With midterm elections around the corner, Brad Jenkins discusses how Asian Americans are the margin of victory for Democrats and how to support AAPI candidates for office. Brad and Nancy also discuss Brad's unique career path from working in a hedge fund to serving in the Obama administration to becoming a producer. About Brad: AAPI Victory Fund President and Enfranchisement CEO and Founder Brad Jenkins spent four years serving as President Obama’s Associate Director in The White House Offi...
May 14, 2022•42 min•Ep 46•Transcript available on Metacast We're kicking off AAPI Heritage Month with Linh Nguyen, Senior Advisor for RUN AAPI. We talk about being the only Asian women at the table in politics, how to get more AAPI Gen Z to get excited about and involved in politics, the importance of AAPI representation in politics, and how to better serve the Asian American community in politics. We even discuss results from one of the first, if not only, surveys on AAPI Gen Z and how they feel about the political climate and asian representation...
May 05, 2022•49 min•Ep 45•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s guest is Shan Wu. As a former federal prosecutor, nationally known criminal and student defense lawyer, and frequent guest on CNN and other news outlets, Shan is regularly called on to explore political and legal topics, ranging from election and impeachment questions to high-profile Title IX cases. We discuss: -The spike in hate crimes against AAPI folks -What is the legal definition of a hate crime and why hate crimes are underreported -The affirmative action case at Harvard -The nomin...
Apr 20, 2022•56 min•Ep 44•Transcript available on Metacast The Alliance for Youth Organizing , released the full results of their first National Youth Survey of 2022 ( that was just covered in TIME ). This survey takes a look at how young voters from across the political spectrum feel about the future of the country, what policies the Biden Administration should prioritize, how they plan to be civically engaged this year leading up to the midterm elections, and more. The survey of registered voters aged 17-39 was conducted between January 2-6, 2022. Her...
Mar 11, 2022•44 min•Ep 43•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy speaks with Mila Atmos about being a citizen change maker and making your voice heard, voting close to home, engaging in civic action on your terms, forming an ideal democracy, and more. About Mila Mila Atmos fiercely believes in the power of individuals to shape our society, and to cultivate and protect American Democracy. On her podcast, Future Hindsight , Mila aims to spark civic engagement through in-depth conversations with citizen changemakers. Mila combines life experiences from liv...
Mar 01, 2022•44 min•Ep 42•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy is joined with Yiqing Zhao to discuss her career as an actress, filmmaker, and life coach. Yiqing Zhao is an award-winning actor, filmmaker, and a certified life coach. Besides her artistic pursuits, she help creatives belong, become, and create the life they want. Before becoming an artist, Yiqing was a medical student in China. Yiqing's links: https://linktr.ee/yiqingzhao Nancy: Website , Instagram , Twitter Welcome to Progressive Opinions of Color (POC), a podcast that creates spac...
Feb 21, 2022•37 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast Here's a solo episode where Nancy talks about the recent murder of Christina Yuna Lee and Michelle Go in NYC. How do we move forward and prevent this from happening again outside of the prison industrial complex? Is that even the way to go in the short term? Join us in this rant about being an Asian woman in the United States, the sense of safety going away, and how difficult it is to prove that an act is a "hate crime" but racially motivated regardless. Nancy: Website , Instagram...
Feb 16, 2022•21 min•Ep 40•Transcript available on Metacast Jarvis Houston , the Organizing and Political Director of Sister District . Jarvis Houston has ten years of advocacy and campaign experience at the local, state, and national levels. He is a lifelong organizer and a proud graduate of Howard University. With armchair analysts portending a dark upcoming decade for Democrats, Jarvis speaks to a positive outcome of the past elections: the shift in political representation across a country and how the political climate is changing for people of color...
Jan 08, 2022•38 min•Ep 39•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy chats with Sean about his own podcasts, how he transitioned from tech to the creative industry, how tech skills can be transferrable for creative career changes, and more. Sean is a Sloan MIT MBA, and former PM at Amazon. He currently is trying to write screenplays, actively participates in furthering the mission of the 1990 Institute as a board member and produces Bund to Brooklyn, a podcast on how Asian Americans and Chinese tackle modern issues like identity, mental health, activism and...
Nov 27, 2021•42 min•Ep 38•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy chats with Ashish Prashar about his time in prison for a non-violent crime, how the prison industrial complex discriminates against BIPOC, and how to move toward prison reform and abolition. When you hear Ashish Prashar’s lovely soft spoken British accent, coupled with his intellectual stance on the flawed U.S. prison system, it's really hard to believe he spent an entire year of his life in a dark prison at the young age of 17 for a non-violent crime. Sadly, he’s one of thousands of ...
Nov 16, 2021•54 min•Ep 37•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy chats with Kat Calvin about voter suppression and the complexities of obtaining IDs for everyday use. Kat also talks about the California recall election and tips to starting a non-profit. Kat Calvin is the Founder and Executive Director of Spread The Vote and the Co-Founder and CEO of the Project ID Action Fund . A lawyer, activist, and social entrepreneur, Kat has built a national organization that helps Americans obtain the IDs they need for jobs, housing, and life and that also allows ...
Oct 14, 2021•42 min•Ep 36•Transcript available on Metacast Today's guest is Greisa Martinez Rosas . She is the executive director of United We Dream (UWD), the largest immigrant youth-led community in the country. Greisa and Nancy talk about immigration reform and Democratic bid to legalize undocumented immigrants and give them a path to citizenship. Greisa also talks about the day to day of UWD and how you can get involved. Originally from Hidalgo, Mexico, Greisa migrated to the U.S. with her parents at a young age and grew up in Texas. While stud...
Sep 29, 2021•22 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy is joined with Sarah Audelo to discuss her work as executive director of the Alliance for Youth Action, the importance of Gen Z in voting and politics, how to enter a career of political organizing, and more. Sarah Audelo is a woman of color who has been at the forefront of youth political organizing for much of the last decade — from serving as the millennial vote director for the 2016 Clinton campaign to political and field director for Rock The Vote to policy director at Generation Prog...
Sep 20, 2021•52 min•Ep 34•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy is joined with Yanzi Ding to discuss her career as an actress and her short film, Sans Everything. * About the bilingual writer/actor Yanzi Ding New York Taiwanese bilingual actress Yanzi Ding is also a writer, translator, and dubbing artist. As an actor, she leads two Off-Broadway Play and two feature films. However, her mission in the United States is to create work and collaboration opportunities for diverse groups. Therefore, she creates many original works including the stage play whi...
Sep 15, 2021•51 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast A solo episode today with Nancy Wu, who chats about women’s and gender studies theory versus facing everyday misogyny and catcalls. She also talks about the U.S. pulling troops out of Afghanistan and the Taiban’s entry, and the consequences of the U.S.’s actions abroad, and the narratives of the Delta variant in the U.S. and abroad, and the dangers of certain narratives around the Delta variant. Contact Progressive Opinions of Color at: https://www.instagram.com/pocpodcast/ https://www.twitter.c...
Aug 22, 2021•37 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy is joined by Tatenda Musapatike. Tatenda Musapatike is the founder and CEO of the Voter Formation Project. She’s spent over a decade working on digital programs and in tech to support progressive causes. She most recently was a senior advisor at ACRONYM where she built their $12.5M Expand the Electorate program from the ground up. This program worked to reach, register, and mobilize Black and Latinx voters across 8 states in the 2020 general election and the Georgia Senate runoff elections...
Aug 16, 2021•46 min•Ep 31•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy is joined by Varun Nikore, the President of the AAPI Victory Fund and Executive Director of the AAPI Victory Alliance. Varun discusses the importance of AAPI voter turnout in the 2020 election, why the AAPI vote matters, the importance of funding to turn out the AAPI vote, Andrew Yang's run for NYC Mayor, media perceptions of AAPI candidates, and more. Varun Nikore: https://aapivictoryfund.com/leadership/varun-nikore/ https://aapivictoryfund.com/ https://aapivictoryalliance.com/ For m...
Aug 03, 2021•51 min•Ep 30•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy is joined with Thomas Andrews today. Thomas is the owner of T3 PowerReady, a group fitness program based right on the beach in Marina Del Rey, California. From overcoming addiction and homelessness to living in Singapore and Bali, Thomas’s story is one that I have the pleasure of sharing. He shares what it’s like to be black in Atlanta and abroad in Bali and Singapore, confronting racism, the mindset shifts he’s had to implement to change his life, and how he founded his company and patent...
Jul 21, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep 29•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy is joined with Lillian So to talk overcoming obstacles of growing up in the inner city of Chicago, acknowledging and working through our cultural and ancestral baggage as Asian Americans and how to move forward and manifest our dream lives, and helping ambitious people rewrite self-sabotaging narratives that are holding them back from what they want. About the Guest: Lillian So is a facilitator of transformation, community builder, and entrepreneur. She has more than 20 years of industry e...
Jun 04, 2021•56 min•Ep 28•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy is joined with Ashley and Leanna of Cove Collective to discuss AAPI Heritage Month. We discuss: joy in being Asian American, reactions toward recent hate crimes, and more! Be sure the check out the live video recording on Cove Collective's Instagram (linked below). Contact Progressive Opinions of Color at: Instagram Twitter Email: opinionspoc@gmail.com Nancy: Website , Instagram, Twitter Guest: Cove Collective, a community that centers the voices of BIPOC Womxn and Femmes through even...
May 21, 2021•28 min•Ep 27•Transcript available on Metacast In our first episode during AAPI Heritage Month, Nancy and Sonya are joined with Maggie Su. Maggie is a physical therapist and Asian American woman living in Birmingham, Alabama. They talk about life in the south, the recent acts of hatred toward the AAPI community, and perceptions of Asians since COVID-19. They also talk about fake news and their conversations with Asian parents and white partners about racism. Contact Progressive Opinions of Color at: Instagram Twitter Email: opinionspoc@gmail...
May 07, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy and Sonya are joined with Nicole Zhao to talk about the recent acts of hatred toward the AAPI community. They also talk about alternatives for community care outside of policing, whether the cycle of carceration helps anyone, imagining a future without police, how Asian American experiences and oppressions are different from what the black community faces, and the need for an intersectional approach to anti-racism. Organizations mentioned: North Brooklyn Mutual Aid SafeWalks NYC Hollaback!...
Apr 21, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast Sonya and Nancy are joined with Ashley and Leanna of Cove Collective to discuss Womxn of Color Storytellers for Black History Month. We discuss: Why is the literary and publishing world so white? What's the importance of representation in books? What are our book recs? Why is it so important to read from BIPOC authors and perspectives? What are other forms of storytelling by BIPOC artists for those who don't like to read? Works mentioned: The death of Vivek Oji - Awkaeke Emezi Wanderin...
Feb 19, 2021•46 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast Sonya and Nancy are joined by Sonya's sister, Aneesha Natarajan, to discuss the GameStop uprising, why Millennials use and Robinhood and why they should stop, Dry January and why America has an alcohol problem, critiques of "Boss Girl feminism," and whether our hobbies should be productive. We also explore cultural appropriation and all its nuances, from Mahjong to yoga to adaptogen mushrooms to tumeric. Is it more ok if people of color culturally appropriate other cultures? We al...
Feb 11, 2021•46 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy is joined by her new co-host, Sonya, to discuss some hot takes on the inauguration (from “unity” to J Lo), executive actions under the Biden administration, and the debate around raising the minimum wage (spoiler alert: we don’t think it will destroy the economy). We also explore student debt, classist forces keeping education inaccessible, and Biden’s vague plans and promises for racial equality. Contact Progressive Opinions of Color at: Instagram Twitter Email: opinionspoc@gmail.com Sony...
Jan 29, 2021•37 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast On Frank Chiang's second episode with POC Podcast, Frank and Nancy discuss Frank's "conservative" views. They're not actually conservative, so please give a listen to the entire conversation. Frank proposes that cancelling student loan debt and giving a $2,000 stimulus check are not enough to solve the actual problems at hand. We discuss student loan debt forgiveness, stimulus checks, universal basic income (UBI), where delivery service commissions actually go and how to...
Jan 21, 2021•44 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast Joyce Pan has experienced all aspects of healthcare: she's studied pre-med, worked in healthcare consulting for medical devices companies, and now works on the data and marketing side of healthcare. On this episode, Joyce and Nancy will discuss the following topics: -Why healthcare is so expensive -How are pharmaceuticals priced -Their majors at Dartmouth -Why everyone should major in Gender Studies -How an Ivy League degree signals conformity and privilege more than intelligence -Elitist b...
Jan 17, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Yami is an Afrolatinx creative and educator. She and Nancy will talk about the Happiest Season, Yami’s work as a tutor during the pandemic, queer and black representation, social media’s role in mobilizing Black Lives Matter, Sagittarius season, manipulative statistics, and more! Yamilette Vizcaíno Rivera is a Dominican-American writer and educator based in Brooklyn. She was an attendee at the 2020 Tin House Winter Workshop and the 2020 VONA workshop, and was the winner of the 2019 Cosmonauts Av...
Dec 21, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast Sonya Natarajan has lived in Madrid, works in consulting, and graduated from NYU. Sonya and Nancy talk about the absurdity of capitalism and the difficulty of critiquing from within the system, Joe Biden’s win, Kamala Harris making Indian Americans proud, how Indian Americans got different spectrums of political views, dealing with anxiety in your 20s, our own internalized racism while dating, books we’ve been reading, and how to build a more equitable city from scratch, and more! Books mentione...
Dec 12, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy Wu talks with John Montgomery, a clinical psychologist based in Chicago, about finally getting rid of Trump from the White House. We talk about politicians who see politics as a game, cancelling RBG, what's up with black Trump Supporters, why voter turnout was higher this year, is there hope for democracy, feeling patriotic and proud to be an American again, fake news, how money is linked to power, and how politicians manipulate their constituents and other politicians. Contact Nancy ...
Nov 20, 2020•51 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast 
