#169 - Late Bloomers and the Ugly Duckling Syndrome with James Liao

This week, we get to hear a very personal and insightful conversation about late bloomers and the evolution of an ugly duckling from our well-spoken guest, James Liao. Most of us think of being a late bloomer in terms of physical appearance and romantic relationships. And while those are major players in the conversation, James also walks us through the not-so-skin-deep shifts in his social, relational, career and personality that also played a big hand in being a late bloomer. Minji and James share their contrasting adolescent experiences of being hyper aware of social hierarchies versus being shut off and bullied, their role models or lack thereof, and how being a "bloomer" and gaining access to social capital can shape them for better or worse.  

Links:
https://www.instagram.com/jlaimaeos/
https://lijiethemusicmaker.com/home

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▫️ Music featured in this episode include "Uzutrap" by Uzuhan and “Follow Me Down” by Lijie
▫️ Follow the show on Instagram and Twitter and support our Patreon
▫️ This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

Produced by @marvinyueh & @AnnaSun
Supported by @JulianaDeer

 

00:00:00 - Hope everyone is safe and sane 
00:02:25 - Intro’ing guest + topic 
00:06:37 - How would James introduce himself? 
00:10:30 - Acting class for business school
00:13:58 - “Acting is the study of life”
00:16:08 - James almost died twice 
00:19:54 - Rationalized happiness + Emotional and mental calculus   
00:25:39 - Late bloomers v early bloomers 
00:31:49 - Channeled anger into 100s of pushups  
00:35:43 - Ran away from home to go to church (age 13)
00:39:40 - Going from an INTJ to an INFP  
00:40:13 - BREAK + [Quarantined Comics Podcast] + FOA Patreon
00:44:25 - Hyper aware v shut off  
00:51:05 - Relationship bootcamp in college
00:56:40 - Asian American men in media 
01:03:58 - The point when James bloomed 
01:12:52 - When guys started to gravitate towards him 
01:15:19 - Haters and downside of late bloomers 
01:22:05 - We want to be loved whilst still evolving  
01:29:35 - FOA Qs for Guest 
01:32:32 - Outro + Share ep with a friend + Thank you Patrons! + Music by Lijie - “Follow you Down”
01:35:33 - [Books and Boba Podcast]

Mentioned in this episode:

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