Emily Fang is a Community Operations Strategist at Stripe, where she focuses on developing and fostering communities for one of the most impactful FinTech startups in the world. Emily is a Taiwanese-American who spent most of her life in California before moving to Singapore as a digital nomad. Beyond her day job, she is a passionate content creator and is the co-founder of AsianFemaleNomads, a global network of career-oriented women on IG and Facebook. She also creates videos for her personal YouTube channel “The Fang Girl" where she talks about her career in tech, living abroad in Singapore, and interviews diverse friends and guests. 

You can follow her content here:

Instgram: https://www.instagram.com/asianfemalenomads/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFangGirl

Alton Wong is a veteran of the marketing & sales world who has worked at leading Tech Companies including Microsoft, Salesforce, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Originally from Markham, a suburb of Toronto, Canada, Alton spent the last 2 years living abroad in Singapore. A trusted friend and fellow Cantonese expat, Alton shares his journey from studying accounting, breaking into the marketing world, and realizing his 'superpowers' as a high EQ sales leader. We cover a lot of ground and go deep into his experiences living in Asia, and relays his lessons learned about life goals, career experiences, and always being curious about learning new skills. 

Melania Lotti is an Infrastructure Finance Analyst at The World Bank, an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries. In this wide-ranging conversation, Melania shares her journey from growing up in a small town near Florence, Tuscany to moving her studies and career abroad to the USA, South Korea, and eventually to Singapore. She is one of the most global-minded people I've ever met and her work contributes directly to making the world a better place. 

In this episode we talk about her early youth and the formative experiences that led her to pursue a career in public policy and economic development. We dive into the differences between humanitarian work, philanthropy, and economic development, before sharing some life/career advice centered on the non-linear nature of career paths. 

Melania is living proof of the advice and wisdom that she shares with us: 

We can constantly shape and re-shape our destiny; our futures are malleable. You can be a good person, do good for the world, follow our own values, and be successful. 

Philip Man is the CEO and Co-Founder of Port, an early stage travel-tech company. Man is a Dutch-Chinese startup founder who spent his early career as a Product Manager and an Innovation Coach traveling to clients all around the world. In this episode, we go deeper into his international and multi-cultural upbringing in the Netherlands, his experiences as a corporate innovation coach, and the highs and lows of being a startup founder, 

Some of the best advice he shares is to "get started before you're ready" - that sometimes you have to take the plunge and execute before you're 100% ready. 

Mai Koythong is a Sr. Copywriter at Riot Games, the creators and publishers of League of Legends. Mai is a gifted storyteller, writer, and role model for creators. In addition to being a talented writer, Mai is an independent game developer and shares her story of how she created her own indie game without any game dev or coding experience. 

We delve into her journey that takes her from Texas to sunny California to pursue her career as a copywriter, to the frozen woods of northern Sweden to take part of Valrkyie Jam, an annual game jam for female and non-binary game developers. From learning how to craft a game from concept to creation, she continues to strengthen her voice and build her confidence as a creator in the game industry. 

Time Stamps: 

On Writing – by Stephen King

Mindset – Carol Dweck; growth oriented lens and getting real

Skyward – Brandon Sanderson

Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Valkyrie Jam

This episode features Aleesha Patel, who is the product marketing lead for Digit, an SF-based startup focused on teaching financial well-being. She recounts her life journey that has taken her from Mumbai, New York, and the West Coast, and how she brings her international perspective to the workplace. We go deep into marketing field and talk about the many different types of roles, skills, and opportunities within the industry. From marketing consulting, working in big tech, to now heading up product marketing at a startup, Aleesha brings a ton of informed perspectives and stories that are fascinating to listen to. 

Digit: https://digit.co/

Banza, Chickpea based rice and pasta: https://www.eatbanza.com/

Jerry Lee is a Sr. Strategy and Operations Manager at Google, a dedicated career mentor for students, and a part-time food entrepreneur. He is a community manager for Subtle Asian Networking, an off-shoot of the now-famous Subtle Asian Traits Facebook group, where he and other like-minded professionals discuss career development topics for Asian professionals around the world.

I first got acquainted with Jerry when I saw one of his LinkedIn posts about helping out some undergrad students at San Jose State University. As somebody who is deeply passionate about mentoring and inspiring students, I immediately reached out to learn more about his story and ongoing work in the community. I hope you enjoy this episode that traces Jerry's career journey into strategy, his empowering advice on how to 'break the bamboo ceiling', and some tips on how to structure your schedule wisely.

Sunny Yang is an inquisitive and purpose-driven woman who is deeply passionate about her work in education reform in Taiwan and across Asia. She serves as the Licensing Director for the International City Wanderer Education Association (ICWED), a non-profit organization in Taipei that focuses on innovative education reform. This award-winning program challenges teams of college students to complete a booklet of 20 'missions' that challenges students to go outside of their comfort zone and build more self-awareness.

She was born and raised in Taipei, attended high school in Los Angeles, and went to university in the Portland. After graduating from Reed College, the liberal arts college that Steve Jobs famously dropped out of, Sunny began her career as a teacher in Taiwan before joining Teach For America. After spending a few years in Indiana as a high school teacher, Sunny realized her true calling and returned to Taipei to help make broader impact in the education space by joining the non-profit sector.

As part of the ICWED 

Notes & References: 

Thrival Indy Academy - Link

The Origins of Civil Rights Movement, Aldon Morris - Link

Wandering City Challenge - Link

Kevin Chiao is a former US Marine who currently leads the Google Play Business Dev Team for Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. As life-long video game enthusiasts, we had a great conversation reflecting on the booming gaming industry and its ability to bring people together. 

We sat down to talk about his life journey that took him from the suburbs of Georgia to the frontlines of Iraq,  and from the heart of Silicon Valley to  Taipei. After leaving the military, Kevin worked as a tech consultant before he moved to San Francisco to work at a mobile game startup.