In Episode 4, Hannah speaks with Justin Zhu, a Bay Area native and former Silicon Valley CEO who is also the co-founder and executive director of a nonprofit organization called Stand with Asian Americans (SWAA). SWAA seeks to unite Asian and Asian-American business leaders to speak out against Asian hate and support AAPI employee resource groups seeking to help Asian employees who experience discrimination in the workplace.

We talk to Justin about his personal experience dealing with anti-Asian discrimination as a tech CEO and founder, and how it inspired him to become an activist for Asians in the workplace.

In episode 3, Hannah speaks with Perry Yung, actor and musician who works in contemporary performance art, television and film. He is perhaps best known for playing the fearsome leader of the Hop Wei Tong Father Jun in the hit HBO Max (and soon-to-be Netflix) series, "Warrior," and is also a traditionally trained Japanese shakuhachi flute craftsman and musician.

We talk to Perry about what inspired him to become an activist, how the response to Warrior motivated his activism and his experience as an Asian actor in Hollywood. We also ask Perry if Warrior may have seemed too "controversial" for some Asian actors to perform in or promote, and thoughts on how Asian-American identity has changed over the generations.

In episode 2, Hannah speaks with Congresswoman Grace Meng, representative for New York's Sixth Congressional District, and a prominent national figure speaking out against anti-Asian hate. She has served in Congress since 2013 and is the first and only Asian-American member from New York State.

Grace has led important initiatives such as removing the term "Oriental" from federal law and advocating for a national museum on Asian Pacific American History and Culture. She has also introduced and helped pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.

In our conversation with Grace, we discuss whether the Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Bill was actually effective, how she deals with criticism from her own community, and the importance of education and voting.

In our first episode, Hannah speaks with New York City native/rapper and activist China Mac (also known as Raymond Yu) who is the co-founder of the "They Can't Burn Us All" movement - one of the first anti-Asian hate movements in recent history. The name of the movement was inspired by the assault on a 89-year-old Chinese grandmother in Brooklyn. Mac later launched a nonprofit with the same name, which calls itself a grassroots organization "fighting to unite and protect the people."

In this episode, we delve into Mac's insights on the current state of anti-Asian hate in New York City, and discuss what can be done to stop it. We discuss why Asians must speak up and fight against racism and reflect on whether Mac feels accepted by his own community, and what prevents us from coming together.

Welcome to the Tiger in the Room.

Today we launch our podcast on this date, January 28th, in honor of a pivotal moment in Asian-American history - the tragic death of Vicha Ratanapakdee, a beloved Thai-American father and grandfather who was murdered three years ago in broad daylight in San Francisco, a victim of a racially motivated attack.

His story served as a catalyst for the Stop Asian Hate movement and consequently nationwide attention to the harsh reality of violence and racism against Asians and Asian-Americans.

For many of us, the shocking murder of Vicha is where we first saw the mainstream media reporting incidents of attacks against Asians and Asian-Americans. For many of us, it led to a national consciousness and awakening of the trauma that Asians have experienced since the start of COVID-19 and sparked a movement that most of us have never seen before in our lifetime.