We are over a year and a half into the pandemic, halfway through 2021, and anti-Asian hate incidents are still happening across America. So how did we process it all? How are we processing it? Tune in to our season finale on our latest life updates (apologies for the delay!) and some of our reactions and thoughts to all of the anti-Asian hate incidents.
We close out National Domestic Violence Awareness month in this episode to discuss the pervasive cultural norms that have enabled domestic violence in the Hmong community for far too long. Join us as we explore possible solutions that our community can take to end domestic violence and better support survivors because we know it takes #allofus.
It’s wedding season and we’re in full swing of wedding festivities and planning! Listen in to our final episode of this season as Monica and Mai Nhia share their wedding highlights and lowlights. With less than 100 days before each of their individual weddings, they both get honest about the emotional and financial challenges they’ve faced throughout their wedding planning, all the tiny details that go into planning a wedding, bridezilla moments, and what they’re looking forward to.
We’re living in unprecedented times where some say it’s a worker’s market. As the pandemic and the great resignation continue, many people are looking towards careers that offer greater work-life balance and equitable pay, and careers that fulfill their creative outlets. We know as Hmong Americans and children of immigrants, creative careers aren’t always the first option, let alone welcomed. But we know they exist among our community. Join us as we speak with Phillipe Thao about what it's like to work in a “non-traditional” career as a Hmong American in media and entertainment, and his hopes for the future of Hmong millennials and gen Zer’s.
As young Hmong women professionals, we have had our share of great managers and mentors, and not-so-great leaders that we had to work with. In this day and age, what does it mean to be an authentic leader or mentor? How do we build a successful leadership pipeline to develop community leaders or mentors? We are ecstatic to have Doua Thor and KaYing Yang as co-hosts in this episode takeover! Doua and KaYing have been building power in the Hmong and larger AAPI community for decades. They explore what it means to be authentic leaders and how to build up capacity within our communities.
Social media has really changed our generation’s access to Hmong clothes. Platforms like Facebook have allowed Hmong Americans to be high consumers of Hmong clothes and accessories via an online Hmong clothing market. We invited textile artist and expert, Sheng Lor, to discuss the history and trends of Hmong textiles and clothing and the social-political impacts of the Hmong textiles market.
We are over a year and a half into the pandemic, halfway through 2021, and anti-Asian hate incidents are still happening across America. So how did we process it all? How are we processing it? Tune in to our season finale on our latest life updates (apologies for the delay!) and some of our reactions and thoughts to all of the anti-Asian hate incidents.
We are really excited to do a first podcast episode swap with Reel Asian Podcast, a show that focuses on Asian and Asian-American films and examines themes and cultural impacts of these movies. This episode features the movie "Donut King." So grab your donuts, grab your coffee because Ray and Renee sprinkle in their takes throughout this delectable documentary.
We are over one year into the COVID-19 pandemic and there are many speculations and concerns about how safe and effective the COVID-19 vaccines are. This fear is rightfully justified, given the ways in which Western medicine and research have abused communities of color. In this episode, we invite Dr. PaFoua Yang, an OBGYN by trade, from St. Paul, MN to discuss the COVID-19 vaccines.
March is Women’s History Month and we definitely cannot miss this opportunity to celebrate all the women in our lives, especially our sisters and girlfriends. In this episode, we dive into the beauty and love of sisterhood and female/women friendships. Yet like any type of relationship, friendships have their highs and lows and sometimes even seasons. We definitely do not shy away from sharing the insecurities, toxicity, and sadly, breakups that we have experienced from our friendships.
One in five adults experiences a mental health condition every year. We know that the severity of mental illnesses is often stigmatized within the Hmong community, and that usage of mental health services remains low for Asian Americans. In this episode, we sit down with mental health clinician, Kaeo Vang, to explore the definition of mental health conditions, impact of historical trauma vs. intergenerational trauma, and tragedies that happen all too often like suicide. We discuss how we as a community can move beyond de-stigmatizing mental health, and help community members access the mental health support and treatment that they need.
In this episode, we examine what relationships look like on-screen and in real life; it's not just all Black and white, people! We discuss the complexities of racial preferences, especially in a society that most often values and upholds whiteness. Do we limit ourselves when we have certain preferences for romantic relationships? In addition, we share the intricate balances of celebrating interracial relationships while promoting relationships/love within our own race/ethnicity.
We cannot believe it is a new year already! Where did the time go?! 2020 was filled with so many unexpected and unpleasant events. To some, 2020 really felt like the worst year yet. We wanted to end 2020 still being hopeful and optimistic for a better new year. In this first episode of the new year, we discuss our reflections and biggest lessons learned from 2020, and how we are going to make 2021 the best year yet.
What does Hmong New Year mean to you? Celebrating Hmong New Year is different this year due to the pandemic but regardless, we take a trip down memory lane to share how we have celebrated Hmong New Year growing up and what it means to us as Hmong American women. In honor of closing out the year, we also reflect on the challenges of 2020 and share what our hopes are for 2021 and beyond.
As the fastest growing ethnic group, Asian Americans have become a growing political force. The record level of engagement from 2020’s political campaigns resulted in record turnout in the Asian American community. Now that the race has been called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, what can the Hmong and larger Asian American communities expect?
In this episode, we take on a lighter subject of taboos within the Hmong community and dive into why these taboos exist. From discussing the taboo of ‘dating someone with your same last name’ to the taboo of periods and infertility, we are excited to share our thoughts on these “taboo” subjects and how they essentially all tie back to patriarchy and gender expectations within our community. Tune in to help us unpack and reflect on these taboos!
2020 has reminded us of how much is at stake in this year’s general election, from the global COVID-19 pandemic to the economic recession, ongoing systemic racism and police brutality to climate change. This year’s presidential election is one of the most important, if not THE most important, in the history of our country. In this episode, we discuss the Biden-Kamala presidential ticket, why our votes matter, and how to vote (early). We know that we have to mobilize our communities and vote like our lives depend on it!
Not Your Average Mai turns one! We return from our summer break with our third season to celebrate our one year anniversary. We discuss what we learned from our recent #BlackLivesMatter series and how we will continue racial justice work in our lives, especially because we know it is a lifelong journey. We close out by sharing our podcasting tips and tricks, what we have learned as podcasters in our first year, and our hopes for the future of Not Your Average Mai.
What does it mean to be an authentic ally for the Black Lives Matter movement? In this final episode of our three-part #BLM series, we speak with trailblazer Kabzuag Vaj, Co-Executive Director of Freedom Inc., about her work in eliminating anti-blackness and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and behaviors within our communities. In particular, we discuss how we can be better allies in the movement for collective liberation and justice, and how we can fight against the rampant patriarchy and sexism within the Hmong community while advocating for radical change.
To continue our “Black Lives Matter” series, we invite Dr. Yang Lor from the University of California-Merced to contextualize the history of systemic oppression in our country and unpack the anti-black sentiments within our Hmong community. In this episode, we discuss how we can move our community members to a place of solidarity with the Black community.
It has been a whirlwind of events and emotions this week from the murder of George Floyd, to the mass protests in outrage of this terrible tragedy, and to the violence incited by white supremacy groups across the country. We invited our very first guest, Nancy Xiong - Director of Development and Communications at Hmong Innovating Politics (HIP), to discuss these unfolding events and how coalition building and racial solidarity can address systemic oppression, as well as move our community towards racial and social justice.
