April 30, 2024 • 40 mins
Joanne Molinaro, The Korean Vegan, reflects on the wisdom, confidence, and joy she’s found through food. Plus, we’re Giving Her Flowers: High school freshman Naya Ellis’ invented a watch that can detect the signs of stroke in older adults. Her invention won her recognition at the National STEM Challenge. If you know someone in your community who deserves her flowers, send us their name and your reasons for nominating them to hello@thebrightsidepodcast.com. We'll be showering praise and recognition once a month.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello Sunshine, Hey fam.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Today on the bright Side, chef and TikTok star Joanne
Mulinaro talks about her pivot from corporate lawyer to food influencer,
why she weaves family stories into her recipes, and how
she's veganizing Korean food.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
One dish out of.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Time, whether it's a dish that I make, a recipe,
I develop a little short story that I append. There's
this wonderful idea called smut, which literally means seasoning of
the hand in Korean. She means everything that touches me.
You're getting a little bit of me in that, and
how beautiful that is.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's Tuesday, April thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm Simone Boye, I'm Danielle Robe and this is the
bright Side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Danielle. How's your week going.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I'm having a slow start because i was up way
too late watching Sex and the City, and I'm now
on season six because it's on Netflix now and I've
been binging and I have rewatched this series I think
six seven times over. I never get sick of it.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Wow, you're a connoisseur of Sex and the City at
this point.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Truly, I just feel so seen by that show.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What is it for you that makes you feel seen
about it?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
At every point in my life that I watch, I
get different things from the characters, from the storylines, and
I just think they did such a great job talking
about dating in your thirties.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I didn't watch the show. Are there any points of
wisdom that are really sticking with you or takeaways?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Girl, six seasons and two movies, and I can't just
pick one you have to watch.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I don't have that kind of time. Unfortunately, I wish
I did.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Well, you did have time to watch a movie. You
came in here talking about this film that you love.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yes, I saw Challengers one on a date night. It
was a perfect date night film. It's really really fun.
This is Zendaya's new movie, and I'm just like, I
don't know her, but I'm so happy for her because
it did really well at the box office this weekend,
fifteen million dollars. And I think that's so cool because
she wasn't just an actor in it, she was also
a producer. So this is just a huge win for
(02:09):
female producers and also talent who become producers to take
an ownership.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Why do you like it so much? You know?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It's part sports movie, part steamy romance film. I really
love the director, Luca Guadanino. He did call Me by
your Name, and he really has this knack for bringing
out these erotic scenes and queer themes with his actors
and in his films.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
The whole internet went crazy over that scene. There's a threesome.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Apparently, Yes, there is a threesome scene, and it's pretty juicy,
pretty steamy. They all had to get intimacy coordinators and
work with them for that, but.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
She said it wasn't steamy filming it.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, I think because they spent so much time and
were really intentional about getting to know each other and
bond off screen, so that way they felt comfortable doing.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
That, because that is a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I mean. The best part is so and I see
her talk about how her family reacted to it, because
she was like, they've seen the movie so many times
at this point, yeah, and they're sort of unfazed. But
you know, she's twenty seven years old. I'm thirty three.
I don't even like when my mom listens to the
podcast because I'm like, you don't need to know everything.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Mom, same, I can't even imagine taking my parents to
go see a film like Challenger, so I can't imagine
being in it and then watching it with them.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
That would be crazy.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
But I also really love this character that she played,
Tashi Duncan, because to be honest, this character is just
really ruthless and selfish, and we don't always get to
see black women portraying those characters. We love an unlikable woman, right, Yes,
I don't even know if the term. I don't even
know if an unlikable character exists. I think they're just
complex women. But we we love that.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I don't know so. I mean, anybody can be unlikable
man or woman.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But then I start thinking, well, this is just a
character that exists in the gray area, and they're just
like really human, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Serena Williams wrote a review of this movie in Vogue,
and she straight up agreed, like this character is just mean.
Serena Williams didn't hold anything back. First of all, she
said that she was really impressed by how they played tennis.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
That's what I wanted to know if it was real
or not.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, it was real.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
She said that they were so good that they probably
could have gone on tour if they started earlier. Wow,
but she said she hated the ending. She wanted more.
The film left her wanting more.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I love seeing Olive Zindiya's tennis inspired outfit. Oh my
furthest tour like she's killing it. The fashion on this
Prush tour incredible, incredible, And I'm also hoping. I loved
Queen's Gambit, which was obviously about this amazing woman playing chess,
and I'm kind of hoping that Challengers does the same
thing with tennis. I think Dick's Sporting Goods is going
to see a quick rise in tennis racket and tennis
(04:42):
ball sales.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I want to play tennis now after watching this viel.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah, that's what it does.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I wanted to play chess after Queen's Gambit.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
How's that going for you? Not well?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I played my dad a few times and gave up.
I feel like it's something you need to learn when
you're young, or.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Something I really want to work on tennis and golf
over the next four years. I want to get into
my country club era.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Good luck with that.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I'm going to do it. Just watch.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
My parents always told me that those are the two
sports you have to learn how to play because you
can play them throughout your whole life.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
And they're great for business too, because everything for me
just comes back to see dollars.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
You see money and you can go get it. You
see the money, you make the money, you take the money.
There you go.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Okay, we have to celebrate some good news because Gabby
Douglas is back. If you remember, she's the decorated gymnast.
She competed in one gold in twenty twelve and twenty sixteen.
I'd venture to say that she's inspired the generation of
gymnasts that we're seeing on the floor today. But she
hasn't competed since then, and now at twenty eight, she's
(05:43):
getting back into it and she's trying to qualify for
this summer's games in Paris, which are less than three
months away.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
This is really interesting. We never see athletes do this,
try to make a comeback in this way.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Well, I read that she never quite said that she retired,
and she did that on purpose because she never wanted
to quit on a bad day and she sort of
had a tough ending in that last season of her career.
She's pulling a Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
In my opinion, I cannot wait to watch.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I love that she's twenty eight too, because in the
last Olympics the average age of a gymnast was twenty one,
and even that was older than it had been in
the past. Like Olympic gymnasts are known to be teenagers
literally honest, literal teenagers. Yeah, so this is pretty amazing.
I try and live by the phrase that trying is winning,
and I see her trying. She's out there trying. Yes,
(06:35):
girl doing her backflips and trying.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Her trying is my winning. Yes, I mean did I
say that right?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Her trying anything is like way more than I could
ever do.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So Okay, before we really get into our show today,
we need to discuss eyebrows.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Oh, let's discuss what's up with eyebrows.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I saw this article about the golden ratio for eyebrows,
and anytime I see eyebrow trends, I am triggered. Because
I shouldn't say I'm triggered, I WinCE. My mother was
traumatized from the eighties with the plucking of the thin eyebrows,
so she would never let me touch my eyebrows growing up.
Do you ever touch yours?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I really don't do anything to them now I did
way too much when I was younger.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
What'd you do? You wax, tweetze, threaded?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, exactly all of the above. But then I just
realized I needed more, not less. So now I'm all
about adding instead of subtracting. So now I pencil them in.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So have you heard of Anastasia of Beverly Hills. Of course,
she's like the eyebrow Queen right first. Yeah, like she
gets it. She came up with this golden ratio thing.
And what I like is that it's for whatever eyebrows
you have, thin, thick, bushy, not whatever. It's all about
finding balance and symmetry on your individual face. And I
feel like there's so many trends with women, and I
(07:53):
hear this line. My body is not a trend. My
eyebrows are not a trend. Okay, it flip flops every generation.
I just want my eyebrows to be my eyebrows. Tell
us how you really feel, Danielle, Yeah, I'm fired up
over this. Okay, So do you do anything to your eyebrows? No,
my mom won't let me. Still I'm there.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Do you have to fill them in at all? Or
do you do gel or what's your routine?
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Like?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Have two quick things. I use the Jones Road dark
brown pencil, and then I use the Anastasio browgel.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Nice. So what is the golden ratio of eyebrows? Though?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
It's basically math for your face, but it's not so complicated.
You draw an upside down triangle from your eyes to
the tip of your nose, and it's designed to find
balance and symmetry on your face.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
That makes a lot of sense because I noticed that
whenever my eyebrows are off, whenever the ratio is off,
if one side is like smaller, or if I didn't
fill them in enough.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
My whole face looks different.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Can you imagine if I came in tomorrow with just
bleached eyebrows. I really want to try it.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Julia Fox did that. It was kind of a vibe.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Yeah, you could do it. Maybe I will.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I really want to try microblating, took How of scared are.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
You hopping on all these trends micro blady fighting?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Micro blading is something that's going to make my life easier.
That's why I want to do it, because then I
don't have to wake up and do the filling in
of my brows.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
After the break, we're taking a seat at the table
with Joanne Molinaro, and we're learning how she veganizes Korean
food and koreanizes everything else.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
You may know our next guest as the Korean Vegan.
Joanne Lee Mullin. Arrow's cooking videos took off on TikTok
during the pandemic and now with millions of followers Anna
James Beard Award, She's making her mark through her recipes
and her stories.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I have such a girl crush on this woman. She
captured our hearts and appetites after she made the jump
from trial lawyer to food blogger, and her blend of cooking,
heritage and the inspiration is exactly what drew us to
her here on the bright Side.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Jo Anne, Welcome to the bright Side. Hey guys, I'm
so excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
We're so happy to have you here, Joanne mull and Arrow,
the Korean Vegan. Before we jump into today's conversation, we
have to wish you a happy birthday. Yes, you just
turned forty five and you celebrated with some special cake.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Yes, I made a sponge cake, a vegan sponge cake
that I was really proud of. It was less proud
of the final product. Because vegan whip cream still has
a little bit of a learning curve. It looked so
good on Instagram, though, girl, okay good because it tasted amazing.
I could not stop you.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It looked really good.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I'm gonna have to get that recipe because I'm a
dairy free gurly, so finding cakes for us it's hard, Joyanne.
Before you published your best selling cookbook, The Korean Vegan,
before how you blew up on social media, you were
a partner at a law firm and you were eating
meat at one time. So can you walk us through
those transitions which came first. There're two big transitions. Definitely,
(11:14):
the elimination of meat from my diet came first. That
happened in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
I was a young partner at that time at the
law firm, and my then boyfriend now husband, he wanted
to go vegan and it took a lot of arm twisting,
but eventually I joined him and got rid of meat
and all other animal products from my diet.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
You know, one of the things that has always stuck
out to me about your work is that it feels
like you are a chef and you cook, but that's
not really what your platform is about. You're a storyteller
to me, and you kind of walk us through a
recipe as you teach us something or tell us something
about what's on your heart. How did that begin?
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Yeah, So I've always enjoyed writing. That's been sort of
my creative outlet. It's either music or writing, So I
really leaned into the writing aspect kind of like midway
through my legal career. When I went plant based in
twenty sixteen, I added cooking as a necessity. There wasn't
really any Korean vegan food that I could purchase, so
(12:22):
I needed to make it myself. And what I wanted
to do was marry those two creative outlets in some way.
So I started sharing my very like short short stories
and the captions of my Instagram posts in twenty seventeen,
and when I started sharing videos in twenty twenty on TikTok,
I literally just read out loud my Instagram caption. And
(12:45):
I think people enjoy kind of watching the preparation of
food and then listening to something that might not have
anything to do with that food, but was, you know,
similarly captivating.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
A lot of people might be surprised to learn how
hands on you are during the content creation process. I mean, you're.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Shooting, you're writing, you're editing a lot of the time.
That's a lot of work, and you still show up
every day and you pour your heart and soul into
this content that you make.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
What's your why? That's a really good question, and I
think it's an important question for any entrepreneur, any artist,
any content creator to continuously ask themselves, because if you
don't do that, it can get a little depressing and
a little demoralizing. And I think there are two things,
one of which was harder for me to grapple with.
(13:38):
I think the reason I started sharing stories is because
I felt that the immigrant story in the United States
was not being adequately and fairly represented. And I felt
that a lot of people in America didn't really know
what it was like to grow up in an immigrant family,
and particularly in an Asian immigrant family. And I really
(13:59):
wanted to unveil that for people in a non threatening way.
And there's like, really nothing less threatening than here's a
bowl of food, Come sit at my dinner table, and
let's have a chat, and I'll tell you a little story.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
And what I really wanted to get.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Across to people was things may look a little different,
and they may smell a little different, they may sound
a little different, but there's actually a lot more in
common between us than you might realize, and that was
really important to me. I also think part of that,
and wrapped into that, was again this idea of allowing
a group of people who had historically felt unseen to
(14:40):
feel seen, and that of course is my parents, my
mom and my dad, that generation of immigrants. I wanted
them to feel very powerfully seen in a compassionate and
empowering way. I also wanted to feel seen, and I
think that there's a little bit of shame for some
people admitting that. Oh so I have a need to
(15:00):
feel seen. I have a need to feel heard, and
I want to do it in this way. And I
think that this was a way for me to explore
my creativity, explore a side to me that was otherwise
going untapped at work, you know, as a lawyer, and
do it in a way that was fun, exciting and inspiring.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Joanne, there's this quote that stuck with me from your website.
You say, I veganize Korean food, I koreanize everything else.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
What do you mean by that?
Speaker 4 (15:33):
The first part is pretty straightforward, right. I started the
Korean vegan because when I went vegan, there was nothing
out there for me, and I was like, well, I'm
not giving up my kimchi and my kyabees and all
my favorite Korean foods just because I made this change
to my diet. I just have to figure it out.
And so that was the first part of the quote,
which is, Okay, I'm going to viganize all my Korean
favorite foods. The second part was a little bit more glib, right, like, okay,
(15:58):
and I'm just going to creanize it everything else. And
at first it was really a reference to the fact
that anytime I made something that wasn't overtly a Korean dish,
I would end up figuring out a way to incorporate
soy sauce or tinjung or quo jujung or some of
the very popular Korean ingredients that I was really learning
(16:19):
a lot about at that time. I always felt like, Okay, well,
I just think that this marinera would taste a little
better with cujajong. I think that this risotto would taste
a little better with tinjong. Just a little bit doesn't
need to be a lot. So I think That's what
I meant at first, but then I think later on,
especially once the Korean vegan became much more about storytelling,
(16:41):
it was also just how I put so much of
myself into my content and into my recipes, Like you're
getting a heavy dose of Joanne with everything, whether it's
a dish that I make, a recipe, I develop a
little short story that I appenned to whatever it is
I'm making, you get my voice, sometimes you get my face.
(17:03):
And of course there's this, you know, wonderful idea called
son mut which literally means taste of the hand or
seasoning of the hand in Korean, which means everything that
touches me, everything that goes through my hands. You're getting
a little bit of me in that, and how beautiful
that is.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I'm not as familiar with Korean dishes. What should I
start with?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Oh God, that such a great question. Okay, So I
would start with the stews. And the reason I say
the stews, I have a whole chapter on soups and
stews in my cookbook, and number one, it's because it's
the easiest out of all of the recipes. So no
matter what level you are at in the kitchen, it
doesn't really matter. These are very very easy dishes, and
(17:49):
then thank you for that. No, it's okay, there's no
judgment here. I'm a home cook too. And also in
almost every Korean meal, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you're going
to have a Korean soup or stew, so it's such
an integral part of Korean cuisine.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
And then from.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
There I would specify probably the tindunk jigue, which is
a fermented soybean stew. It is one of the most
popular recipes out of my cookbook, which was very surprising
and gratifying. And it's also that one dish anytime you
go to a Korean restaurant, it's going to be there, like,
it's almost inevitably going to show up on the table.
So it just is a great introduction to Korean cuisine
(18:29):
and it's also really easy.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
It makes a ton of sense to me that a
natural next step for you was to write a cookbook.
People were dying over your recipes. What doesn't always come
with a cookbook is a James Beard Award for your
first cookbook. That is such a huge honor. How does
that come about?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I honestly don't know how it comes back I just
I remember when I was told that I was nominated.
I was like, well, I didn't even know that I
was up for considering, and like it's such a surprise.
I will say, like one of the most important things
when you are writing a good cookbook or you know
your first one, is to surround yourself with a really
(19:10):
supportive team. I literally had the best team in the world.
They you know, were almost all women, and they just
really understood how important this book was to me, to
my family and of course the stories behind it. So
they submitted the book for consideration by the Games Beer Foundation.
They didn't tell me, and so it was like came
(19:32):
as a huge shock. I went to the ceremony and
my parents are so cute because it was in Chicago luckily,
so you know, I told my mom and dad about it,
and I was like, you know, you don't need to come.
I'm never going to win, so like there's no point,
like just just stay home and be comfortable, and they
were like, no, no, of course we're going to come.
(19:52):
And I think even then I didn't realize like, like
the magnitude of.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
This, Shoanne, this is like the oscars of food and
but here's The thing is, I really did not think
there was like any chance that I would win.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
There was absolutely no scenario in my mind. I didn't
prepare a speech because I was like, well, there's no point.
I'm just going to go and enjoy myself and like
fangirl Padma Lakshmi's going to be there and I'm just
going to get everyone with autograph. Like That's what I
was thinking. So when my name was announced, it was
probably one of the most surreal moments of my entire life.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
How did it change things for you?
Speaker 4 (20:28):
I think that there are very few things in my
life that I can look back towards and say that
was a moment where I allowed myself to feel more confident.
I think confidence is one of the most difficult things
in the world to understand, earn, and retain, at least
(20:52):
especially for women. I think it's like every single moment
of every day, somebody's trying to drag down your confidence.
So it is a very hard earned thing to keep.
And I think when I was recognized by the Jamesuar
Foundation as well as my peers for the work that
went into that book, it was one moment that I
(21:13):
can say, Okay, I will accept this. I will accept
this as a sign that I deserve to be recognized
and that this book is actually a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Joanne, the kitchen seems like a confessional for you, a church,
a sanctuary, all of those things rolled into one. How
does it shift your energy when you get into the kitchen.
That is a wonderful question.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
For me.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I get very focused, and that's really important because I
have a hard time focusing. I'm very much like a multitasker.
I have so many things going on at the same
time in my head. I've got multiple fires that I'm
trying to put out mentally, physically, logistically. And so when
(22:01):
I get a chance to just be in the kitchen
and cook a special meal or cook something for dinner,
and I don't have to worry about anything else, I
turn on a good book, you know, I listen to
a lot of my books, or I turn on some
you know, my favorite music, and I just get to
focus on making delicious food that I know I'm going
(22:21):
to really enjoy eating at the end of it. That
is one of the most relaxing times. It is a
time when I feel most myself and most empowered because
I don't have to answer to anyone other than myself,
and I really love that.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I love the way that your videos offer advice to
people on heartbreak and friendship and family and navigating life's challenges.
When you look back at your body of work, is
there a particular dish or recipe that you associate with
a life lesson that was hard to learn?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yes, this is funny.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
It's probably my duck book recipe. It's takmandukuk in the cookbook.
And I've talked about this a couple of times, and
I actually mentioned it specifically in the book. And I
remember when I shared this story, my editor was like,
I think you need to remove this story because it's
too depressing, and I was like, nope, We're keeping it
in because it's really important. The story is about four
(23:23):
months before my first wedding is New Year's and in
Korean culture, you eat rice cake soup for New Year's
and it was like something I look forward to all
the time. And my mom made rice cake soup and
she invited me over to her house and I showed
up and she hands me this bowl of soup and
my father's there, which I thought was kind of weird,
but you know, he was there and with the soup
(23:45):
is a Hallmark card, and I'm like.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Oh, are they giving me money for New Years?
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Is just also Korean tradition, but one that we had
not partaken in many years. Right, So I opened a
Hallmark envelope and and it is a card. Basically, both
of my parents beg me not to walk down the
aisle and to call off my wedding, which was happening
in four months. Needless to say, that didn't end well.
(24:10):
I did not enjoy any book. I was so angry.
I just screamed at my parents and then I stormed
out of their house. And what I learned from that was,
you know, I remember telling my mom and my dad,
what's the big deal? I love this man. Isn't that
all that matters. That's the most important thing in any marriage,
(24:32):
and that's the only thing that matters. And I remember
my father said, Okay, yeah, you're right, you're right. But
my mom she did not agree. She didn't say anything.
She just kind of looked very sad. And many many
years later, when I got a divorce and when things
sort of fell apart, I learned that lesson that while
love is incredibly important in a marriage. It's not the
(24:54):
only thing that's important in a marriage. You need respect,
you need trust, you need partnership. There's so many other
things that go into a successful relationship with your life partner.
And that was a very difficult lesson for me to learn,
and I think about it every single New Year's when
I eat the boop.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Now, thank you for sharing that story with us. I
just I am constantly in awe of how open you
are and how real you are. And I hope it's
okay that I ask you about this, but you've been
really open about your relationship with food and struggling with
eating disorders, and I think that you've made so many
people feel seen through your candor on this topic, and
(25:38):
so I'm curious how the work that you're doing now
is allowing you to process your own relationship with food.
Life has a way.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Of getting in your way, sometimes right, and sometimes it's good.
You learn a lot from those hurdles, You build muscles
from those hurdles, you learn strategies about avoiding them and
jumping over them and all of those things. But sometimes
those hurdles just suck, and it's so easy to just
(26:08):
give in and say, you know what, that hurdle is there.
I'm tired of jumping over them all the time. I'm
just gonna sit this out and I'm just gonna give in.
And that's really a very dangerous temptation. But the lovely
thing about the Korean Vegan is it's always there saying.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
No, no, don't give up. You can't give up. You
gotta come up with another recipe, You gotta come up
with another thing.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
No, you got a cookbook, try, you gotta eat eat food,
Please eat food, you know, and like it's hard to
not get emotional about it because of all the things
that I talk about, my ongoing struggle with food is probably.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
The only thing that is a present struggle that I share.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
A lot about.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
But that's what the Korean Vegan does for me, and
it's always cheering me on from the sidelines, like you
can do this, you can keep fighting. Because there are
so many times in my life I gotta tell you
where I just don't want to. I just want to
give up because it's so freaking exhausting. But look at
this amazing community I now have that keeps me, keeps
(27:10):
me going.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yes, oh wow, Okay, wanted to ask you about just
veganism overall, and what that term means in our society today.
I mean, you've been outspoken about the implicit bias and
exclusionary politics that can often be present and vegan and
plant based spaces.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Why is it important for you to take that on
and challenge that. Let me answer that question by sharing
sort of this interesting story. When I was like nine
years old, my dad he walked into my room with
his like busted up, nasty typewriter and he was like, Okay,
your job now is to type up all these letters
for my boss, or for the bank, or for this.
(27:56):
And I was like nine, barely. I did not know
how to type. I didn't even know how to turn
the typewriter on. But he already knew then that I
had a better command of the English language than he did,
and that I was better at making things sound more
official and professional than my father, you know, And that
was that was true, And for a long time I
hated it, and I grew to resent it. I said,
(28:17):
you're the adult. Why do I have to do the
adult things here?
Speaker 5 (28:20):
Right?
Speaker 4 (28:21):
And fast forward, you know, three decades from that point,
AAPI hate is running rampant in the streets and the
first thing I can think about is, oh, I have
to protect my mom and my dad. They don't even
know what racism looks like. They don't even know what
microaggression is. They don't know what that word is, and
if it happened to them to their faces, I think
(28:43):
they would be very hard pressed to even describe this
as racism. And so then it became my job as
somebody who spoke Korean and English, who literally spent her
entire life defending her parents against the banks and the
insurance companies and Cstomer Service because they couldn't speak the
language as well as they needed to. Oh, well, this
(29:05):
is what I've been modeled to do. This is what
I'm specifically trained to do. I can do this better
than most people. And it's the same thing with veganism.
Whether it's a job that I wanted or a job
that I decided to take on intentionally, well, it's one
that I'm uniquely equipped to do. I am vegan, I
(29:26):
believe in the ethics underlying veganism. I am a recipe
developer of vegan recipes, so I have this kind of
arsenal at my disposal. But then I'm also a Korean American.
I grew up as the child of immigrants. I have
experienced racism in many shapes and forms my entire life,
(29:47):
and it is the one thing in the world that
I hate more than anything. So with these two kind
of things happening inside of me, it was sort of
natural for me to take that up as just who
I am as part.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Of the Korean Vegan.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
The Korean Vegan.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Yeah, it's about veganism, but.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
More importantly, it's about compassion. It's about empowerment, it's about empathy.
It's about making sure that people every single day feel
safe to tell their stories.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Beautifully said thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Okay, Joanne, We're about to let you go, but I
want to go back to that quote from your website
where you said I veganized Korean food.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
I koreanize everything else. What should we be koreanizing? There's
so many things, you know.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
I think for me, it's it's more just like, oh,
there's so many wonderful things about Korean culture that you
can incorporate in many aspects of your life, whether it's
in your cooking, whether it's in your literature, whether it's
in your music. Certainly like come on btas you know
or you know, whether it's in movies or Korean dramas,
(30:57):
even language, like my favorite tiktoks now are like people
who are not native Korean speakers learning how to speak
Korean because they're so enthralled with the Korean dramas and
they want to really like lean into that language. I
think that's beautiful. But I don't think it's limited to
Korean culture, right. I think that there are so many
wonderful cultures out there, like my husband's. You know, his
(31:20):
father is Italian, and so I've been learning Italian every night.
I'm trying to watch more Italian films and more Italian dramas.
And you know, obviously no one has to twist my
arm to make Italian food. But speaking of koreanizing it,
I think that's a wonderful place to.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Start, is you know.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
I think that tomatoes and qujajang, they just work really
really well together, and they're also the same color, so
I think it's kind of perfect. And you know, so
that's a really quick and easy way to experiment with
incorporating different cultural ingredients, stories, and narratives into your daily life.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Refusion is God's gift too, humankind.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I love whenever two cultures, mix their flavors, their recipes,
their traditions.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Oh Chef's Kiss.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Absolutely, Joanne, Thank you so much. I so enjoyed this
conversation and I love the podcast.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Thank you, Joanne.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Joanne is the author of The Korean Vegan Reflections and
Recipes from Omah's Kitchen. You can find her on Instagram
and TikTok at the Korean Vegan. Okay, we have to
take a moment to reflect on our conversation with Joanne.
What stuck with you?
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Simone?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I really admire a woman who has a clearly defined why,
and that's Joanne all the way. You can tell that
she's really intentional about infusing her heritage into her storytelling,
and she's also really intentional about just being real about
what she's going through and her struggles and her vulnerabilities.
(33:05):
I love the way that she uses food as a
vessel for connection, curiosity, and confessions.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Mm hmm, confessions for sure. I love that you said
storyteller because I think some people would call her a
content creator, and I really view her as a storyteller
and a writer. You know, I'm not a huge cook,
so not that I don't like watching her cook, but really,
I look forward to reading her words, and I think
what I really took away was her love of family.
(33:36):
This is going to sound so corny, but when she
was talking about them, I felt like my heart was smiling.
I know that feeling, and I think that she's probably
done that. And then some.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
After the break, we're bringing you our first ever giving
her Flowers Segment, our monthly award that shines a light
on an amazing woman and her accomplishments with an actual
bouquet of flowers.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Mind you, Today's bouquet goes to a brilliant young student who,
at just fifteen, invented a life saving medical technology. You
don't want to miss this. Stay with us.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
All right, y'all.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
We are back and very pumped to give our next
guest her flowers. Fifteen year old Nya Ellis makes me
feel like a big time underachiever, Danielle. I mean, she's
a freshman in high school and she's already making her
mark on the medical field.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Nya invented a watch that can detect the early signs
of a stroke in adults over fifty five. The invention
helped her become a champion in the National Stem Challenge,
where she beat out twenty five hundred high school students.
The New Orleans native got to present her work in Washington, DC.
See earlier this month at the National Stem Festival. NYA,
(35:03):
Welcome to the bright Side by congratulations.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Hi, Danielle.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
Listen someone lovely to meet you guys and be on
y'all podcast today.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
If you don't deserve your flowers, I don't.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Know who does.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
NYA.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Seriously, NYA, I mean, congratulations on becoming a STEM Champion.
You got to present your work in DC. I mean,
how did it feel to have your work, this invention
recognized in that way.
Speaker 6 (35:30):
It definitely felt amazing to be able to travel and
go present my project. I was a little scared first,
but honestly got comfortable and it was kind of cool.
Is to actually get to talk to so many different people.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Can you tell us a little bit more about this
stroke detection watch that you developed?
Speaker 3 (35:48):
How does it work?
Speaker 6 (35:49):
So the project is called win WIN. It is a
early stroke detection watch day. Basically, the tech strokes early
on through different sensors within a watch, and the different
sys is basically monitor your heart rate, eos on, blood pressure,
your oxygen levels, if you're on balance because if you're
all balanced, that has a sign of having a stroke.
(36:10):
And if your words are slur because a lot of
people who have strokes tend to go off balance.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
I have words that slur.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
But there also are different symptoms of just different heart problems.
So I mean, it's a stroke watch, but it takes
much more than just strokes. Naya, your brain is so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
You could have probably done a ton of things, and
you chose this specific watch. What inspired you to create this?
Speaker 6 (36:37):
My grandmother she had a stroke when I was younger,
and so seeing how she kind of struggled after having
her stroke inspired I felt like if someone could get
the symptoms early on, it would definitely be much better
because it could cause them from not dying, cause them
from just not having a severe stroke. Severe stroke, you
(37:00):
could die, you could become paralyzed.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
Is she's still with us, Yeah, she's still with us today,
but you know, as she gets older, it gets harder.
So watching that is seeing that there's some way to
catch early on was definitely what inspired me.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
How long did this take you to put together?
Speaker 6 (37:18):
It's still going on, to be honest, but it's been
a Muths long process. First it was just creating the
idea of it, and when it became something that became
so big, it can see you going on and it's
still going on.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
So yeah, I see entrepreneurship in your future because you're
a problem solver and that really is the essence of
entrepreneurship right there. But you know, a lot of successful
entrepreneurs there's a whole community behind them. So who in
your community championed you? Did you have a favorite teacher
or mentor who supported you during this process?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
I do have a mentor.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
My mentor is friendly who got me system Nola, Like,
she still finds stuff for me to do to get
me outside of the house.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
What's next for you, Naya? Where do you want to
go next? Do you want to continue learning about this
topic specifically?
Speaker 6 (38:07):
I honestly want to get this product into stores so
then it could help people.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
But then what my education wise?
Speaker 4 (38:14):
I want to end up going to college.
Speaker 6 (38:16):
I want to become an obstecious kind of college, which
is obgya Naya.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
You know we mentioned that you are competing against twenty
five hundred other young people, young students. This is really
a huge moment for you. I can imagine a huge
moment for all the people that love you. What did
this mean to you?
Speaker 3 (38:36):
I'm still so nonchalant about it.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
And every time someone like, see how you're giving me
my flowers right now, everyone is kind of like, oh
my god, but I'm very proud of myself. But it's like,
I don't it's not really hitting me yet that I
want to get so many kids. And I'm all over
the place doing different interviews with different people, and what it.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Do start kicking in be like, wait is this yes?
Speaker 1 (39:00):
So, Naya?
Speaker 3 (39:00):
I know no one Alice Gray stuff.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
So on the bright side, we really believe that people
working hard to inspire and uplift their communities deserve some
extra special love, which is why we are quite literally
giving you your flowers today courtesy of Mona's Accents in
New Orleans. Naya, congratulations, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (39:23):
And I love that y'all are giving me my flowers
and allow other people to hear my story.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
So thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Nia Ellis is a high school freshman in New Orleans
and a National Stem Challenge champion.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Bright Side Besties, we need your help. If you know
someone in your community who deserves her flowers. Go ahead
and nominate them. Send us their name and your reasons
for nominating them to Hello at the bright Side podcast
dot com. We'll be showering the praise and giving out
flowers once a month.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
That's it for us. Today.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Tomorrow we're talking with the founder of mother untitled neha Ushe.
She's giving us insight on how to take a step
back from work and regain some focus. Simone and I
are really excited for this one.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
Yeah, this is a good one.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Y'all.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
I'm Danielle Robe. You can find me on Instagram and
TikTok at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
That's ro b a y and it's your girl Simone.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Boys, you can find me at Simone Voice on Instagram
and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
We'll see you tomorrow and we'll miss you in between.
Hello Sunshine, Hey fam.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Today on the bright Side, chef and TikTok star Joanne
Mulinaro talks about her pivot from corporate lawyer to food influencer,
why she weaves family stories into her recipes, and how
she's veganizing Korean food.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
One dish out of.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Time, whether it's a dish that I make, a recipe,
I develop a little short story that I append. There's
this wonderful idea called smut, which literally means seasoning of
the hand in Korean. She means everything that touches me.
You're getting a little bit of me in that, and
how beautiful that is.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's Tuesday, April thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm Simone Boye, I'm Danielle Robe and this is the
bright Side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Danielle. How's your week going.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I'm having a slow start because i was up way
too late watching Sex and the City, and I'm now
on season six because it's on Netflix now and I've
been binging and I have rewatched this series I think
six seven times over. I never get sick of it.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Wow, you're a connoisseur of Sex and the City at
this point.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Truly, I just feel so seen by that show.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What is it for you that makes you feel seen
about it?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
At every point in my life that I watch, I
get different things from the characters, from the storylines, and
I just think they did such a great job talking
about dating in your thirties.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I didn't watch the show. Are there any points of
wisdom that are really sticking with you or takeaways?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Girl, six seasons and two movies, and I can't just
pick one you have to watch.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I don't have that kind of time. Unfortunately, I wish
I did.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Well, you did have time to watch a movie. You
came in here talking about this film that you love.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yes, I saw Challengers one on a date night. It
was a perfect date night film. It's really really fun.
This is Zendaya's new movie, and I'm just like, I
don't know her, but I'm so happy for her because
it did really well at the box office this weekend,
fifteen million dollars. And I think that's so cool because
she wasn't just an actor in it, she was also
a producer. So this is just a huge win for
(02:09):
female producers and also talent who become producers to take
an ownership.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Why do you like it so much? You know?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It's part sports movie, part steamy romance film. I really
love the director, Luca Guadanino. He did call Me by
your Name, and he really has this knack for bringing
out these erotic scenes and queer themes with his actors
and in his films.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
The whole internet went crazy over that scene. There's a threesome.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Apparently, Yes, there is a threesome scene, and it's pretty juicy,
pretty steamy. They all had to get intimacy coordinators and
work with them for that, but.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
She said it wasn't steamy filming it.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, I think because they spent so much time and
were really intentional about getting to know each other and
bond off screen, so that way they felt comfortable doing.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
That, because that is a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
I mean. The best part is so and I see
her talk about how her family reacted to it, because
she was like, they've seen the movie so many times
at this point, yeah, and they're sort of unfazed. But
you know, she's twenty seven years old. I'm thirty three.
I don't even like when my mom listens to the
podcast because I'm like, you don't need to know everything.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Mom, same, I can't even imagine taking my parents to
go see a film like Challenger, so I can't imagine
being in it and then watching it with them.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
That would be crazy.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
But I also really love this character that she played,
Tashi Duncan, because to be honest, this character is just
really ruthless and selfish, and we don't always get to
see black women portraying those characters. We love an unlikable woman, right, Yes,
I don't even know if the term. I don't even
know if an unlikable character exists. I think they're just
complex women. But we we love that.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I don't know so. I mean, anybody can be unlikable
man or woman.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But then I start thinking, well, this is just a
character that exists in the gray area, and they're just
like really human, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Serena Williams wrote a review of this movie in Vogue,
and she straight up agreed, like this character is just mean.
Serena Williams didn't hold anything back. First of all, she
said that she was really impressed by how they played tennis.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
That's what I wanted to know if it was real
or not.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, it was real.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
She said that they were so good that they probably
could have gone on tour if they started earlier. Wow,
but she said she hated the ending. She wanted more.
The film left her wanting more.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I love seeing Olive Zindiya's tennis inspired outfit. Oh my
furthest tour like she's killing it. The fashion on this
Prush tour incredible, incredible, And I'm also hoping. I loved
Queen's Gambit, which was obviously about this amazing woman playing chess,
and I'm kind of hoping that Challengers does the same
thing with tennis. I think Dick's Sporting Goods is going
to see a quick rise in tennis racket and tennis
(04:42):
ball sales.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I want to play tennis now after watching this viel.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah, that's what it does.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I wanted to play chess after Queen's Gambit.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
How's that going for you? Not well?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I played my dad a few times and gave up.
I feel like it's something you need to learn when
you're young, or.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Something I really want to work on tennis and golf
over the next four years. I want to get into
my country club era.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Good luck with that.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I'm going to do it. Just watch.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
My parents always told me that those are the two
sports you have to learn how to play because you
can play them throughout your whole life.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
And they're great for business too, because everything for me
just comes back to see dollars.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
You see money and you can go get it. You
see the money, you make the money, you take the money.
There you go.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Okay, we have to celebrate some good news because Gabby
Douglas is back. If you remember, she's the decorated gymnast.
She competed in one gold in twenty twelve and twenty sixteen.
I'd venture to say that she's inspired the generation of
gymnasts that we're seeing on the floor today. But she
hasn't competed since then, and now at twenty eight, she's
(05:43):
getting back into it and she's trying to qualify for
this summer's games in Paris, which are less than three
months away.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
This is really interesting. We never see athletes do this,
try to make a comeback in this way.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Well, I read that she never quite said that she retired,
and she did that on purpose because she never wanted
to quit on a bad day and she sort of
had a tough ending in that last season of her career.
She's pulling a Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
In my opinion, I cannot wait to watch.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I love that she's twenty eight too, because in the
last Olympics the average age of a gymnast was twenty one,
and even that was older than it had been in
the past. Like Olympic gymnasts are known to be teenagers
literally honest, literal teenagers. Yeah, so this is pretty amazing.
I try and live by the phrase that trying is winning,
and I see her trying. She's out there trying. Yes,
(06:35):
girl doing her backflips and trying.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Her trying is my winning. Yes, I mean did I
say that right?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Her trying anything is like way more than I could
ever do.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So Okay, before we really get into our show today,
we need to discuss eyebrows.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Oh, let's discuss what's up with eyebrows.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I saw this article about the golden ratio for eyebrows,
and anytime I see eyebrow trends, I am triggered. Because
I shouldn't say I'm triggered, I WinCE. My mother was
traumatized from the eighties with the plucking of the thin eyebrows,
so she would never let me touch my eyebrows growing up.
Do you ever touch yours?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I really don't do anything to them now I did
way too much when I was younger.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
What'd you do? You wax, tweetze, threaded?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, exactly all of the above. But then I just
realized I needed more, not less. So now I'm all
about adding instead of subtracting. So now I pencil them in.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So have you heard of Anastasia of Beverly Hills. Of course,
she's like the eyebrow Queen right first. Yeah, like she
gets it. She came up with this golden ratio thing.
And what I like is that it's for whatever eyebrows
you have, thin, thick, bushy, not whatever. It's all about
finding balance and symmetry on your individual face. And I
feel like there's so many trends with women, and I
(07:53):
hear this line. My body is not a trend. My
eyebrows are not a trend. Okay, it flip flops every generation.
I just want my eyebrows to be my eyebrows. Tell
us how you really feel, Danielle, Yeah, I'm fired up
over this. Okay, So do you do anything to your eyebrows? No,
my mom won't let me. Still I'm there.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Do you have to fill them in at all? Or
do you do gel or what's your routine?
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Like?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Have two quick things. I use the Jones Road dark
brown pencil, and then I use the Anastasio browgel.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Nice. So what is the golden ratio of eyebrows? Though?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
It's basically math for your face, but it's not so complicated.
You draw an upside down triangle from your eyes to
the tip of your nose, and it's designed to find
balance and symmetry on your face.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
That makes a lot of sense because I noticed that
whenever my eyebrows are off, whenever the ratio is off,
if one side is like smaller, or if I didn't
fill them in enough.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
My whole face looks different.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Can you imagine if I came in tomorrow with just
bleached eyebrows. I really want to try it.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Julia Fox did that. It was kind of a vibe.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Yeah, you could do it. Maybe I will.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I really want to try microblating, took How of scared are.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
You hopping on all these trends micro blady fighting?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Micro blading is something that's going to make my life easier.
That's why I want to do it, because then I
don't have to wake up and do the filling in
of my brows.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
After the break, we're taking a seat at the table
with Joanne Molinaro, and we're learning how she veganizes Korean
food and koreanizes everything else.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
You may know our next guest as the Korean Vegan.
Joanne Lee Mullin. Arrow's cooking videos took off on TikTok
during the pandemic and now with millions of followers Anna
James Beard Award, She's making her mark through her recipes
and her stories.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I have such a girl crush on this woman. She
captured our hearts and appetites after she made the jump
from trial lawyer to food blogger, and her blend of cooking,
heritage and the inspiration is exactly what drew us to
her here on the bright Side.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Jo Anne, Welcome to the bright Side. Hey guys, I'm
so excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
We're so happy to have you here, Joanne mull and Arrow,
the Korean Vegan. Before we jump into today's conversation, we
have to wish you a happy birthday. Yes, you just
turned forty five and you celebrated with some special cake.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Yes, I made a sponge cake, a vegan sponge cake
that I was really proud of. It was less proud
of the final product. Because vegan whip cream still has
a little bit of a learning curve. It looked so
good on Instagram, though, girl, okay good because it tasted amazing.
I could not stop you.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It looked really good.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I'm gonna have to get that recipe because I'm a
dairy free gurly, so finding cakes for us it's hard, Joyanne.
Before you published your best selling cookbook, The Korean Vegan,
before how you blew up on social media, you were
a partner at a law firm and you were eating
meat at one time. So can you walk us through
those transitions which came first. There're two big transitions. Definitely,
(11:14):
the elimination of meat from my diet came first. That
happened in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
I was a young partner at that time at the
law firm, and my then boyfriend now husband, he wanted
to go vegan and it took a lot of arm twisting,
but eventually I joined him and got rid of meat
and all other animal products from my diet.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
You know, one of the things that has always stuck
out to me about your work is that it feels
like you are a chef and you cook, but that's
not really what your platform is about. You're a storyteller
to me, and you kind of walk us through a
recipe as you teach us something or tell us something
about what's on your heart. How did that begin?
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Yeah, So I've always enjoyed writing. That's been sort of
my creative outlet. It's either music or writing, So I
really leaned into the writing aspect kind of like midway
through my legal career. When I went plant based in
twenty sixteen, I added cooking as a necessity. There wasn't
really any Korean vegan food that I could purchase, so
(12:22):
I needed to make it myself. And what I wanted
to do was marry those two creative outlets in some way.
So I started sharing my very like short short stories
and the captions of my Instagram posts in twenty seventeen,
and when I started sharing videos in twenty twenty on TikTok,
I literally just read out loud my Instagram caption. And
(12:45):
I think people enjoy kind of watching the preparation of
food and then listening to something that might not have
anything to do with that food, but was, you know,
similarly captivating.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
A lot of people might be surprised to learn how
hands on you are during the content creation process. I mean, you're.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Shooting, you're writing, you're editing a lot of the time.
That's a lot of work, and you still show up
every day and you pour your heart and soul into
this content that you make.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
What's your why? That's a really good question, and I
think it's an important question for any entrepreneur, any artist,
any content creator to continuously ask themselves, because if you
don't do that, it can get a little depressing and
a little demoralizing. And I think there are two things,
one of which was harder for me to grapple with.
(13:38):
I think the reason I started sharing stories is because
I felt that the immigrant story in the United States
was not being adequately and fairly represented. And I felt
that a lot of people in America didn't really know
what it was like to grow up in an immigrant family,
and particularly in an Asian immigrant family. And I really
(13:59):
wanted to unveil that for people in a non threatening way.
And there's like, really nothing less threatening than here's a
bowl of food, Come sit at my dinner table, and
let's have a chat, and I'll tell you a little story.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
And what I really wanted to get.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Across to people was things may look a little different,
and they may smell a little different, they may sound
a little different, but there's actually a lot more in
common between us than you might realize, and that was
really important to me. I also think part of that,
and wrapped into that, was again this idea of allowing
a group of people who had historically felt unseen to
(14:40):
feel seen, and that of course is my parents, my
mom and my dad, that generation of immigrants. I wanted
them to feel very powerfully seen in a compassionate and
empowering way. I also wanted to feel seen, and I
think that there's a little bit of shame for some
people admitting that. Oh so I have a need to
(15:00):
feel seen. I have a need to feel heard, and
I want to do it in this way. And I
think that this was a way for me to explore
my creativity, explore a side to me that was otherwise
going untapped at work, you know, as a lawyer, and
do it in a way that was fun, exciting and inspiring.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Joanne, there's this quote that stuck with me from your website.
You say, I veganize Korean food, I koreanize everything else.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
What do you mean by that?
Speaker 4 (15:33):
The first part is pretty straightforward, right. I started the
Korean vegan because when I went vegan, there was nothing
out there for me, and I was like, well, I'm
not giving up my kimchi and my kyabees and all
my favorite Korean foods just because I made this change
to my diet. I just have to figure it out.
And so that was the first part of the quote,
which is, Okay, I'm going to viganize all my Korean
favorite foods. The second part was a little bit more glib, right, like, okay,
(15:58):
and I'm just going to creanize it everything else. And
at first it was really a reference to the fact
that anytime I made something that wasn't overtly a Korean dish,
I would end up figuring out a way to incorporate
soy sauce or tinjung or quo jujung or some of
the very popular Korean ingredients that I was really learning
(16:19):
a lot about at that time. I always felt like, Okay, well,
I just think that this marinera would taste a little
better with cujajong. I think that this risotto would taste
a little better with tinjong. Just a little bit doesn't
need to be a lot. So I think That's what
I meant at first, but then I think later on,
especially once the Korean vegan became much more about storytelling,
(16:41):
it was also just how I put so much of
myself into my content and into my recipes, Like you're
getting a heavy dose of Joanne with everything, whether it's
a dish that I make, a recipe, I develop a
little short story that I appenned to whatever it is
I'm making, you get my voice, sometimes you get my face.
(17:03):
And of course there's this, you know, wonderful idea called
son mut which literally means taste of the hand or
seasoning of the hand in Korean, which means everything that
touches me, everything that goes through my hands. You're getting
a little bit of me in that, and how beautiful
that is.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I'm not as familiar with Korean dishes. What should I
start with?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Oh God, that such a great question. Okay, So I
would start with the stews. And the reason I say
the stews, I have a whole chapter on soups and
stews in my cookbook, and number one, it's because it's
the easiest out of all of the recipes. So no
matter what level you are at in the kitchen, it
doesn't really matter. These are very very easy dishes, and
(17:49):
then thank you for that. No, it's okay, there's no
judgment here. I'm a home cook too. And also in
almost every Korean meal, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you're going
to have a Korean soup or stew, so it's such
an integral part of Korean cuisine.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
And then from.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
There I would specify probably the tindunk jigue, which is
a fermented soybean stew. It is one of the most
popular recipes out of my cookbook, which was very surprising
and gratifying. And it's also that one dish anytime you
go to a Korean restaurant, it's going to be there, like,
it's almost inevitably going to show up on the table.
So it just is a great introduction to Korean cuisine
(18:29):
and it's also really easy.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
It makes a ton of sense to me that a
natural next step for you was to write a cookbook.
People were dying over your recipes. What doesn't always come
with a cookbook is a James Beard Award for your
first cookbook. That is such a huge honor. How does
that come about?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I honestly don't know how it comes back I just
I remember when I was told that I was nominated.
I was like, well, I didn't even know that I
was up for considering, and like it's such a surprise.
I will say, like one of the most important things
when you are writing a good cookbook or you know
your first one, is to surround yourself with a really
(19:10):
supportive team. I literally had the best team in the world.
They you know, were almost all women, and they just
really understood how important this book was to me, to
my family and of course the stories behind it. So
they submitted the book for consideration by the Games Beer Foundation.
They didn't tell me, and so it was like came
(19:32):
as a huge shock. I went to the ceremony and
my parents are so cute because it was in Chicago luckily,
so you know, I told my mom and dad about it,
and I was like, you know, you don't need to come.
I'm never going to win, so like there's no point,
like just just stay home and be comfortable, and they
were like, no, no, of course we're going to come.
(19:52):
And I think even then I didn't realize like, like
the magnitude of.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
This, Shoanne, this is like the oscars of food and
but here's The thing is, I really did not think
there was like any chance that I would win.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
There was absolutely no scenario in my mind. I didn't
prepare a speech because I was like, well, there's no point.
I'm just going to go and enjoy myself and like
fangirl Padma Lakshmi's going to be there and I'm just
going to get everyone with autograph. Like That's what I
was thinking. So when my name was announced, it was
probably one of the most surreal moments of my entire life.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
How did it change things for you?
Speaker 4 (20:28):
I think that there are very few things in my
life that I can look back towards and say that
was a moment where I allowed myself to feel more confident.
I think confidence is one of the most difficult things
in the world to understand, earn, and retain, at least
(20:52):
especially for women. I think it's like every single moment
of every day, somebody's trying to drag down your confidence.
So it is a very hard earned thing to keep.
And I think when I was recognized by the Jamesuar
Foundation as well as my peers for the work that
went into that book, it was one moment that I
(21:13):
can say, Okay, I will accept this. I will accept
this as a sign that I deserve to be recognized
and that this book is actually a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Joanne, the kitchen seems like a confessional for you, a church,
a sanctuary, all of those things rolled into one. How
does it shift your energy when you get into the kitchen.
That is a wonderful question.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
For me.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I get very focused, and that's really important because I
have a hard time focusing. I'm very much like a multitasker.
I have so many things going on at the same
time in my head. I've got multiple fires that I'm
trying to put out mentally, physically, logistically. And so when
(22:01):
I get a chance to just be in the kitchen
and cook a special meal or cook something for dinner,
and I don't have to worry about anything else, I
turn on a good book, you know, I listen to
a lot of my books, or I turn on some
you know, my favorite music, and I just get to
focus on making delicious food that I know I'm going
(22:21):
to really enjoy eating at the end of it. That
is one of the most relaxing times. It is a
time when I feel most myself and most empowered because
I don't have to answer to anyone other than myself,
and I really love that.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I love the way that your videos offer advice to
people on heartbreak and friendship and family and navigating life's challenges.
When you look back at your body of work, is
there a particular dish or recipe that you associate with
a life lesson that was hard to learn?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yes, this is funny.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
It's probably my duck book recipe. It's takmandukuk in the cookbook.
And I've talked about this a couple of times, and
I actually mentioned it specifically in the book. And I
remember when I shared this story, my editor was like,
I think you need to remove this story because it's
too depressing, and I was like, nope, We're keeping it
in because it's really important. The story is about four
(23:23):
months before my first wedding is New Year's and in
Korean culture, you eat rice cake soup for New Year's
and it was like something I look forward to all
the time. And my mom made rice cake soup and
she invited me over to her house and I showed
up and she hands me this bowl of soup and
my father's there, which I thought was kind of weird,
but you know, he was there and with the soup
(23:45):
is a Hallmark card, and I'm like.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Oh, are they giving me money for New Years?
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Is just also Korean tradition, but one that we had
not partaken in many years. Right, So I opened a
Hallmark envelope and and it is a card. Basically, both
of my parents beg me not to walk down the
aisle and to call off my wedding, which was happening
in four months. Needless to say, that didn't end well.
(24:10):
I did not enjoy any book. I was so angry.
I just screamed at my parents and then I stormed
out of their house. And what I learned from that was,
you know, I remember telling my mom and my dad,
what's the big deal? I love this man. Isn't that
all that matters. That's the most important thing in any marriage,
(24:32):
and that's the only thing that matters. And I remember
my father said, Okay, yeah, you're right, you're right. But
my mom she did not agree. She didn't say anything.
She just kind of looked very sad. And many many
years later, when I got a divorce and when things
sort of fell apart, I learned that lesson that while
love is incredibly important in a marriage. It's not the
(24:54):
only thing that's important in a marriage. You need respect,
you need trust, you need partnership. There's so many other
things that go into a successful relationship with your life partner.
And that was a very difficult lesson for me to learn,
and I think about it every single New Year's when
I eat the boop.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Now, thank you for sharing that story with us. I
just I am constantly in awe of how open you
are and how real you are. And I hope it's
okay that I ask you about this, but you've been
really open about your relationship with food and struggling with
eating disorders, and I think that you've made so many
people feel seen through your candor on this topic, and
(25:38):
so I'm curious how the work that you're doing now
is allowing you to process your own relationship with food.
Life has a way.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Of getting in your way, sometimes right, and sometimes it's good.
You learn a lot from those hurdles, You build muscles
from those hurdles, you learn strategies about avoiding them and
jumping over them and all of those things. But sometimes
those hurdles just suck, and it's so easy to just
(26:08):
give in and say, you know what, that hurdle is there.
I'm tired of jumping over them all the time. I'm
just gonna sit this out and I'm just gonna give in.
And that's really a very dangerous temptation. But the lovely
thing about the Korean Vegan is it's always there saying.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
No, no, don't give up. You can't give up. You
gotta come up with another recipe, You gotta come up
with another thing.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
No, you got a cookbook, try, you gotta eat eat food,
Please eat food, you know, and like it's hard to
not get emotional about it because of all the things
that I talk about, my ongoing struggle with food is probably.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
The only thing that is a present struggle that I share.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
A lot about.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
But that's what the Korean Vegan does for me, and
it's always cheering me on from the sidelines, like you
can do this, you can keep fighting. Because there are
so many times in my life I gotta tell you
where I just don't want to. I just want to
give up because it's so freaking exhausting. But look at
this amazing community I now have that keeps me, keeps
(27:10):
me going.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yes, oh wow, Okay, wanted to ask you about just
veganism overall, and what that term means in our society today.
I mean, you've been outspoken about the implicit bias and
exclusionary politics that can often be present and vegan and
plant based spaces.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Why is it important for you to take that on
and challenge that. Let me answer that question by sharing
sort of this interesting story. When I was like nine
years old, my dad he walked into my room with
his like busted up, nasty typewriter and he was like, Okay,
your job now is to type up all these letters
for my boss, or for the bank, or for this.
(27:56):
And I was like nine, barely. I did not know
how to type. I didn't even know how to turn
the typewriter on. But he already knew then that I
had a better command of the English language than he did,
and that I was better at making things sound more
official and professional than my father, you know, And that
was that was true, And for a long time I
hated it, and I grew to resent it. I said,
(28:17):
you're the adult. Why do I have to do the
adult things here?
Speaker 5 (28:20):
Right?
Speaker 4 (28:21):
And fast forward, you know, three decades from that point,
AAPI hate is running rampant in the streets and the
first thing I can think about is, oh, I have
to protect my mom and my dad. They don't even
know what racism looks like. They don't even know what
microaggression is. They don't know what that word is, and
if it happened to them to their faces, I think
(28:43):
they would be very hard pressed to even describe this
as racism. And so then it became my job as
somebody who spoke Korean and English, who literally spent her
entire life defending her parents against the banks and the
insurance companies and Cstomer Service because they couldn't speak the
language as well as they needed to. Oh, well, this
(29:05):
is what I've been modeled to do. This is what
I'm specifically trained to do. I can do this better
than most people. And it's the same thing with veganism.
Whether it's a job that I wanted or a job
that I decided to take on intentionally, well, it's one
that I'm uniquely equipped to do. I am vegan, I
(29:26):
believe in the ethics underlying veganism. I am a recipe
developer of vegan recipes, so I have this kind of
arsenal at my disposal. But then I'm also a Korean American.
I grew up as the child of immigrants. I have
experienced racism in many shapes and forms my entire life,
(29:47):
and it is the one thing in the world that
I hate more than anything. So with these two kind
of things happening inside of me, it was sort of
natural for me to take that up as just who
I am as part.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Of the Korean Vegan.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
The Korean Vegan.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Yeah, it's about veganism, but.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
More importantly, it's about compassion. It's about empowerment, it's about empathy.
It's about making sure that people every single day feel
safe to tell their stories.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Beautifully said thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Okay, Joanne, We're about to let you go, but I
want to go back to that quote from your website
where you said I veganized Korean food.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
I koreanize everything else. What should we be koreanizing? There's
so many things, you know.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
I think for me, it's it's more just like, oh,
there's so many wonderful things about Korean culture that you
can incorporate in many aspects of your life, whether it's
in your cooking, whether it's in your literature, whether it's
in your music. Certainly like come on btas you know
or you know, whether it's in movies or Korean dramas,
(30:57):
even language, like my favorite tiktoks now are like people
who are not native Korean speakers learning how to speak
Korean because they're so enthralled with the Korean dramas and
they want to really like lean into that language. I
think that's beautiful. But I don't think it's limited to
Korean culture, right. I think that there are so many
wonderful cultures out there, like my husband's. You know, his
(31:20):
father is Italian, and so I've been learning Italian every night.
I'm trying to watch more Italian films and more Italian dramas.
And you know, obviously no one has to twist my
arm to make Italian food. But speaking of koreanizing it,
I think that's a wonderful place to.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Start, is you know.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
I think that tomatoes and qujajang, they just work really
really well together, and they're also the same color, so
I think it's kind of perfect. And you know, so
that's a really quick and easy way to experiment with
incorporating different cultural ingredients, stories, and narratives into your daily life.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Refusion is God's gift too, humankind.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I love whenever two cultures, mix their flavors, their recipes,
their traditions.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Oh Chef's Kiss.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Absolutely, Joanne, Thank you so much. I so enjoyed this
conversation and I love the podcast.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Thank you, Joanne.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Joanne is the author of The Korean Vegan Reflections and
Recipes from Omah's Kitchen. You can find her on Instagram
and TikTok at the Korean Vegan. Okay, we have to
take a moment to reflect on our conversation with Joanne.
What stuck with you?
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Simone?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I really admire a woman who has a clearly defined why,
and that's Joanne all the way. You can tell that
she's really intentional about infusing her heritage into her storytelling,
and she's also really intentional about just being real about
what she's going through and her struggles and her vulnerabilities.
(33:05):
I love the way that she uses food as a
vessel for connection, curiosity, and confessions.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Mm hmm, confessions for sure. I love that you said
storyteller because I think some people would call her a
content creator, and I really view her as a storyteller
and a writer. You know, I'm not a huge cook,
so not that I don't like watching her cook, but really,
I look forward to reading her words, and I think
what I really took away was her love of family.
(33:36):
This is going to sound so corny, but when she
was talking about them, I felt like my heart was smiling.
I know that feeling, and I think that she's probably
done that. And then some.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
After the break, we're bringing you our first ever giving
her Flowers Segment, our monthly award that shines a light
on an amazing woman and her accomplishments with an actual
bouquet of flowers.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Mind you, Today's bouquet goes to a brilliant young student who,
at just fifteen, invented a life saving medical technology. You
don't want to miss this. Stay with us.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
All right, y'all.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
We are back and very pumped to give our next
guest her flowers. Fifteen year old Nya Ellis makes me
feel like a big time underachiever, Danielle. I mean, she's
a freshman in high school and she's already making her
mark on the medical field.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Nya invented a watch that can detect the early signs
of a stroke in adults over fifty five. The invention
helped her become a champion in the National Stem Challenge,
where she beat out twenty five hundred high school students.
The New Orleans native got to present her work in Washington, DC.
See earlier this month at the National Stem Festival. NYA,
(35:03):
Welcome to the bright Side by congratulations.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Hi, Danielle.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
Listen someone lovely to meet you guys and be on
y'all podcast today.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
If you don't deserve your flowers, I don't.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Know who does.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
NYA.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Seriously, NYA, I mean, congratulations on becoming a STEM Champion.
You got to present your work in DC. I mean,
how did it feel to have your work, this invention
recognized in that way.
Speaker 6 (35:30):
It definitely felt amazing to be able to travel and
go present my project. I was a little scared first,
but honestly got comfortable and it was kind of cool.
Is to actually get to talk to so many different people.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Can you tell us a little bit more about this
stroke detection watch that you developed?
Speaker 3 (35:48):
How does it work?
Speaker 6 (35:49):
So the project is called win WIN. It is a
early stroke detection watch day. Basically, the tech strokes early
on through different sensors within a watch, and the different
sys is basically monitor your heart rate, eos on, blood pressure,
your oxygen levels, if you're on balance because if you're
all balanced, that has a sign of having a stroke.
(36:10):
And if your words are slur because a lot of
people who have strokes tend to go off balance.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
I have words that slur.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
But there also are different symptoms of just different heart problems.
So I mean, it's a stroke watch, but it takes
much more than just strokes. Naya, your brain is so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
You could have probably done a ton of things, and
you chose this specific watch. What inspired you to create this?
Speaker 6 (36:37):
My grandmother she had a stroke when I was younger,
and so seeing how she kind of struggled after having
her stroke inspired I felt like if someone could get
the symptoms early on, it would definitely be much better
because it could cause them from not dying, cause them
from just not having a severe stroke. Severe stroke, you
(37:00):
could die, you could become paralyzed.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
Is she's still with us, Yeah, she's still with us today,
but you know, as she gets older, it gets harder.
So watching that is seeing that there's some way to
catch early on was definitely what inspired me.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
How long did this take you to put together?
Speaker 6 (37:18):
It's still going on, to be honest, but it's been
a Muths long process. First it was just creating the
idea of it, and when it became something that became
so big, it can see you going on and it's
still going on.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
So yeah, I see entrepreneurship in your future because you're
a problem solver and that really is the essence of
entrepreneurship right there. But you know, a lot of successful
entrepreneurs there's a whole community behind them. So who in
your community championed you? Did you have a favorite teacher
or mentor who supported you during this process?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
I do have a mentor.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
My mentor is friendly who got me system Nola, Like,
she still finds stuff for me to do to get
me outside of the house.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
What's next for you, Naya? Where do you want to
go next? Do you want to continue learning about this
topic specifically?
Speaker 6 (38:07):
I honestly want to get this product into stores so
then it could help people.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
But then what my education wise?
Speaker 4 (38:14):
I want to end up going to college.
Speaker 6 (38:16):
I want to become an obstecious kind of college, which
is obgya Naya.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
You know we mentioned that you are competing against twenty
five hundred other young people, young students. This is really
a huge moment for you. I can imagine a huge
moment for all the people that love you. What did
this mean to you?
Speaker 3 (38:36):
I'm still so nonchalant about it.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
And every time someone like, see how you're giving me
my flowers right now, everyone is kind of like, oh
my god, but I'm very proud of myself. But it's like,
I don't it's not really hitting me yet that I
want to get so many kids. And I'm all over
the place doing different interviews with different people, and what it.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Do start kicking in be like, wait is this yes?
Speaker 1 (39:00):
So, Naya?
Speaker 3 (39:00):
I know no one Alice Gray stuff.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
So on the bright side, we really believe that people
working hard to inspire and uplift their communities deserve some
extra special love, which is why we are quite literally
giving you your flowers today courtesy of Mona's Accents in
New Orleans. Naya, congratulations, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (39:23):
And I love that y'all are giving me my flowers
and allow other people to hear my story.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
So thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Nia Ellis is a high school freshman in New Orleans
and a National Stem Challenge champion.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Bright Side Besties, we need your help. If you know
someone in your community who deserves her flowers. Go ahead
and nominate them. Send us their name and your reasons
for nominating them to Hello at the bright Side podcast
dot com. We'll be showering the praise and giving out
flowers once a month.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
That's it for us. Today.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Tomorrow we're talking with the founder of mother untitled neha Ushe.
She's giving us insight on how to take a step
back from work and regain some focus. Simone and I
are really excited for this one.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
Yeah, this is a good one.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Y'all.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
I'm Danielle Robe. You can find me on Instagram and
TikTok at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
That's ro b a y and it's your girl Simone.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Boys, you can find me at Simone Voice on Instagram
and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
We'll see you tomorrow and we'll miss you in between.
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