Project Voice

Intersectionality is probably one of my favorite words of all time. In this episode, we will be covering some aspects of our identity that we may forget and overlook now and then when we're initiating dialogues about our struggles. Originally, I wanted to talk about how solely class plays a role in our lives, but my friend (who will be remained anonymous during this interview) and I learned that you just can't talk about class without talking about other identity x-factors (i.e. citizenship status and education).

 

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In season 1, I have released an episode about what it means to be a part of the mixed Asian experience; this season, I wanted to add on to our discussion by exploring the intersection of Black and Asian identities as it is crucial to be aware of the fact that there is also a diversity of narratives of not just within the Asian/Asian American community but within the mixed Asian/Asian American community as well. Feeling inspired after watching Blasian Narratives, I invited Mieko Gavia to speak and share about her perspective and journey with self-identity as a Blasian American and the politics behind being labeled as mixed race, especially when it comes to mixed identities that don't center on whiteness. If there's anyone who would like to share their narrative as a non-white mixed Asian woman on Project Voice, please let me know!

Mieko Gavia is a writer, actress, and all-around oddball from Indianapolis, Indiana. After graduating from Oberlin College with a degree in Theater, Mieko followed the classic scenario of a small-town girl with big-city dreams and hightailed it to NYC. When she’s not acting or writing, Mieko can be spotted foraging in used bookstores or wherever cheap food abounds. You can catch her at http://www.blackrevolutionarytheatreworkshop.org and www.miekogavia.org 

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Welcome to another episode of Project Voice! Today, we will be discussing about a topic that surprisingly, is not brought up as often as it should be and that is disability! In this episode, Maya Ghorpade, Doris Jung, and I will be sharing our personal, intersectional experiences on growing up as Asian women with disabilities. Whether they are physical, mental, or intellectual, disabilities deserve to be included in every platform of discussion for marginalized communities. Tune in to learn about how having a disability affects every aspect of our lives, why more attention needs to be put forth on disability support services, and what kinds of efforts we can make to engage others in discussions on disability.

Maya is an 18 year old first generation Indian-American. She is a student at New York University's College of Nursing, and has plans to help revolutionize access to healthcare for People of Color. She enjoys making art, visiting museums, trying new foods, and taking naps. Her goal in life is to be at a place where she feels at peace with all of her intersecting identities.

Doris is a tiny 20-something year old full time paralegal by day and fashion illustrator and content creator by night! She runs a blog called "I Wear Shirts as Dresses" (iwearshirtsasdresses.com) to share her life as an individual with dwarfism and a lover of fashion. As a second generation Korean-American, she aims to bring awareness of disability and dwarfism in the Asian-American community, as disability is often a topic kept hidden in the dark.

 

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***Content warning

We can dedicate an entire mini series on mental health issues, but today, we'll be hearing Terra Hoy's personal hardships of mental health. This interview is the second episode of a 2 episode special on Project Voice. If you haven't listened to our first one, please check it out (we covered transgender identity issues, he-he)! Content warning: we will be diving into questions about anxiety, depression, and suicide. We will be listening to Terra's take on how mental health has played a role during her transition during the past couple years.

Terra is a queer, transgender womxn of color who is passionate about intersectional feminism. She intends to tackle institutional oppression, primarily focusing on healthcare for minority populations, including the socially and economically displaced, those LGBTQ+, people of color, and many more who are mis- or underrepresented. She is excited to share a bit of her perspective on Project Voice and hopes to utilize this platform to inspire other womxn and femme people of color. In time, she will lead in a policy-oriented career and education. She has the privilege of attending the University of Washington's School of Public Health to pave way towards a career reflecting her values and possibly enroll in the Evan's School of Public Policy and Governance. Check out her blog post on She Has Drive, a collective of authors that explore the issues facing women - it is titled "A Letter to my 12-Year-Old Self:" https://www.shehasdrive.com/home/2017/6/27/a-letter-to-my-12-year-old-self

9.15.18: Project Voice has rebranded!

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A womxn is not defined by her body. On this episode, I had the honor of inviting Terra Hoy to share with us her narratives of growing up as an Asian American and coming out as transgender. Key topics that we will be covering today will include trans-legitimacy, gender dysphoria, self biases and expectations from loved ones and society. This is the first interview of our 2 episode special - tune in in a couple of weeks for another episode with Terra! Next time, we will be refocusing on the importance of mental health.

Terra is a queer, transgender womxn of color who is passionate about intersectional feminism. She intends to tackle institutional oppression, primarily focusing on healthcare for minority populations, including the socially and economically displaced, those LGBTQ+, people of color, and many more who are mis- or underrepresented. She is excited to share a bit of her perspective on Project Voice and hopes to utilize this platform to inspire other womxn and femme people of color. In time, she will lead in a policy-oriented career and education. She has the privilege of attending the University of Washington's School of Public Health to pave way towards a career reflecting her values and possibly enroll in the Evan's School of Public Policy and Governance. Check out her blog post on She Has Drive, a collective of authors that explore the issues facing women - it is titled "A Letter to my 12-Year-Old Self:" https://www.shehasdrive.com/home/2017/6/27/a-letter-to-my-12-year-old-self

9.15.18: Project Voice has rebranded!

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What does it mean to be an activist in this day and age? In today’s episode, my awesome friend, Jennifer Li, and I will be covering topics ranging from how you can be involved as an activist for your Asian/Asian American community - whether it’s through social media, on the ground protests, or something else, why it’s important to support the Black Lives Matter movement, what it means to be a “good white ally,” and what we should do as a community under the Trump presidency.  Besides listening to this Podcast episode, we’d greatly encourage others to take the time out to learn the history of Asian America so that we can better understand how we got here and where we can go from here.

Jennifer Li is a digital advocacy strategist and social justice activist. She comes up with creative campaigns and tackles her projects with unparalleled passion and efficiency. Jennifer is currently the California State Director of Rise, multi-sector coalition of sexual assault survivors and allies working to empower all survivors with civil rights.   She launched the #takedownjulienblanc campaign in 2014 that got a pick-up artist banned from several countries. Her personal work has been covered by CNN, Times Magazine, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, BBC, Japan Times, Tokyo Vice, The Independent, The Washington Post, Salon, Gawker, Jezebel, Think Progress, The Daily Beast, Al Jazeera, and more.  

9.15.18: Project Voice has rebranded!

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Last year, I had a life crisis that threw me into a whirlwind of questions for me - and I have to say, subconsciously trying to live up to the model minority myth made the experience worse: What do I really want to do with my life? Am I really happy with sticking to this one path? Is the 9-5 city work lifestyle really for me? So, I sought out the advice of someone who I looked up to since I was a girl, my older cousin, Thanh Ho (she also goes by Jenny or Clementine). Her words actually changed my life since. In this week’s episode, you’ll have the opportunity to hear her story after her decision to quit Corporate America. This Podcast episode isn’t meant to criticize those who’ve chosen the traditional, stable 9 to 5 work life, but it’s more to critique our fears and our society and family’s perception of what success means. Screw the model minority. What other people think about you do not define you. Start living the life that YOU want.

Thanh is a 1st generation, 27-year-old Vietnamese American - born in Vietnam and grew up in the United States.  She graduated from the University of Southern California, majoring in International relations. Currently, she's working as an artist in New Zealand. Her interests include permaculture, hiking, singing, acting, and dancing. Her life goal is to grow and give to the best of her ability.

9.15.18: Project Voice has rebranded!

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I didn’t think releasing one episode on the queer Asian American experience could be justified as having enough content that’s representative of the LGBTQIA Asian/Asian American community, so I’m making a return to share more of such narratives  - this time, the interview will be from perspectives of two fellow Smith College alumna friends of mine: Samantha and Shay. As you can tell from the title, we’ll be sharing our thoughts on why we need to break down heteronormative expectations from romantic relationships and and begin normalizing queerness instead.

Sam is a 1.5 generation Taiwanese-American who recently made it to her third decade. She isn’t into labels which is why if she had to pick, it would be some all-encompassing one like “queer” or “depends on the day”. She’s currently a professional student working on her Ph.D. at Tufts University in neuroscience. Her hobbies include fantasy football, drinking bourbon and making lists. Her life goals include feeling like an adult one day.

Shay is a Boston transplant originally from Long Island that is currently working in the fast paced world of Digital Marketing. She enjoys trying new restaurants, bringing in baked goods for her coworkers, planning elaborate themed dinner parties and hanging out with her nieces and nephews as much as possible. A current activity is wedding planning which is both equally exciting and anxiety inducing. Her goal in life is to have a happy home with lots of space and nice things that serves as a central point for friends and family to flock to.

9.15.18: Project Voice has rebranded!

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On May 7th, 2017, I was invited to speak as a spring speaker for the Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC) at Northwestern University. I'd like to thank everyone who had helped organize this event. Speakers included Olivia Park of Sad Asian Girls, Jessica Nguyen of Project Voice, and artist and writer Larissa Pham. "They will be discussing how they use art and media as outlets for political and social activism. Come through to meet these RAD ASIAN GIRLS." - APAC

The Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC) is a student-organization at Northwestern University that strives to raise Asian/Asian American awareness and community-building on campus. This recording was taken by a video recorded and edited by Northwestern University student Seri Lee.

Olivia Park is a graphic designer and the co-founder of Sad Asian Girls, an alias used by her and Esther Fan to make social/political work that surrounds their identities as East-Asians who are living in western spaces.

Olivia Park is a Korean-American woman born in Queens, NY and raised in Metro-Atlanta, GA. Her partner, Esther Fan is a Taiwanese-Canadian genderqueer femme raised in Vancouver, CA. Their studio practice is currently based in Providence, RI.

Sad Asian Girls have been featured on multiple platforms such as PBS, Huffington Post, NowThis, Dazed Digital, Nylon, i-D, Milk, Elephant Mag, Gal-dem, and Banana Mag. Currently, Olivia and Esther are touring around institutions, such as Princeton, Yale, Wellesley, Duke, and Columbia, in the United States to share their SAG story.

View their work here: http://www.sadcontent.com/work/

Jessica Nguyen is the host of Project Voice, which is a Podcast series dedicated to increasing visibility on narratives from Asian America and spearheaded by the voices of Asian American women. As the host, Jessica hopes that this series will act as a digital space where members of her community can go to for guidance and resources. Jessica is also a freelance content creator working on numerous projects such as blogging, photography, video and copywriting.

Jessica is a Vietnamese-American woman who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, but is currently based in Boston, Massachusetts. She used to have a hard time sharing her voice since she was not able to communicate in English in the beginning. It held back her confidence to speak her voice. After learning to express herself through writing and creating her podcast, Jessica is now more confident on sharing her voice and mission to the world.

Visit her work here: http://www.projectvoiceaaw.com

Larissa Pham was born in Portland, Oregon and graduated from Yale University in 2014 with a degree in History of Art and Studio Art with a concentration in painting.

"Her art and writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Paris Review Daily, Guernica, The Nation, Rolling Stone, Adult Mag, Nerve, New York Magazine, Maxim, ELLE, Dazed, Salon, Adbusters, GOOD, The Rumpus, The Hairpin, Gawker, VICE, The Intentional, Packet Bi-Weekly, The Yale Literary Magazine, and elsewhere.

She is the author of Fantasian, a New Lovers novella from Badlands Unlimited, out October 25, 2016. You can purchase Fantasian here, or in stores worldwide."

View her work here: http://larissapham.com

Read our transcript here!: https://www.projectvoicepod.com/blog/2018/8/9/episode-21-rad-asian-girls-a-panel-on-art-race-and-gender

9.15.18: Project Voice has rebranded!

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I’m starting off the season with a topic very close to my heart: growing up as a child of refugee immigrant parents. My friend, Saroeun, and I will be sharing our personal struggles growing up as first-born children of immigrant parents who moved because they didn’t have t choice - from overcoming barriers with the English language to helping our parents translate in day-to-day situations to guiding our younger siblings to a better life as Southeast Asian Americans. I hope that this 2-episode special will help people understand better where we’re coming from and why today’s immigration issue should hit close to everyone’s heart. Here is part 1. Look forward to next week for part 2!

Here is part 2 of our 3rd season episode premiere. I made the conscious choice to not omit any parts of the conversation because I thought some of the emotional value would be lost if I had. I apologize for the length of the conversation but I do hope you understand why I’m leaving the conversation uncut.

Saroeun Moungyiv is a 1st generation Cambodian American. She has a cosmetology license and is a nail technician at her mother's shop. Her ambition is simply to help her parents' dream of becoming business owners come true and hope to have people understand the value of true happiness in themselves and in life.

Read our transcript here!: https://www.projectvoicepod.com/blog/2018/8/15/episode-20-im-proud-to-be-a-child-of-refugee-immigrant-parents-part-2

9.15.18: Project Voice has rebranded!

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