Note: Transcript fully created by automated AI
[00:00:00] Jesse: Hi everyone. I’m Jesse Lin
[00:00:01] Angela: And I’m Angela Lin. And we’ll come back to another episode of, but where are you really from today is a special episode because it’s actually our two year pod anniversary momentous. What. So, yeah, honestly, I did not ever, I mean, I didn’t like think about what it would feel like at two years, but I didn’t, I don’t know.
[00:00:26] Angela: I didn’t forecast it out where I was like in two years from today, we’re gonna be blah, blah, blah. So it’s kind of weird.
[00:00:32] Jesse: I mean, in terms of active commitments and I mean, active commitments, like not my cell phone bill, not my utility bill, not my. This is probably like number three on the longest active commitment I have had after like a personal relationship, my cat.
[00:00:50] Jesse: And this is it. like if I, yeah, it doesn’t count. Like if all personal relationships were like, Friends. Everything. Yeah. It’s kind of crazy. Yeah. It is funny that we’ve been doing this for two years and there’s still tech problems. Like I know we’re like remote and everything, but there’s like no good way to do.
[00:01:08] Jesse: Honestly, there isn’t a good way to do this. Like if you’re. Super on the go and you don’t have a good internet connection. It can be a little bit tricky. yes,
[00:01:17] Angela: actually, let’s talk about that for sure. Um, but if you have not heard what we were just talking about, basically every single time Jessie and I record two years in now, even still, something’s always off, there’s always tech issues and we’ve been using the same recording platform, at least in the last like six months or so too.
[00:01:37] Angela: Every single time without fail, we still have issues. Somehow.
[00:01:40] Jesse: It is how it is. I feel like, honestly,
[00:01:43] Angela: I think the only people who don’t have recording issues are people who record like by themselves, on their hardware or like in person, in like a legit studio studio with like a DSLR camera or whatever, but like anyone who has to rely on remote streaming stuff, like we do, it’s.
[00:02:01] Angela: It’s a, you know, can
[00:02:03] Jesse: of worms. It’s very cur it’s curious for me though, whether people enjoy that format more like the in studio, when there’s video content associated versus like recording remotely where you could be anywhere. I don’t know. I feel like my favorite podcast stuff where people have added videos, video stuff, the video stuff is fun to watch because it’s like completely unhinging.
[00:02:26] Jesse: Like, it’s like, you know, the studio space is like very, you know what we were, we’ve been talking about, like what’s real, what’s raw and like emotional and like what people are drawn to. And what’s like too produced. And I feel like when you’re beaming in from wherever you are, it’s really much more realistic.
[00:02:44] Jesse: Yeah. And it’s not super produced and things can go crazy at any one second. And I feel like sometimes people vibe off that. energy. They’re like, that’s part of your dynamic in terms of how you balance, um, on and off of those, like weird one off situations.
[00:03:00] Angela: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I agree with that, but it feels like this is already nationally kind of segueing into like the different formats that we’ve tried since we started versus now.
[00:03:11] Angela: So we’ve always been remote because you and I, I mean, we’ve been friends since we were like five and six years old respectively, but since I left New York, which was in like 20, oh my God, 2015 or something. Yeah. Something like. You and I haven’t lived in the same place, but we’ve stayed like best friends.
[00:03:30] Angela: Mm-hmm so when we started this during the pandemic, it always was gonna be remote anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Versus like a lot of podcasts, you know, they started in person. Yes. And then they had to figure out how to transition to remote. Yeah. Um, but. Speaking of like remote versus in person. I mean, one of my favorite formats that we did was like the few episodes that we got to record in person with each other.
[00:03:54] Angela: Yes. I think it did introduce new challenges because with neither of us as like, you know, we don’t do like videography and like photography as like our true hobbies. So the setup figuring out the setup was kind of janky and like, we don’t have the right mics technically for, in person. But there is something to be said about like the energy that you have when it’s in person.
[00:04:19] Angela: Yeah. You can like feed off each other a little more. There’s more direct body language and all that stuff.
[00:04:23] Jesse: Yeah. I agree. Because it’s like having a talk show, but your guest is remote. Like it’s just so hard to maintain your connection to that person. And also like everything else that’s like happening in the background.
[00:04:36] Jesse: So yeah, the in person was definitely. A little bit more fun, a little less weird miscommunications situation. And obviously like no real tech issues aside from the setup difficulty. Yeah. Well,
[00:04:49] Angela: I don’t know how interesting this is to anyone listening, but the, the like main challenge we had with the in person setup was like, the way that remote work works is that we each have our own mics.
[00:05:00] Angela: We each are like dialing in. So we each have. Separate video feeds and audio feeds. So like, you know, the two of us are kind of a mess. So sometimes we’re like talk over each other. We’re like laughing over each other, someone like burps or like does something funny. And we can always like fake it because we can cut out like one person’s video or audio and it wouldn’t disturb the other person’s thing.
[00:05:22] Angela: But when it was in person, it was like, oh shit. We realized how like annoying we are. we’re like taco for each other. Oh, Yeah, cause it was all one feed. So it was like, well, here we are.
[00:05:33] Jesse: well, I’ll, I will interject with a listener question. Let us know. Do you want us to keep in the fuckups because we can do that.
[00:05:43] Jesse: And you guys can see all of the messiness behind the production.
[00:05:48] Angela: I mean, truly, I don’t think anyone realizes how chaotic we usually are in our recordings. Very. Yeah. So I think largely what we were going to use this episode for was kind of reflecting like then versus now, you know, when we first started and how it’s progressed, um, I mean, starting with kind of like how we started this thing and like why we started this thing versus kind of intent now, for sure.
[00:06:14] Angela: This originally started as like a hobby, right? Like I remember. You know, start of the pandemic is when we started this podcast. Mm-hmm it was like, you know, we’re two years in, so it’s end of March was like our first published, oh gosh, episode peak, shut down. You know, the two weeks to the, what did we say?
[00:06:30] Angela: It was like two weeks to squash the curve or flatten the curve or whatever. Flatten
[00:06:35] Jesse: the curve flatten
[00:06:36] Angela: into the, yeah. It was like around that time. And you know, it had already been more than two weeks, but I think we’re like, oh, this won’t be forever. Let’s just like, find something to like entertain ourselves while we’re bored.
[00:06:48] Angela: Mm-hmm . And I remember approaching you, like, would you be interested in this? And luckily you were mm-hmm and we just like did shits and giggles and we didn’t know what the hell we were doing. I think we tried like. You know, now we use squad that’s our like main recording platform. But I think we tried every single one that was out there.
[00:07:07] Angela: Yeah. Like all the streaming things, but we never had this as, like, it was always gonna be like a side thing of like, you know, after work or like spare time that we can find. And then yeah, two years later, it. Definitely been the most consistent thing. I think either of us has been doing outside of work and personal relationships, like you said, mm-hmm
[00:07:31] Angela: And as we discuss a few episodes back, like at least on my end, I’m making this full time because of like how meaningful I found this podcast to be and brings me a lot of joy. Yeah. Aw,
[00:07:47] Jesse: yay. Well, I will say on my, on my part, the beginning’s very much the same. I was like, oh, you wanna make a podcast? Is it easy?
[00:07:56] Jesse: And you were like, yes, you could just do like this. And I was like, okay, because I was, I was basically just like, oh, I’m gonna like talk to you like every week. That sounds awesome. Yeah. And, um, I do feel like what’s changes, although it’s still not my full-time gig. I feel like the topics that we embark on are a lot more aggressive.
[00:08:15] Jesse: It’s not the right word. , they’re a lot more. In depth. I feel like real, like when we started, it was mostly just like us speculating about stuff, which sometimes it still is that. But I do feel like we brought in a lot more interesting topics and some more serious conversations. Mm-hmm that people have really vibed with.
[00:08:32] Jesse: And. That’s been really interesting for me because it’s fun to even after knowing you for so long, you know, you never know everything mm-hmm about the other person. Right. And so as we pick new topics, I’m like, oh, cool. Like, I didn’t know, you thought of this this way. Or you had this opinion about this something.
[00:08:52] Jesse: And so, yeah, it’s definitely been just like a really fun experience. And also just all the guests that we’ve had have been. A, a lot of fun to talk, talk with them and see what their li like world live perspective is. So, yeah. Yeah. It’s been a really, it what’s the word rewarding experience. Mm,
[00:09:11] Angela: yeah.
[00:09:11] Angela: Rewarding. Yes. Um, well, we’ll talk about we’ll circle back on the guest. Thing in a bit, but yeah, I, I agree with what you just said. I feel like the topics that we bring, I mean, again, then versus now, right? Like when we first started this thing, I think we really were using it more as our own means of like exploring our identity.
[00:09:32] Angela: Right. Because of the whole, like thing was like, are we Asian enough or American enough doesn’t feel like either. And like, let’s explore what this means. And I do think in the beginning it started a little bit more surface level where we kind of hit the. Classic things that people wanna talk about when it comes to this identity.
[00:09:50] Angela: So like model minority myth and like career trajectory. And what was it called? Bamboo ceiling. Yeah. Not the classic yeah. Bamboo ceiling. Yeah. That kind of stuff. Yeah. And of course that’s important, but I don’t think we were delving as deep. Yeah. And now, like, at least for me, hopefully for you too. I feel like the subjects that we talk about now, like we do go so deep that honestly, this is like my second form of therapy.
[00:10:16] Angela: Mm-hmm like what? I’m not with my therapist. I’m like, I’m working at a lot of my oh shit through this
[00:10:21] Jesse: podcast. Oh my God. 100%. It’s like, it is kind of like therapy because I feel like the first season, it, it was very. Surface level topics mm-hmm and surface level conversations. And then kind of, as we ran out of surface things to talk about, we were like, oh wait, like, you know, what are the things, you know, when we’re planning everything, like, what are the things that really interested us?
[00:10:42] Jesse: I think, interested other people. And those were the topics, which were like the most real. And that’s why I was like telling you recently when I was like, oh, like I said, so. My new company. There’s this tradition of like, when you join, you send an all company email. That’s like, hi, this is me. Like, here’s me.
[00:11:01] Jesse: And so I did that. I, I wrote that I started talking, I didn’t put the link cause I was like, uh, like, I don’t know this is explicit content, but I was like, ask me about it. And somebody did. And I was like, oh, , there’s so much stuff on here that I don’t know if I want, like people that I’ve never really met yet to know about me.
[00:11:17] Jesse: So yeah, it is very personal.
[00:11:20] Angela: Yeah, I agree. It’s super vulnerable. And well, I mean, to your point earlier about like the raw versus polished thing, right? Yeah. I think that is why people initially were interested in podcasts is like, I mean the easiest way to describe it is like, it’s like radio, but everyone can do it.
[00:11:38] Angela: But honestly, the, I think the best performing ones are usually ones that are more raw, like less produced, right? Like there’s certain, there’s a niche for the ones that like, basically sound like a TV show. Audio only, but a lot of the good ones are because it’s like the people, the hosts really share like a lot about themselves and you feel like you’re in this like intimate conversation with them.
[00:11:59] Angela: And that’s, what’s interesting to people. So. You know, we’re putting a lot of ourselves into this and hopefully it’s resonating with folks that we aren’t really shielding a whole lot. When we like talk about these topics, we are just kind of like presenting exactly what we think and our experiences and, um, I think, I, I think we’ve discussed this, but we wanna do a little bit more of that too.
[00:12:22] Angela: Like a lot of times with these topics, I think we speculate on, you know, like this is how I feel and like, something like that, but a lot of times we don’t go into, like, this is a specific experience that I had that relates to that. And maybe we’ll crack open a little bit more of that vulnerability and the.
[00:12:41] Angela: Upcoming
[00:12:41] Jesse: episodes. Well, I think I need a drink for that.
[00:12:44] Angela: well, go for it. It’s uh, 10:00 AM for you in California for once we’re almost like flip flopped. Yes. On time zones. Reverse. Yeah. So Jesse is calling in from our hometown or fine California, my
[00:12:59] Jesse: bedroom, the bedroom that I lived and grew up in that you can’t see anything else.
[00:13:02] Jesse: Oh God.
[00:13:03] Angela: Is that weird? Is that weird for you?
[00:13:06] Jesse: Um, It’s a, it is a little bit, every time I come back because it’s kind of like a shrine to me.
[00:13:13] Angela: and I am dialing in from Chicago. We just got here two nights ago and we’re gonna be here for like a week and a half. Um, but I was telling Jesse, before we hit record, it’s like, obviously we record like a little bit in advance of when we publish.
[00:13:27] Angela: So we have some time to do the editing and whatever. So this. March 12th. And it’s randomly the day Chicago celebrates St. Patty’s like it’s a full five days before the actual day of St. Patrick’s day, but they like always celebrate, I guess, a Saturday before, even if it’s like almost a full week before.
[00:13:48] Angela: And I didn’t know that slash forgot. So it’s like a little bit of a mess. Yeah. If you like laughing and like drunk people or whatever it’s cause it’s St. And I’m in a
[00:13:59] Jesse: hotel. It’s it’s surprisingly quiet. I didn’t really hear anything until that. Oh, okay. That moment of people laughing and
[00:14:05] Angela: talking. Well, there may be more sounds so sorry.
[00:14:08] Angela: You’ll. Hey listeners, wondering how you can support us. The biggest way is by increasing our visibility by following us on Instagram at where are you from pod on TikTok at, but where are you really from subscribing to our YouTube channel under, but where are you really from podcast rating and reviewing us on apple podcasts and telling your friends the more people we can get to listen to the show, the more we can continue spotlighting different perspectives and stories.
[00:14:34] Angela: And if you feel so inclined, we’re also accepting donations@buymeacoffee.com slash where are you from? Thanks. Y’all well, let’s hop around a little. You mentioned guests earlier. Mm-hmm um, I think we’re reflecting back on kind of like favorite moments. So do you have it’s feels a little like, uh, favorite children here.
[00:14:56] Angela: Yeah. But do you have a favorite guest
[00:14:59] Jesse: that we have? Oh, that is really difficult. I have to say probably it’s a tie between Anna and cherry because I, I, okay. So I like those conversations because I learned a lot during the conversation. Mm-hmm, it wasn’t adult conversation. Mm-hmm like, not that any of our guests are dull, but sometimes you guys don’t see that there are like awkward.
[00:15:29] Jesse: Because it is like, it’s like the first time you meet someone. So it’s like, sometimes you just, we have like a thing, you know, general prompts of like, we wanna, what we wanna talk about. But sometimes it just gets into like weird dull air time. Mm-hmm and, um, but I felt like those conversations were very lively.
[00:15:44] Jesse: I learned a lot of things about, um, each of their expertise and their knowledge and their perspectives. And it made me think. Certain things differently afterwards. So I was like, oh yeah, this is like a really cool to have this conversation with this person, because I don’t think otherwise I may have gotten the opportunity to meet someone like that or to talk to someone like that.
[00:16:08] Jesse: Nice. What about you?
[00:16:09] Angela: Yeah. Well, before I dress that, I just, so people know you mention this, but like a lot of times our guests, we did, we didn’t know them ahead of time. Like got what? Most of the time in the early days. Yeah. We were pulling from like our friends and whatnot, that kind of like tie into topics and we still tap into them now.
[00:16:26] Angela: And then, but like, A lot of times, literally it’s like, we just kind of like cold outreach or their publicists reach out to us or whatever. And we connect and we think it’ll be a good show. And then we meet them the 15 minutes prior to like the recording starting. And so it, you don’t, especially when it’s remote, right.
[00:16:45] Angela: You like, you don’t always are. You’re not always able to like, make that connection. Yeah. Without the body language and the in person, whatever. So yeah. You are not seeing a lot of. Awkward shit that we got out. Sometimes ,
[00:17:01] Jesse: it’s a good time though. It really is. Yeah. So your yours, your favorite baby is
[00:17:06] Angela: mine. I also have two that tie, um, in my heart.
[00:17:11] Angela: One is my dad, honestly. Okay. He was our first
[00:17:14] Jesse: guest. That’s true. Your dad an yeah, he was, he’s such
[00:17:18] Angela: a. He’s so unexpected. I feel like a lot of the stuff he says, you’re just like what? Especially him being my dad. So I like feel like I know him to a certain extent. And then he says something and I’m like, what would’ve
[00:17:31] Jesse: said.
[00:17:31] Jesse: Wait, so sidebar. Would you ever do marijuana with your dad?
[00:17:36] Angela: Oh, um, no, but not actually, because it’s me and my dad. I just don’t like doing weed anymore after doing psychedelic. Okay. Understood. Got it. I mean, if he was like, I really wanna do this with you as like a bonding thing. Sure. Maybe I guess he smoked before?
[00:17:56] Angela: I
[00:17:56] Jesse: know, I know. That’s why I’m asking. I know your dad is like, I feel like my parents know that and they’re like, my
[00:18:02] Angela: dad’s like a free spirit in a. Old man body. Yeah. Um, so yeah, my dad is one and then I actually, I really liked our conversation with other Anna, um, Anna and Ziad when we did the nine 11 episode, because I mean, it’s something that we are going to try to do more of as we go forward with the podcast, but I like branching out.
[00:18:27] Angela: We started this around Asian American identity, but the more that we talk to people, the more we’re seeing like crossovers and shared experiences. And I really like that conversation because it was definitely like, I mean, we were reflecting on the Arab American experience post nine 11 and like, you and I are just observers to that.
[00:18:44] Angela: Right? Like we couldn’t like speak to that firsthand, but as they were sharing their experiences, like, I think I learned a lot. perspective and like how people treat other people that like, you know, we firsthand wouldn’t have experienced necessarily without hearing them share. But also I found a lot of connection points.
[00:19:06] Angela: Like I think Z mentioned that a couple times. He’s like, I mean, even our podcast name, they were like, I feel weird kinship to that phrase. Yeah. Yeah. Even though it’s not, you didn’t write it with me in mind. Yeah. I, I like that because it’s kind of like the shows, the potential of our kind of like ranching out of this community and like how many more perspectives and stories that we can like envelop in.
[00:19:34] Jesse: nice. Well, speaking of, since we are already talk about guests, we should just talk about the associate thing. What’s your favorite topic that we’ve discussed so far? We’ve done so many, honestly,
[00:19:45] Angela: we’ve done so many topics. Um, I. Okay. So I thought a little bit about this before we recorded. Okay. And I, I think I goofed up because I lumped in topic and format into the same thing.
[00:19:57] Angela: Um, I enjoy most of our topics, honestly. Like there’s a, I mean, you and I spend a lot of time brainstorming which topics we want to talk about. Yes. And we only put in the effort, if it’s something we actually have like a genuine interest in anyway. Yeah. So I don’t have like one topic that stands out to me.
[00:20:15] Angela: But format wise, I have thought about this. Who knows if our listeners actually like it, but for me, the most fun formats were anything kind of like gamified. Okay. So I really liked, um, when we did the. Fake or real COVID headlines where we did that to each other. Okay. The original go home or drunk. Yeah. I liked the prices.
[00:20:38] Angela: All right. Where we did the crossover with the real Asian podcast folks. Yes. It’s just like, it keeps it more fun for us. Right. Because it’s like less just talking. It’s like, who knows what’s gonna happen? It’s a little, like more lighthearted and yeah. Nice. I dunno. Those are fun for me. Okay. Yeah. That
[00:20:54] Jesse: makes sense.
[00:20:55] Jesse: Um, I will do topic and I probably am skewing based off of just recency, but I really like the fortune teller one we did because Uhhuh it’s the same kind of thing. Like, although my parents were not on the pod and your parents were not on the pod, it like forced me to have a conversation with them about it.
[00:21:11] Jesse: Cuz I had to ask to know to report back basically like what their perspective is and like what their knowledge is. So actually it’s like very interesting conversation to have with them. And I feel like the older they are. And the farther away that I am, because I mean, it’s not like I’m getting farther away.
[00:21:30] Jesse: I am exactly where I am, like distance wise all the time for the most part. Yeah. Um, they’re like much more open to just like blabbing about random stuff. So like we started with that topic and they were still talking about it, but just like so many different facets of it that I was like, oh, I just needed.
[00:21:48] Jesse: You know the basics, like, I don’t know what
[00:21:49] Angela: this, I wanted, like a one sentence answer and
[00:21:51] Jesse: you, yeah. I was like, I don’t know what the rest of this is. Like you guys are talking about, it was like very detailed. And I was like, yeah, I think it just goes to show, like, for me, I was like, oh, I didn’t know. You guys knew all this stuff.
[00:22:01] Jesse: Like, yeah. Why do you know all this stuff? like, it’s, it’s, it’s one of those things. And, um, so it was just a good topic to help me talk to more people. Specif my parents. Yeah. And have conversations with. Yeah. Yes,
[00:22:16] Angela: actually, uh, I did think about this now. You’re reminding me that I did think about this. I, um, I don’t have a specific episode like you of like fortune teller.
[00:22:25] Angela: Yeah. But I agree. I think all the ones where we’ve had to ask our parents for like supplemental information or experiences, I’ve enjoyed all of those topics because so. One that jumped out at me, but is not necessarily like favorite favorite, but for Halloween during our first like, round of doing the pod, we did, um, scary stories from the motherland mm-hmm and we ask our parents to like, share a real story each that we could talk about mm-hmm um, but like all, all of them.
[00:22:54] Angela: Right. We also did the names episode. Yeah. Where we delved into like Chinese names. That was how we were named. Yeah. And. To your point, it’s like the perfect excuse to force us to talk to our parents and about things that they wouldn’t normally talk to us about. Yeah. Um, I think that’s been really cool.
[00:23:13] Angela: Like you said, like they’re getting older, we’re getting older, you know, like just things are changing. Yeah. And like, it’s nice to be able to like get into some media conversations with them. Mm-hmm , you know, that wouldn’t come up otherwise, um, And as a little preview, one thing we plan to do for this upcoming batch of episodes is for mother’s day, we’re going to be interviewing our respective mamas Ooh.
[00:23:40] Angela: About their lives, because I just feel like a lot of times kids don’t. Ask they don’t care to ask or not care to ask, but they we’re also self-centered that we like don’t think often about the fact that our parents had their own lives and they were individuals before they had family and like, yeah. Yeah.
[00:24:00] Angela: What was that like for them? So I’m looking forward to doing
[00:24:03] Jesse: that episode. That me too, I feel like, you know, we, we talk, we’ve talked superficially about how we feel like generally. Uh, ABCs are like not friends with their parents. And like we’ve seen, you know, Caucasian people and they’re like friends with their parents.
[00:24:17] Jesse: Yeah. I feel like we’re finally getting to this point where it’s. we are making that connection. I feel like, like we kind of expect the parent to do that, but then I’m like, maybe that’s just not their, you know, that’s just not their judge because like they have this expectation that we’re family and there’s like, no need to know each other on that level where it’s all just like, assumed where we’re gonna be family forever.
[00:24:37] Jesse: But then like, because we want that friendship, we want that connection. It’s like up to us to really initiate that and try to like, get that going. So. I’m excited to see what they have to say. Hopefully nothing depressing
[00:24:52] Angela: well, well, yeah, we’ll find out I, yeah, we’ll find out. Um, but I agree. I think it is onus is really on us.
[00:24:58] Angela: And I think a lot of that is also because they don’t know how to interact with us any other way, because it’s not like they had a good mirror with their own parent relationships.
[00:25:09] Jesse: Yeah, exactly. It’s not the kind of thing. Like, I feel like if you were to watch like seventh heaven or something and it’s Halloween time, like the dad will tell the kids like a ho like a scary story.
[00:25:20] Jesse: It’s like kind of a very traditional ish kind of thing, but it’s not something that like, Our parents would do. They wouldn’t be like, oh, it’s American Halloween. We’re gonna tell you Chinese ghost stories. Like, right.
[00:25:29] Angela: They’ve never done that. Basically. I feel like Asian parents it’s largely like a, if you didn’t ask me, I’m not gonna share it kind of thing.
[00:25:36] Angela: Or like,
[00:25:37] Jesse: they don’t think it’s worth telling it to you for some reason. Or maybe they just, I, it could be something that they just take for granted. It’s like, oh, everybody in my village knew this. . I don’t know. They just it’s maybe it’s not worth passing down or they just assume that, you know,
[00:25:54] Angela: I’m yeah.
[00:25:55] Angela: I’m excited for it because every time I’ve asked one of my parents for more information, like you said, like so much more comes out, that exactly you think is gonna come out and they they’re excited. They’re more excited than I think they’re gonna be to like, share. This
[00:26:08] Jesse: information. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. I, I don’t, honestly, I don’t feel like they talk to each other about stuff like that.
[00:26:14] Jesse: It’s like, oh, imagine, oh, would they randomly? Yeah. Well, but like, cuz like for example, like your, your parents and my parents are friends, I talk to my friends about everything. Yeah. But I don’t know if they necessarily do the same. And so, I mean, I can just imagine like living your life, having never anyone asking.
[00:26:35] Jesse: your experience. Yeah. And someone’s like, oh, I’m interested. Can you tell me about this? You’d be like, yes. Yes. What do you wanna know? I’ve been waiting.
[00:26:45] Angela: Aw. Okay. Well, I’m excited to give our moms that chance to share everything they want to share. We’ll see. Maybe they don’t.
[00:26:54] Jesse: Maybe they don’t. Yeah, we’ll see.
[00:26:56] Jesse: Um, but yeah, no, I want to say that. I think the talking to people has been a huge. Because it’s so difficult to talk to people. And I, I think you are at more, I know you said you’re like more ambivert now where you’re like, you have like levels of extroversion and introversion you need to maintain, but I’ve always felt like when, when we have gone out together, you’ve been able to like vibe with people very well.
[00:27:24] Jesse: And I’m always really awkward when I first meet people. I’m like, I I’ve. I realized how bad it was that I basically, I have like a list of like five things that are like backup questions in case I have nothing to say so I can just be like, oh, blah. But then when I run out of those things, I’m just like Irish, I just Irish exit.
[00:27:45] Jesse: Cause I’m like, I dunno what to do. I don’t know. Really do. So the fact that I have not been a hundred percent just like on the guest episodes has been like for me,
[00:27:57] Angela: I love it. Stretch, stretch those skills. Um, no, I, I think a lot of it is more like, mm, I. Your personal perspective on what’s happening? Because I don’t feel that comfortable with new people either.
[00:28:11] Angela: Oh, okay. Like, I think it totally depends on the situation. Like if I’m with you and you’ve observed that, it’s probably because I feel really comfortable with you. Or like, there are a couple people that maybe I already know, and then you’re introducing new people. But like, if I just like walked into a room of like strangers by myself, I would not be like, ah, oh yeah, no, I would love talking to you.
[00:28:31] Angela: like, I think it’s good for us both, especially with the pandemic, having crushed all of our social skills, it’s important for us to . Yeah, for sure. We do people and practice that. And then I think the last thing we wanna talk about, like then versus now kind of thing is like what we’ve done with the podcast.
[00:28:50] Angela: Like, you know, patting ourselves on the back a little bit. Mm-hmm for some shit. Um, and I think the most it’s, it’s weird because podcasting is like a thing where. Like it’s a certain audience and it’s like, it’s it hasn’t been established that long as like a format either that there’s like an MES or anything for that kind of shit, but there’s like little nods you can have.
[00:29:12] Angela: And I think for me, the most excited I was, was definitely last year during the, um, Asian American heritage month, um, Asian American, Pacific Islander, a, a API, whatever heritage month, um, apple podcasts created like. Featured collection mm-hmm of like good Asian podcast essentially. And we got featured and I was so stoked.
[00:29:36] Angela: That felt like a really like, it legitimized us in a way I was like, did apple podcast even know who we were like it, it was kind of cool. Yeah.
[00:29:46] Jesse: Yeah. Um, I will say that every time someone sends a nice comment. Or like directly messages me. That’s like, I listened to it and I really liked it. It’s like, oh my God, that’s so nice.
[00:29:56] Jesse: Because it’s like, kind of always said at the top, like we’re spilling or like a blood in guts. so then when, so then when you hear people say that, like, I enjoy listening to that, or I really vibed with that. It’s validating cuz you’re like, okay, cool. Like. Thing that I made, that I talked about, my experience is not boring or dull or, and that people kind of understand it.
[00:30:18] Jesse: So it’s definitely like, um, it’s like a really good feeling, even when it’s just like one person being like, Hey, I really like this particular topic or episode or whatever.
[00:30:28] Angela: Yeah, well, it’s validating and it also makes it feel like it’s worth it, that we mm-hmm , you know, were vulnerable and like shared stuff.
[00:30:35] Angela: Because if even one person is like, oh my God, that’s exactly how I felt. And like, I feel seen or whatever it, like, it makes it all worthwhile mm-hmm um, and that actually does relate to another then versus now for me is like, thinking about kind of how our community has shifted. Starting this. So, I mean, podcasting is like, traditionally it’s like audio only where some people do video, like Joe Rogan or whatever, you know, they do video as like their base.
[00:31:06] Angela: Um, but it’s largely been like, you know, whatever we record and put out there as like the thing and. What’s shifted is like, you know, in that format, a lot of where we are trying to engage with people is we’re like email us. We’re like DMS or comment on Instagram or whatever. And like, we’ll talk about the episode.
[00:31:24] Angela: Um, and I felt like we got, you know, some people wrote it them, but it was not like. Oh, an overwhelming amount of engagement mm-hmm . And in the last year, I’ve, especially since, you know, quitting my job and making this full time, I have more time to like kind of curate how our things are published. And I’ve been kind of like serializing our last, um, batch of episodes so that we can.
[00:31:51] Angela: Publish short form on like Instagram reels and tech talk and stuff. And that’s been really cool because we’re reaching like a new audience and community that wasn’t there. Like, you know, not everyone has the appetite to listen to like 30 to 50 minute episodes. But if they watch like, The TLDR on some of these topics, they’re like, oh, this is cool.
[00:32:12] Angela: And like, I relate to this or like, I have questions about it or whatever. And, um, it’s been really cool because I, you know, people are so much more engaged. I feel like naturally on social media that they’re like more willing to randomly asking questions or like pipe in, on these clips. So that’s something that like, I, I want us to continue is.
[00:32:34] Angela: Kind of distributing wherever people are listening and like being willing to engage with people wherever makes the most sense to them, as opposed to like, just email us and like not having people email
[00:32:45] Jesse: us. two things. First of all, are you saying you don’t think people wanna listen to us talk for 30 plus
[00:32:51] Angela: minutes?
[00:32:52] Angela: I don’t think everyone wants to listen to 31. So it’s no
[00:32:57] Jesse: um, second thing, I kind of agree. I think one of the. Maybe like compliment additional accomplishments or like rah things that I should mention is that, uh, I definitely feel like you’re not afraid to take a different direction on stuff. So like we’ve tried so many different things and when it hasn’t worked, we just kind of like, okay, it didn’t work on to next thing.
[00:33:18] Jesse: And I think that that’s. really important in a creative pursuit because sometimes you’re so married to this baby. You’re like, oh my God, this is my baby. I’m not gonna do anything with it because I love it. It’s my creative output. Yeah. That you forget that. Maybe it’s not that good. And I think what’s been really great is that we’ve in the short two years, we’ve done so many different, different things taken.
[00:33:42] Jesse: The out the format and stuff in different directions and just been open to just being like tossing something that doesn’t work or changing something where we’re like, that doesn’t make any sense.
[00:33:51] Angela: Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Even though we’re two years in, which is the topic of today, it’s like, I don’t feel like we’re so settled in exactly like the format or the types of things, or like, you know, we fluctuate a lot between like lighthearted things, like serious topics and like yeah.
[00:34:08] Angela: We change things up. And I, I think it’s great that we experiment exactly because it also keeps it more fun for us. Right.
[00:34:14] Jesse: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. It’s a different thing. Don’t want us, us to be bored. oh my God. You do. you do not, you
[00:34:20] Angela: would not wanna listen if we were bored over
[00:34:23] Jesse: every, I mean, you might, but you would probably be like, what is happening you know?
[00:34:28] Angela: Yeah. Well, on that note, let’s move to our clothes, our fortune cookie sweet sheet. Um, fave part about doing the podcast, or maybe we already kind of covered this.
[00:34:43] Jesse: Yeah, I think. Like for me, it’s like a thing on the side. That’s my own that I get to work on. And I I’ve talked to you about it. I think it’s, it’s nice to have something on the side that you are working on.
[00:34:57] Jesse: Just to say, like I have. Just to feel like you’re not like a hundred percent in just like one thing or the other. Um, and sometimes that’s what work feels like. I, it can feel a little overwhelmed. I’m like, oh my God, that just work. I just have work. Um, and so it’s really important for me to figure out like different things that I can do with my time that has a creative expression and output.
[00:35:18] Jesse: Um, so I’m just not spending all of my energy on work. Yeah.
[00:35:23] Angela: Yeah. Um, for me, it’s for sure what we already talked about with like the, you know, connecting with people who write us in and comment and stuff and ask us questions cuz that makes it feel more live. Yeah. Like a live thing to, as opposed to like just this thing that we put out.
[00:35:39] Angela: Um, but the other is definitely like learning new things all the time. Whether that’s the topic, the guest, or also. I mean, we’ve learned a lot of skills. Yeah. Honestly, to like put out this podcast, you did like merge for a little bit. Yeah. It was a lot stuff. I was doing Etsy. It was a whole thing. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:35:55] Angela: I’ve like tried a lot of things and also like, yeah, it, it does make me feel more creative too. Like now with the like serializing stuff on for social, like I’m learning a lot of stuff to be able to do that. And like, it’s a lot of work, honestly. And sometimes people ask, like, why wouldn’t you just kind of like outsource that?
[00:36:15] Angela: Like you can pay someone. To like, edit the show or like to put out these social media clips or whatever. And I’m like, yeah, I can, but also it’s hard work, but it’s like kind of the fun part. Yeah. It’s like, it that’s the creative part. It’s like, we decide what our voice is in the end with like how we edit things.
[00:36:33] Angela: Yeah. And like what we think is interesting to create clips of and that kind of stuff. So I’m like, I mean, that’s the fun part. So. .
[00:36:41] Jesse: Yeah. And what about, what’s your favorite other podcast or video podcast or audio something video combination that you’re also into right now. . Yeah,
[00:36:55] Angela: well, so as you know, I spend all my time on TikTok now.
[00:36:59] Angela: Um, so , I don’t listen to any like new podcast per se, but I think we also broaden this to like, kind of to any UGC type thing. Right. Mm-hmm and I have three creators that I like really, really love, um, on TikTok. Okay. And. So one of them is like super famous. So like, if everyone who watches TikTok is for like, that’s all news, but, um, it’s this guy who does like animal talks.
[00:37:27] Angela: So basically every, um, every video of his he’s like facts about like an animal that you didn’t know, but he’s so funny in the way that he delivers it, because, so for example, he talks about orcas or killer whales a lot. And then he’ll just like, be rattling off the facts and he’ll be like these murder Oreos, like blah, blah, blah
[00:37:50] Angela: So he has like this like dark humor that he has attached to it. Yeah. And then he genuinely knows like so much random shit that you’re like, what? Um, so his name is, and sorry if I’m butchering it. Mama do NA NA I’m not sure. Um, but he also, yeah, it’s cool because you know, like usernames, you’re like, that’s definitely your birthday.
[00:38:11] Angela: He has 97 in it. So I’m like, damn, you’re seven years younger than me, but he has. Yeah, gen Z is killing it. He has like, I don’t know, like, like 14 million followers or some shit like that. And he, um, is publishing a book that there’s a pre-order out now about like animal, like animal facts and it’s, I’m sure it’s written and it’s like very humorous way.
[00:38:31] Angela: So like go him. Um, second person. I like is someone named Austin Cho. So, um, originally I came across this stuff because I guess I was watching like Asian creator things, but he often isn’t talking about Asian stuff, his like little niche that he’s found that’s been really cool is he’s like, um, you’re cool.
[00:38:50] Angela: Single uncle. So like how we’ve talked about like you being the gum or whatever, right. In the future vibes, it’s like him having. Skits where you are, like his nephew or niece or whatever. And he’s like, kind of validating you of like, whatever your parents are kind of, or like there’s drama in your life.
[00:39:08] Angela: Yeah. And she’s always kind of there for you. And it’s like funny and it’s so like heartwarming and it’s, it’s kind of like the par parental figure. Everyone wished they had that was like accepting and like fun and yeah. So. His stuff is really cool. And then the last person is, um, this girl that I’ve semi very recently came across harissa.
[00:39:29] Angela: I don’t know how you pronounce it. It’s a C H C H a R I S S a it’s a white girl, but she like caught my attention because her videos are largely about her time when she lived in Thailand. Like she did a master’s program in Thailand. Okay. Um, and she’s just like, So weird. So her, her like bio is something like chaotic, but Fu chaotic, but like heartwarming or something like that.
[00:39:55] Angela: And it, she, the way that she talks is like all over the place and she’s just like, kind of weird, but like in the most heartwarming way. So yeah, I really enjoy her. She’s just like a little, she was just like bouncing all over the walls, but like, Kind of socially awkward, but like the, the story is actually interesting.
[00:40:14] Angela: So anyways, I like these three. That
[00:40:16] Jesse: sounds very cute. That sounds very cute.
[00:40:19] Angela: Yes. How about yourself?
[00:40:20] Jesse: Um, okay. Well, not surprisingly, all my shit is gay shit, but, um, I’ve been following and watching all this content from these drag Queens for a while now. So I really like this podcast called bald in the beautiful, and it’s just.
[00:40:35] Jesse: They’re just like riffing about random topics. And it is, it is sometimes what I was talking about, where it’s like, you’re bored and you’re just talking about random stuff and it is like completely unhinged. And that’s kind of why I like it. It’s just like a crazy chaos and like, kind of like what you’re talking about with your last girl where you’re just like, what is happening that, but I’m still so entertaining.
[00:40:55] Jesse: I don’t understand what’s happening, but I’m still so entertained right now. My second is. Uh, Rob and Rob Anderson, he’s this guy that does this, these like small little like skits and stuff. And, um, he’s also written like a few, like just funny book things and like made some different, like, funny me he’s, he’s pretty, pretty entertaining.
[00:41:15] Angela: What’s his main like topics or whatever niche that he does
[00:41:18] Jesse: skits on. It’s mostly gay stuff, but he had like, he has this series called gay science. Um, there was another mini one called boyfriend. Where it’s like you, you know, those people. Oh, I don’t know if you do, but like there there’s this like trope in the gay community where like two white guys who look identical will date each other.
[00:41:38] Jesse: It’s called boyfriend twins. Oh, that’s funny. Um, and he’s also just done like some other random. Comedy skits, um, and written some like ridiculous, like merch stuff that people really liked. Yeah.
[00:41:52] Angela: Okay. That’s fun. Well, lots of new recommendations for you listeners. I think, uh, we’re all about those.
[00:42:02] Angela: Empowering creators now, since we are, we’re also in this
[00:42:05] Jesse: world empowering the already big creators. Is that already bigger than us creator? yeah. Yeah. I mean,
[00:42:11] Angela: I, I am inspired by and hope for more success for people that are already successful because they, they all start from zero too. So it’s like, it’s encouraging to see greed.
[00:42:22] Angela: Well, two years in, we did, I feel
[00:42:25] Jesse: like I do that a little Pook.
[00:42:30] Angela: Or like in little mermaid where that little, um, seahorse is like blowing a little trumpet in the beginning. Yeah.
[00:42:37] Jesse: Don’t remember. It’s been a while. but wait, whatever, whichever way.
[00:42:43] Angela: All right. Well, you made it with us. Y’all uh, we made it to the end of the episode.
[00:42:48] Angela: Uh, write us in or comment or like hit. Wherever you prefer to talk to us, but our email is tell us where you’re from@gmail.com. If you have feedback or reflections, favorite things. Things you hated about what we’ve tried in the past that we should avoid any of that stuff. Because as we mentioned, we are continuing to experiment all the time.
[00:43:10] Angela: So let us know. And oh, one thing I forgot to plug is as you know, since the last batch we’ve been recording and edit or posting our video episodes on YouTube. Um, but I am going to be abroad for the next like year, essentially starting, hopefully. Two three weeks. So I’ll also be doing kind of like travel diary type things, um, on our YouTube and TikTok.
[00:43:36] Angela: So check this out too. So you know where the F in the world I. One favorite for sub
[00:43:41] Jesse: series where the F in the world is Angela. Yes. And tune in next week for another fresh new episode until then bitches.