Phenomenal & Asian

This week’s Phenomenal Asian is Vivian Yau, Founder of Bee Influence, an influencer marketing agency based in Manchester. Viv and I actually met through instagram as she launched her own podcast ‘But where are you from?’, around the same time as I did. The more we spoke, the more we realised how similar are lives were; both take away kids, both started our own company, both the same age but we also both lost a parent from cancer. Although we had never met, it was incredible how well we hit it off and how honest we were able to be so quickly. I really hope you enjoy this episode and do let us know what you think. EPISODE BREAKDOWN Viv's upbringing and family life (4:21) Challenging our Asian parents (13:57) Viv's career and how she started Bee Influence (28:20) FOLLOW VIV Podcast: But where you from? Instagram:www.instagram.com/vivthediv FOLLOW PHENOMENAL & ASIAN Instagram:www.instagram.com/phenomenal.asian

This week’s Phenomenal Asian is Nigel Ng, a stand-up comedian originally from Malaysia and co-host of the hugely popular 'Rice To Meet You', one of the first comedy podcasts about Asian culture. Given the severe lack of Asian representation in UK comedy, I was super excited to have Nigel as a guest as he's been making waves on the comedy scene and was nominated for the prestigious Best Newcomer Award for his sold-out show Culture Shocked at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did and prove to you that Asians can be pretty funny too. EPISODE BREAKDOWN Nigel's background and upbringing (1:54) How Nigel got into comedy (8:00) Culture shock of moving East to West (9:15) What life as an Asian comedian is really like (19:32) FOLLOW NIGEL Nigel's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrnigelng/?hl=en Nigel's website: https://nigelngcomedy.com/ FOLLOW PHENOMENAL & ASIAN Instagram:www.instagram.com/phenomenal.asian

This week’s phenomenal asian or shall I say asians are my brothers Wayne & Gwan Yip. I’m so lucky to be close with my family and especially my brothers, as we all live in different cities around the world. I really enjoyed this episode as it’s a conversation our family has never had before and it was fascinating to hear how different our childhoods were even though we were raised the same. Being the youngest of 3, my brothers are are my ‘asian’ role models, Wayne is a successful Director, on TV shows such as Misfits, Utopia, Dr Who and Gwan founded his own company Core 3D, a software company based in NY. I’m super proud of them and what they’ve achieved that I hope collectively we are redefining the asian stereotype as a family. EPISODE BREAKDOWN Coronavirus from an LA & NY perspective (3:38) Their upbringing and experiences (6:52) Dating & relationships (16:20) What part of the asian culture will they instil into their own family (18:21) FOLLOW WAYNE & GWAN Gwans' LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gwanyip/ Wayne's IMDB Instagram: www.imdb.com/name/nm3408764/ FOLLOW PHENOMENAL & ASIAN Instagram:www.instagram.com/phenomenal.asian

This week’s guest is Foong Ng, Founder of Matchable, a platform offering employees game-changing opportunities to work with not-for-profits and startups on innovative projects. We chat about the difficult switch Foong made from a PwC Tax Director to female entrepreneur and the guilt that comes with it, especially telling your Asian parents. Foong and I actually share very similar stories, I used to work for PwC too and set up my own company almost 5 years ago but I've always wondered, if more Asians could hear inspiring stories like Foong's, would we have more confidence in making our own career choices vs simply pleasing our parents? EPISODE BREAKDOWN About Foong and Matchable (1:00) Foong's upbringing (3:53) Foong's career switch from corporate to entrepreneur (17:54) Foong reveals her career switch to her Asian parents (24:21) FOLLOW FOONG & MATCHABLE LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/wai-foong-ng/ Instagram:www.instagram.com/foongi_ldn Website:www.wearematchable.com FOLLOW PHENOMENAL & ASIAN Instagram:www.instagram.com/phenomenal.asian

This week’s guest is Arnold Ma, Founder of Qumin, an award-winning Chinese digital creative agency. It felt like Arnold and I had known each other for years! We bonded over many things, how we dealt with being the only Asian kids at school, how we hated being different and our love for Dragon Ball Z of course. What I really admired most was his effort in reconnecting with his Asian roots and how embracing his ethnicity has led Arnold to create a successful business. EPISODE BREAKDOWN Arnold's upbringing and family life (1:48) How and why Arnold embraced his Asian ethnicity (10:00) Arnold's career and why he founded Qumin (18:40) Arnold's experience being Asian during Coronavirus (25:30) FOLLOW ARNOLD & QUMIN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/arnoldma Instagram:www.instagram.com/realarnoldma Website:www.qumin.co.uk FOLLOW PHENOMENAL & ASIAN Instagram:www.instagram.com/phenomenal.asian

This week’s guest is Shu Shi Lin or you might know her as Dejashu, a Food, Travel and Lifestyle Vlogger (yes, she gets paid to eat and travel the world). Shu and I chat about life growing up in the UK, about her parents owning a Chinese takeaway (because mine did too) and how she wants to use her platform to stand up to the racism escalating from Coronavirus.  EPISODE BREAKDOWN Shu's upbringing and family life (1:57) How she became a full-time vlogger (14:17) How being Asian helped Shu's career (23:17) Shu's experience being Asian during Coronavirus (27:44) FOLLOW SHU YouTube Channel:www.youtube.com/dejashu Instagram:www.instagram.com/dejashuu Twitter:www.twitter.com/dejashu FOLLOW PHENOMENAL & ASIAN Instagram:www.instagram.com/phenomenal.asian