Project M

WARNING: This episode will really hit you in the feels. This was such an emotional episode for me, I couldn't even come up with a funny title. 

In todays episode I get to have a conversation with one of my childhood role models and favorite youtubers, Frank Hwang or ice1cube who shares his story on his experience as a youtuber, how his videos have evolved from comparing girls to cars to now going into deeper topics that are important to him and his current struggles taking care of his mom who is suffering from dementia. It was such a great blessing and honor to be able to record with someone I've been watching for years who I consider one of my heroes and I'm super excited to share this with all of you.

[EPISODE RECORDED IN INDONESIAN]

Hari ini kita bakal ngobrol bareng Bro Michael Victor Sianipar, ketua DPW PSI Jakarta tentang situasi politik di Indonesia dan apa yang dapat dilakukan kita sebagai individu untuk dapat membantu mereformasi dan melayani negara kita. 

Biasanya, denger kata "politik" aja di suatu pembicaraan itu bisa langsung bikin kita gregetan dan buru-buru coba ganti topik. Apalagi di Indonesia, kata tersebut biasa berkonotasi negatif dan sering diasosiasikan dengan korupsi dan nepotisme. Ngapain kita harus tetap peduli? Dan bagaimana kita masih bisa tetap mempunyai jiwa yang semangat untuk melayani, meskipun ada banyak tantangan, bukan saja dari sistem pemerintahan negara ini, tapi juga dari keraguan diri kita sendiri?

Mau tau perspektif Bro Mike? Dengerin episode nya yuk!

I was eating at a restaurant a few years ago and was really craving some mushroom risotto. I tried ordering it and the waiter said the dish was out of stock, after which a strange intense feeling of anger and disappointment came over me after which I screamed "BANGSAT" or "bastard" in front of the waiter, who was shook. I wasn't trying to call him a bastard; I just really wanted mushroom risotto.

Such is my love for food. So for part 2 of "Masculinity Across Industries" today I'm inviting my friend Fernando Sindu, head chef from the Union Group and other famous estalishments. Fernando shares his experiences in the F&B industry and how he brought his culinary creativity and expertise to Indonesia and how he tenaciously overcame the challenges he faced along the way.

Tune in to hear about his story, and do please try out his food :) 

For the next few weeks, Project M will be doing a series called "Masculinity Across Industries" where we will have conversations with men from various fields that will talk about what healthy masculinity looks like in their respective professions & sectors.

This week former US marine and owner of Empire Fit Club in Jakarta, Elbert Tiwa, who will be talking about Fitness & Health, and his experience transitioning from military life in the US to opening a gym in Jakarta and adjust to civilian life. Our society often has expectations that a "real man" has to have a certain level of fitness - the washboard abs, bulging biceps and chiseled pecs (don't skip leg day though!). What does a healthy viewpoint of fitness actually look like? And how can we have a warrior mindset to navigate through life's challenges?

Tune in to find out! 

Does the phrase "Too foreign for home, too foreign for here" resonate with you? Have you always felt like somehow you didn't belong? Have you heard the title of this episode being said to you more often than maybe you would like?

Such is the life of a third culture kid. In todays episode I have a discussion with my friend Xiang Yi Lau on our experience as third culture kids -feeling too foreign for home, pursuing opportunities to settle elsewhere (where we also felt too foreign but still wanted to try and live there anyway), having those opportunities taken away from us and then realizing later on that, in a way, "home is where the heart is." Tune in to the episode to hear our conversation! 

P.S - Mie Goreng was created by Indonesia :) 

The Boys are Back!

Tune in to our last episode of 2020 where John, Andrew and I chat and reflect on this past year with some wine and our usual bromantical dynamic. 

Life is indeed a storm, and in order to navigate through it, find yourselves some bros who will be there for you through thick and thin - comrades that you can be completely vulnerable with, who are unashamed of the fact that they watch k-dramas and who you can spontaneously break into song and dance with whether that be during karaoke or a podcast recording session :) 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

Adulting - How does one actually go about doing this well in life?

As men, our careers are a big part of our lives. It's our source of income which we need to support our families and ourselves, it contributes significantly to our overall personal and professional growth and we often derive from it our sense of self-worth and purpose. Over the years however many challenges have come up for us to think through such as how much more competitive the professional world is now, this pandemic situation that has caused huge losses in opportunity as well as the overall trend that people are finding it harder and harder to find meaning and purpose in their work.

Today's episode features Christopher Kasidi, Vice President of the Commercial department in GoJek who will be sharing some wisdom on this topic. Tune in to listen to our conversation! 

What exactly was the inspiration behind Project M? Why did I decide to make it in a podcast format? Why do I believe that the phrase "Hakuna Matata" from the movie Lion King may not be aligned with healthy masculinity?

Today's episode will be a shorter one as I do my first solo recording session, doing some personal reflection on Project M and masculinity as a whole. What it means to be a man seemed much more obvious a long time ago but this concept has evolved throughout history into the complex puzzle that it is today. In a lot of ways, things are more confusing now and my hope is that Project M can foster discussions to help us figure out all these confusing things together.

Tune in to hear my thoughts!

We come back this week for part 2 of trying tackle the age-old question "Can guys and girls just be friends?" this time from the girl's perspective featuring my friend, who is a girl, Chelsey Prewitt. Although that does mean no cringey bromance moments for this episode, trust me when I say, you don't want to miss this one :) 

Chelsey gives us a lot of valuable insights on this topic during our conversation and it reminded me, if anything, how important it is for us men to get a woman's perspective on some of life's challenges. The pursuit of healthy masculinity is not something men can do alone, but it is an endeavour that requires the help of women as well, so that ultimately both genders can thrive together, side by side.

"Can guys and girls just be friends?" Today the boys and I try to tackle the age old question that has been debated by world-reknowned scholars for decades (...ok maybe not scholars, more like rom-coms, stand-up comedians and your favorite trashy dating advice website).

My discussions with others on this topic often get pretty heated, with the answer always being either a hard "yes" or "no" and the other person very passionately arguing for the stance they believe to be correct. Is there a middle ground here? And how should a man really view his friendships with the opposite sex? Tune in to find out!