunnels by Daniel Birch The Armys March by MMFFF The Things That Connect Us by Independent Music Licensing Collective

Carolyn graduated from Wheaton College (Mass.) with a BA in Economics and a minor in Chinese Language. After working as a financial analyst on Wall Street and as a Retail Product Developer, Carolyn launched SnoPea Inc. in 1997, a baby clothes company based in New York. SnoPea manufactures and markets infantwear for sale online and in specialty stores across the US, Canada and Japan.

Carolyn has worked to foster Sino-American understanding through education and culture. She has organized seminars on Education in China at major universities in the US and China.

She supports educational scholarships at universities in Shanghai, Nanjing and Taiwan, and at rural schools in Yunnan Province in China. In 2008, she received the Blue Cloud Award for outstanding achievement from the China Institute in New York.

Carolyn has co-edited and co-published the historical biographies Kuo Ping Wen Scholar, Reformer, Statesman (2016) and C.T. Wang: Looking Back and Looking Forward (2008); the artbook A Token of Elegance (2015), a historical and photo survey of cigarette holders as objets de vertu; and Chow! Secrets of Chinese Cooking (2020), an updated edition of a timeless classic about Chinese cuisine and culture and winner of a 2021 Gourmand World Cookbook Award.

Carolyn has organized ground-breaking exhibits of Chinese art including Xu Bing Tobacco Project Virginia (2011 VMFA), Light Before Dawn (2013 Asia Society Hong Kong), Blooming in the Shadows (2011 China Institute NY), Ming Cho Lee: A Retrospective (2011 Ningbo Museum), and Oil and Water: Re-Interpreting Ink (2014 MOCA NY).

She has sponsored the publication of a 13-volume catalogue of the works of the Wuming group of Chinese artists, and the publication of "Ai Wei Wei: New York Photographs 1983-1993".

Carolyn has produced award-winning documentaries on China and Chinese art, including "Above the Drowning Sea", "The No Name Painting Association" and "Xu Bing Tobacco Project Virginia".

Carolyn is currently a member of the Board of Overseers at the MFA Boston, the Guggenheim Museum Asian Art Circle, the Board of Directors of the Wolfsonian-FIU, the Arts Council of the Asia Society, the Board of Friends of Channel 13, and honorary trustee of the Ningbo Museum (China) where she has forged ties with American art & cultural institutions to bring curatorial training to the Ningbo Museum.

Carolyn and her husband have assembled important collections of Chinese Contemporary art, Japanese Shin-Hanga, Inuit art and objets de vertu, which have been the subjects of numerous publications and exhibitions worldwide, including at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Louvre (Paris), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Aldrich Museum, Wellin Museum, Cooper Hewitt, Asia Society Hong Kong, Lenbachhaus Museum Munich, and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

LifeChangers is about Asian philanthropists sharing stories about life-changing turning points that have shaped their mindset and inspired their philanthropic passion. Now, they feel compelled to change the lives of others.

How old were you when you first started making money? 16? 17? 18?

Meet Mei-Lee Ney - an investment advisor, philanthropist, and art collector.

At age 75, Mei-Lee has been working non-stop since she was 10. Why?

Who gave her critical advice about how she could get anything she wanted? And what is that advice?

How did Mei-Lee build and create wealth for herself and others without a college degree? And what motivated Mei-Lee to begin giving away her fortune, and for what causes?

Tune into my conversation with Mei-Lee Ney in Episode #2 "Money Matters"

Music used: Working For the County by Derek CleggPlaytime by Jahzzar Banish by Slinte Dear Old Dad by HoliznaCCO Acoustic Fingerpicking 5 by Independent Music Licensing Collective Gray Drops by Sergey CheremisinovAcoustic Fingerpicking 1 by Independent Music Licensing Collective Love Wins by Lee Rosevere Sour Grapes by Pictures of the Floating World Go Tell It On The Molehill by Doctor Turtle Climb by The Ghost in Your Piano Florid by Mid-Air MachineThe Dance of the Sky by MMFFF One in A Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy

Mei-Lee Ney is the president of Richard Ney & Associates, Asset Management, Inc., a registered investment advisory firm that she joined in 1973. She was the business partner and wife of Richard Ney, author of three books on the stock market: The Wall Street Jungle, The Wall Street Gang, and Making It in the Market, the last two of which she edited. She was co-writer and editor of "The Ney Report," an investment newsletter, from 1976 to 1999. She also serves on the USC Pacific Asia Museum Board of Councilors, and the Otis College of Art and Design Board of Trustees and is active in several other communities, arts, and education organizations. Learn more about Mei-Lee here.

We kick off Season 6 "LifeChangers" today (August 26th) with a limited special series.

LifeChangers is about Asian philanthropists sharing stories about life-changing turning points that have shaped their mindset and inspired their philanthropic passion. Now, they feel compelled to change the lives of others.

You don't need to give away a lot of money like Bill Gates to be a philanthropist.

You only need to ask the right question at the right time.

Episode #1 "Am I the Only One?"

What more do you want when you reach the VP level of a top tech company in America?

For Buck Gee - a Chinese-American retired tech entrepreneur and philanthropist, when he became a senior executive at Cisco in the early 2000s, he asked his supervisor, "Am I the only one?" He noticed that he was the only Asian American at that level, and he was unhappy. Why? What did he do about it? That question would become the seed of his philanthropic passion.

Tune into my conversation with Buck Gee in Episode 1 "Am I the Only One?"

(Note: Buck Gee was Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center Business Unit at Cisco before retiring in 2008. In 2010, he co-founded the Advanced Leadership Program for Asian American Executives, an executive education program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has published several Ascend Foundation research papers on the Asian glass ceiling and has written opinion pieces on that issue for the Harvard Business Review and The New York Times.) Buck Gee holds BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Learn more about Buck here. (source: Committee-100 )

Music used:Xi by Andy G. Cohen Vienna Beat by Blue Dot Sessions The Temperature of the Air on the Bow of the Kaleetan by Chris Zabriskie Which That is This by Doctor Turtle Thingamajig by Json Shaw Day Trips by Ketsa One in a Billion Theme Song by Brad McCarthy

We want to include you in this conversation. Share your thoughts. Pitch us a story.

To send us your comments or stories, email us @ [email protected]

Or go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under "Pitch a Story."

"One in a Billion" connects Asians and Americans through storytelling, one person at a time.

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PRx | iTunes | SoundCloud Season 6 LifeChangers Series is produced by One in a Billion Productions, a non-profit educational media company (501c3) with generous funding from Claudia Lin, Founder/President of Legacy Maker LLC.

What would you do if you've written about becoming a Supreme Court justice, dreamed of a life and career in law, put in a lot of time and work to prepare for that track - then one day you change my mind?

Is it a waste of time, money and education at that point?

These are some of the questions that Daniel Christopher "D.C." Rogers (Harvard Class of '12) had to wrestle with during his college years. And what made him change his mind?

In "Where Are They Now?" Episode #6, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews D.C. Rogers - award-winning writer, producer, and actor. D.C. is a story editor for the upcoming Netflix legal show Partner Track. Previously, he was a staff writer on the CW drama In the Dark.

I am happy to be co-hosting this podcast as a contributing commentator. You'll hear my views about how to figure out what you want to do with your life – before and after college.

"Where Are They Now?" is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).

It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.

"Where Are They Now" is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.

How far will you travel outside of your hometown, your neighborhood, your comfort zone, in order to see the world differently?

Why is it important to keep your sense of insecurity as your companion as you embark on your scientific, academic or philosophical enquiry?

How does failure keep you hungry for success?

Those are some of the questions that have led to surprising discoveries and satisfying rewards for Dr. Neil Shubin (Harvard GSAS Class of 1987).

In "Where Are They Now?" Episode #4, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews Dr. Neil Shubin - A paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and popular science writer. Dr. Shubin made headlines in 2004 when he co-discovered Tiktaalik roseae, a fossil of a creature with traits found in both fish and tetrapods, and has since published three popular science books: Your Inner Fish, The Universe Within, and Some Assembly Required.

I am happy to be co-hosting this podcast as a contributing commentator. You'll hear my reflection on how I, like Dr. Neil Shubin, first became drawn to a new world of possibilities that would light up my imagination to pursue a path that's formed who I am today.

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"Where Are They Now?" is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).

It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.

"Where Are They Now" is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.

Should a Harvard education prepare you for failure?Should failure be normalized in the course of higher education?Or at the very least, would you want to learn how to take or talk about failure?

Those are the sort of questions rarely asked if you're a Harvard student who is used to acing your exams, winning accolades or top awards until one day – you suddenly lose what you've been taking for granted.

In "Where Are They Now?" Episode #4, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews Sangu Delle (Harvard Class of 2010, Harvard JD & MBA 2016). An entrepreneur, investor, author and philanthropist, Sangu speaks powerfully about his personal struggle with depression after a major business investor died suddenly before wiring the money. A lot were at stakes. Sangu was at a loss for words and found himself in a dark world for a long time before getting back on his feet.

Today, he is a champion for mental health and a vocal teacher about the norm of failure.

I am happy to be co-hosting this podcast as a contributing commentator. You'll hear my reflection on how I too had rebounded from despair after first losing my mother, before losing my job and my health.

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"Where Are They Now?" is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).

It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.

"Where Are They Now" is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.

How do I want to engage in the world?Do I want to be an academic teaching philosophy as a professor?Wouldn't that be a very inward-looking, insular kind of life?Is that what I want?

Those were some of the questions Janet Hook, (Harvard Class '77) asked herself before deciding not to pursue a Phd in philosophy.

For Janet, a Harvard graduate with a degree in philosophy and government, her career choice is also a lifestyle choice. She chose to become a journalist right after college.

In "Where Are They Now?" Episode #3, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews Los Angeles Time national correspondent Janet Hook. Janet reflects on her student days at Harvard, and some of the ways in which she has been influenced to choose the path of a journalist. She also talks candidly about her career trajectory and the life of a reporter.

I am happy to be co-hosting this podcast as a contributing commentator. You'll hear my thoughts about how Harvard fit into my former career as a TV journalist as well.

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"Where Are They Now?" is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).

It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.

"Where Are They Now" is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.

Many Harvard Asian American undergraduates I know with immigrant parents who are physicians receive a lot of pressure from their families to be a doctor. But not Divya Narendra, (Class of 2004)

While at Harvard, Divya was given the space and the autonomy he needed to think critically and explore creatively what he wanted as a consumer that was missing in the market. Soon, he became an entrepreneur.

In "Where Are They Now?" episode #2, Gemma Schneider (Harvard student journalist/Class of 2023) interviews Divya Narendra, CEO and co-founder of SumZero - an online community for professional investors to share business research. Divya's business mindset was formed during his Harvard days when he launched the Facebook forerunner HarvardConnection, or ConnectU. You may remember his role with Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 feature film "The Social Network,"- a portrayal of the great minds which think alike but also fall apart due to fierce business competition.

I am happy to be co-hosting as a contributing commentator for this episode.

"Where Are They Now?" is a special co-production between One in a Billion and WHRB (Harvard Radio Broadcasting).

It is a 6-part series featuring one-on-one interviews with Harvard graduates who draw lessons from their campus experience and personal insight from their current career to give you a taste of their trailblazing journey.

"Where Are They Now" is sponsored exclusively by One in a Billion Productions Inc. (501c3) – an educational media company designed to foster Asian voices and to build bridges between different communities of color. We believe in the power of personal storytelling to reach a wider and diverse community of audiences for better intercultural understanding.