“A lot of creativity stems from lack of access — born outta having less. You have less, so you have to think about how to do more — that's what's Black design is about.” Maurice Cherry is a designer, strategist, and an important voice in the history of Black design — best known as the creator and host of Revision Path, an award-winning podcast that’s spotlighted over 550 Black designers, developers, artists, and digital thinkers — and became the first podcast inducted into the Smithsonian’s Nat...
Jul 18, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 10Ep. 296
“Chai is amazing — it should be right alongside a good cup of coffee, espresso, or cappuccino. This business helped me reconcile my American upbringing and my Indian heritage — that push and pull, that beautiful combination of everything.” Ayan Sanyal is Co-founder of Kolkata Chai Company, which if you’re in NY, you should stop by sometime soon (or order some online) — it’s something special. I’ve been going for a couple of years, and more than a few others do to, including frieMMd of the pod Ra...
Jun 29, 2025•53 min•Season 10Ep. 295
“It was not nostalgia — I kept waiting for that to hit. I was worried about — what if New York doesn't live up to it? Because then where do I go from here? Kay Sohini is an Indian comics-maker living in New York City. She’s the author of the graphic novel THIS BEAUTIFUL, RIDICULOUS CITY . But Kay’s a lot more than a comics creator - she’s a writer, researcher, and artist. Kay grew up in Kolkata, where she fell in love with American culture - through TV and literature - as a contrast to her life ...
Jun 15, 2025•1 hr 7 min
“ We might need only 10% of the population to have a tipping point into a brighter future — to change lives for the better at scale by recognizing your potential to calm others. We're in this thing together.” Life right now seems chaotic, but there's a method to the madness — welcome to the challenge of our generations. It sucks, it’s not fair, it’s been going on too long, and it feels like we’re sacrificing our children to some golem of change—with no relief in sight. We need something to belie...
May 31, 2025•17 min•Season 10Ep. 293
“ It was always in me — my grandparents were almost like these mystical figures, and they did really great things. So I was always like, ‘Why can't I discover more of that side of me?’ ” Brian Velasquez Reid is co-founder + CFO of Dear Flor, the first Filipina-owned cannabis brand — bringing Filipino culture to the world, one flavor at a time. And he happens to be co-founder with recent FrieMMd of the pod Lisa Angulo Reid. Basically, Lisa said we had to have a chat with Brian, and we’re really g...
May 18, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 10Ep. 292
“ It's a message of resilience in the face of adversity — a sandbox, where every person has a story, an important point of view — folks doing something different who can be interesting, wonderful, and celebrated.” A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, we saw Star Wars for the first time — and everything changed, for so many of us. Let’s be honest, it has been a long and winding relationship with all the space wizards and laser swords over the years — from Ahsoka to BB-8, from Yoda to Zahn, ...
May 03, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Season 10Ep. 290
“Even though this is a book about snake girls and lizard boys — it's about universal experiences: we can't change what's happening, but you never know when being kind will change somebody else. ,” Jonathan Hill’s an award-winning cartoonist, illustrator, and educator in Portland, Oregon — and a returning guest - to celebrate the launch of his latest graphic novel: “Lizard Boy 2: The Most Perfect Summer Ever.” While the sci-fi title might have you scratching your head, this YA sequel is actually ...
Apr 27, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Season 10Ep. 288
“They want your immigrant voice — they don't want to hear about me just growing up, even though that's the truth, right? And then I realized I could clearly make a living just performing for my people.” Keith Pedro is a renowned Canadian comedian who has garnered worldwide acclaim through his captivating live performances. In 2022, he was honored with a Juno Award nomination for his Comedy Album, "TRILLIPINO," in the category of Comedy Album of the Year. He has made a name for himself as one of ...
Apr 20, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 10Ep. 288
“When everything changed recently, we promised ourselves we would not get wrapped into the daily news. Yes, we're paying attention, but it's going to happen - and the coping mechanisms have never changed.” Suresh is a Malaysian-born, London-raised, gay media exec in NY, who over the years, has become an important voice about authenticity, discipline, and hard work. Suresh is direct, honest and reflective — in an industry full of a lot of talk. With everything going on in the world today, you’ll ...
Apr 13, 2025•57 min•Season 10Ep. 287
“ I certainly learned about how media works — our faces and our stories weren't included. That was my bat signal to make that change.” Nicole Ponseca is a pioneering voice in the culinary world and one of the most respected thought leaders in the Hospitality and Filipino community. Nicole has proven herself on the NYC scene with critically acclaimed restaurants, Maharlika and Jeepney. She revolutionized perceptions of Filipino food in the United States, turning bold and authentic flavors into a ...
Apr 06, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 10Ep. 285
“Food is our love language. It's those types of food memories that are straight from the motherland — these are the things we carry with us.” Did you know April was Filipino Food Month? While we’ve all got a Filipino friend (or three), can you name more than one Filipino food besides those amazing tiny spring rolls (Lumpia FTW)? Either way, we’ve got something special for you. Co-host Lisa Angulo Reid (DearFlor.com) put up the Halo-halo Signal and got some amazing Filipino favorite food and rest...
Mar 31, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 10Ep. 285
“Living in the US was like a hand in a glove for me — I just came here and loved it. Now, my opinion is slowly changing - seeing everything that's happening. But I still miss it because it made me the person I am today.” Vaib’s a friend of a friend - we were told we should meet because we’d get along. We covered a lot of ground — the political difference between India and America, the role of activism, the role of fear in activism in our modern era, and some of his own healthcare advocacy intere...
Mar 23, 2025•55 min•Season 10Ep. 284
“It's important we bring our whole self — that's how you create trust, you bring that vulnerability. I had to learn to let my guard down, and it's made me a better leader.” Susie Quesada is President of Ramar Foods - one of the oldest leading manufacturers of Filipino foods in America. While Ramar is news to most of us - it’s not to the 4M+ Filipino Americans out there - and we’ve all got a Filipino friend (or more than a few). While Susie Quesada grew up in the family's business - starting work...
Mar 15, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 10Ep. 283
“There was literally nothing I could do to fit in — and at some point, I decided to not bother trying. It really encouraged an independence that has carried me through the rest of my life and career.” David Yin, is an exec working at the intersection of consumer health and technology - who through happenstance, became a kindred spirit on so many conversations, about work, life, and even comic books. While David’s Texas born, he’s anything but a Texan, having built a career and life on both coast...
Mar 03, 2025•58 min•Season 10Ep. 282
“Just because your parents wanted the best for you in one way doesn't mean that you rebelling doesn't mean you still can't give back to them by living a good life.” Michael Wong is basically a cultural anthropologist for Asian America. A Seattle-based commentator, Michael’s best known for Asian Verified on Instagram + TikTok, and also writes a monthly column for The Stranger, a Seattle newspaper. This is the first of many conversation with Filipino entrepreneurs GUEST-hosted by new FrieMMd of th...
Feb 23, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 10Ep. 281
“ A lot of women are living in uncertainty about their health — so most of us are in a really weird situationship with our health. And that to me is quite sad.” Dr. Varuna Srinivasan is the Founder & CEO of Fluid Health — she is a sexual health expert, writer, and speaker based in Brooklyn. For the past decade, Varuna has worked on improving reproductive health access with organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and more. He...
Feb 09, 2025•57 min•Season 10Ep. 280
“Day in and day out, you work with these people — doctors, engineers and developers from India — I felt compelled to tell the story of a diaspora in this broken immigration system.” Vidyut Latay — an award-winning documentary filmmaker - and director of ALIEN: AMERICAN DREAM DENIED - a new documentary (on Amazon Prime) that spotlights the emotional journey of high-skilled, documented immigrants as they seek permanence in a country that benefits from their talent, but denies them a home. Immigrat...
Feb 02, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 10Ep. 279
As we wrap 2024, here’s the year’s “minority voices for all our majority ears.” While it’s certainly been a long and winding year, we hope our conversations have shared some relief and perspective. So why not give us the gift of a fresh 5-star review? apple.co/2Le6lpM Featuring the voices of Kamala Harris, Isaac Saul, Edel Rodriguez, Kris Stith, Ed Rigaud, Najoh Tita-Reid, John Pepper, Ursula Jones, Linda Clement-Holmes, Bonnie Wan, Bernice Ang, Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, Seif Hamid, Claire Yoon-E...
Dec 27, 2024•25 min•Season 9Ep. 278
“She asked, ‘do you go by Peter or Pedro? You're writing a memoir - shouldn't, you know?’ I'm writing a story about myself and I don't know myself — so I'm going to take the journey with the character.” ” Pedro Martín is creator of MEXIKID, a graphic memoir about Pedro’s Mexican-American childhood and family in the 1970s - specifically a road trip to Mexico to their legendary abuelito - who may or may not have been part of the Mexican revolution. Mexikid has received tons of critical acclaim — ...
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 9Ep. 277
“Growing up, emotional support was non-existent. Rightfully so, because they went through hell and back - their entire journey of having to escape and redoing life in a foreign country. There was no time to look back.” Vanessa Huynh is a rising professional in Chicago - who Raman met in NY on an “intergenerational” panel, where Vanessa was one of the “younger folk” at our event. And while there are some slight differences in how we processed growing up between two worlds, Vanessa’s a fellow old ...
Nov 11, 2024•56 min•Season 9Ep. 276
Vice President Kamala Harris' speech from Howard University on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 07, 2024•9 min•Season 8Ep. 275
It's the morning after, I’ll leave some fresh comments at the top of the episode. It was crushingly hard to tell my daughter before she went off to school. We're probably all asking ourselves, how did we get here? So easier to just re-air this Quarantined Comics episode from August 2022 about the vibrant and harrowing graphic novel Berlin, by Jason Lutes, which I've actually referenced in many conversations over the past few months. It’s a small distraction in an eerily prescient conversation ab...
Nov 06, 2024•40 min•Season 9Ep. 274
“ Growing up in Hawaii is a really, really special experience — natural beauty, family and community. But you're really trying to fit into a local culture that has such a complex relationship with Caucasian people.” Chris Schmicker is a a Honolulu-born and New York City-based writer and brand marketer who’s currently working on a debut short fiction collection set in contemporary Hawaii. Chris is Hapa — half Japanese & Chinese, half Swiss & Irish — we first met on our previously aired AN...
Oct 28, 2024•53 min•Season 9Ep. 273
“We wanted something that was familiar, but also Filipino — the whole culture of the older sister that knows and gives advice without judgment.” Lisa Angulo Reid the co-founder and CEO of Dear Flor, the first Filipina-owned cannabis company that makes gummies that are 100% vegan with 100% Filipino flavors like ube, calamansi, and buko pandan. Founded by Lisa and her husband Brian, Dear Flor’s mission is to bring Filipino culture to the world, one flavor at a time. Sharon + Lisa are OG Chiefs, bu...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 272
“I didn't ask my dad many questions, and now I'll never know. And I could call my mom up right now, but I'm not going to do that because - ‘the culture’ - we don't really ask each other personal questions.” Kathy MacLeod is an illustrator and cartoonist - the author of CONTINENTAL DRIFTER, her debut graphic novel - a memoir about a youth split between growing up in Bangkok, and her first summer camp experience in Maine. CONTINENTAL DRIFTER is a coming of age story about a girl caught between two...
Oct 14, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 8Ep. 271
“Distraction is not a technology problem or a moral failing. The vast majority of distraction is simply that you have not learned the skill of dealing with discomfort. Master internal triggers, or they will become your master.” Nir Eyal is a best-selling author and instructor working at the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. In a research-driven conversation about his latest book “INDISTRACTABLE - How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life,” we learn about what really ...
Oct 07, 2024•43 min•Season 8Ep. 270
“You need to get people registered, you need to get them informed, you need them voting. This is not the work of just one cycle, but this is the work of a generation.” Wendy Nguyen is Founder and President of AsianAmericansRise.com — a political advocacy nonprofit focused on civic engagement from the Asian American community. Right now, Wendy and her team are most focused on registering voters - and turning out the Asian vote in swing states like Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pe...
Sep 28, 2024•55 min•Season 8Ep. 269
” I was in survival mode for so long — then I finally dealt with it - shedding all the old stories I told myself that society put on — those stories stick with us and form our identity without us even realizing it.” Ida Abdalkhani is a longtime FrieMMd of the pod, and a co-host on Raman’s other podcast, “Learnings from Leaders.” Ida is many things...an entrepreneur, marketer, board member, speaker, professor, patent-holder, yoga instructor, published author, and many more things to come. We actu...
Sep 21, 2024•53 min•Season 8Ep. 268
”I’ve come to my parents with challenges and they say, keep working hard, keep pushing through it — they're so used to working 12 hour days, making ends meet — it’s interesting to see them understanding my career.” Raman recently moderated a community conversation on "Building Bridges across Generations" for the inaugural Asians in Marketing and More summit - where we explored the personal and professional expectations of work and family across different generations. We explored how we, as a pro...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 7Ep. 267
“I was not gonna follow rules if they didn't make any sense to me. There's a healthy sense of curiosity and a willingness to challenge the status quo.” Sudha Ranganathan is an emotionally intelligent leader. Drew Tarvin is a humor engineer. Both are P&G Alumni, and old friends of Raman’s from different parts of his life. This is a bonus conversation from Raman (+Drew’s) other podcast, Learnings from Leaders. Having worked at companies like Linkedin, Paypal, Affinnova,and Procter & Gamble...
Sep 09, 2024•52 min•Season 7Ep. 265
