As I Am

Advocacy & Activism

What’s the difference between advocacy & activism? Do the merits of slactivism outweigh the costs? How can we make activism less daunting? We discuss these questions and much more in this episode with Asian Youth Act, a non-partisan organisation that seeks to promote political and civic engagement of Asian youth. Engaging in advocacy and activism can often be intimidating for many, including the As I Am team. However, by breaking down the barriers and understanding the many ways in which you can support the causes you care most about, however small, being an advocate or taking action becomes that much more approachable and accessible.

 

TIMESTAMPS

(1:39) What is Asian Youth Act
(6:56) How COVID has impacted navigating activism
(9:06) Advocacy vs. Activism
(12:16) How activism presents itself in different ways
(11:38) "Slactivism"
(23:53) Challenges that are unique to Asians when it comes to activism
(26:18) Tackling anti-blackness with Asian parents
(31:07) Implicit biases and learned racist behaviours
(34:17) Dismantling the barrier to activism
(43:07) Discrepancies between Asian-American activist communities and Asian-Australian activist communities

 

Have thoughts or concerns? Send us an email: contact@asiam.me

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asiam.podcast/

Visit our website: https://www.asiam.me/ 

 

Find us on:

Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/as-i-am-podcast/id1506747439 
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hw3zKWqz1eN2udaUvXDCX?si=0z2-K8j-TDmxBv_nfj2SnQ 
Google Podcasts https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2FzaWFtcG9kY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA 

 

As I Am

Tough Conversations

Conversations about difficult topics are never easy and easily avoidable. When you add in the hierarchical nature of many Asian cultures, this difficulty doubles. In this episode, we discuss our personal experience of talking to family members about topics ranging from racism and anti-blackness, to mental health and perspectives on Vietnamese colonialism.

As you will hear, we are not great at doing it ourselves. However, our hope is that through this episode, you may hear similarities with discussions that you have avoided or tried to engage in, and then just maybe, learn something to kickstart those tough conversations again.

 

TIMESTAMPS

(1:13) "How open are you with your family?", January 26th (Invasion Day)
(10:45) Cultural hierarchies and caring about our parents' opinions of us
(18:17) Mental health in Asian cultures
(18:46) Navigating politics, particularly Chinese politics with Jeff's parents, anti-CCP propaganda
(22:36) Discussions of racism with our family, racism among minority groups
(29:30) Coming to terms with our parents' views on French-Vietnamese colonialism
(33:30) The biggest takeaway from this conversation and our take on how you can navigate these topics

 

Have thoughts or concerns? Send us an email: contact@asiam.me

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asiam.podcast/

Visit our website: https://www.asiam.me/ 

 

Find us on:

Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/as-i-am-podcast/id1506747439 
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hw3zKWqz1eN2udaUvXDCX?si=0z2-K8j-TDmxBv_nfj2SnQ 
Google Podcasts https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2FzaWFtcG9kY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA 

 

As I Am

The Politics of Drinking

Do you Asian flush? We do, along with approximately 1 in 3 East Asians in the world. We discuss the politics of drinking in this episode with our friend Moi, a wine industry professional and author of Veraison Magazine. Join us as we explore the joys and stigmas that comes with drinking, the interaction between race, Eurocentrism and wine, and our hopes of changing attitudes to Asian flush and the makeup of the wine industry.

TIMESTAMPS

(2:07) Drinking culture in Asian Australian families and our parents' views on us drinking
(6:52) Transitioning from drinking to get drunk to drinking for enjoyment
(10:07) The taboo of Asian flush within the Western context / De-stigmatising Asian flush
(19:19) Becoming a wine professional
(24:07) The wine industry in Australia and Asian winemakers
(25:25) Eurocentrism in the wine industry, Asian v Western palette
(28:40) Anecdotes of being Asian in the wine industry
(32:48) Future of diversity in the wine industry
(36:06) Moi's project Veraison Magazine

Have thoughts or concerns? Send us an email: contact@asiam.me

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asiam.podcast/

Visit our website: https://www.asiam.me/ 

Find us on:

Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/as-i-am-podcast/id1506747439 

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hw3zKWqz1eN2udaUvXDCX?si=0z2-K8j-TDmxBv_nfj2SnQ 

Google Podcasts https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2FzaWFtcG9kY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA 

As I Am

Alice Pung

For our first episode of 2021, we had the pleasure of speaking with Alice Pung, an award-winning writer, editor, teacher and lawyer based in Melbourne. She is the bestselling author of Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter and the editor of the anthologies Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First Lesson. Our discussion spans stories about Alice's family, her experience of giving birth and raising a child in the wake of COVID-19, the future of Asian parenting and much much more. Speaking with Alice has been one of the biggest highlights of our podcasting career and we're so excited for you to listen.

TIMESTAMPS

(1:25) Alice's time in lockdown and her newborn baby
(7:19) Alice's family and their experience moving to Australia
(10:09) Career in Law
(14:10) Discovering her voice in Writing
(20:50) Raising a newborn during COVID
(22:33) The influence of Alice's upbringing on her own parenting choices
(32:40) "Growing Up Asian in Australia" - the future of the Asian Australian identity
(34:47) The language surrounding racism
(38:00) The spectrum of Asians in Australia , Ali Wong and Asian hierarchy stereotypes
(46:23) Navigating the Law industry as an Asian woman
(55:15) Alice's podcast guest pick
(56:48) Navigating the Writing industry as an Asian woman
(61:13) Identity politics, sharing BIPOC stories and allyship
(68:26) Diversity checklists and Jeff's favourite new words

Have thoughts or concerns? Send us an email: contact@asiam.me

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asiam.podcast/

Visit our website: https://www.asiam.me/ 

Find us on:

Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/as-i-am-podcast/id1506747439 

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hw3zKWqz1eN2udaUvXDCX?si=0z2-K8j-TDmxBv_nfj2SnQ 

Google Podcasts https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2FzaWFtcG9kY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA 

As I Am

Year in Review

Our final episode for 2020 serves as a laugh about our shortcomings and mistakes, a reflection of the year that was, as well as a discussion on key sociocultural events. This episode is also a thank you to all our listeners, old and new, for your words of support, your continued encouragement, your well structured criticism and your eloquent ideas. You have made it possible for the As I Am brand to grow and mature and have enabled us to continue spotlighting Asian voices across Australia and beyond. We're incredibly excited for 2021, and can't wait to show you what we've got in store for you.

TIMESTAMPS

(0:35) Key takeaways from 2020
(4:16) COVID is the new "weather", Face Masks and Racism
(10:49) Black Lives Matter and "Slacktivism" 
(21:01) Biggest learnings from the podcast 
(25:18) Dream podcast guests
(27:28) Reflecting on our marketing journey
(28:28) THANK YOU!

Have thoughts or concerns? Send us an email: contact@asiam.me
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asiam.podcast/
Visit our website: https://www.asiam.me/ 
Find us on:
Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/as-i-am-podcast/id1506747439 
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hw3zKWqz1eN2udaUvXDCX?si=0z2-K8j-TDmxBv_nfj2SnQ 
Google Podcasts https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2FzaWFtcG9kY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA 

As I Am

Workplace Diversity

Less than 5 per cent of Asian-Australians make it to senior executive levels. Only 1.6 per cent become CEOs. It’s no secret that Asians are severely underrepresented in corporate leadership, despite being overrepresented among high-achieving university graduates. How can we overcome the ‘bamboo ceiling’? Are quotas necessary? Or is affirmative action just one part of the story? Join us as we dissect the social, cultural and structural barriers to diversity in corporate leadership with Keerthi Ravi - an Australian lawyer from Allens and founder of Diverse Women in Law, a non-for-profit organisation aiming to promote and support diverse women lawyers and law students.

Appropriation in Fashion

What is cultural appropriation? What is considered as appropriate and inappropriate in fashion? Who gets to decide? In this episode, we sit down and tackle arguably some of our hardest questions yet. We consider the inevitability of the borrowing and mixing of cultures in fashion, and attempt to draw the line between appropriation and appreciation. We interrogate the imbalanced power and privilege that underlie cultural appropriation and ask: who gets to benefit from a culture, and at what cost?

Being Mixed Race

What does it mean to be mixed race? And how does the experience of being from multiple cultures impact someone’s world view? This is a special episode where we collaborated with two friends and our dear listeners in order to understand these two questions. Being mixed race is undoubtedly a unique experience with both its flourishing highs and ambiguous lows, but most importantly, it is the celebration of diversity and cultural richness through the ability to draw from and experience multiple identities.

Bias of Attraction

We think it's pretty safe to say that dating as an Asian can be a roller coaster of an experience. Navigating a sea of stereotypes, "preferences" and trying to work out if they really like you for you, are just a few of the topics we discuss in our first episode on love and relationships. Beyond the saucier subject matter, this is also Jeff and Isabella's first official insight into each other's dating lives so expect laughs, gasps, revelations and an open conversation into the multifaceted experience of navigating the dating landscape as an Asian person.

Behind the Line

Race and privilege in the kitchen, the values we give to Western and Eastern food, and Jeff challenging a fine dining chef to a crab-off are a few of the many things we chatted about with Attica Junior Sous Chef and our friend, Cameron Tay-Yap. Cam shares with us his experience and rise through the kitchen ranks, retelling heartwarming tales of openness as well as run-ins with racism. In our quest to explore unconventional career paths, Cam paints an intricate experience of what it's like to go against the cultural norms many of us have been bound by, and how to succeed in that process.