We've got a special episode recapping the opportunity to host an official AAPI meetup at South by Southwest (SXSW) this year along with teasing our new season this year. Topics Covered: • Our experience at SXSW this year and what we hope to see next year • A brief unofficial primer on SXSW along with a few pro tips on how to navigate the festival •…

Jenni Lee is an investigative reporter and Midday anchor at KVUE in Austin, Texas. Jenni joined the KVUE news Team in June 2015 as the Weekend Daybreak anchor and weekday reporter but the veteran journalist has worked in the Austin TV market since 2001. Before arriving in Austin, Jenni worked at KBTX-TV in Bryan and College Station after graduating…

Yola Lu is a comedian and actress based out of Austin, TX. She is the co-founder of Y'all We Asian, Austin's first and only all-Asian American improv troupe. She also is the 2022 Austin Chronicle Best Actress winner, and is currently in post production of her short film, Patsy. You can see her perform with her all female-identifying improv troupe, …

The first-born child of immigrants, Zohaib 'Zo' Qadri is the first South Asian American and Muslim elected to serve on the Austin City Council. He was elected to represent District 9 in 2022 and serves the residents of some of Austin’s oldest neighborhoods, including Travis Heights, Hyde Park, and Downtown. He is committed to tackling Austin’s hous…

Sherry Kong is the co-founder of Mama Kong, a nomadic kitchen cooking up Cambodian food with her husband, Brandon since 2017. Her family immigrated to Austin in 1982 after fleeing the war in Cambodia. After teaching in Japan and New York’s Chinatown, she nad her husband decided to reset the button on life, move back home and introduce Austinites to…

We kick off Season 2 with Ayshea Khan, former Asian American Community Archivist at the Austin History Center, Austin Public Library and current Equity & Inclusion Coordinator at the Austin Equity Office. Ayshea's worked in Austin as a storyteller, facilitator and community archivist for over 10 years and has been a longtime volunteer and collabora…

Benjamin Suh am currently a third-year student at the University of Texas at Austin studying economics. He's also the Social Media Director in (un)Jaded, an AAPI-centered mental health & social advocacy organization. Growing up in both the U.S. and South Korea, he was bombarded with two drastically different environments, and this unfortunately pro…

Lily Trieu is the daughter of Vietnamese refugees and grew up in Southwest Houston, Texas. Currently she serves as the Interim Executive Director of Asian Texans for Justice, a statewide nonprofit with a mission to connect Asian and Pacific Islander Texans to meaningful civic action to build personal and political power. This month we talk about he…

Born-and-raised in Texas, Mars has been creating music under the stage name Honey Son for over a decade. In this month's episode, Mars shares more about growing up as bi-racially Filipino and Black in San Antonio, navigating the music scene in Austin, and staying true and authentic in his music. Outside of music, he very much enjoys fathering his p…

Nadia Chaudhury, editor of Eater Austin, is a Austin-based photographer, writer, and New Yorker. She covers Austin's restaurant and dining scene and this month we learn about her journey with her Bangladeshi background weaved throughout her life, food and her work. Referenced Materials in the Episode Eater Austin Partition Podcast Eater Austin: Wel…

Yen Tan is an Austin-based, Malaysian-born writer, director, and graphic artist. He premiered the critically-acclaimed "Pit Stop" at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. His NYT Critic's Pick feature, "1985," premiered at SXSW 2018. This month we hear from him on how the intersectionality of his Asian American and queer identities inspire his film w…

What is it like to navigate the world as a bi-racial child? Join us for this episode as we chat with Aisha Lewis, a social impact leader and DJ, of Black and Japanese descent. She shares her experiences of growing up with a Japanese mother and Black father in Los Angeles and what eventually led her to make her way to Austin, TX. She gives us intima…

How do we even define Asian American and which ethnicities does it encompass? And what's the context that brought the first Asians to Austin? In this episode, we learn all that plus more about Dr. Eric Tang's own relationship to his Asian American identity, being a racialized subject and W.E.B. DuBois' Double Consciousness, and what the future hold…

The series premiere of Asian in Austin shares the purpose and goals for the podcast and we dive into our personal experiences and relationship to our Asian American identity as a gay Vietnamese American man and Vietnamese American woman. Each month, we will have a specific theme and invite special guests from the Asian American community in Austin …

Asian in Austin is a podcast to elevate the voices and stories of Asian Americans living in Austin, Texas while exploring what it means to come into one's own identity. The podcast will premiere May 2 and is hosted by Sandra Pham and Minh Vu.By Minh Vu and Sandra Pham