Cultural Kultivators

This week we are honored to welcome leadership coach, business consultant, and Art of Hustle founder, Anthem Salgado! 

In a metaphorically painted world of tree pruning and sports tournaments, Anthem takes us on a deep dive into his approach to professional development and artistic living. In this info-packed dialogue, he explores the starving artist narrative that many of us are all too familiar with. He advocates for a radical sh...

This week we are proud to welcome Bay Area rapper and Kreative Growth 2023 alumni: Mikey Vee! Get the scoop on his highly anticipated debut album, R.E.M. (Realest Expression of Myself) inspired by 17th century painter Rembrandt and his unlikely source of inspiration.

A virtuoso at translating challenge into ingenuity and imagination, Mikey opens up about his creative process of self imposed artistic limitations as a practice of exp...

As our first Season 2 guest, we’re bringing in a fellow story teller from across the country, Future Ancestors Podcast co-host and Kalayaan “Filipina Heroines of World War II” author: Kathryn Serrano! 

In this Tri-State area x Bay Area crossover, Kathryn gets candid about using our privilege decisively and effectively as Filipino-Americans in a way that embraces the intentions of our family and ancestors who wanted better for us in...

This week we are proud to end Season 1 with our very own Nicole Salaver! In this special insider episode, Nicole shares the origin story of Cultural Kultivators, her artistry, and the deeply rooted inspiration behind her creative force: the love and mourning of her late father.

From her early, humble beginnings slinging Uncle Pat’s VHS camcorder in the L.A. summer heat to an Asia World Tour and making the big move to New York City ...

This week, we are thrilled to welcome singer-songwriter and Birds of Prey actress, Ella Jay Basco!

Niece of Dion and Dante Basco, Ella Jay and her family are no strangers to Hollywood. In 2020 she hit the big screen with her debut film role and gives us a behind the scenes look inside of the set of Birds of Prey and becoming Cassandra Cain. 

Ella Jay also takes us back through her childhood of a highly artistic and creative family,...

We are so excited to welcome another powerful pinay, writer, actor-comedian based in L.A.: Joy Regullano! From Sesame Street writer to Modern Family cameos, YouTube sketch artist to creator of Asian American comedy musical, Supportive White Parents, Joy is a multitalented creatrix in the entertainment scene.

This week she speaks with us about her journey as a former pre-med track student at UC Berkeley and her switch to theater whi...

Welcome back and Happy New Year to all of our listeners! For our first episode of the year, we are running it back full circle with past Kreative Growth artist, Ouida!

As a SF born and raised singer-songwriter with rising national and international recognition, Ouida gives us an inside scoop on the new Bolo Music Group, Ruby Ibarra and Ian Santillano’s latest project announced last October.

Trailblazer in her own right, she sheds l...

As we close out 2023, we are proud to welcome our final Unsung Heroes guest host, Rochelle Berdan! This episode features their mentor and friend, Jordan Raye, a queer, non-binary healer whose vulnerability turns out to be their greatest strength. Together, they dive deep into what healing intergenerational trauma looks like as an ongoing, non-linear process.

Tune in for a deeply emotional and candid examination into how growing up ...

Our next guest host episode for this week features Bay Area high school student, Benedict Del Rosario! Right in time for the holidays, this student-produced episode dives into Filipino cultural celebrations and its role in forming a strong sense of identity, belonging, and community.

As Benedict interviews his father, Reynaldo, a first generation immigrant, we witness the importance of storytelling and the tradition of passing down...

This week we are kicking off the end of the year with a very special guest host: Luci Herrera-Set! Luci is a local Bay Area highschooler and graduate of our Unsung Heroes youth podcast program. In this student-produced episode, Lucy invites her uncle, Michael Herrera, to talk about his journey as a teacher nurtured by the Pin@y Educational Partnerships program (PEP).

From teaching Oakland first graders to striving to open up a rest...

This week’s special guest brings decades of experience working with at-risk youth in San Francisco: Rudy Corpuz Jr.! Founder and Executive Director of United Playaz, a violence prevention program that serves the youth, Rudy has dedicated his life to the rehabilitation and development of previously incarcerated folks and our youth as an ex-felon.

In this episode, Rudy shares with us how he got started at Balboa High School as a ga...

As Filipino American History Month comes to end, we are proud to lead with this next episodes’ guest, Terry Valen! Organizer with the Bay Area Seafarers Coalition and Executive Board and International Coordinating Body Member of the International Migrants Alliance (IMA).

In this episode, Terry bridges international gaps by connecting migrant struggles in America to working class conditions in the homeland. From workers rights in Sa...

In honor of Filipino-American History Month, we are proud to share space with Luna Salaver!  As the first half of the famous Jose Rizal quote goes,“Know History, Know Self,” Luna brings us home through nearly 100 years of Salaver family history in the Bay Area.

From 10 cent Taxi Dance Halls to the introduction of Tinikling in the Bay Area and the Third World Liberation Front, Luna walks us through the decades since the patriarch of...

Happy Filipino-American History Month! We are incredibly honored to welcome Gayle Romasanta as this week’s writer, art-tivist, mother, and executive director of the Filipino-American Development Foundation. Gayle unwraps her process behind her latest work Larry: The Musical about Larry Itliong with us and her decades long experience working in community.

A true powerhouse of the Filipino American community, she brings us into the f...

Find out what it takes to represent the Philippines in the Women’s World Cup in this week’s episode with Sarina Bolden! Bay Area local turned international star, Sarina lets us in on the secrets behind her success: her growth mindset, taking her mental health seriously, and good coffee. 

Behind Sarina’s many successes, is her soul searching journey outside of her identity as an athlete, finding that it’s both passion and a growth m...

We are so excited to welcome AJ Rafael, a talented singer-songwriter and a Youtube pioneer who has amassed over 1 million subscribers on YouTube and 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

A Filipino American game changer, AJ dives deep into his relationship with music and the healing effects music had in processing and honoring his late father’s memory. At the heart of his artistry is also community or kapwa and a way for listen...

What gives Chef Frances Tariga-Weshnak, Top Chef star and Morimoto’s Sushi Master winner, her edge? Find out this Wednesday with guest hosts, Kristen Brillantes and JP Reyes of Kultivate Lab’s Seed Network and Bay Area food truck favorite, Sarap Shop! 

Born and raised in Manila, Chef Frances opens up about the ways that operating in survival mode ultimately impacts our collective experience as a culture and how we can come together...

This Wednesday, we welcome Josh Dela Cruz! Blue’s Clues host and Aladdin in Broadway’s 2017 theater production, Josh made history as the first Asian American Pacific Islander to host a major children's show — Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues & You!.

Before jetting off to Thailand to star in the new musical Waterfall, Josh opened up about the times he's felt "not Filipino enough” despite being a representative of the Filipino Americ...

Joining us this week is H.P. Mendoza, Bitter Melon film director, musician and screenwriter, who invited us to soar at the Castro Theatre this past weekend with his new film on weightless grief and self recovery.  

Mendoza drops the curtain on this new project, The Secret Art of Human Flight and what it was like working with Hollywood stars like Academy Award nominee, Paul Raci and Grant Rosenmeyer as we...