Pei Pals with Pei

In this episode, I interview my friend Mark. I mentioned that when I first met him, he wore these goofy Teva sandals (which he will defend to his dying day)... and lo and behold, he brings up barefoot shoes on this episode. He may or may not have a foot fetish.

Mark is CEO of Manta Sleep, an 8-figure company, which produces the world's greatest eyemask. I can vouch that it is, in fact, amazing, because I sleep with it most nights.

But his path was not very smooth or predictable, from leaving China as a child, growing up poor in Canada, moving to Singapore in his 20's, and pushing through multiple failed businesses.

We talk about the importance of developing a love of learning, his new challenge of fatherhood, why he often contemplates death, and using meetup.com to meet his wife.

In this episode, I interview my pal Hyunju. I affectionately call her my Korean big sister because she is someone that I can go to for about anything, including advice on girls.

She's a member of my informal personal board of advisors that I seek out for feedback whenever I make big decisions. Along with this massive responsibility, she also has a much lesser job as investment manager of billions of dollars for a Taiwanese institution.

Frankly, her job is the most boring part of her. I met Hyunju dancing bachata, which she started in a preemptive measure to beat dementia. She learns a new language every 10 years. She wants to be a fitness model. She has documented in-depth what the ideal imaginary country would be like (shockingly similar to Singapore).

In this honest interview, we go deep and talk about our lowest moments, our biggest life lessons, simple questions to evaluate others, and she calls me naive and sheltered.

In this episode, I interview my pal Vicky. She is both ironically and unironically a superlative multi-hyphenate. Don't know what the hell that means? Neither does she.

Vicky is one of Taiwan's most well-known and in-demand jazz/tango/wedding/background/you name it singers. She's usually booked out weeks in advance and is on the verge of releasing her EP.

Her performance career began in earnest when a mixture of alcohol, boredom, and heartbreak led her to an open mic. We all know that's a situation where the best decisions are made.

In this highly unfiltered interview, we talk about climbing the ranks as a professional musician, what surgeries she would need to make more money, and the emotionality of singing tango music.

I also have to credit the name of this podcast to a throwaway joke she once made. Thanks!

In this episode, I interview my pal Teresa. She's a youtuber/digital nomad/content creator/passive income-r. Every cool buzzword you can think of applies to her.

She started by creating content that would solve her own problems with her students, and once her channel gained sufficient traction, she took off to Italy as a nomad. But despite having hundreds of thousands of fans and being recognized occasionally on the street, she doesn't love the public eye.

My conversations with Teresa can go in literally any direction because we have a lot of shared experiences. Here we talk about nomad dating, Tony Robbins, being intentional about your lifestyle, and travel methods.

In the inaugural episode of Pei Pals, I interview my first dance teacher, Larry Shao, whom I affectionately dub the Latin Dance King of Taiwan (a name he strongly objects to). Others may only know him as the bald guy that dances fantastically, or as the boss of a dance studio, but the point is - they know him.

He in some sense "Mister Miyagi'd" me because I feel that I learned a lot of life lessons from him. That's what the best teachers do, after all.

We talk about the most common mistakes beginners make, the most fragile type of students, and juicy tidbits from running a studio for 15 years.