I wish that children growing up now can see themselves in media that they consume— believe that they’re full of potential to be anything and everything they want. I hope that they’re able to be proud of their cultures and where they come from.

I started this blog in 2009 when I was bored. I read a lot and I thought I might as well share what I thought about books with the internet. At the time, I already had a bunch of advanced reader copies of books since I signed up for a YA focus group that a publisher was running and my friends were a little tired of my “DID YOU READ THIS BOOK” conversation starters (I may or may not still start conversations with friends like that…. oops?) It was a few years after 2009 when I decided focus a lot of my efforts on Asian American literature. Despite reading so many books, I barely saw myself in the stories I read.

My journey with Asian American literature is largely chronicled on this blog from the viral post that I did in 2014 where I essentially listed POC authors. It’s unfortunate that a simple list went viral but such was the state of publishing. It still is, to a certain extent. I used to go to Book Expo America when it was at the Javits Center in New York and one year, I was chatting up a publicist from one of the major publishing companies. I think I mentioned a well-known book by an Asian American that came out and I asked if there were any Asian American literature PR mailing lists. The confusion on her face was obvious. I could hear her thoughts, “But why?”

I grew up with other Asian Americans for a good portion of my life but it’s still hard when the only representation of myself and what I could be is through foreign media. It told my friends and me that we existed but our stories didn’t matter. I found Mochi Mag in 2012 when I googled Eva Chen. Mochi had one of the few profiles on her and at the time, she was the beauty editor at Teen Vogue, which I had just subscribed to.  On  Mochi, there were stories about Asian Americans women thriving beyond stereotypes and limitations. I joined staff soon after that.

I like reading stories that explore the human condition, bearing witness to the difficult moments. I also like light whimsical stories. The publishing industry has changed so much– there are Asian American literature PR lists and an increase in Asian American storytelling. But to the greater public and to the community at large, people don’t know. I’ve been a part of so many Twitter threads earlier this year  where people were looking for Asian American literature and I read so many stories about parents being elated about finding Asian American literature for their kids because they never had it growing up.

There are so many good blogs and websites out there covering Asian American YA and adult fiction so I’ll leave that sector to them but I haven’t seen a centralized database for children’s books yet. I think about when I was six and wanted better representation. Children are malleable and they absorb what society tells them.  I wish that children growing up now can see themselves in media that they consume— believe that they’re full of potential to be anything and everything they want. I hope that they’re able to be proud of their cultures and where they come from. 

I’ve used the portfolio function of my website to host an Asian American Children’s Book Database featuring a variety of picture book and middle grade titles and I hope you’ll explore it. I’m focusing on recent children’s books within the last few years and upcoming releases because those are the metrics that publishers use to measure author success. Please pre-order books or buy books the week they come out to support authors, if you can. The database currently has nearly 50 books and if you want to suggest a book for the database, fill the form out here.

Please note that the database does contain affiliate links for Amazon and Bookshop.org links. Thank you for supporting this website and Asian American literature. I hope you find this database helpful!

Visit the Asian American Children’s Book Database

The post Launching the Asian American Children’s Book Database appeared first on BY JESSICA YANG.

I spoke with I.W. Gregorio, a practicing urologist and the author behind two great YA novels (None of the Above and This is My Brain in Love), talking about mental health, writing minority characters, and being Asian-American. 

I.W. Gregorio’s latest book, This is My Brain in Love, is told from the perspective of two narrators, Jocelyn Wu and Will Domenici. Jocelyn’s family restaurant is failing and her parents are considering moving away. Moving away from everything she knows cannot be an option so Jocelyn plans to revive the restaurant. She hires Will, her half-Italian and half-Nigerian classmate, to help her out. The resulting story– one that explores mental health, food, microaggressions and being in love, is a story that many will relate to. There are small nuances of being “other” and more that many will connect and see their own experiences in. 

The following is a conversation I had with IW Gregorio, edited and condensed for clarity.

What do you think we need to see more of during conversations about mental health, especially in minorities? In This is My Brain in Love, readers get to see teen mental health unfold in a really natural way amidst a larger story– fear, support, being a continual process and going towards the unknown as well as your own mental health journey in the author’s notes. 

I definitely feel like a lot of the media narrative from the big YA books that have come out recently have been maybe potentially disproportionately focused on death by suicide. I really made an effort in this book to talk to not have an active suicide attempt, even though there was some small suicidal ideation. For a long time, I kind of felt like I wasn’t depressed enough and that was a barrier to getting treatment. I think that’s really important to show people that, you know, depression takes all sorts of different forms and just because you haven’t actively tried to kill yourself doesn’t mean that you’re not truly clinically depressed and in a situation where all these different types of interventions can help you. I also really just wanted to write about sort of how challenging it can be to be in love with someone with anxiety or depression, because I’ve been in both sides of the situation– both the person who’s been sad and had a partner, who doesn’t feel like they can say the right thing and also been the person pushing a loved one to try to consider therapy or consider medication because I could see them spiraling, not being able to help themselves. 

I was reading interviews about how you wanted to write an #OwnVoice book and I think the first draft of This is My Brain in Love was the one that got you an agent. But then, you were told that there could only be one YA Asian American author so then you shelved it. 

It’s really not that they’re the same book. I don’t want you to think this is a book that I had written before. There were parts of my first book that I definitely cannibalized to write this book  in that the first book was a thinly-veiled autobiography  of an Asian American woman. Yeah, that is kind of true. That’s definitely true.

I always felt like with my Chinese heritage that I was never quite good enough Asian. The people I grew up with–my grandparents were – never actually lived in China or Taiwan. They actually were part of the diaspora in South Africa, Malaysia, and Mauritius. I had a very tenuous relationship to Chinese culture.

What was the most surprising thing about writing This is My Brain in Love? I was reading a Main Line Today interview where it covers some of the publishing difficulties you went through. 

I guess the most surprising thing has been the reaction of my mother, who I don’t think has read yet. She has read some of the essays I’ve written about the book and she has definitely responded with a much more open way than I would’ve feared. I also feel like one of the surprising things is that it was challenging in some way to create Will’s character, the dual narrative, which is not necessarily an #OwnVoice narrative. Even though his anxieties are similar to mine and in many respects, his socioeconomic status are more similar to mine, he was obviously a challenge to write because I have friends who are Nigerian but I am not from that community. It took a lot of research–a lot of interviewing, going to people’s homes, researching food. My entering into understanding Will’s character is partly from his struggles of anxiety, but also from his struggle as a mixed race person because I have a daughter who is mixed race. I think in many ways that sense of disassociation with your culture is very similar to people who are immigrants. I always felt like with my Chinese heritage that I was never quite good enough Asian. The people I grew up with, my grandparents, never actually lived in China or Taiwan. They actually were part of the diaspora in South Africa, Malaysia, and Mauritius. I had a very tenuous relationship to Chinese culture. Grace Lin will sometimes  write stories about all these traditions. I never had those, which is ironic because Grace and I actually went to the same high school so we were  part of the same community. Because of that sense of otherness, that sense of detachment, I think that I was able to read a little bit more to Will’s struggle for figuring out his place in the world.

What do you think was the biggest turning point in your life? 

I mean the biggest turning point in my life, I feel like I kind of alluded to in 1 or 2 previous interviews, where I finally had a therapist who managed to break through all those years of conditioning where I felt like my sadness, my inability to control my  emotions were weaknesses or character flaws. She was able to finally pound into my brain that it’s actually partially a chemical imbalance. She was like, “Ilene, why are you denying yourself these medications?” I’ve been on them but then stopped, been on them and stopped. Literally, I’ve been on and off them twice by the time I saw her and I was on a research year [during medical school]. It was a very challenging year because it was very isolating. I was stuck in a lab, decapitating rats. It was awful. It was an underground lab; you had to descend underground. Horrible. When I wasn’t doing that, I was just like making slide after slide. It was so monotonous. At that point, I saw a therapist and finally she was just like you have to realize that your brain needs serotonin so take it; don’t be afraid to take it.

What do you think is the best part about being Asian-American right now, despite everything that’s going on? 

It’s been a long road but I think that the Asian American community is starting to come together in a way through things like Crazy Rich Asians and the Gold Open. The community is finally coming together around cultural events,emphasizing the role of art and the creation of the culture. For so long, a lot of us have grown up in this dichotomy where you’re either a doctor or a lawyer and you’re not of any worth [if you’re not the above]. Artistic pursuits were considered to be a hobby. I know so many Asian creators who grew up wanting to be an artist or a writer and then, suppressing that passion. The community finally started to really gather around things like Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell. [With] a lot of the books that we’re seeing these days, I’m hoping that we’re finally creating that sense of cultural identity the way that a lot of the Black community had. There’s so much Black pride– I remember, specifically, I think it was the North Texas Teen Book festival in Austin and being at a table with Jason Reynolds and Dhonielle Clayton. We’re talking and they’re going back and forth about all the things they’re proud of the community. Marie Lu and I were all kind of like, “Yeah, we never felt that way about being Asian.” It was really eye opening to question why Asian-Americans have never felt like they can be proud of their art. I have been seeing that more– Kat Cho and Ellen Oh have been really good at gathering the community together and trying to create “economies of scale”, where people are creating panels together, becoming a collective and collaborating in ways that we haven’t been in the past. It’s new to me because I grew up in a place where I was, you know,  just me and one other Asian dude and of course, we didn’t want to have anything to do with each other because people were always mentally pairing us together. I never felt a sense of Asian community until junior or senior year of college.

For fun: who would you get brunch with and where would you go? 

I would want it to be Michelle Obama. I have just started listening to Becoming and the depth of how she’s able to narrate her life and balance the success with the challenges that she faced growing up. I love her. We would probably go to my local Vietnamese place to get a banh mi and bubble tea.

To learn more about I.W. Gregorio, check out the following pieces:

Four Questions for I.W. Gregorio (Publisher’s Weekly)

On the Importance of Happy Books about Mental Illness

To order I.W. Gregorio’s  latest book, This is My Brain in Love, order via Bookshop.org or through your local independent bookstore. A directory of local bookstores near you and how to order can be found here. 

Thank you to my brother for making the graphic and Rushi for help with the transcription.

The post I.W. Gregorio: Finding her Asian-American Identity Later in Life and Writing about Mental Health appeared first on BY JESSICA YANG.

I’ve long been a proponent of sustainability for quite some time now, especially  after watching Wasted: the Story of Food Waste during a sustainability event during college. In the US, approximately $160 billion worth of produce is thrown away annually, an amount that is ⅓ of all foodstuffs and wasted food is the biggest portion of waste in US landfills according to the EPA. Some of the food waste is due to “imperfect” looking vegetables and fruits that either consumers don’t buy or the grocery stores don’t put out due to the way they look. An article in The Atlantic also calls out “foodie culture” on social media that seeks food perfection as a reason for the exacerbation of food waste. 

I kept getting ads for Misfits Market, a Philly-based startup subscription box service that sells “ugly” organic produce that local farms have a surplus of to consumers, on social media and for once, I clicked on it.  I was intrigued and the smallest produce box was $19 (not inclusive of shipping fees but shipping for me was under $5) so it wasn’t bad since I’d probably spend that much on produce in a week anyway. They’ve since raised the price of the smallest box to $23 (without shipping fees). The description for the smallest produce box estimates that it contains 10 to 12lbs of organic veggies and fruits. 

Misfits Market, Food Deserts and the Larger Sustainability Conversation

Something to think about though: Sustainability is a nice sounding catch-all term for a lot of acts such as using reusable tote bags while shopping (tote bags from publishers are very handy for this), recycling paper/plastic, drinking water from reusable bottles, and more, there’s also a bias associated with the acts depending on socioeconomic status. I was scrolling through Reddit recently on the r/AskReddit thread and one of the questions was, “What is classy when you’re rich and trashy when you’re poor”. Someone wrote being cheap. A lot of sustainability revolves around the idea of maximizing usage out of a product, which inevitably saves money. Thrifting is cool when you’re rich and can afford other companies but it’s lame when it’s all that you can afford. 

It brings up a good point about inequality and health disparities . In a January 2019 Vox interview, the CEO of Misfits Market, Abhi Ramesh,  is asked about food deserts and low income families. Ramesh says, “I understand how, when you initially think about those interested in reducing food waste, you think about wealthy folks who are privileged, and care about sustainability. But most of our customers are actually families that are cost-conscious, and we’re saving them money on groceries. Some also don’t have access to it currently. There’s about 30 million Americans that live in food deserts, which are urban areas that are a mile away from a supermarket.* A part of our mission is to provide the access of produce to these people. Well, one way we are is by shipping everywhere. You’ll notice that a lot of startups will target wealthy zip codes, or look for urban areas that are super-concentrated with millennials. But we ship to everywhere in the states we’re in, and that’s how we reach a lot of customers who need affordable produce the most. We also have a pilot program in the works that will allow us to accept SNAP payments.” 

*Note: the USDA defines food desert as no supermarket that sells fresh produce within a mile in an urban/suburban area and none within 10 mile radius in a rural area. 

While I applaud Ramesh for bringing up the idea of food deserts and working on a program that accepts SNAP, I question the authenticity. I’m not a business person so I don’t know how long it takes to setup a program that takes SNAP but as of now, Misfits Market still doesn’t take SNAP. (Another similar subscription box service for organic produce, Imperfect Produce, which does deliver to parts of PA/NJ and from what I can tell, does take SNAP benefits.)  Food deserts are all over PA and NJ, sometimes in the very communities that ironically have large scale farms. Across the river from Philly is Camden, a community that’s well-known for its crime rate and health disparities, which I have no doubt is tied to being a food desert. During a mandatory health disparity lecture for school, a staff from the Camden area brought up the idea that many Camden residents prefer to shop with cash. Would an online credit card shop really help them (not to mention would they really want a box of produce sitting on their steps until they come home)? Obviously, there are also suburban areas that are food desert areas, too. I would really want to see what percentage of their consumers are in food deserts versus the number of millennial customers. However, Misfits Market does say that they work with small and mid-size farms as well as deliver to all zip codes versus other places that deliver to certain zip codes and work with larger farms. 

Another thing that I didn’t particularly like was hidden away in the FAQ, third question from the end of a lengthy page, that statement that Misfits Market is launching a regular donation program with two Philly based food banks. While I applaud their desire to give back to the community, without an estimated launch date, this is just an empty statement. It could be anytime this year or in five years. I obviously like the fact that they’re forward thinking (eco-sustainability and social responsibility), which millennials also like but I think there’s a bit of disingenuousness to it all– have concrete statements if you’re going to be socially responsible. There are too many empty statements already in society and there doesn’t need to be more, especially if Misfits Market has something good going for it in the sustainability space. 

Philly.com recently covered Misfits Market and their hiring of the formerly incarcerated. Hiring from the communities in which they exist and giving people a second chance is something that I can get behind, especially paying living wages. I think it’s especially important when having these conversations about some of the toughest problems that we’re covering multiple aspects of the problem.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, I think Misfits Market is targeted to the millenials who like subscription boxes, want to get into sustainability, and also crave a deal. A huge draw of Misfits Market is the local organic produce that gets diverted away from landfills (not that organic produce is really a major contributor of food waste, anyway). Misfits Market has seen a problem and a solution. I have to applaud them for it, because at the end of the day, they’ve made a business out of a sustainability problem and so far, it seems that they’re doing alright. Their collateral is really snazzy and is well designed, which I’m sure appeals to the millennial crowd. I do like their initiatives like paying living wages to their workers and wanting to start accepting SNAP but I do wish that they’re more transparent about their initiatives and have more concrete numbers. 

Something I do wish they did though, was somehow allow customers to give back the ice packs, which are reusable instead of recommending them to be cut open and drained. I receive 2-4 ice packs per order and I honestly get flashbacks to my lab days where I used to unpack reagent orders and stick the freezer packs that they came with into the freezer for later use. I store the cold packs that come with my orders in the freezer but I honestly don’t have much opportunity to use them. The packaging is mostly recyclable and I do like that when the produce comes in bags that they’re in eco-friendly compostable bags. 

Thoughts on the Produce

In terms of the produce and my own satisfaction, I will say that there are weeks that I’m not super satisfied as there are times where I’ve gotten produce that are a wilted side of things or the rare vegetable that I don’t really eat (ie. lettuce/artichoke) but for the most part, I feel alright about it. Since you can’t really select what goes into your box, it does make it hard if you’re a picky eater or you want  groceries for a meal-prep plan that you have in place already.  Since June 2020, Misfits Market has implemented produce customization of each box, which has been great.  Imperfect Produce, which I mentioned previously, also for customization of what fruits/veggies you want (as well as if you want an all fruit or all veggie box) and their price is comparable to that of Misfits Market. However, Imperfect Produce is based in CA and their produce is conventionally grown (there are some organic options but the prices are higher than that of Misfits Market).

Personally for me, I still go grocery shopping but Misfits Market does help during the weeks where I know I know I’ll be really busy and will cover me for that particular week. It also is legitimately a good deal on eating organic produce on a budget. Since Misfit Market is local to me, I definitely have a way lower carbon footprint using it than that of someone ordering it living in KY or a further state.

If you want a 25% code off your first order for Misfits Market, here’s my referral code (I’m not sponsored in any way but because I’m a customer, I’ll get 25% off my orders, too):

COOKWME-JA9TYI

If you want to try out Imperfect Foods instead, here’s a referral link for $10 off your first order.

The post Two Months With Misfits Market: Thoughts on Sustainability and Eating Organic Produce on a Budget appeared first on BY JESSICA YANG.

Eastern State Penitentiary 

One of my college friends came from Ohio to visit so I was showing him around Philly. In the end, it was a toss-up between the Mutter Medical Museum and Eastern State Penitentiary. Eastern State won out in the end. 

One of my other friends wanted to visit a few years ago and I was ambivalent so I never went. Eastern State Penitentiary was the first penitentiary in the world when it opened in 1829 as it focused on reform rather than punishment. It served as a model for other penitentiaries across the world. As such, some believe that it’s haunted. 

Eastern State is basically a preserved ruin. It was abandoned in the 1970’s when it closed and a group of people rescued it from demolition. Now, it serves as a museum of sorts– visitors can see how the penitentiary evolved across time, what people were incarcerated for and how the culture of incarceration changes. It’s an incredibly educational experience, especially if you go on the mini tours that occur throughout the day about various topics such as surgery in the prison, solitary confinement, and religion inside of the prison. 

I stopped by Federal Donuts on my way there and it’s one of my favorite places in Philly. They make hot, fresh cake donuts and it’s the best. I sing its praises to anyone who will listen to me. There’s a couple locations scattered around Philly so definitely worth going.

Hudson Yards

I met up with Jenny in New York after an incredibly long time of not seeing her so a catch-up was needed.  I ordered a good bowl of Thai noodles at a restaurant in her Upper West Side neighborhood that had my favorite vegetable in it, kale, so I was very pleased, especially since the flavors weren’t overpowering. We didn’t really plan anything so I decided that we should go to Hudson Yards to see the Vessel. The wait for free tickets to go up wasn’t bad (the shopping complex is right next to it so it was an excuse to window shop). We wanted to see The Farewell but show times weren’t working with my schedule so that didn’t happen. 

Would I go again? Probably not but you can get some photos for IG there. The Highline is also nearby and you can see good views of the river there. 

Longwood Gardens

I went to Longwood Gardens a few times as a child and I remember that I really liked it. I met up with Karen and her sister on an incredibly hot and sunny day so I was glad for the trees inside of the Garden. 

Longwood Garden is the legacy of Pierre Du Pont, who turned it into a horticultural oasis spanning over one thousand acres. It’s definitely worth visiting (over and over again) and I always appreciate something different whenever I go. The fountain light shows are also staying until late evening to watch during the summer season. I also really want to visit the other DuPont estates that are scattered across Delaware. 

Hawk Mountain

My friends and I wanted to go hiking over Labor Day weekend so the most experienced hiker out of us decided on Hawk Mountain in Kempton, PA for a half day hike. Details are hazy on whether or not I’ve actually hiked before so you can imagine how this hike went. It’s rated a “hard” on All Trails and the reviews all mention how rocky it is. I was climbing on rocks on the side of the mountain, stepping on rocks and spent over a mile walking on large rocks on an incline (Rocky River Trail is incredibly rocky). My phone tells me that we did 8.3 miles and covered a total elevation of 680ft so it was a good workout. We somehow also did a little over a mile on the Appalachian trail so that’s cool. 

We did see a bird of prey of some kind but it wasn’t migration time so we probably could’ve seen more if we came a little later in the year. Views were really nice and despite all the rocks, I did appreciate it. 

The post Eastern State Penitentiary, Hudson Yards, Longwood Gardens, and Hawk Mountain appeared first on BY JESSICA YANG.

Below is Annastasia’s review of both of Kuang’s releases.

Jessica recently sent me copies of The Poppy War (HarperVoyager, 2018) and Dragon Republic (HarperVoyager, 2019) by R.F. Kuang since I wanted to read more books by Asian American writers and she had copies of the books (thanks, Jessica!!).  

The Poppy War

The Poppy War (TPW) follows Rin, an adopted daughter from the southern villages of Nikan who remarkably earns a spot in Sinegard, the country’s most prestigious military academies–a ticket out of poverty and a constricted maiden’s life.  Through her vigorous training by an ostensibly deranged mentor, she finds that she possesses intrinsic powers as a shaman–an ability to communicate and channel powers of her god, the Phoenix.

Based loosely on 20th century Chinese history of a failing feudal society at the end of the Qing dynasty, the Nikara Empire is under forces that leads them with war with the Federation of Mugen.  The horrors of war–famine, mass casulaties, lives reduced to numbers, rape, and resulting refugee, survivor, and post-traumatic stress disorder, drug addiction are evident. Rin realizes her powers were not given to her on accident, and she may use it for what she thinks is justice.

Dragon Republic

Whereas TPW follows Rin as she discovers her gifted abilities as a soldier and shaman, Dragon Republic (DR) takes the reader along Rin’s journey to find her purpose.  Although DR is the second book in the trilogy, it definitely does not disappoint and keeps–if not accelerates–the pace developed by The Poppy War.    

DR closely follows the history of the development of Republican China to dive deeper into complex interplays of a country trying to recover from a war yet beset by colonialism and competing Western influence.  Rin continues to grapple with the horrors of war–racism, classism, genocide, mass executions–and ethics of who really wins.  

Rin finds herself questioning her loyalties and friendships while engulfed in a war where ideological, religious, political, and economic control are at stake.  As a commander, Rin decides to align her forces with the Dragon Warlord to overthrow the Empress and create a new Republic where civilians apparently have a direct say in their country’s leaders.  

However, Rin realizes this war is not only a domestic struggle, but spans oceans.  Alliances come at a price. When Rin’s abilities to call the Phoenix are threatened while serving under the Dragon Warlord, she gets a better idea of where her loyalties lay.  

Thoughts on Both Books

Kuang’s use of symbolism, particularly in DR, greatly enhances the books’ connection to Chinese history and culture.  In Chinese mythology, the Dragon and Phoenix are representative of a perfect balance of forces–the yin (phoenix) with the yang (dragon).  So far in the trilogy Rin and her Phoenix have worked with the Dragon Warlord and his Dragon to fight for a Republic. However, Nikan still is not fully unified yet, so we’ll have to wait to see if indeed the Phoenix will perfectly balance the Dragon.  Watch out, world (particularly Dragons)–the Phoenix has risen.

Overall, Kuang’s writing style is not dense and fun to read.  Given the length and plot expanse between the books, it was sometimes hard to keep track of which countries corresponded to which in real life.  Compared to TPW, DR’s pacing was fast due to the amount of battle scenes.  Kuang’s vivid descriptions and third person narration definitely helps foreshadow key character actions, keeping the reader on their toes!

Why These Books Are Important 

When Jessica said these books she had were historical fantasy, I didn’t think much of it because to be honest, I haven’t read fantasy since high school.  Well, the stars must have aligned; Kuang’s works were exactly what I needed to read.

Rin, the strong, Asian, female lead taught me how to be BRAVE.  She not only teaches me how to identify “cowards”, but empowers me to call it out–because I can picture myself in Rin.  

As a Chinese American female around the age of Rin (and Kuang!), I can identify so much with Rin’s culture and attitudes.  For example, like Rin of Nikan, my grandparents were Southerners from the rural agrarian villages of China. Northern families have looked down upon our native tongue, unsophisticated Buddhist/Daoist/Confucian traditions, and of course, short stature. 

It was undoubtably incredibly freeing as I read and imagined Rin telling all these powerful gods and people to “fuck off” on almost every other page.  Rin is a fierce soldier and erudite strategist who understands the world so well.  

Although Rin should be praised for her bravery, readers can also draw lessons from her fears–battles she wages against herself.  Rin is often afraid of admitting the truth about people; she molds several key friends into who she wants them to be, not what their actions prove them to be.  She helped me realize that it takes incredible courage to admit and accept the realities of current friendships and relationships, especially when I want to hold onto previous versions.  

Lastly, the historical lessons of TPW and DR could not be more relvent to today’s rise of hate crimes and race/religion-based genocide around the world. In TPW, Rin fights against all odds to rise against people who hate her skin tone, socio-economic status, and geographic background.  In DR, Rin fights countries who hate her religion and race.  Although both books expose the little progress across history given today’s political climate, Kuang unfortunately does not provide an allegory which solves the problem.  Ironically, Rin is equally fueled by hate to drive out these forces of suppression. Nonetheless, these scary parallels to today’s current events encourage me to dig deeper into history.

If you’re looking for an adventure with a coming-of-age young adult heroine (without the teen fiction love triangles!) who fiercely understands geopolitical forces, grab yourself a copy of R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War and Dragon Republic now.  I absolutely can’t wait until the last book in the trilogy comes out.  

The post The Poppy War and Dragon Republic by R.F Kuang appeared first on BY JESSICA YANG.

I shouldn’t have felt intimidated. Maggie was incredibly kind and she still is. I reconnected with Maggie recently to ask her if I could interview her for my career profile series on women of color, Tell Me More, and she promptly agreed, to my surprise. I hope you are as inspired as I am by her.

You have an undergrad degree in biology but worked in business at McKinsey after graduating. Did you know that was going to be your trajectory?

I didn’t. I knew I always wanted to be in business and as you know, at the time I was studying science so I thought I would go into something like hospital administration. For me, studying biology was less about learning biology and more learning about how to think in a certain way. I was interested in the scientific method and how to solve problems in a systematic way. That was my interest in the science side of it and most of my extracurriculars in college were business related so I knew I wanted to do something in business but I wasn’t sure what.

That’s interesting because when I started college, I had considered a biology major to do the very traditional route of being a biology major to go to medical school and I wasn’t sure if that’s something you considered.

No, no, I never considered it. I don’t have the stomach for it. Literally, (laughs) I can’t stand the sight of blood but the funny upside is that now I have a lot of doctor friends.

You’ve talked before about the importance of reputation and trust in business. What other skills do you wish you had early in your career?  

I think when you first start, you’re learning so many things. You’re learning how to work at a company and learning about the world of business. This is specifically, I guess, towards a business career: People talk about having mentors and finding mentors. I think that’s good but I think it’s sometimes hard to know even where to start, what questions to ask.

So for me, I wish I had done this earlier is that I wish I had started going to different events– going to panels, conferences, listening to more podcasts. I think that people have so much advice that they want to share already and so that’s a good way to start. From there, I would have done this a lot earlier and developing my, not necessarily what I wanted to do when I grew up, but rather the type of people that I’d want to work with and then the types of companies that I believed in. There’s an exercise that I do now where I make a list of companies that excite you or that you would want to work for. But don’t just stop at the list. Ask what about these companies intrigue me and oftentimes, it might be the great products but oftentimes, on a more deeper, there’s probably something in their values, vision and mission that aligns with yours. Figure out what your core values are. It’s something that I got from working at Zappos for so many years, thinking through what are my values, what values do I want in the people around me, what kind of company do I want to work for and what kind of culture do they have.

Back to your comment about podcasts, is there any podcast that you would recommend?

Not specifically because I feel like people get information in very different ways so I would just say that if you’re interested in a topic, there’s probably a podcast on it. I’m currently in the block chain space and there are a few really high quality podcasts on it. that help you with something as basic as how to pronounce certain terms and that to me is how you say whatever term. In block chain, there are terms like ethereum, ETH, etc and just knowing how they’re pronounced to be able to talk about it is helpful. I wouldn’t recommend any specific podcasts but just base them on your interesting.

There’s a lot of talk about the bamboo ceiling and the glass ceiling that affects  Asian-Americans and women. Since you’ve been in a lot of high executive positions, especially in a male-dominanted industry like business, what do you wish other women or Asian Americans know?

In any business industry, it’s important to have a community of people who are similar to you and support them. As an Asian woman, I like to support other Asian woman so I started Mochi. I hope that other Asian women are looking to support me but I also think that it’s important to not just focus on that because that isolates us as a group and makes us insular. Mentors as people can be people who are not Asian or not female. It is only by doing that because today that’s who’s in business and you need those people to support you while trying to get more people who have similar background into your roles. I would just say finding people across the organization who become your champions and you might connect on other things like sports or another hobby.

I was talking recently with one of my friends who also works in business asking her if she had any questions she’d like to know the answer to. She was wondering how to be confident and assertive in a room where no one looks like you. I know you talked before about doing power poses to feel confident but is there anything else?

(Laughs) That’s one sort of trick but I think the actual assertiveness is knowing your content. I naturally feel confident when I know what I’m talking about and I think most people do. You over prepare and find your time to speak. I went to Exeter for high school and they teach the Harkness method, which means that in your classes, you’re not getting lectured at and instead, you’re in a round table like a conference room so no one raises their hands and you have to jump in.

So like a Socratic circle?

It’s Socratic yeah, but it’s for high schoolers, which is crazy. The teachers don’t even call on you. In business school, the teachers are still calling on you so it’s Socratic. At Exeter, it’s literally like a conference room conversation and I was terrified. The first year I was there, I maybe had something to say but I didn’t know what to say or someone would say it before I would get to it. There was this one thing that I would always do and I would participate by saying, “Let’s take a look at the text; it has an interesting context”. I would bring everyone back to the text and we would read a sentence that I identified. I would say something about it because for me, that was a way of making myself less nervous because I knew the first moment would just be reading the text.

I would say that assertiveness and confidence take practice. It doesn’t come easy. People typically don’t give you the opportunity to speak if you don’t pipe up so you have to find a way to enter the conversation and have your unique voice. Maybe that’s something like a distinct advantage that you can add so if you’re scheduled to present, it’s easier because you have your presentation moment. If you’re not scheduled, maybe there’s a topic that you know that most people aren’t going to know that well and you can jump in there.

It’s really hard for people, especially Asian Americans, to talk about the failure they’ve faced. What is an unexpected setback that you faced?

I completely agree that talking about failure and vulnerability is very tough. I’ve talked about this before but when I was in Las Vegas at the Downtown Project, we did a layoff. It was a very tough moment in my life because it was very personal. I had previously been in larger finance companies  in New York so if someone gets fired or let go, that’s it. You don’t see them. This time, it was my friends and vice versa, they thought I was a friend. It was a very difficult time and I guess the failure leading up to that is the business got to a point where this had to happen. In retrospect, how could we have avoided that situation in the first place?

Most valuable or life-changing advice that you were given?

Something that my former boss, Tony Hsieh at Zappos, told me was the value of relationships and he knows so many people. Not just because so many people know him because he’s a prominent CEO but rather because he takes the time to know lots of different people and so I think one philosophy that I try and do is to respect other people– be interested in who they are and their story because you never know how stuff gets back to you not because they wrong you but generally, try and help other people. Maybe that’s the advice: help other people and respect other people. When it’s time when you need help, like I’m facing with this business idea that I’m working on.  I’m meeting with people to talk about it and all these people are willing to meet with me because in the past I’ve helped them with no intention of needing anything from them.

You sometimes don’t know how far your reach is. Like in Vegas, especially, it’s a very small town so I would be out and talking. Someone would be like, “Oh yeah, I saw you at the bar the other day and you were talking to someone.”  People see. It’s like those celebrity stories. On Quora, you can be like,”When did you meet Obama” and people would say how cool he was but he’s talking to the security guy at the hotel. I think in today’s day and age, a lot of that stuff, whether good or bad gets amplified and comes back around.

Something that I’ve noticed is that you’ve talk a lot about communities throughout our interview and you’ve done a presentation on hospitality for Cornell where you talk about engineered serendipity.

I’m very passionate about this. This is something that Tony talks a little about and I’ve thought about. How can you encourage these great connections and these great moments where two people come together or groups of people come together to create something? It’s really hard to prescribe that and say, “You’ll all meet up and create XYZ” but if you get the right people in the room, the right ambiance and conversation structure, all these amazing things come together that you couldn’t even have predicted. Whether it’s thinking about a great college, university or workplace, there are all these other people and you’re sharing ideas. But sometimes you’re stuck in these silos. You’re working on the same projects so it’s less serendipitous. That’s why I love conferences and my friends joke that I’m a professional conference goer. You go to conferences and you can sit in on some talk to hear what other people are working on. It may inspire you, even if you have nothing to do with that. There are these moments of non-linear thinking so it’s pretty cool. There’s a book, Where Good Ideas Come From, that talks about how you have a lot of these innovations that come together because there are two different fields.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Lots! But mostly guys.(Laughs) I think I had a lot of pressure and it wasn’t necessarily from my parents. It was just that I felt this was what I had to do to stack up a lot of brand names on my resume and because I think the names gave validation to me. I would hope that if I could do it again, not that I think it was a bad way of doing it but rather I would’ve just doubled down on what I’m passionate about and moved towards that 100%. I’m someone who’s done a lot of different things which is good, but at a certain point it would’ve been nice to develop an expertise on something. I’m still trying to figure that out, what I’m trying to be when I grow up.

It’s funny because I was talking to my friends and I was like, “I’m nervous to do this interview. She’s from Harvard undergrad and the business school, did the whole McKinsey thing… Meanwhile I graduated, took a gap year and am doing med school. I just feel so young.”

I’ve had people look at my resume, gurus, who’ve looked at my resume and they’ve said, “This makes no sense.” I respect Anderson Cooper, who’s a news reporter and anchor, a lot and he has this quote about how the different things he’s done. He said how in retrospect, it was those things that made him the person he is today because of all those experiences.

 

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From ringing to the NYSE Closing Bell® to sharing personal stories on the gold carpet, we thank you, the Asian community, for coming together to celebrate this year’s #A100List Honorees with us and our partner, @aarp! We urge everyone to continue to support each other’s stories, companies, campaigns, and successes all year ’round. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ And if someone has already inspired you this year, head to goldhouse.org/nominate to nominate them for the 2020 #A100List. Nominations close Dec 1, 2019.

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You’re involved with the Gold House, a collective “of pioneering Asian founders, creative voices, and leaders dedicated to systematically accelerating the Asian diaspora’s societal impact while enhancing the community’s cultural legacy” as a principal co-founder. Can you talk more about Gold House?

Gold House is a non-profit that came together a year and a half to two years ago. The core of Gold House is very similar to the core of Mochi: Asians supporting other Asians. The thought around Gold House is that we [Asian-Americans] want to be more visible across more industries. We started specifically across entertainment. There needs to be financing around entertainment so it’s made. In order for something like Crazy Rich Asians or Always Be My Maybe to be made, you need talent. How do you create talent? You need to have good actors and actresses and we’re really helping with that. That’s been the premise around Gold Open, which is one of the initiatives that helps insure that these films have a good box office opening day. At the end of the day, money talks. If these films do well, studios will make more of them. There’s a whole engine around supporting these films and a site, GoldOpen.com that shows all the different films and plays that have Asian-American roles and leads so the thought is that people will support that. Put your money where your mouth is.

Will Gold House branch into other industries as well?

Yeah, definitely. On the founders’ side, we’re doing some stuff with chefs and the food side. Since we’re a non-profit, we hope to represent a number of different verticals.

 

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Hear from some of this year’s #A100List Honorees who share how their cultural identities have impacted them personally and professionally. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ To see the full List of Honorees, visit goldhouse.org/A100

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What are your hopes for what you want to see in the future for Asian Americans?

I just want us to be represented fairly and accurately. We should be seeing ourselves. Back to the original idea behind Mochi, which was inspiring Asian American women to pursue their passions regardless of what they are. They don’t have to be lawyers, doctors, doctor-lawyers etc and it should be anything. They should have the ability to pursue anything.

Fun Questions:

What would you do you like to do on your days off?

I don’t have too many days off and I travel a lot to see my friends. I recently adopted a German Shepherd and we’re going to adopt another one so I will be training my dogs since they are extremely smart and they need more training.

What are you currently reading?

The Art of Gathering. It’s this incredible book by Priya Parker. It talks about how to bring people together and she’s a conflict resolution mediator who’s worked in India, the Middle East and Africa. She’s brokering conversations between countries that hate each other and her book is about how to have great dinner parties.

Interview edited lightly for clarity.

P.S: How to achieve your goals when others tell you no from Kristyn, an Emergency Medicine Resident 

The post Maggie Hsu: On Learning Assertiveness and the Importance of Building Communities appeared first on BY JESSICA YANG.

Natural Incorporation of Asian-American Themes

Sea Sirens is inspired by the short story, The Sea Fairies by Frank Baum (of Wizard of Oz fame), the sea and Vietnamese mythology. It was heartwarming to see Vietnamese sayings in the original Vietnamese in the book. Trot has to stay home, looking after her grandpa who has dementia, while her mom works during the day. In the interactions with her grandpa, he uses Vietnamese proverbs and Chu made sure that the Vietnamese that she used was accurate (as seen in the acknowledgements section of the book).

Something that I appreciated was Chu’s answer in a Westfield Comics interview about the book, ” I thought, why don’t we set this in southern California? It would be an updated mermaid book with some of the aesthetic from the original story but with a Pacific Rim feel. As an Asian American, I thought, let’s make it an Asian American themed home. We were looking at a lot of art from the Californian turn of the century arts and crafts movement. It felt very right for this book.” I love how nonchalant Chu was about making it an Asian-American themed, especially since the Asian elements are so natural in the story. Chu’s story-weaving of the story is also deft and it’s no wonder, since works as a full-time comic writer, with clients such as Marvel and DC. 

The Art Nouveau-style

While I’ve said before that I’m not a beach person at all, the art in Sea Siren made me wish that I was. Janet K. Lee’s work is beautiful and I wish there are prints of the art from the book (there aren’t but Lee does have an Etsy shop filled with beautiful prints). The vibrant art reminds me of the Art Nouveau style. Lee is also the artist behind the Marvel adaptations of Jane Austen’s Emma and Northanger Abbey.

Final Thoughts

Although the book is a middle-grade graphic novel aimed at young readers eight to twelve, Sea Sirens is such a fun read that doesn’t seem infantile for an adult audience. Come for the story and stay for the art.

The post A Fun Summer Graphic Novel by an Asian-American Author appeared first on BY JESSICA YANG.

Here’s how you do Wildwood when you’re not a beach person:

Wyland Whale Mural

What a whale of a time. Dad jokes aside, I chanced upon this giant whale mural by internationally known whale mural artist Wyland on my first try heading towards the beach for the Kite Festival. Surprising considering how many times I’ve walked around in circles accidentally while exploring cities with friends. It was disappointing to find a local news article about how the Wyland mural in Wildwood is in need of repair and that some of the original artwork has been washed away. It explains how some of the mural had more detail in shading than others.

Wildwood Kite Festival

The only reason why I was on the beach in the first place. While some of these would not look out of place during Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, the kites were still a sight to marvel at. Most of the kites were unmanned and just floating in the wind.

Mack’s

I love thin crust pizza and Mack’s Pizza on the boardwalk does thin crust well. It’s a cash only establishment but their plain cheese pizza is so good.

Hereford Inlet Lighthouse

I enjoy history and the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse has a lot of it. Built in 1874, it still functions as a lighthouse, though the original lens was decommissioned in 1984. You can walk through the house, see vintage furniture, including a pram, and view the original light that was used in the lighthouse. In addition, learn about the history of the local area as well as the keepers who lived in the house. Best of all? Free admission. There’s also a garden, which you can walk through as well.

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Some of the meals aren’t under 15 minutes but they’re low effort, which allows for multi-tasking so I’ve included them.

15-minute Coconut Curry Noodle Soup

It’s simple enough that I’ll make it fresh. Coconut milk/cream doesn’’t refrigerate well for an extended period of time, which is another reason why I prefer to make this meal fresh. I buy chicken meat in bulk so I just take some pre-portioned frozen chicken from the freezer and put it in the fridge to defrost the morning of. 

Three-Cup Chicken

It’s not really a “quick” meal as much as it’s a low effort meal. It also refrigerates well, which is why I like to make a large portion and save for later meals. I use skinless and boneless chicken thighs for this instead of their suggested drumettes so there’s less hands-on eating. 

Chicken Noodle Soup from Rotisserie Chicken

I really like Costco’s rotisserie chicken but I obviously can’t eat it all in one sitting so this is a really easy way to repurpose the leftovers. Another way of using leftover rotisserie chicken is to add it into fried rice.

Japanese Chicken Curry

It’s not as quick as I’d like (ie. 15 minutes) but it’s another low effort meal. I use the Golden Curry roux when I make Japanese curry. I was introduced to this when I was over a Japanese friend’s house in middle school and I’ve been a fan ever since. Personally, I don’t add an apple or a hard-boiled egg to my curry. This also refridgerates well.

Seafood Pancake (Haemuljeon)

It’s basically a savory pancake, which is super easy to make. I tend to eat these at the end of the week and it’s basically anything goes in terms of ingredients. I sometimes make a veggie version to clear out whatever’s left in my fridge.

Mostly Veggie Pasta with Sausage

In college, when my friends would lose me in the dining hall, they knew that I would probably be in the pasta line more often than not. What can I say? I like my pasta and my veggies. I don’t actually follow this recipe (I just substitute jarred pasta sauce for the sauce part) but it’s basically what I eat. I tend to make this with zucchini and broccoli (basically whatever leftover veggies are in my fridge). I make an additional 2-3 servings when I make it so I have some for lunch/dinner later but I don’t like making more than that since I find reheated pasta dishes to be texturally weird.

The post Quick and Easy Weekday Meals appeared first on BY JESSICA YANG.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Amy Tan’s 1989 novel, The Joy Luck Club. When I first read it ten years ago as an angsty teen, I saw it as a reading assignment to read to appease my mom, who kept on recommending the book to me. I didn’t want to read a book about a heritage I knew little about (I had read reviews on Joy Luck Club citing spirits and mah-jong, both of which were culturally foreign concepts to me) and honestly, had no interest in exploring (ironic, considering what I write about now).

When I finished Joy Luck Club then, I realized that there were parts of the book that I related a lot to– the complicated mothers and their misunderstood children who want to fit in. I read it again recently and I saw the generational and cultural gap that exists between immigrant mothers and their children as well as the influence that parents have. In college, I sometimes thought I left my keys somewhere, a habit I chalked up to forgetfulness, much to my friends’ chagrin since they usually were the ones helping me find my keys that were usually still in my backpack somewhere. It was during a break when I went home that my mom also does the same thing and I probably picked it up as a habit.

However, many Asian-Americans have a complicated relationship with Joy Luck Club. A simple Google search shows the many articles detailing the love/hate relationship with the book. For many, the book becomes the Chinese-American/Asian-American book taught in schools and in the public sphere. It’s been typified as the quintessential Asian-American book, much to many people’s chagrin.

But there is truth in the idea that many immigrant families know what it means to sacrifice. A college acquaintance of mine posted on her IG stories recently about the idea of “having a job which she enjoys and has a passion for” and how recently she realized what a privilege that was since her mom worked long hours in a job she was ambivalent about to provide that opportunity for her and her sister.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of Joy Luck Club and Mother’s Day, I asked some of my friends about their relationship with their moms and how it’s changed, what it means to be an Asian-American in today’s climate and their favorite dim sum orders.

The post Happy Mother’s Day (+ Asian-Americans on Their Relationships with Their Moms) appeared first on BY JESSICA YANG.