One in a Billion
70 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 months ago - ★★★★★ - 25 ratingsOne in a Billion is a podcast about Asian values, culture and society – one person at a time.
We interview Asian writers, producers, entrepreneurs and entertainers about what they do, and what drives their choices and decisions. Hosted by Mable Chan (former ABC News producer), “One in a Billion” gives the stage to the young and the bold with a voice and a view that is rarely heard.
Learn more at https://www.oneinabillionvoices.org/
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Episodes
Season 2 - Episode 6: She Has Overcome: Cracking the Code of Learning Music
November 14, 2017 13:00 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBShe carries the good genes of music and science from the family. Her grandmothers are physics professors in China, one of them plays the piano as a child. Her father is a computer scientist, her mother is a medical scholar. Yet, she struggled to learn the piano as a child. Her head was bored from slavishly following the sheet music. And her heart was burdened with a bitter childhood memory. But all that changed when she discovered her fascination with computer programming as the path...
Season 2 - Episode 5: She Has Overcome: Re-imagining an Unforgettable Past
October 17, 2017 13:00 - 18 minutes - 16.8 MBKira Omans was just four months when she was abandoned in a public walkway near a bridge in Zhongshan, China. Not only was she discovered and adopted to begin a new life in America, she would go on to become Miss Pacific Asian American (2015), a model, dancer, and an actress with her first lead in a new feature film “Shoes.” How did she get back up when kids kick her down? Who discovered her talent as a actor and a dancer? Why did she enter a beauty pageant she once thought was filled w...
Season 2 - Episode 4: Keep Climbing
September 19, 2017 13:00 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBWhat would you do when someone tries to break you down, yelling at you saying “You’re the worst!?” What would you do when no one believes in your startup idea, saying “it’s too idealistic. It’s never going to work!?” What would you do when you face humiliating questions and intense scrutiny in front of millions of TV viewers? Listen to Part 2 of my interview with Kimberly Jung in Episode #4 “Keep Climbing.” An entrepreneur after overcoming class, cultural and gender barriers to forge...
Season 2 - Episode 3: Breaking Barriers
September 12, 2017 13:00 - 11 minutes - 10.7 MBWhat would you do when you hit a storm in the middle of climbing to the mountain top? Would you stop? Would you keep going? She would keep climbing. What would you do when your parents want you to marry a doctor or a lawyer, go to Harvard or Stanford? She would rebel. She would choose a different path, become an army officer and an entrepreneur. How? Who is she? She is Kimberly Jung - CEO/Founder of Rumi Spice. Kimberly shares the story of her becoming brave, transcending barriers ...
Season 2 - Episode 2: Free to Speak?
August 22, 2017 13:00 - 20 minutes - 18.8 MBIn America, the freedom of speech a First Amendment right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The right to speak our mind is not only valued in the American culture but expected in our liberal democratic society where voices are votes. The American electoral process expects it, and American citizens demands it. But what happens when the culture and society in which you grew up devalues or demeans free speech? In this Episode #2 “Free to Speak?” we interview Chinese and Americans who ha...
Season 2 - Episode 1: Are You Chinese?
July 25, 2017 13:00 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBIt sounds like a simple question, “Are you Chinese?” But why would someone ask it? And what makes it difficult for someone to answer it? Eric Liao, our blogger/podcast intern at One in a Billion, started writing a blog about this question a month ago. When I first read it, it overwhelmed me with provocative ideas and perplexing analogies, and many of the underlying sentiments turn out to resonate with many young Asians in America. So we decided to turn that unfinished blog into a full-f...
One In A Billion - Episode 12: Reflecting on 2016
December 29, 2016 14:00 - 6 minutes - 5.61 MBHow often do you hear these questions - “How high have you scored? How many hours do you work? How much have you done?” Quantity is, of course important. It is a metric of output or outcome. We live in a results-driven economy that relies on quantifiable data to measure growth and success. But that alone can’t be enough to define the meaning and purpose of your work, can it? Earlier this year, I wrote a blog about “Productivity & Purpose” after hearing a warmly personal and illuminating ...
One In A Billion - Episode 12: Reflecting on 2016
December 29, 2016 14:00 - 6 minutes - 5.61 MBHow often do you hear these questions - “How high have you scored? How many hours do you work? How much have you done?” Quantity is, of course important. It is a metric of output or outcome. We live in a results-driven economy that relies on quantifiable data to measure growth and success. But that alone can’t be enough to define the meaning and purpose of your work, can it? Earlier this year, I wrote a blog about “Productivity & Purpose” after hearing a warmly personal and illuminating ...
One In A Billion - Episode 11: Are You Home for Christmas?
December 22, 2016 14:00 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBThis year, I’ve promised my husband to be in Boston for Christmas and New Year. For the first time, it hit me how important it is to him that we celebrate Christmas, not in New York, or in Hong Kong (my hometown), but Cambridge our new home. I realize that his heart is forming roots to this place we’ve settled down for more than two years now. And in this season of longing, this is where he feels belonged. For me? It seems that I always feel belonged where I am most needed. Last month, I was...
One In A Billion - Episode 10: What Makes You Different?
December 15, 2016 14:00 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBWhat Makes You Different? How often do you feel different from your peers in America? Under what circumstances do you find your values at odds with your immediate cultural environment? How do you assert your sense of uniqueness? Listen to our latest podcast episode “What Makes You Different?” Twin sisters Chellie and Sara Zou narrate their blog about how they see race as multi-racial kids in Indiana. http://chinapersonified.com/how-i-see-race-as-a-multiracial-kid/ Zara Zhang w...
One In A Billion - Episode 9: Why Not Me? Part 2
November 16, 2016 16:41 - 17 minutes - 16.1 MBThe first time I wanted to deny that I was Chinese, I was 17 years old facing another 17 year-old. She was tall, blonde and huge from Chicago. “Where are you from?” She taunted me as I was sitting quietly in the corner, watching with wide-eyed wonder every teenage girl dancing up a storm on a chair or on a table. It was our Friday night “break out and dance” party inside a private high school outside of Detroit. “Hong Kong.” I muttered softly because she looked intimidating. She was...
One In A Billion - Episode 8: Why Not Me? Part 1
November 10, 2016 13:52 - 16 minutes - 15.1 MBSnap Judgments. Stereotypes. Implicit Bias. They exist everywhere, across and beyond Harvard. When I was a graduate student in the Regional Studies East Asia Program, I had experienced attitudes and comments that were sprinkled with presumptions from faculty and administrators whom I thought, would or should know to suspend judgment before they begin an enquiry. That enquiry could be as simple as a casual conversation or a probing question that would lead them to know me, as a person, b...
One In A Billion - Episode 7: Face Our Fears
October 25, 2016 12:35 - 13 minutes - 12 MBI spent most of my 20s pretending that I had no fears. Fears are messy. They mess up my optimism, my can-do spirit, they hold me back. I turned a blind eye to them so they wouldn’t slow me down. I realized that I had chosen a career, television news, that is relentlessly fast-paced and fiercely competitive especially in America’s top media town - New York. I was laser-focused on learning everything I could about the nature of the industry, the demands of my job, and the dynamics of my collea...
One In A Billion - Episode 6 : Is Entrepreneurship Right For You?
October 04, 2016 12:56 - 11 minutes - 10.7 MBBefore I launched my media startup in 2012, I never imagined that one day, I would form a company to create a digital platform for young people from China and America to share personal stories and to build a network community. That was a quantum leap from my job for decades as a TV journalist writing and producing for American network news in New York. But over the years, I knew I was also getting restless and curious about what else I could do with my background as a producer and storyt...
One In A Billion - Episode 5
September 20, 2016 11:30 - 15 minutes - 14 MBFinding Love in America: Are You the One? Since I began dating seriously in my 30s, I found myself often asking if the guy I was seeing at the time was “the one” I wanted to settle down with for the rest of my life. Frankly, I was less “husband hunting” than on the lookout for a devoted life partner in a committed relationship. To me, devotion, honesty and loyalty are paramount. At various stages of my decades of dating, I had almost given up on the notion of “marriage” until one day, ou...
One In A Billion - Episode 4
September 06, 2016 12:00 - 9 minutes - 9.01 MBWhat do you look for when you are seeking “the one?” I believe the answer lies mainly in when you are looking and why. When I was in my 20s, dating in America was a form of self-discovery. “The one” was usually someone, Chinese or non-Chinese, who opened my eyes to something new, something fun and exciting, something profound and intriguing. This “one” would be a bridge made of all kinds of materials that made it unique. This unique bridge, not a final destination, was what I wanted. ...
One in A Billion - Episode 3
August 21, 2016 12:30 - 10 minutes - 9.48 MBIf you are a parent, what does your child’s name say about you? In America, most parents pick a name that reflects the femininity of a girl, the strength of a boy, or their own personality and individuality. In China, a child’s name often embodies the parents’ hopes and dreams. They are idealistic and aspirational. If you want your son to aim and fly high, name him “Ling!” That’s Richard Yan’s Chinese name. His parents wanted him to follow in his father’s footstep to “fly across the ...
One in a Billion - Episode 2
August 07, 2016 12:30 - 10 minutes - 9.92 MBMuyi Xiao first caught my eye with her urgently captivating photo collection titled “Married Young.” It’s a story about teenage parents in China. One photo shows a 16 year-old mother, gazing adoringly at the sleeping infant in her arms. Another photo caption says Jian and Mei are expecting a baby in a few months. They were 15 and 16 when they got married. I was scratching my head going…what? Why? Why so young? What about school? What’s the story here? As I kept clicking more pictur...
One in a Billion - Episode 1
July 24, 2016 12:30 - 14 minutes - 12.8 MBI saw Mojia Shen for the first time in a YouTube video G(irls) 2015 summit after a friend told me she would make a great interview for my new podcast, One in a Billion. The minute she started talking, I was intrigued. Her voice is strong, earnest and engaging. How did she develop such a passionate persona, speaking directly to camera in English, her second language? That was just the first of a billion questions I had. Where did she come from? What’s her back story? What is she doing now...
One in a Billion Podcast Promo
July 15, 2016 21:14 - 1 minute - 4.08 MBA 16 year-old girl from Hebei province decides to come to America after spending nine years at a Chinese army youth school. She is 21 years old now. A rising junior at Wellesley College and a budding social entrepreneur, Mojia Shen calls herself a “Made in China robot turned creative human.” One In A Billion is a platform about this rising generation of entrepreneurs, artists, and other creative types. Learn more at ChinaPersonified.com