Have you ever ghosted someone instead of just telling them how you felt? Same.

Conflict avoidance is basically a love language in Asian households, and most of us inherited it without even realising. We learnt to give silent treatment, people please until we snapped, or just... disappeared. We were never really taught that conflict could actually bring you closer to someone.

In today's episode, Vi-An and Amanda get honest about their own messy, cringe-worthy, and ultimately growth-filled journeys with conflict - from ghosting a boyfriend for two weeks in high school to accidentally screaming at a car on a bike ride.

We spill tea on:

🍵 Why conflict avoidance is a trauma response, not a personality trait

🍵 The difference between a boundary and an expectation (they're not the same thing)

🍵 What it actually looks like to work through conflict as adults

🍵 How your body knows you're in conflict before your brain does

🍵 How structural oppression teaches marginalised communities to keep themselves small and silent

We learned the hard way that avoiding conflict doesn't keep the peace, it just keeps their peace at the cost of yours.

So if you've been swallowing your opinions, ghosting your problems, or waiting for conflict to just resolve itself, brew yourself a cup and sip along as we spill the jasmine tea.

RESOURCES & LINKS

Do you love what you do but feel frustrated with the environment you have to put up with? That's how we felt before starting our businesses.

In today's episode, we get personal. We sharing how we met, our career origin stories, and what it actually took to build businesses that feel true to who we are. From scuba diving in Indonesia to management consulting, we both trace the winding, painful, and ultimately liberating path to doing work on their own terms.

We spill tea on:

🍵 Our first impressions of each other

🍵 Vi-An's rude awakening in the corporate setting working as a consultant

🍵 How Amanda burnt out and burned down her first business, and how she’s rebuilding now

🍵 The experiences that lifted the the rose-tinted veil on DEI initiatives and International Women's Day for us

🍵 Where our business are now and what’s next

This episode is about origin stories, but really it's about unlearning. Unlearning the narrative that you need to fit into a box to have a thriving career.

We hope our stories empower you to find - or create - a space where you can get paid to make an impact, being exactly who you are.

Brew yourself a cup and sip along as we spill the jasmine tea.

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Would you drink a $6 chai with cow’s milk and deal with the consequences of lactose intolerance, or spend another $6 for another drink?

Seems like a simple decision… but not when our bodies carry our refugee parents’ survival money mindset.

In today’s episode, Vi-An and Amanda unpack our money mindset and financial literacy journey. As personal finance late bloomers, we aim to normalise talking about finances and money mindset with trusted people so that we can all learn and grow our wealth together.

We spill tea on:

We learned the hard way that money isn’t just budgeting apps and spreadsheets. (Trust me, we've tried).

There's so much more about safety and emotions like fear and worthiness, and of course - it's deeply tied to culture.

So if these are things you've been reckoning with yourself, brew yourself a cup and sip along as we spill the jasmine tea and share our work-in-progress attitudes towards money!

RESOURCES & LINKS

Disclaimer: Body image can be a sensitive topic and bring up difficult feelings. If you need immediate support, please contact the helplines provided below.

Did the aunties comment on your weight over your Lunar New Year celebrations… and now you’re thinking about whether you should go on a diet or exercise more? Yeah, unfortunately our well meaning loved ones can be a major trigger for body image issues.

Top it up with the lack of body diversity in media, weight stigma in healthcare and fatphobia in society, and it becomes an ongoing battle for many.

Today, we’re going to be spilling the tea on how body image has been weaponised by the ruling class, capitalism and patriarchy to control and oppress us, to the point where we oppress ourselves.

Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom. Vi-An and I also share our own body image struggles and how we’ve healed our relationship with it.

In this episode, we discuss:

Through this hour-long conversation, we hope you’ll remember that the problem was never your body. It’s the systems, structures and stories we’ve been taught.

Please join our listening ritual — brew yourself some hot tea and sip along as we spill the jasmine tea on body image.

P.S. Apologies for Amanda’s binary gendered language at one point of the episode. We aim to be inclusive of diverse genders but sometimes fall short. We'll always learn and do better.

HELPLINES

RESOURCES & LINKS

Have you ever felt a bit icky from someone approaching you with "a small favour"? Maybe you've given yourself the ick when you wanted more and more (of money, status, belongings, whatever it is) and realised it doesn't always lead to a sense of fulfilment.

We unpack how capitalism trains us to over-give, undervalue our labour, and exploit ourselves long before anyone else does - especially as Asian women and children of immigrants who were taught that being “useful” equals being worthy.

We explore what it means to resist a system that dehumanises us, and how we can reclaim our sense of worth, joy, and connection.

In this episode, you'll hear:

🍵 Why “ethical capitalism” is a myth, and why self-exploitation isn’t required to survive or succeed

🍵 The ways capitalism impacts our mental, physical, and emotional health

🍵 How reconnecting with others and choosing intentional connection can be a radical act of resistance

We don’t claim to have all the answers.

This whole conversation is about sitting in the discomfort, naming the systems that shape us, and remembering that you are not broken for struggling in a system that profits from your exhaustion (!!)

So take a seat, pour yourself a cuppa and sip along as we spill the jasmine tea.

RESOURCES & LINKS

If you grew up in an Asian household, boundaries probably weren’t a thing. Saying “I won’t pick up the phone during work” was never going to land. So how do you set boundaries with parents who raised you in survival mode — and who see you as an extension of themselves?

In this episode of Spilling the Jasmine Tea, we unpack the messy, emotional, and often taboo topic of boundaries with Asian parents. From unspoken expectations to guilt, resentment, and the courage to finally choose yourself — Amanda and Vi-An spill the real, unfiltered tea.

You’ll hear stories about:

🍵 Growing up as the “default helper” in immigrant households

🍵 Being woken up from sleep because every issue feels urgent

🍵 Enmeshment, guilt, and the fear of “abandoning” your parents

🍵 Why our parents’ nervous systems are wired for survival

🍵 How learning to ask for what you need changes everything

Through honest conversation, cultural insight, and a whole lot of compassion, we explore how boundaries don’t break relationships — they help us love ourselves and our parents simultaneously.

So brew yourself a warm cup of jasmine tea, and sip along as we spill the Jasmine Tea on boundaries, survival mode, and healing across generations.

If you loved this conversation, hit follow and share this episode with a friend who’s navigating boundaries too.

RESOURCES & LINKS

If you’ve ever walked into a room and thought, “Do people like me exist here?” this one’s for you.

In this episode of Spilling the Jasmine Tea, we dive deep into the heart of belonging - what it feels like, what it doesn’t, and why so many of us who grew up between cultures still find ourselves asking, “Where do I fit?”

We share personal stories that shaped our understanding of belonging, from Amanda’s recent trip back to Vietnam for her grandpa’s birthday, to the moments growing up in Australia that made us question (and redefine) our place in the world.

Through these stories, we explore how belonging isn’t about assimilating or earning your spot — it’s about being seen, supported, and understood.

Together, we unpack:

🍵 What belonging really means (beyond “fitting in”)

🍵 The loneliness so many of us carry quietly and why it feels harder in an individualistic society

🍵 How sharing our stories lightens the load and helps us find our people

So make yourself a warm cup of jasmine tea, and settle into this episode all about finding — and creating — the spaces where you truly feel at home.

RESOURCES & LINKS

If you grew up sipping jasmine tea in an English Breakfast kind of world, you’ve probably wondered: where are all the fellow jasmine tea drinkers at?

You’ve found us.

In our very first episode, we (Vi-An and Amanda) spill on how Spilling the Jasmine Tea came to life — and the perfectionism that almost stopped us from sharing it. From the “98%—where’s the other 2%?” comments we grew up with, to the quiet ways we’ve learned to unlearn, this episode sets the tone for what’s to come: honest, reflective conversations about culture, identity, and what holistic well-being really means for our community.

Together, we unpack:

🍵 The story behind our podcast name

🍵 Why we’re learning to savour the process instead of chasing flawless outcomes

🍵 What we hope this podcast will create for our listeners

So grab your cup (maybe jasmine tea!) and settle in for a heartfelt first brew.

RESOURCES & LINKS

First episode spills Nov 27! Subscribe to our Substack for to get the tea while it's hot!