why Podcasting is my vehicle for compassion and representation
In March of 2020, the pandemic hit and I felt helpless being forced to stay at home. I remember twiddling my thumbs, playing Animal Crossing with my friends, and rethinking my reality with my business and personal life. I knew I had to take action in some way, and the pandemic gave me the time to think about the world, my mission, and my legacy.
With my business, I created an initiative with my friend, Monica Lin, called Lunchboxes for Love. This initiative aimed to serve hospital workers who were at the forefront of the fight of the COVID pandemic. We collected donations and used the money to pack fresh donuts and sandwich bento boxes with boxes of coffee to brighten the morale of our healthcare workers. We ended up serving over 40 different hospitals and over 4,000 healthcare professionals.
With my personal life, I looked at what my contributions were to my community, but I also looked at how I could use my voice to share what my community was up to and how to inspire my community. With the subjects of uplifting the AAPI community, I decided to create a podcast called Short N’ Sweet: A Donut Princess Podcast. On my podcast, I share business tips by highlighting entrepreneurs. I empower women through sharing their journeys and stories. The reason why it’s called Short N’ Sweet is because at the end of my podcast, I share 5 “golden nuggets” to really sum up the podcast for someone who is listening who sees themself in the featured guest- and maybe someone who wants to explore getting into the film industry, start their own business, or switch careers. I feature second generation immigrant kids who are now adults and spotlight their work for the community as well as create a relatable experience for those who felt like we never had a voice in mainstream media. I truly wish that when I was younger, I could hear about the experiences of others before me to open my perspective and to see real people on a path that I could have explored.
Ultimately, when I think about why I created this podcast, it’s truly a desire to promote compassion. We look at the profiles of entrepreneurs and success stories but we never get to hear the beginnings of their journeys. Often times we compare our own journeys to others and never see the progress of what it took to get there. Through varying perspectives—whether it’s the experience of a budding entrepreneur or the person that changed their career several times— by sharing these specific stories, I get to create a platform to highlight individuals that may have never gotten to tell their story, or even think that their story is important. By focusing on women and speaking to second generation immigrants, I hope to inspire belonging, reinvention, and most importantly, self-compassion and compassion for others.
Another reason why I started my podcast is because the lack of representation for a woman of color to talk about topics that are often overlooked in a white dominated society. I stand to lead by example to show that if you have a voice, use it for good and use it to represent your culture and your community, especially those voices that are underserved and underrepresented.
If you’ve ever wanted to start a podcast, here are 5 quick tips on how I got started, including some tools and products I used!
Decide what target audience you’d like to impact: I chose my target audience because I wanted to create a digital library of people who personally inspired me and could offer their words of wisdom to those just getting started. I think of the young adults and young women of the future generation who would benefit from hearing success stories as well as the good, the bad, and the ugly of entrepreneurship.
Decide what platform your will record on: I chose Garageband on my Macbook. There are plenty of recording platforms out there, but I wanted to keep my audio files localized.
Create an image as your main podcast photo. I hired a podcast editor to help me edit one, but you could easily do that on Canva.
Sign up for platforms that you want to host on: I chose Apple Podcasts and Spotify as my main platforms, but Stitcher and Amazon Music are also other great platforms as well.
Purchase the tools needed to record. I wouldn’t start with purchasing the most expensive equipment to start, just to make sure this is something you want to do! I decided to record my podcasts both visually and through audio.
Yeti Microphone: It’s great for beginner podcasters and a very reasonable price point.
Pop Filter: This helps when people speak into the microphone to filter out “spitting” and harsh sounds.
Soft Box Lighting (I bought 2 of them): I use these to record and for other forms of content that I do. It it soft and creates a beautiful video, and lights up my podcast guest very well.
Tripod: This will hold your camera while you record. I turned my loft into a podcast studio with signage and a green grass wall.
For a full list of products I use to operate my podcast, including some upgraded equipment, visit my creator store here.
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