24 | Living With Bipolar Disorder: Jon Chang

We interview Jon Chang, a Mental Health Advocate and Marketer who was named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for Marketing & Advertising. He recently started a new role as head of consumer growth at Klarna, a financial services shopping site.

In addition to teaching at NYU and General Assembly, he’s a startup mentor at WeWork Labs and advises the education non-profit Exploration Summer Programs. He manages all of this while living with bipolar disorder.

Jonathan didn’t know he had bipolar disorder until he reached college. For a while, he didn’t understand why he felt so different and why he was engaging in irresponsible behavior.

In this episode we talk to Jonathan about:

What having bipolar disorder feels like

Prejudices about mental health in the Asian community

Managing his career with his disorder

Opening the dialogue about mental health at work

And the importance of preventative care and taking sick days for mental health

Resources And Episode Citations:

Links to Videos/Articles:

Follow Jon Chang at @changahroo

His Website: https://www.jonchang.co/

To Learn More about Bipolar Disorder:

https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-conditions/bipolar-disorder

Mental Health Facts:

https://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/state-mental-health-america

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/07/730404539/mental-health-parity-is-still-an-elusive-goal-in-u-s-insurance-coverage

Woebot: https://woebot.io/

Show Credits:

Thanks to our writer Liz Roberts for writing this episode. Liz works full-time at CNN Digital as an Associate Producer of Content Development. She’s been told that food is not a passion, but she disagrees. We do too!

Additional thanks to Kessyl Lim, our assistant producer; Debbie Wong & Kim Hernandez, our social media coordinators; and Rachel Chou our sound editor who mixed and edited this episode.

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Season 3 of Rock The Boat features Asian Americans who’ve succeeded Against All Odds.

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