Listen Now

Poet and screenwriter Fatimah Asghar is talking to us about why "orphan" is the identifier she relates to the most, and why her idea of home isn't a physical place. Fatimah is having a moment right now….within the past year, the web series that she co-created Brown Girls got picked up by HBO, she released a collection of poetry, and she was chosen as one of Forbes 30 under 30 on their Hollywood and Entertainment list.She also shares her 3 rules of success and has really got us thinking about how we define success. If you don't know Fatimah, now you now, and you will definitely be hearing more from her in the future.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“I really believe that care and caregiving can save the soul of the country. Everybody has people that they care about. It totally connects us in this very deep, emotional way.” We agree with Ai-Jen! We had SO MUCH FUN in this conversation.The paid work of caregiving - which is mostly done by mashy women - makes our economy and world move. Ai-Jen Poo is the head of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and one of the organizers of Supermajority. She’s so mashy she even has a hyphen in her name!Ai-Jen tells us what it was like growing up between Taiwan and the US, and how her relationship with her grandparents meant that she never was ashamed of her mashiness. There is a direct line between her mash-up origin story and how she ended up working with domestic workers.For more details and super practical info visit domesticworkers.org and domesticemployers.orgSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“Talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, talking about death won’t make you dead.”We are talking about death on this episode and it is a party! We are going to explore life, love, and family through the lens of death with our incredible guest Alua Arthur. Alua is a Ghanifornian Mash-Up and a death doula, which means that she works with individuals and families to help them through the process of death.We chat with Alua about everything from what to do with your loved one’s magazine subscription after they are gone to what an advanced care directive is and why we need one. She tells us about the cultural differences surrounding death and about her personal journey from being a child missionary to working as a lawyer to now working within the death industry. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Aline Brosh McKenna is a Hollywood triple threat; she’s a showrunner, director, and writer and she does them all really really well. She has worked in this business for more than two decades but her mission has remained the same: to center women’s stories around something other than a man. We talk about Cher, body hair, bacterial vaginosis, and so much more. Get ready!She’s the writer of your favorite rom coms, from 27 Dresses to The Devil Wears Prada to I Don’t Know How She Does It. Most recently she has been busy showrunning and writing Crazy Ex-Girlfriend which is now in its fourth and final season. Aline tells us what it was like growing up in the 70’s in very white suburban New Jersey with Jewish immigrant parents, and why she relates more to people with immigrant parents than other Jewish people. She tells us about the differences between being a boss in her 20’s and being a boss in her 40’s, and why she wants to write more roles for women over 50. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is all about money. How we make it, spend it, save it, and value it. Wendy De La Rosa is our guest and she has a lot to say about all of this. Not how we are supposed to manage our money, but how we actually do it. Wendy is a Dominican-born and Bronx-raised Mash-Up who studies consumer behavior and is a founder of the Common Cents Lab, which aims to teach fintech companies how real people use money.Wendy talks to us about her life before becoming an academic, living as a brown person in Silicon Valley, and her relationship to her Afro-Latinx identity in the US versus the Dominican Republic. She also gives us some really good advice on how to save more money.**Hint: It includes deleting that food ordering app from your phone*See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New Season! We’re kicking off Mash Ups to Know with the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Leana Wen! A long time leader and advocate in public health, Dr. Wen’s mission to depoliticize healthcare at the forefront of everything she does. We talk with her about what it was like to immigrate here from Shanghai at such a young age, how becoming a mother changed the way that she approaches healthcare, and why her mother's bout with cancer led to her passion for patient advocacy.The Mash-Up Americans is produced by The Mash-Up Americans Creative Studio. Producer is Kara Hart and Executive Producers Amy S. Choi and Rebecca LehrerSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New season! We're making the culture, ya heard? On each episode, we’ll bring you a conversation with one incredible Mash-Up who is making waves at the cutting edge of their field. We're talking health, money, death, work, pop culture, and so much more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's the final week of Mash-Ups to Know—for now!—and we are thrilled to bring you our beloved boss bitch, Lily Percy. Also known as Liliana Maria Percy Ruiz, and that's a whole thing that we get into. First though, she is the Executive Producer of On Being Studios—home of the wisest woman we know, Krista Tippett—and the host of the new and totally amazing podcast, This Movie Changed Me. We talk growing up a religious immigrant, the importance of language, and why Sleepless in Seattle is the movie that changed Lily. Stick around!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For our fourth installment of Mash-Ups to Know, we bring you comedy writer and producer Rachna Fruchbom. She knows that her mashiness is her superpower—and she is not afraid to use it. From her badass career change after the birth of her first kid and writing for Parks & Rec and Fresh Off the Boat, to her dream of creating America's new favorite sitcom—starring an Indian American woman!—she brings her full self to her work. Amy and Rebecca talk with Rachna about work, motherhood, and following your "aliveness" to unchartered and exciting new places. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bethany Yellowtail—fashion designer, business owner, and general badass—is a Mash-Up to Know. She is the owner and designer of B.YELLOWTAIL, a fashion line, and the leader of B.YELLOWTAIL COLLECTIVE, a platform for the work of Native artisans of different nations. Rebecca and Amy try not to fan girl too hard about her beautiful clothes and amazing work, and they get to the heart of why dating as an Indigenous woman in LA is just as challenging as it sounds.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Mash-Up Americans are back with another Mash-Up to Know—journalist Frank Shyong of the LA Times. He covers the San Gabriel Valley and the self-described Asian Beat, knows his way around the delis and tempura houses of LA, and has his finger on the pulse. He sat down with Amy and Rebecca just after Crazy Rich Asians came out in theaters, and we talked representation, growing up Asian in the South, and worrying about your parents. And lots and lots of food.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're coming your way with Mash-Ups to Know! Up first is comedian and all-around badass Marcella Arguello. She is a Salvadoran Lebanese Nicaraguan American who is also the host of Women Crush Wednesdays, one of the funniest nights of comedy in LA—or anywhere, for our money. Marcella talks to Amy and Rebecca about her family's American tale, the shades of Latinx identity, the importance of finding mentors, loving the glow-up of her BFF Nico Santos, (one of the stars of everyone's favorite movie rn) and why inspiring women is what it's all about for her. And we get her recipe for curtido! Yummm.....See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's a fact: Mash-Ups are the sexiest people in all the land. Though like everything else, sex and dating can be a little more complicated for Mash-Ups. Just ask international sex expert Esther Perel, Nancy Podcast host Tobin Low, and rapper and breakout star of Crazy Rich Asians and Oceans 8 Awkwafina (oh, and her grandma, Mrs. Lum). We did! And we're sharing their wisdom with you today.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mash-Up Wisdom is a short series of episodes featuring wisdom from our Mash-Up heroes.Have you read the news lately? Amy and Rebecca have been taking it pretty hard and needed a therapy session with you guys to find some HOPE. Today we’re reflecting on Mash-Up Wisdom—the gems of knowledge dropped by our guests here on The Mash-Up Americans—and how we are using them to keep us strong and HOPEFUL. This episode features brilliance from Michael Twitty, John Maeda, and Randall Park. They're reminding us to focus on our ancestors, celebrate our mashiness and follow our joy. Best therapy ever.As always read more at mashupamericans.com and find us on the internet @mashupamerican to share your tips for staying hopeful.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's been awhile, but we're baaack! We're diving into all the feelings and lots of wisdom about traveling the globe—and why you might catch us without a driver's license or a library card, but you'd never catch us without a valid passport. Amy and Rebecca get into it with the incomparable Aminatou Sow, of Call Your Girlfriend and On She Goes, and get a fierce dose of wisdom to share with the fam. More details at mashupamericans.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on The Mash-Up Americans: Whether you are a parent, think you might want to be, or just want the best for the next generation, here are the questions that tear at us as we do our best to raise our many-hyphened kids. After our conversation last month on Raising Generation Mash-Up, you all sent us so many thoughtful, piercing questions on mash-up parenting. Today we're diving in. Joining Amy and Rebecca on the podcast to answer your questions is Matt Sayles, a celebrated photographer, an Angeleno, a man who sees beauty in all people, and a father to two sons, beautiful Mash-ups of their Black dad and Salvadoran-Guatemalan-American mom. You are not alone.Visit mashupamericans.com for more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're re-sharing our episode with the fantastic author, chef, historian, and mensch Michael Twitty about bubbemeises. Call them old wives tales, call them folk wisdom, call them what you will, we're not ignoring them anytime soon. We'll hear from: a bevy of past guests on their bubbemeise; The Angry Asian Man, Phil Yu, and his lovely wife, Joanna Lee, about how honoring the traditions of their ancestors made their first year of parenthood easier to endure, and more meaningful, too; and finally, Michael Twitty himself on why we are our ancestors best fantasy and to remember that we own the source code. Get all the wisdom here, fam! Visit mashupamericans.com for more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's that time of year. Time for New Year's resolutions (or not), forgiveness, and moving ahead. 2017 has been a reckoning for all of us — an examination of who and what we fight for, and why. We've looked deeply at ourselves and sat in the uncomfortable acknowledgement that maybe we could have done more. And as we push the world to change, to do better and be better, we're also pushing ourselves. But what's the best way to do that? Joining Amy and Rebecca on the podcast today is Kristen Meinzer, host of the podcast By The Book. She's a rad woman, a Korean-American Mash-Up, and an advice and self-help expert. She helps us tackle New Year's resolutions and how best to make space for change in our own lives. Visit mashupamericans.com for more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the third and final installation of our Mash-Up journey: raising our kids. In some ways, we've been working on this episode for the entire lifespan of The Mash-Up Americans. Where do we come from? Where are we going? How do we do raise our children with love, and care, and with a deep love of their mashiness? Amy and Rebecca are joined today by Rumaan Alam, first-generation Bengali American, novelist and essayist on parenting in transracial adoptions; and Christine Gross-Loh, first gen Korean American, mother of four Korean American Jews, and expert on parenting practices around the world, to try and tackle the biggest questions of all. Oh, and a seven-year old Mash-Up guest star! (Hint: He's our producer's very thoughtful kid.) Visit mashupamericans.com for more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.