Exploring the Depths of Friendship: Insights and Stories with Anna Jinja Mather, Lara Therrien Boulos, Luna Aixin & Sarah Whitehead

Conversations With Your Chinese Auntie

This episode delves into the challenges and strategies of making and maintaining solid friendships. My dear friends Anna, Lara, Luna, and Sarah join me to discuss their personal experiences of making and maintaining friendships across different stages of life. The discussion covers how to find friends, the importance of community, navigating friendship breakups, and unique perspectives on what it means to be a friend.

From touching on collectivist vs. individualist cultures to the challenges posed by modern life, this candid conversation offers thoughtful insights into building and sustaining meaningful connections.

Bio: Anna Jinja Mather was adopted from Seoul, Korea, and grew up in Iowa. Her heart is filled with love for people and their stories. By sharing her adoption story and all that she is learning to help her navigate through personal and professional challenges, she hopes that this will lead us to believe, accept, and value the inherent
worthiness of all people. She has dedicated her life to a number of nonprofit organizations and causes as a volunteer or employee, which has led to a myriad of unexpected opportunities and adventures – including stepping into the role of a radio producer and host at KHOI 89.1 FM. Anna's Website Lara Therrien Boulos is a community planner, facilitator, gardener, writer, witch, and artist of Egyptian and French-Canadian ancestry. She weaves all these threads of her life through her creative and spiritual practices and her animist orientation toward the world. She's also a cat lover and a Virgo.

Luna Aixin 月愛心 (They/them/their) is a multiracial, non-binary, neurodivergent, disabled settler, community planner, facilitator and artist with ties to Southeast Asia, specifically Nusantara cultures and Pacific Islanders. As a neurodivergent person, Luna loves multimodal ways of creative expression and experiences the joy of witnessing others “play with imagination” on “very serious matters.” They work with local governments, non-profits, community organizations and personal projects through GaGiNang Productions (自己人创作) on ways to create equitable, just and safe systems and practises that can better serve our communities.

Luna's website

Sarah Whitehead (she/they) is a communication professional, writer, mom, and potter. She has over 20 years of experience in education and communication, including training and research effective communication, media literacy, and message management. Sarah recently left corporate life to focus on writing and her pottery business. Her writing focuses on current issues in interpersonal communication, media literacy and education and can be found on substack starting in March 2025. Her pottery can be found at www.rustedwheelpottery.com Patricia Petersen

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