Kathy Cheng and Thankful Registry: Giving with Heart

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Managing Editor, Anna Wu, speaks with Thankful founder Kathy Cheng to find out more about her innovative start-up that is helping to personalize the gift-giving traditions around weddings, birthdays, and other events. Anna has also found success as a professional wedding photographer, so both she and Kathy have much in common when it comes to celebrating life's special moments. Read on to find out more behind the motivation and success of Thankful. Anna: Thank you for talking…

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Michelle Wu – On Campaigning, Boston, and Pig Ears

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Michelle Wu is one of the newly elected at-large councilors for Boston City Council, and the first Asian American female to hold the position. About a year ago, I received a random Facebook invite to one of her first campaign events, where I was inspired by her story. On an especially windy day in a cozy South End Starbucks, I had the privilege of hearing more about her journey and plans for a better Boston. Congrats on your victory! Thanks! I am very humbled to have been elected. Tell…

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Taiwan is My Home: Stories of the Black and Latino Diaspora

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Daniel D. Zarazua has spent his life navigating the ways globalization and international migration have taken root in the daily experiences of life in Taiwan. As a mixed-race 1.5 generation Taiwanese American who has returned to Taiwan several times, he has explored the hip-hop scene, capoeira community, Latino restaurants, and made a number of friendships within Taiwan's Black and Latino communities. I’ve had the privilege of meeting Daniel a couple of times during Taiwanese American conferences…

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The Mountain Brothers

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The Mountain Brothers, one of the first Asian American hip hop groups, are back after a long hiatus. After performing with A Tribe Called Quest, having their music featured in Sprite and Nike commercials, and dropping 2 albums and an EP, the pioneers of Asian American hip hop recently released “Keep On” for CHOPS’ (Scott Jung) new project, Strength in NUMBERS. I catch up with CHOPS, Styles Infinite (Stephen Wei), and Peril-L (Christopher Wang) to talk about the new project. …

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A Chat with Brian Yang on Acting, Producing, and Taiwanese Parents

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Ho Chie Tsai chats with Brian Yang, an actor and producing partner at 408 Films, an independent film production company that helps to produce and finance feature film productions and new media ventures. 408 Films has produced titles such as Fog, The People I've Slept With, and SuperCapitalist. Currently, he is one of the producers behind Linsanity, the Jeremy Lin documentary, opening on October 4, 2013. On the acting side, Brian has appeared in film and television projects…

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ITASA Stories: Connect, Inspire, and Empower

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org's HoChie Tsai sits down with Ada Chen, the 2013-2014 national president for the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association (ITASA) to talk about the national network and their initiatives for the coming year. Their mission is to provide events and resources that explore and celebrate Taiwanese American identity in order to connect, inspire, and empower an organic, thriving Taiwanese American community. Since 1991, Taiwanese American collegiate students have organized…

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Stringing Together Success: An Interview with Vania King

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I chatted with Vania King, winner of the 2010 Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles titles, during one of her breaks during the Rogers Cup in Toronto this summer. She talked about her unusual path to professional tennis, the challenges she’s faced and where she sees her life after tennis. Tell me a bit about your childhood and family, and how you got started playing tennis. Did you have any tennis players you admired as a kid? I was born in Monterey Park, Calif., and I grew up in Long Beach. I’m…

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Rediscovering Ramen: A Chat with Toki Underground’s Chef-Owner Erik Bruner-Yang

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[caption id="attachment_9985" align="alignright" width="199" caption="Photo by Hannah Colclazier"][/caption] Erik Bruner-Yang may have opened Toki Underground in Washington, D.C. two and a half years ago, but lines at the modern ramen shop haven’t gotten any shorter. A casual survey of Yelp reviews shows three or four hour waits on weekends—and customers willing to stick around. “We’re lucky that we have such a good clientele and that we’re busy every day,” he says. “We’re still…

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Life Sketch: Gene Luen Yang

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I recently had the honor of sitting down with Gene Luen Yang, author of the graphic novels American Born Chinese and Avatar: The Last Airbender, among other works. In his own words, he is a high school computer science teacher by day and a Taiwanese-Chinese-American cartoonist by night. Gene is currently the Director of Information Services and a part of the Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults (MFAC) program. I first heard of Gene in my Asian Americans in…

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"A Memories Chase" With Timothy Den of Ohvaur

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What's your story? It's the simplest of questions with the most complex of answers guaranteed. For many Asian Americans, the answer begins with our parents emboldened by the pipe dream of a better life for themselves and their family. The roads leading towards this dream were tumultuous for so many generations preceding us, wrought with unfathomable hardships and obstacles.  For Timothy Den of the Chicago and Miami-based independent band, Ohvaur, these roads were a reality he experienced first…

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