Modern Minorities

Latest Episodes:

Susie Quesada’s (whole) self Mar 15, 2025

Show notes

“It's important we bring our whole self — that's how you create trust, you bring that vulnerability. I had to learn to let my guard down, and it's made me a better leader.”

Susie Quesada is President of Ramar Foods - one of the oldest leading manufacturers of Filipino foods in America. While Ramar is news to most of us - it’s not to the 4M+ Filipino Americans out there - and we’ve all got a Filipino friend (or more than a few). While Susie Quesada grew up in the family's business - starting work at the age of 8 - she actually pursued a career in public education. She later rejoined Ramar full time in 2005 in various positions before assuming the role of President in 2013. For her - it’s all about the legacy that her grandmother and father started.

This conversation was hosted by FrieMMd of the Pod Lisa Angulo Reid —sharing conversations with Filipino and Asian American changemakers. Lisa also happens to be the Co-Founder & CEO of Dear Flor - the first infused gummy with classic Filipino flavors. Learn more @ DearFlor.com

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David Yin’s (evolved) identity Mar 03, 2025

Show notes

“There was literally nothing I could do to fit in — and at some point, I decided to not bother trying. It really encouraged an independence that has carried me through the rest of my life and career.”

David Yin, is an exec working at the intersection of consumer health and technology - who through happenstance, became a kindred spirit on so many conversations, about work, life, and even comic books. While David’s Texas born, he’s anything but a Texan, having built a career and life on both coasts of NY and SF. While we’ve already had a few chai walk and talks, sharing more than a few things in common from our Southern upbringings to wrestling with the professional lives and intellectual curiosities to just a love for all things nerdy - this was a lot of fun to reflect with a new old friend on not just where we're from and where we're going, but to also reflect on everything we've learned and have been thinking about along the way...

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Michael Wong’s (Asian) Verified Feb 23, 2025

Show notes

“Just because your parents wanted the best for you in one way doesn't mean that you rebelling doesn't mean you still can't give back to them by living a good life.”

Michael Wong is basically a cultural anthropologist for Asian America. A Seattle-based commentator, Michael’s best known for Asian Verified on Instagram + TikTok, and also writes a monthly column for The Stranger, a Seattle newspaper. This is the first of many conversation with Filipino entrepreneurs GUEST-hosted by new FrieMMd of the Pod, past guest, and Filipina entrepreneur Lisa Angulo Reid.

LEARN MORE

instagram.com/asianverified
thestranger.com/collections/79782549/asian-verified
GUEST HOST (Lisa Reid): https://dearflor.com

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Varuna Srinivasan’s (Fluid) Health Feb 09, 2025

Show notes

“ A lot of women are living in uncertainty about their health — so most of us are in a really weird situationship with our health. And that to me is quite sad.”

Dr. Varuna Srinivasan is the Founder & CEO of Fluid Health — she is a sexual health expert, writer, and speaker based in Brooklyn. For the past decade, Varuna has worked on improving reproductive health access with organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and more. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Paper, Health, and Parents, and has been recognized by the NHS, Bumble, and even Serena Williams. Varuna + Fluid Health’s mission is to leverage education and technology to provide inclusive and personalized sexual health care. Varuna’s actually a “friend of a FrieMMd of the Pod” - first introduced to us by past guest Dr. Nzinga Harrison - Hi Nzinga. You’ll enjoy this conversation that follows many cups of chai - chatting work, life entrepreneurship, India, and family.

LEARN MORE

myfluidhealth.com/
instagram.com/drvarunasrinivasan

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Vidyut Latay’s (ALIEN) American Dream, Denied Feb 02, 2025

Show notes

“Day in and day out, you work with these people — doctors, engineers and developers from India — I felt compelled to tell the story of a diaspora in this broken immigration system.”

Vidyut Latay — an award-winning documentary filmmaker - and director of ALIEN: AMERICAN DREAM DENIED - a new documentary (on Amazon Prime) that spotlights the emotional journey of high-skilled, documented immigrants as they seek permanence in a country that benefits from their talent, but denies them a home. Immigration continues to be a hot-button topic in today’s political climate —from H1-Bs to greencards as paths to citizenship — for highly-skilled foreign tech workers — which many of us only have a surface-level understanding of, despite it impacting so many of our friends, family members, coworkers, and neighbors. Raman will be moderating a panel / screening of ALIEN on March 2, 2025 at Ridgefield Library in Connecticut (registration link below).

Vidyut was also director of her debut groundbreaking documentary "Beyond Silence" — which screened on PBS, at film festivals around the world, won awards, was part of UCLA curriculum, and was also invited to the Incloodu Deaf Arts Festival — England’s first media and arts festival for the hard of hearing. Vidyut’s also worked on award-winning documentaries like "Waiting for Superman" and "Kailash" and back in India, she was an executive producer for India's premier television networks - Zee TV and Zoom. You’ll enjoy this far-ranging conversation on not just immigration, but how Vidyat meets her calling to address meaningful social issues through documentary filmmaking.

LEARN MORE

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2024: A(nother) year with our FrieMMds Dec 27, 2024

Show notes

As we wrap 2024, here’s the year’s “minority voices for all our majority ears.” While it’s certainly been a long and winding year, we hope our conversations have shared some relief and perspective. So why not give us the gift of a fresh 5-star review? apple.co/2Le6lpM

Featuring the voices of Kamala Harris, Isaac Saul, Edel Rodriguez, Kris Stith, Ed Rigaud, Najoh Tita-Reid, John Pepper, Ursula Jones, Linda Clement-Holmes, Bonnie Wan, Bernice Ang, Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, Seif Hamid, Claire Yoon-Elvers, Andrew Tarvin, Veera Hiranandani, Mariko Tamaki, Sudha Ranganathan, Ida Abdalkhani, Wendy Nguyen, Nir Eyal, Kathy Macleoud, Lisa Angulo Reid, Chris Schmicker, Vanessa Huynh, and Pedro Martin. Heard something you liked? Be sure to go back and check out each guest’s full episode. And special thanks to YOU for your continued support of our podcast and amazing guests!

As we march ahead into a very interesting 2025, let us know what YOU think - himom@modmypod.com

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Pedro Martin’s (unpacking) Mexikid Nov 25, 2024

Show notes

“She asked, ‘do you go by Peter or Pedro? You're writing a memoir - shouldn't, you know?’ I'm writing a story about myself and I don't know myself — so I'm going to take the journey with the character.”

”

Pedro Martín is creator of MEXIKID, a graphic memoir about Pedro’s Mexican-American childhood and family in the 1970s - specifically a road trip to Mexico to their legendary abuelito - who may or may not have been part of the Mexican revolution. Mexikid has received tons of critical acclaim — listed as a top book of the year by NPR, the NY Times, The Guardian, the Boston Globe, Amazon, the NY Public Library and more — and it’s won ALL the awards, from the Newbery, the Eiser, the Harvey, and more. Once you’ve read it, you can see why. Pedro - who sometimes goes by Peter - grew up the son of sharecroppers in California, and now lives in Kansas City, where he was an artist for Hallmark for 27 years - working on lots of really interesting projects, including the company’s foray into animation - including creating the Asteroid Andy cartoon shorts. Peter shares a really deep conversation on not just origins - but that of his storytelling journey. We can’t enough great things about Mexikid - this book may just be one of our top holiday picks - for any adult or kid in your life.

LEARN ABOUT PEDRO

pedromartinbooks.com
instagram.com/mexikidstories
BOOK: Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir - goodreads.com/book/show/63249742-mexikid

MENTIONS

FILM: Paper Moon (1973) - imdb.com/title/tt0070510
PERSON: wikipedia.org/wiki/Viggo_Mortensen
SHOW: Asteroid Andy - lostmediaarchive.fandom.com/wiki/Missing_Asteroid_Andy_Shorts_(2008%3F_-_2011)
BOOK: The Road, Cormac McCarthy (graphic novel adaptation) - www.goodreads.com/book/show/207003520-the-road
FILM: Captain Fantastic (2016): imdb.com/title/tt3553976

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Vanessa Huynh’s (self) acceptance Nov 11, 2024

Show notes

“Growing up, emotional support was non-existent. Rightfully so, because they went through hell and back - their entire journey of having to escape and redoing life in a foreign country. There was no time to look back.”

Vanessa Huynh is a rising professional in Chicago - who Raman met in NY on an “intergenerational” panel, where Vanessa was one of the “younger folk” at our event. And while there are some slight differences in how we processed growing up between two worlds, Vanessa’s a fellow old soul in her acceptance - and take on how her parents had to process and present the world to her growing up - so much more than bridging the cultural divide. Hoping this very personal, non-political conversation can provide a respite from all the other noise around us...

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Kamala's message Nov 07, 2024

Show notes

Vice President Kamala Harris' speech from Howard University on Wednesday, November 6, 2024

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Reflecting (a slide): Berlin Nov 06, 2024

Show notes

It's the morning after, I’ll leave some fresh comments at the top of the episode. It was crushingly hard to tell my daughter before she went off to school. We're probably all asking ourselves, how did we get here?

So easier to just re-air this Quarantined Comics episode from August 2022 about the vibrant and harrowing graphic novel Berlin, by Jason Lutes, which I've actually referenced in many conversations over the past few months. It’s a small distraction in an eerily prescient conversation about a comic book written about Germany in the 1930s. And if that's too heavy right now, head over to YouTube and watch “day drinking” clips with Seth Meyers — the ones with Rihanna and Dua Lipa are works of art.

To paraphrase Mehdi Hasan: While a majority of our fellow Americans may have voted for an unhinged demagogue — the rest of us need to stick together. Solidarity is about to become the most important word in our political vocabulary. We need each other. And so, for the next four years, solidarity is the name of the game.

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