Pakistani American actor Taha Mandviwala is now starring as "Pi" in the highly acclaimed theatrical adaptation of the bestselling novel and award-winning film of the same name. As part of the cast that is currently touring stages across America and elsewhere, Mandviwala reveals the depths of his character and what he has to do to come across as a b…

Scholar Dr. Anne Soon Choi has just written L.A. Coroner:Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood, the first-ever biography of Dr. Tsunetomi "Thomas" Noguchi, the Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner of the County of Los Angeles from 1967 to 1982. Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Noguchi conducted autopsies on some of the most high profile and controv…

Even though New Jersey freshman Senator Andy Kim has already served three terms in the House of Representatives, he still primarily sees himself as a life-long public servant rather than a politician. Prior to becoming a member of Congress, Kim served at USAID, the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House National Security Council, and in Af…

With federal agency USAID now struggling to survive after being unfairly demeaned and discounted by Elon Musk and his DOGE crew, it's crucial that you hear the story of how USAID helped a poor Thai student to become a board certified radiation oncologist. Dr. Vitune Vongtama inspired both Roy and his brother Danny to follow in his footsteps. All to…

Certified leadership coach and consultant Tracey Gee has recently published her first book. Entitled The Magic of Knowing What You Want: A Practical Guide to Unearthing the Wisdom of Your Desires, it's a much-needed resource for knowing who you really are and then identifying and pursuing what you really want. If you'd like to know more about her, …

In this episode Bay Area filmmaker Claudia Katayanagi goes into great detail about the myriad little-known incarceration camps that the federal government created to keep Japanese American "troublemakers" away from those confined in the larger and better known incarceration camps following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, HI. Her first two documentarie…

Sarah Ahn is America's Test Kitchen's social media manager and the creator of the Ahnest Kitchen website (www.ahnestkitchen.com). She records her experiences on Instagram and Tik Tok of living with her Korean immgrant parents, chronicling her mother's cooking, grocery shopping trips, and more. Many of Sarah's posts have gone viral with 10+ million …

Kaya of the Ocean is a middle-grade fantasy novel by Gloria Lai Huang that explores themes of mental health, the immigrant experience, and self-acceptance. The story follows Kaya, a thirteen-year-old girl who struggles with anxiety and a fear of water, as she discovers her lineage as a descendant of the Chinese water goddess Mazu. This heartfelt ad…

Bay Area artist and activist Nancy Wang has recently written a captivating fictional historical account of the Chinese who built and worked out of the fishing villages in the Monterey Bay area during the 1850s in California. Entitled Red Altar, her book brings to life the experiences of these early pioneers from China, including her fiesty multilin…

Whether or not you identify as spiritual or some kind of Christian, I'm pretty sure most of us are quite familiar with the tendency--if not the temptation--to live as if the grass is always greener on the other side of the septic tank. Armed with this mindset, many of us move on, move away, or just keep on moving rather than stay put in hopes of fi…

In this latest installment of the Two Kens collaborative series between Ken Fong and Ken Kemp, they introduce a term that respected German sociologist Max Weber first introduced 100 years ago that they believe best describes what Donald Trump is working hard to accomplish in his second term, and how knowing this term also tells us how best to thwar…

Dr. Grishma Shah's debut novel Anagram Destiny is a soul warming love story nestled in an inspiring tale of the American dream, manifesting an Indian immigrant success story shattered by the evils of globalization– paying homage to a generation of immigrants who held their heads low so one day, their children could lift theirs high. To learn more a…

If you're one of the fortunate people who know who Tyrus Wong was and what a pivotal role he played in getting the classic Disney film "Bambi" made, I think you'll still be blown away by what Dr. Karen Fang has revealed in her recent book, "Background Artist: The Life and Work of Tyrus Wong." I'll give you two hints: Christmas cards and custom kite…

In this episode seminary professor Dr. Soong-Chan Rah reiterates that the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID should serve as a serious wake up call to American Evangelical Christians because now Christian relief agencies will no longer receive gifts in kind from the federal government. However, if they continue to celebrate USAID's demise,…

As a nod to this being Black History Month and also as a form of pushback against the current dismantling of meritocracy in the U.S. Military by the Trump administration, I invited Dr. Roger Newman to talk about his latest novel Boys, a work of historical fiction based on what he learned about his Black Uncle Alex growing up in the Jim Crow South a…

In this latest episode in the Two Kens collaborative series on American politics and Christian nationalism, Fong and Kemp point out the jarring historical parallels with how Germany's Hitler and Hungary's Orban were able to dismantle their countries democracies so quickly. This episode is a call to action and resistance for every American who is no…

Celebrated playwright, director and producer Chay Yew is once again directing Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band, this time in its Los Angeles debut at East West Players David Henry Hwang Theater in Little Tokyo from February 13-March 9, 2025. A poignant new classic of the Asian American theater canon, Cambodian Rock Band explores the story of a Khme…

Hawaii-based writer Chris McKinney has edited Honolulu Noir, the latest in the Akashic Noir series of location-based dark short stories. Comprised of stories about the people of the city, written by those who know this place best. The volume opens with a story featuring Chang Apana, the Native Hawaiian/Chinese real-life cop who was the inspiration …

Doreen and Ken were high school sweethearts more than half a century ago. (You can hear more about their love story in EP 496.) But they parted ways in 1973, met and married their spouses, and had children. Doreen's marriage ended in divorce 27 years ago, and Ken's marriage ended in July 2023 when cancer took his wife Snoopy from him. Her dying wis…

My longtime friend and fellow podcaster Ken Kemp (The Beached White Male) lives on the far end of Orange County, so his house is far from the fires in SoCal. But many of his out-of-state friends don't know this, so they've been reaching out to he and his wife for reassurances of their safety. They've suffered several days-long power outages due to …

Dr. Noël S. Harmon is the President and Executive Director of Asian Pacific Islander American Scholars (APIA Scholars), which is America's largest nonprofit dedicated to supporting Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) students. Their newly revamped scholarship application process is aimed at reducing financial barriers to …

Author Ellie Yang Camp and I first crossed paths 24 years ago at a triennial Christian conference for college students. I was the main speaker that week and she was a student leader of her InterVarsity chapter @ Cal. We never met that week, but when her debut book Louder Than the Lies crossed my desk and I read her bio and then saw what she had to …

Globally acclaimed jazz koto player June Kuramoto received one of the ten National Fellowship Heritage Awards by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2024 in Washington, DC. You can watch Rep. Judy Chew glowing introduction of her and then June's acceptance speech here: https://www.youtube.com/live/tqSlIfYprPU?si=vnwIH5wpcpzVHWk_…

David Bradley Lim grew up in a comfortable Nor Cal suburb. He excelled at most sports, but he knew that he'd never be able to be competitive beyond high school. So he majored in electrical engineering. But after earning his degree, he dove headfirst into the mortgage lending business. Even though he didn't know an escrow from an equity line, he put…

Already being mentioned for the Academy's "Best Picture" and "Best Actor" awards, this screen adaptation of Robert Harris' international bestselling novel Conclave is now available to rent on streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Apple TV, VuDu, and more! Having watched it together the week of Thanksgiving, Ken Kemp and I were chomping at the bit …

Dr. Samuel Jamier was adopted as a 4-year-old from Korea by a strick Catholic family in the Brittany region of France. Growing up, he was an altar boy and into heavy metal music, but later developed an enormous passion for films. Today he's a skilled fundraiser, speaker, arts programmer, and serving as the president of the New York Asian Film Festi…

California-based Asian American writer Joanne Howard discovered her grandfather's journals which he'd written while the family was serving as Baptist missionaries to India in the 1930s. Fascinated by his firsthand accounts of being an American family as India began to push back against being a colony of Great Britain, Howard was inspired to create …

Acclaimed Chinese Canadian author and cartoonist Teresa Wong recently published All Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey, which is her graphic memoir about the legacies of upheaval, a longing for family, and the barriers one daughter faces in trying to connect with her immigrant parents. www.byteresawong.com and @by_teresawong…

Acclaimed painter and now-author Hyeseung Song has written a searing coming-of-age memoir for fans of Crying in H Mart, Minor Feelings, and the film Minari. Entitled Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl, it follows the daughter of ambitious Asian American immigrant parents and Hyeseung's own search for self-worth.…

After Trump was declared the winner over Harris, long-time friends and podcasters Ken Fong and Ken Kemp felt a need to see how the other was doing. If, like them, you're in shock that more than 70 million fellow Americans chose to give Trump another turn as the most powerful person in the free world, you'll probably find a degree of comfort in know…

East West Players' venerable producing artistic director emeritus Tim Dang came back for a third appearance here to let us all know what's in store for audience members who come to his updated version of Stephen Sondheim's and John Weidman's Pacific Overtures. Previews start Nov. 7th and the musical will run through Dec. 1st. Go to www.eastwestplay…

Brian Ho started taking piano lessons at a very early age, and even though he clearly was a prodigy, he struggled to connect to classical music. But he eventually learned that he could play all of his favorite songs by ear, which increased his passion for playing music. While still a teenager, he landed a gig at a San Jose Black Baptist church. Tha…

Award-winning R&B/Rap producer Band!t fell in love with the genres as the young son of Korean American academics. Unsatisfied with the standard STEM direction, he began teaching himself the rudiments of producing original beats interwoven with samples of songs from the 70s while in college. But it would require plenty of blood, sweat, tears, and un…

VP Harris was inserted into the race just a few months ago, and now we're only 3 weeks away from the day when all the votes will be cast and counted. After that, the whole world will finally know who will be the 47th POTUS. Harris has proven to be a much more formidable adversary to Trump, and yet most polls are still saying that this race is too c…

My guests this week are Paul Cheng and David Fu. Paul is finishing his first term on Arcadia's City Council and seeking a second term, while David is running to join his friend Paul on their city's council. I started getting to know a few of the Asian Americans running for local offices when they asked me to take photographs for their campaigns of …

Because Mika Shino was born in Japan, she possessed an innate connection to Japan's traditions, culture, aesthetics, and cuisines. But having grown up in other countries, especially America, she also was imbued with a creative curiosity that was free to explore beyond the boundaries of her native roots. When she became a mom, she soon learned that …

Vietnamese American playright and performer Susan Lieu recently published her memoir The Manicurist's Daughter. After her 30-something manicurist mother died from a botched tummy-tuck surgery, Susan was met with a wall of silence from all her relatives. Tragically, she internalized the body-shaming-consciousness that led to her mother's unnecessary…

Louis Wu was an engineer, not an entrepreneur. But when he and his wife agreed that he needed a job that would allow him to spend more time with their young children, he began casting around, trying to find his new career path. In this episode, you'll hear how he ended up starting Ohana Music 18 years ago, which has become a widely respected source…

According to experts, the average person goes through at least 30 major changes in his or her life. Some changes are things that we choose, e.g., marriage, divorce, different career, while some changes are things that happen or happen to us that we must navigate, e.g, war, assault, poor health, accident, etc. Carolyn Taketa is a certified life tran…

On Tuesday night, September 3rd, Trump and Harris locked horns in what now looks to be the first and final debate between the two leading candidates for America's next POTUS. Even if you didn't watch it, by now, days later, you've no doubt heard that Harris prevailed mightily and convincingly over Trump. Regardless of the outcome, Fong and Kemp wer…

My very special guest this bonus episode is Doreen Wong. You're going to get to hear from her because she said 'yes' to me twice last week. She accepted my surprise proposal of marriage on September 3rd, and then the next day she finally accepted my invitation to join me on my podcast to tell the miraculous story of how we've come back together fif…

Lei Wang was perfectly happy with her burgeoning career in marketing and finance. But one fateful frigid Boston evening, she went to watch a documentary on mountain climbing, and something unusual began to stir in her. Even though she was a short, out-of-shape, unathletic 30-year-old person, she became seized by the vision of climbing to the top of…

Growing up, Henry Lam struggled in school, but it wasn't until he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in 2018 and received treatment that he was finally able to focus and succeed. Given what he went through, he has become a professional ADHD Coach, combining an understanding of neuroscience, psychology, and business s…

NPR's Emily Kwong launched the Inheriting podcast this past May, where she facilitated an in-depth conversation among members from different generations of AANHPI families. Could they identify a few critical decisions or changes in history that continue to impact and shape their families? We also discuss whether it's possible for any reporter to be…

The 2024 DNC ended Thursday night, so the next morning podcasters Fong and Kemp were excited to compare notes about what they heard, saw and felt during throughout this 4-night gathering of Democratic delegates to make VP Harris and Gov. Walz their 1-2 punch to keep the White House and also to prevent Trump, MAGA, and Project 2025 from gaining powe…

Asian American author Eve J. Chung spent the first years of her life in Taiwan with her grandmother. In their shared space, Eve remembers a woman who loved her fiercely; hoarded food and fed her family fat-rich chicken skins; and used a heat lamp on her knees every night while watching Chinese period dramas. As Eve got older, she recognized these h…

In Director/Writer Tom Huang's 2022 film Dealing with Dad, Margaret Chang reluctantly returns to her hometown along with her hapless brothers to deal with the sudden depression of their complete-jerk father, whom everyone happens to hate. In fact, he's actually more pleasant being depressed, so the siblings wonder if it's worth struggling to get hi…

Lisa M. Gomez is the Assistant Secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) in the U.S. Department of Labor (www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa). She brought with her a particular concern about the mental health of American men, especially minority men. Although I wasn't taken aback to hear that AANHPI men are the least likely to seek p…

Even before the majority of delegates to the upcoming DNC had lined up behind Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Trump and the MAGA crowd began to use ad hominem attacks against her. Long-time friends and fellow podcasters Fong and Kemp kick things off by talking about their renewed optimism that Trump will be defeated again, then downs…

In this compelling collection of fifteen personal essays, Dr. Mako Yoshikawa takes us along on her journey to gain a clearer understanding of who her late father was. Secrets of the Sun "...is particularly brilliant at capturing the grief, guilt and fear that adults who experienced childhood abuse face when deciding how or whether to maintain a rel…