Who is the American Dream actually for?

Whose story is really being told?

Which side do we choose when there’s no middle path?

What pieces of ourselves are we forever bound to lose?

Where do we find joy during an identity crisis?

How do we connect our past to our future?

There are over 22 million Asian Americans in the U.S., whose voices are needed to explore these vital questions of our time.

As people of all backgrounds reckon with complex legacies of race, power, culture, and identity and ask themselves, “Where do I stand?” Self Evident (hear our trailer) offers a space to engage with reported stories, personal histories, and participatory local events — all by and about Asian Americans who have been confronting this question for generations.

Starting with a podcast with intent to improve Asian American representation in public radio, we’ve spent four years working from the grassroots to build a home for the full range of Asian American perspectives so often erased from the national discourse. Each episode presents an in-depth audio documentary or radically open conversations that help listeners of all backgrounds take on the tough questions about who we are.

Our mission is to empower local communities to share stories and build relationships around the value of self-representation.

Listeners tell us that they love Self Evident because we help them understand America from diverse perspectives, effect personal change, and take action with those closest to them to help move our country towards healing and justice. The work we’ve done to produce nuanced and challenging stories about Asian Americans — then collaborate with local listeners to spur restorative dialogue around those stories — has underscored how storytelling can grow the capacity for underrepresented people to create structures of mutual support with each other.

Community-Driven

We believe that storytelling is an act of participation. To keep our stories as grounded as possible, we've built a nationwide panel of over 250 individuals who reflect a diverse range of Asian American communities and identities. So far, this panel has helped shape our show by sharing their perspectives, giving feedback on work-in-progress, and even appearing on the show. There's still plenty of room for you to join!

By and About Asian Americans (and seeking to share that space thoughtfully)

There’s a multitude of identities and experiences that fall under the term “Asian American,” and we aim to reflect those varied experiences, including those of South Asian, South East Asian, East Asian, Central Asian, and multi-ethnic communities. This is a continuous goal that we strive for not only through stories, but also in how we work with journalists, producers, listeners, and community leaders to present stories.

While we also intend to present stories from Pacific Islander and indigenous communities, we acknowledge that these stories are immensely diverse in their own right, and recognize that we cannot sweep those experiences into the name of our program without first doing further work on stories specifically supporting and featuring them alongside Asian American and intersecting narratives. So if you’re a Pacific Islander listener or journalist, we look forward to collaborating with you.

Our non-profit fiscal sponsor is Asian CineVision, a long running platform for Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the media arts.

Contact Us

• Feedback and listener questions about the show: community@selfevidentshow.com

• All media and PR inquiries: press@selfevidentshow.com

• Partnerships and everything else: james@selfevidentshow.com

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Season 3 Team

Alex Chun, Production Intern

As a Journalism and American Studies student, Alex has served in multiple Editor positions at The Daily Northwestern. He’s always been passionate about multimedia storytelling, and in his spare time enjoys reading, skateboarding, and dining in Evanston with friends.

Cathy Erway, Host

Cathy Erway is a James Beard Award winning writer, host of the IACP award-winning podcast Why We Eat What We Eat, from Gimlet Creative. Also a seasoned writer and reporter, Cathy is the author of the cookbook The Food of Taiwan and the memoir The Art of Eating In. She's written for Saveur, Food & Wine, Serious Eats, and Grub Street and continues to write the blog "Not Eating Out in New York."

Harsha Nahata, Producer

Harsha is a Michigan-born, NYC-based, associate producer at Futuro Media's In The Thick. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the Newmark School of Journalism, Harsha is interested in storytelling as a way to understand who we are, and she is drawn to audio because it reminds her of how her ancestors passed down their oral histories. While in Michigan, she made a documentary about second-generation Asian Americans and conversations that go unsaid in immigrant families. Her audio work has been featured in StoryCorps, The Juggernaut, Feeling My Flo, and Brown Girl Magazine, among others.

James Boo, Managing Producer

The recipient of two storytelling fellowships at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP, James delivers documentaries that make a social impact through community engagement and partnership. For the past decade he’s created intimate narratives that reveal how legacies are cultivated, performed, preserved, broken, and lost at the local level. His award-winning web series, 1 Minute Meal, uses food to reveal the communities, dreams, realities, and unseen forces that shape life in New York.

Julia Shu, Senior Producer

Originally from San Diego, Julia produces and reports for radio and podcasts in New York. A graduate of UC Berkeley and NYU, she has reported and produced for a range of podcasts and news outlets including NPR's Latino USA, WNYC, Wondery, The Bustle Huddle, and Audible. Her story on the San Antonio 4, four queer Latina women wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting children, won a third place National Headliner Award.

Ken Ikeda, Executive Producer

Ken is a founding partner of Studiotobe. In his many lives, he has been CEO of AIR, co-founded a hip hop label, was Executive Director of BAVC, ran a public radio/tv M&A operation, founded a youth media organization for high schoolers, served on the boards of CAAM and Youth Speaks, and was the architect of what is now NPR Live Sessions.

Rekha Radhakrishnan, Audience Manager

Rekha is a Los Angeles-based communications professional who has spent the last 15 years devising media strategy for public interest legal firms, labor unions, and organizations including Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago. One of the original organizers of Chicago Desi Youth Rising, Rekha devours fiction and baked goods with the same gusto.

Rochelle Kwan, Community Producer

Rochelle (a.k.a. Ro or Yiu Yiu 瑤瑤) helps us build deep, lasting relationships with people across the country, long before and after their stories are told. Previously a national facilitator at Storycorps, Rochelle also leads storytelling at Think!Chinatown and consults for a variety of community-first media projects. Outside of this work, you can find her dancing until the sun comes up, eating her way through the city, or inviting everyone over to her jungle home to cook and eat some more.

Sheena Tan, Production Intern

Sheena’s a sophomore at Northwestern University majoring in journalism and biology, working as Assistant Audio Editor of The Daily Northwestern. During her time at Self Evident, she hopes to become more confident with audio work and the production process, and explore how audio can make an impact in communities that mean the most to her.

Tara Nolan, Marketing Manager

Tara is a Chinese American adoptee. She has professional experience in marketing at businesses in Washington DC, and now works as freelancer based in New York. In addition to marketing, Tara is a photographer and produces a podcast, Adopted Babies from China.

Tiffany Bui, Production Intern

Tiffany Bui is an Associate Producer at Lemonada Media, and a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where they studied journalism and Asian American Studies.

Her work has primarily focused on race/racial justice and local politics, and her daily goal is to dress like a cartoon character.

Timothy Lou Ly, Sound Engineer

Tim is an Associate Producer at Religion of Sports and previously produced the podcasts Should This Exist? and Meditative Story at WaitWhat. Before that, Tim produced for The Moth and KALW public radio Having been a native and 25-year resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, Tim's adjusted fairly well to New York over the past few years... but one thing he decidedly will not entertain is using the phase "bubble tea" over "boba."

Our Advisors

Previous Team Members

Anika Gupta, Advisor

Anika is a senior product manager with the Atlantic, where she works on a variety of projects. She received her Master's from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied online comment and audience engagement at media companies. She's taught audience engagement to students at Harvard, American University and the University of Miami, among others. She serves on the leadership team for DCFemTech, a Washington DC-based collective that advances women's leadership in technology. Her essays about the South Asian experience have appeared in various online literary magazines.

Davey Kim, Advisor

Davey is a radio reporter, producer, and sound designer based in the Bay Area. His stories and scores have aired on WNYC's Snap Judgment, NPR, Marketplace, The Dinner Party Download, KCRW’s Unfictional, PRI’s The World, and KPCC. He has also taught radio at several non-profits and schools, including Oakland School for the Arts, San Quentin Prison, and Writing Pad. His side hustles include bike polo, woodworking, and botching instant pot recipes.

Ted Hsieh, Advisor

Ted has been in the high tech industry for more than 20 years and offers a unique combination of experience with new ventures, technology and innovation, leadership development and business operations. He most recently was the co-founder and managing partner for Opexa LLC, CEO of ParkAhead, a parking technology company and currently serves on the Boards of SkillMil and Board Check. Prior to this, Ted has held executive roles as a COO for DeskSite, a digital media company, Board Member of Kathleen Maurer Foundation and in the electronics industry as a Sr. Director of Global Business Operations for Broadcom, and VP of Operations for Exar, managing their operations, technology, and project management organizations.

Prerna Chaudhary, Production Intern

Prerna studies Marketing and Communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she writes for the university newspaper, W27. As Self Evident’s Production Intern, she’s excited to translate the skills she’s learning in class to forms of media that are accessible to more people. In her free time Prerna love to explore fiber arts, like weaving, macrame, and sewing.

These are all of the people who pitched in

to fund and create the first season of Self Evident with us in 2019.

We are forever grateful for your support.

Our $400+ Supporters:

Kathy Im, Viet Nguyen, Cheney Milholland, Noah Berland, Stefan Mancevski, Edward Wight, Joon Song, Lee/Kwak Family, Lynn Lee, Marc Gurney, Nate and Priscilla Seely, Nikita Miller, Jack and Mary Ellen Shu

Our $250+ Supporters:

Allison Kimmich, Amit Bhagat, Christopher Lee, Dgstein, Edlyn Yuen, Ernest Lai, Gabrielle Gatdula, Gloria Kuramoto, Glynn Washington, Harold Ashton, Hochie, Iku Kiriyama, Jen Young, Jesse St. Charles, Malcolm Chang, Mariam Al-Shawaf, Mark Ristich, Mary Kate Wrzesniewski, Meghan Paul, Melissa Sebastian, Sherveen Mashayekhi, Stacey & Aileen Matsuura, Stefan Mancevski, Sue Ellen Cheng, Ted Shu

Our $100+ Supporters:

Benjamin Smith, Andrew H. Chen, Bak Jong, Brandon Chang, Chicky Otani, Christine Chan, Danica Esen, Debb Kim, Duke Tran, Emmanuel Dzotsi, George and Joana, Irene Cifra, Jacob Lau, Jane Kim, John Chao, Kristen Tracey, Lu Zhang, Mackenzie A Smith, Maria Jose Rosa, Meghan Longo, Ngoc-Tran Vu, Olen Milholland, Phillip Ng, Stefan Mancevski, Talisa Chang, Teresa Lu, Thomas Seely, Vera Nyajure, Wayne Miller, Andrew Chen, Anna Proffitt, Anne Thomas, Brandon Sandbox, Brian Kutsunai, Christina Choi, Dan Pashman, Danica Esen, Diana Ho, Edward Iny, Eevin Hartsough, Eugene Chan, Frank and Lesley Hanrahan, Gerda Holmstrom, Harvey Harrison, Hey Huyen, James Laughlin, Joanne Chen Sullivan, Kat Chow, Kian Lam Lam, Lauren Spohrer, Leland Gill, Megumi Ikeda, mizcat, Ross Noren, Stefan Mancevski, Tami Huang, Ted Hsieh, Verle Aebi, Yolanda Walker

Our $50+ Supporters:

Richard Gin, Schuyler Swenson, Celia La, Jon Steinback, Grace Jung, Alison Willmore, andre.jdc, Annie Tan, Becky Lai, Bobby Lin, Brianna Aiko Matsuura, Carolyn Jao, Carolyn Okazaki, Chelsea Sachau, Chris Garrity, Christina Erway, Christina Shu, Christopher Lin, David Boyk, David DiCiurcio, David Vibert, Deborah Miao, Diana Zheng, Diane Seely, Diny, Douglas Eng, Eileen Guo, Esther Lee, Foughter, Gail Bogert, Gerry Chow, Glenn Chang, Grace St.Vincent, Hannah Eaves, Helen Seely, Hillary Green, Jack and Mary Ellen Shu, Jack Drury, jeeyoungc, Jeff Ino, Jeongki Lim, Jerry Wu, Johanna Puno Hester, Josh Leichtung, Juliet Linderman, Leonard Kawasaki-Bonnett, lizsbackupemail, Lynne Nakata, Marissa Henry, Mark R Wheeler, Marlon Bishop, Marsha Ungchusri, Michelle K Chiang, Nalin Patel, Nathan Vuong, Nomin J Ujiyediin, Paul Kernfeld, Paul Lee, Phaan Howng, Roger Huang, ruthetam, Sharon Sano, sherrer, Steven Lim, Susan Gong Cotsirilos, Thu Doan, Ticia Ikeda, Tobin Low, Tommy Chen, Vicki Wynne, Amy Gretenstein, Alyn Pearson, Amanda Shepherd, Amy Jin, Andrew Shiue, Anna Frenkel, Chen Lee, Chen Lee, Connie Henry, Evelyn Seto, Jance Dwell, Jing Kwoh, John Spain, Karen Chu, Karol H Lu, Kate Rabinowitz, Ken Tanabe, larthurs, Lisa Cheng Smith, Lisa Sakai, Lucas Möller, Matt Rodbard, Melissa Sands, NIka Offenbac, Noriko Nakada, Pat Kwoh, richbunnell, Rosemarie Crisologo, Ryan Nguyen, Steven Kwoh, Stewart Kwoh, Ted Hsieh, tracymumf, Whitney Rush, Zakiya Gibbons

Our $20+ Supporters:

Abigail Walker, Adam Alix, Adam Moerder, Aditi Gupta, Adizah Eghan, Aiden Kwoh, akcausey, Alan Tu, aldonawatts, Alex Laughlin, Alice Wilder, Alicia Tyree, Allen Ho, Allie Hausladen, Allyson Rudolph, Amit Kumar, Andrea Ashton, Andrew Hsieh, Andy Chen, Angel Yau, Ann Luk, Anna Barsan, Anna Proffitt, anna.karingal, annelihghhamilton, April Bethea, April Lewis, Areesah Mobley, Ariel Mitnick, Arnie VandeBrake, Arthur Vincie, arthurs7, Arwen Nicks, Ashley Simon, Audrey Kwoh, awatkin, Betsy Kaplan, blythe.terrell, Brian Belardi, Brian P Heilman, Brynn Matsuura, Caroline Hsiao, Carolyn Okazaki, Casey Miner, Cheryl Furjanic, Christina Wing, Christopher Spears, claycrawford4, cmevans920, Constance Leonard, cprincipe, curtis, Daniel Delaney, Daniel Sellergren, Daniel Singer, Dave Elman, Davey Kim, David Liu, david.m.perrett, Dayna B. Howard, dayna.a.evans, Deep Shah, Derrick Clements, Diana Diroy, Diana Kuan, Donny Tsang, Dottie Blyth, ekaye.allen, eleanor.kagan, Eliza Davidson, ellenwei, Emily Ewing Hays, Emily Kwong, Eric Jenkins, Erin Fostel, erin.patti, Eugene R Takahashi, Evan g Wiggill, Everdeen Mason, Frank Gaertner, Frank Rinaldi, Frank Samperi, Fred Hua, Fred Truman, Gabriel Diamond, Gene Park, georgia, gracew2011, Heather Chin, Helen Kwong, huzzahloud, Inbar Koppel, Inga Gaensler-Debs, ireneminhaekim, Ivy Lee, ivylise, ja.llamoca, jablesbk, Jackie Jou, Jackie Snow, James Boo, James T. Green, Jan Chen, Janet Choi, Jay Wertzler, Jenifer Wofford, Jenna Mulberry-Eng, Jennifer Wong, Jenny Chang, Jessica Moon, joannameng, Joanne Lin, John Stuster, Jordan Lewis, Joshua Intrator, Joy King, Joyce Pan, jtroll, Julia Shu, Julia Smith, Julie Wu, juliedrizin, Kanishka Kewlani, Kara B Masi, Karen Yung, Karthik Amrutesh, Kate Arvin, Kate S Murray, Katherine Garcia, Katherine Salisbury, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Kathy Tu, Katie Kaplan, Kelly Chan, Kendrick Lo, Kenny Lin, Kevin Griffin Moreno, Kevin Longa, Kim L Wong, Kim Moy, Kim-Thao Nguyen, Kira Wisniewski, Kristin Young, L Nguyen, Laena McCarthy, larrywu95, larthurs, Laura Scoville, leedoyung, Leezel G Tanglao, Lilian Wang, Linda Banks, Lisa Davey, Lori Todd, Lukas Volger, ly.annie3, Lynn Arthurs, Lynne Guey, Maha Chaudhry, Marcus Todd, Marilyn Hauck, Marisa Dobson, Mark Utkewicz, Marte Samuelstuen, Martin Burdette, Mary Cronk Farrell, Mary Ellen K. Shu, matrota, matt matt, Matthew C Terzi, Matthew Lee, Matthew Simon, Matty Kimura, Meg Cramer, megan detrie, Megan Rosenfeld, Mia Warren, Michaela Holland, Mike Fu, Minsun Kim, Mona Yeh, mrdanwright, mzoeller, N'Jeri Eaton, Natalia Fidelholtz, Neena Pathak, Neil Cooler, Nick Nguyen, Noam Hassenfeld, Noor Wazwaz, Nora Kearney-Johnson, Nora Unkel, Noreen Hoi, Onjira Sampoonachot, Osha Kondori, Pat Tanumihardja, Paul Yee, Peter J. Kim, PJ Hale, Rafi Shamim, Raj Tawney, Ran Liu, rebekah horowitz, Richa Rudola, Richard Yeh, Ricky Hoang, sally.t, Sam Nosratian, Samantha Barrett, scott.burkhardt, Sean Elliott, Shannon E Fitzpatrick, Shannon Hilbert, Sonah Lee, Song, Soraya Shockley, Steph Ching, Stephanie Tam, Stephen Reader, Sunny Hitt, Tania Ku, Tiffany Hoang, Tiffany Lin, Tiffany Stevens, Tim Luo, Tina Snow Le, Tory Stewart, Tracie Hunte, Tria L Chang, Trina Robinson, ttnakata, Varun Sahni, Veasna Has, Veronica Chan, Victoria Liu, Virginia Gail Tajali, Vivian Chang, Vishal Patel, vscroggins, Will Larche, willatwood, Wynton Wong, Zachary Clark

Our $10+ Supporters:

Celeste L, Julia Furlan, Katie Hawkins-Gaar, and Greta Weber, ttnakata, Anna Parsons, Tanya Sichynski, Zan Emerson, Csongor Dobrotka, Ming Huang, Alan Talbott, Alex Lemley, Alexandra Foucard, Allison Behringer, Andrew Amorao, annajtam, Anthony Yamamoto, April Bethea, Arsenia Reilly-collins, Ashley Cohen, beccaax, Bri Castellini, carolyn1022, Cassandra Lam, Chelsea Taylor, Cher Vincent, Christian Howard, chrysanthe.tenentes, Clarence Harlan Orsi, Dana Stepleton, Daniel Yang, David Yen, David Yourdon, Deborah Yu, Denali Gillaspie, Don't Interrupt Me, Por Favor, Ellis Reid, Emily Tan, Eugene Huang, Eugenia Beh, Fred Moon, ginbooks, Hannah Rosenfeld, helenshirley, Henry Awaya, Jamie DiNicola, Jeffrey Scaduto, jen.girdish, Jennifer Dawson, Jenny Lee, Jessica Kupper, johaggs, John Michael Sarabia, John Schiller, judyjlei, Julia Arciga, Justine Wong, Kabir Chopra, Karen Zraick, Karena Phan, kareneblyth, Kat Liu, Kate Moran, Kate Wadkins, Katherine Kwong, Katie Davis, KC Oh, Kevin Wolfson, Khemara Has, koffitzer, Leah Swartz Strapec, Lindsey Adams, Local Roots NYC, ManSee Kong, Marci Calabretta, Maria Drummond, martha denton, Mary Badavi, Max Livingston, megan.dowdell, Meghan Crowther, Melissa Haworth, Mia Jessup, miamonnier, mikko.juan554, Mindy Chen, ming jia, mlachance34, mukeliller, Natasha Heller, Nathan Rice, Nicole Zhu, nicoleemwong, Nikki Goodsmith, Noelle Wilson, Patricia Summers, Polly Ng, Rachel Moak, Raj Parekh, Roshen Carman, saluja.asha, Sam Brinton, Shirley Clem, Stephanie Dimont, Stephanie Killian, Stephen St.Vincent, Sylvia Chang, trigg brown, Vi Luke, Willis Chen, Yolanda Wu, Agerenesh Ashagre, Ahmed Akbar, Aimee K, Alison Hanold, Amaris White, Amy Kantrowitz, Andrew Clark, Anna Tauzin, Arielle Apfel, Charles Bibilos, Chithra Jeyaram, Claire Deroche, Elle Shwer, Emily Du, Emily Vaughn, Erica Eng, Erin Grassi, Evangeline Song, Helen Park-Wheat, Jaime Sunwoo, Jay S. Gregory, Jeff Strapec, Jenny Ye, John Weir, John Woo, Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick, kylaycheung, Laura Blasey, Lee Mengistu, Lee Penn Lanselle, Linda S Wah, marissaortegawelch, Marlena Chertock, Michael O'Brien, Michael Stewart, Michelle Chiu, Milena Kenzie Bibilos, Mina Kimes, Robin Chen, Sonja Swanson, Stephanie Brohee, Vincent Fang