ABG - AsianBossGirl

2020 marks the start of something new (High School Musical anyone? Lol). A new year, a new decade. In the previous episode, we reflected back on 2019 and shared our lows & highs. Those experiences lead us to spend some time thinking about what we want to focus on in 2020. What’s next for ABG? What’s in store for Mel’s last year in her 20’s? Do we see a wedding for Helen? Is 2020 the year a man locks down Janet? Listen in as we chat through our goals for the year and what we have in store for ABG!

This episode is dedicated to our collective review of 2019 for ABG (learn how we're growing our business, every step of the way!), followed by our personal reflections of 2019. Last year around this time, we reflected on 2018 and discussed our goals for 2019 (check out Episode 34!). Now that we’ve reached the end of 2019 (and survived it) we go back to the resolutions we set at the beginning of 2019 to see how we’ve tracked against those goals. We discuss our continued focus on mental health and self-awareness, our revelations about what defines success for us, habits we wish to break -- but also, answer questions like, did Mel find love? How did dry Janet do? Did Helen achieve her pull-up?! End of year reflections can be both daunting and energizing -- listen is in as we celebrate the great moments and reluctantly recall the not-so-great. Leave us a comment with your highs and lows of 2019! And if you've listened to the end of our episode, leave us a.. mirror-like emoji ;) whatever that may be..

In this week's episode, we explore the topic of Chinese medicine, specifically as it relates to women's health. Alternative medicine has become a rather popular topic in recent times, and a large aspect of these alternative approaches like acupuncture, cupping, and herbs, come from the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine. We sit down with local Santa Monica Oriental Medicine practitioner, Dr. Helena Zhang, to discuss how she got involved with this practice, the differences between Western and Chinese medicine approaches, and how Chinese medicine can be applied for women's health. You can check out Dr. Helena Zhang's new online course "4 Seasons Jade Woman Method" that will launch on March 23, 2020 at her website here: http://www.goldenseedgoldentree.com/. If you enjoyed this episode, leave a in the comments!

You may know him as Jung Kim from the Netflix show, Kim’s Convenience or as our next Asian Superhero in Marvel’s Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. But we know him as Simu Liu, our ABB from the North (aka Toronto) and a former Yappie! Yes, Simu was like one of us. Working that 9-5 corporate job at a Big 4 firm as an accountant. We’re so excited to have him on our podcast. Listen in as we chat with Simu about his journey from the office to the big screen!

Love takes patience, compassion, and courage. Fairytales paint a story of “love at first sight” that leads to a rainbow and butterfly filled path to wedding bells and a white picket fence home. But real, intimate relationships challenge us as individuals and unearth each partner’s deepest personal vulnerabilities, fears, and weaknesses. Marriage - who we choose as our life partner and when we are ready to make that commitment - is an incredibly important, some say the MOST important, decision of our lives. Listen in as Helen and Philip share a very personal recount of their relationship thus far - the challenges they have faced and how they have grown individually and together - on their journey to their engagement.

We touched (pun intended) on sex a bit in Season 1 on Episode 5: 20 Something Girls vs. 30 Something Women (Part II Sex & Dating), but this time we go deep (pun was not intended, but now it is). Sex is a loaded topic, and for many of Asian cultural background, a rather taboo topic that we rarely discuss with parents/family or friends. From school provided sex-ed courses to internet chats to porn, our introductions to and understandings of sex were pretty fragmented and incomplete when we were younger. Listen in as we share our personal experiences with sex - how we were educated, our first times, and all the complicated partner relationships we've experienced along the way (i.e. from boyfriends to friends with benefits, to one night stands). If you enjoyed this episode, leave a in the comments! Or let us know if you’re a Helen, Mel, or Janet in your sex style preference .

Alright y'all! We know you've been waiting for this one for a while now!! The one where our ABG, Helen, gets engaged!! We bring on a very special guest, her fiancé. You first heard his voice on the podcast when we recorded the Yappie episode (Ep 30). If you’ve been following our social media, you already know who he is -- Mr. Philip Wang!! Tune in, as we recap the months leading up to the event, all the planning that took place to execute the surprise in Helen's hometown, and the juicy details (and hiccups) on the day that it all went down. Next week, we'll be releasing a part 2 of this engagement series!

Insecurities. From the outside, it can seem like the three of us are fairly put together. But I can assure you that we are.. not. Talking about our failures & our insecurities on this podcast is sometimes hard for us, but we know that when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we can connect and find comfort in knowing that we’re not alone in our insecurities. Listen in as we share our personal insecurities and how we deal with them. We hope this episode allows you to open up dialogue with yourself and your friends to tackle these moments together. 

We're BACK with season 5, and literally TO SCHOOL at Helen's alma mater, Boston College, for a speaking event at the moment this episode is being released! Listen in as we re-cap our “summer break” since season 4 - from ballin’ it up for charity, to live event collaborations with other super boss Asian female podcasters, to new merch items, we have been busy busy busy! In the spirit of going BACK (whether it's to school or the podcasting airwaves), we spend this episode reminiscing about and discussing our college experiences. Did we attend our dream schools? What did we major in and why? How were the college parties and extracurricular activities? What was dating like for each of us? And internships/career prep? Press that “play” button to find out!

ABGs and ABBs -- we have reached the end of Season 4!! Y'all have stuck with us for FOUR whole seasons now. It’s safe to say that you probably have some assumptions about us! "Does recording ABG only take one take?!?" "Do we ever fight?!" "Is there one person in ABG that is super controlling?" "Do we always wear makeup when we step out the door?" "Do we only hang out with Asians?" ..and many, many more. We want to thank you all SO much for listening in + engaging with us throughout these past 46 episodes. We'll be taking a short break from recording to really focus on growing our lil baby pod and brainstorming ways to bring more kick ass content to YOU! Trust us when we say -- we are just getting started, and we want to take you along for the ride. We're so incredibly thankful for this small but powerful ABG+ABB community, and we hope to continue being a voice for the AA community, one that you can be proud of. Stay connected with us through our social accounts (@asianbossgirl). And keep your eye out for NEW MERCH -- dropping soon ;O!!! Love you all! xx

It’s that time of the season when we bring back … Q&A! The three of us feel so fortunate to have you all a part of our journey building this podcast & can’t believe another season is almost coming to an end! With only one episode left in season 4, we wanted to spend some time answering questions from you. From “Can physical attraction grow?” to “Why are you friends with so many Asian YouTubers?”, we answer all of these in today’s episode! Thank you to those of you who sent us questions & to those of you who emailed us throughout the season. We really can’t thank you enough for the support.

Mental Health is a topic that we frequently receive requests to talk about on this podcast. As Asian Americans, mental health is, without question, a taboo topic and one that is often dismissed and/or feared. Discussions about health and wellness are on the rise, and as Asian American women, most of us experience a particular shared set of stressors -- dealing with external factors such as our careers and our families, and internalized factors, like telling ourselves that we’re not “good enough”. In this episode, we invite our very good friend and fellow podcaster boss girl, Christine Chen to the table! Christine has been incredibly brave and open in discussing her experience with clinical depression. Recognizing that mental health encompasses a wide spectrum - from managing day-to-day stress to dealing with anxiety and clinical depression - we discuss our varying personal perspectives and experiences. We want to emphasize that we are not healthcare professionals and that this episode is purely representative of our personal experiences and points of view. If you are seeking support and/or advice, we highly encourage you to contact a professional. Below are some resources we reference in the episode, and others that we hope you will find helpful: Self Tests for Depression and Anxiety: https://depression.org.nz/is-it-depression-anxiety/self-test/ Depression Symptoms and Warning Signs: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/depression-symptoms-and-warning-signs.htm Helping Someone With Depression: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/helping-someone-with-depression.htm Find a Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists Mental Health Care Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD4cyJhQaFwUp6ZMgiyP2zvIGS24WmdMv Jim Carrey - What It All Means: https://youtu.be/wTblbYqQQag

Now that summer is upon us, what’s been on the top of our minds other than cold boba drinks, summer travel plans, beach, sun and fun?? Getting that beach body ready for all of the above! Fitness is a journey and one that can begin at any point in our lives. For some of us, the fitness “Day 1’s” seems to restart just about every week. But for the most part, we try and stay fairly consistent. Physical fitness is a state of health and well-being, and more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of daily activities without much fatigue. A lot of our listeners have been writing in to us about our fitness activities and daily workouts, so this one's for you!

Some call it post grad life, others call it the Grey Zone. Whatever you call it, it’s an unpredictable time in your life that you feel you aren't “prepared” for; the feeling of being in a slump, that your life can (and should) turn at any point. For us, this is the moment when self-doubt is the highest, when we start to question whether or not we are truly happy with what we have.     The older that we get, the more we realize that the Grey Zone actually extends far beyond that initial bout of freedom post-grad. These periods of uncertainty that often prompt confusion & self doubt actually occur many times throughout life - whether it’s a decade into your career, entering marriage, building a family, whatever it may be.   Listen in as we chat about the different Grey Zone periods we've experienced, and yes - that we're currently still experiencing!

From AIM in the 90s to Xanga and Myspace in the early 2000s to Instagram today, social media has evolved and now-a-days, is ever pervasive in our daily (if not hourly) lives. In this episode, we reminisce about everything from screen names to handles, profiles to blog posts, and chat rooms to feeds, sharing personal stories and observations. We also discuss some of the positive and negative repercussions to living in an "always on" world and talk through personal approaches to managing well-being. Leave a selfie emoji in the comments below if you feel us on this topic, and if you were on AIM in the 90s, share your screen name!