AAPI is a commonly used acronym for Asian American Pacific Islanders. But thus far, my observation, not much attention is given to Pacific Islanders, which are entirely different ethnic groups of people.

So continuing with this month’s focus on sharing real people's stories for Asian Pacific Heritage Month, joining me in this episode is my friend, Luisa Mataele Tupea. Luisa is both an Asian American and Pacific Islander, being of Tongan and Japanese ancestry.

Luisa and I first met as freshmen in college. We lost touch after graduation but reconnected over a decade later when our paths crossed while we were both on work trips, and we’ve remained friends ever since!

In this episode, Luisa shares:

• Her family history, her experiences as a member of both the Japanese and Tongan American communities

• How her communities have evolved over the past 30 years

• Her experience as a professional Asian American Pacific Islander woman in the sports broadcasting industry

• Stories from her career at ESPN covering NFL and NBA games, and events like the Superbowl, World Series, NBA Finals, US Open for Tennis, & even the World Cup!

As I’ve previously said, it's so important to share our stories. So as you listen to Luisa’s story, think about your friends, and ask yourself how well do you know their stories? If you don’t, ask them to share it with you, and let them be heard.

This show has always been a place to share real people’s stories around health and wellness, and our communities and social support systems are foundational to our vitality.

This month, being Asian Pacific Heritage Month, and I, being an Asian American, am dedicating this month’s episodes to the stories we don’t talk about, and sharing Asian Pacific Islander stories.

Because if we don’t know each other’s stories, how can we support our communities in ways that they need to be supported?

Joining me today is my friend Julianne Chai.

Julianne and I became friends over a decade ago through the Bay Area running and blogging community but we really bonded when we both became dog moms to our rescue pups.

Despite being friends for so many years, I never knew her immigrant story as a first-generation Korean American. So in this episode, Julianne joins me to share her story of immigrating to the United States at 10 years old, what the cultural acclimation was like, and how she assimilated to American culture while still retaining her native Korean culture.

As you listen to her story, think about your friends, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, and ask yourself how well do you know their stories? If you don’t, ask them to share it with you, and let them be heard.

In a society where we're expected to push ourselves to work and accomplish much as quickly as possible, it’s no wonder that burnout has become the accepted norm.

In this last installment of my three-part series on burnout, we explore Human Design and why you might be more susceptible to burnout than others.

I share with you how I use my Human Design to reframe my thought patterns and daily habits to avoid burnout.

Episode Highlights:

• A recap of Parts 1 and 2 in this series on burnout

• What areas of your Human Design chart can shed insight into whether you might be prone to burnout

• How you can use Human Design to your advantage to manage your energy and avoid burnout

At some point in our lives, we’ve all experienced dreaded feelings of burnout. Be it from long periods of chronic stress from work, relationships, family, a pandemic, or anything that weighs heavy on us.

If you’ve ever experienced this, you’re definitely are not alone.

In this episode, I share my most intense moments of burnout from different periods in my life, and how I managed to relight the spark to keep on going!

Episode Highlights:

• What burnout is

• Signs, symptoms, and contributions to burnout

• Times in my life I’ve been burnout and what it was like

• Four steps to really addressing burnout

If you’ve ever seen your Human Design chart, you know that it’s very confusing. Without any knowledge of the basic foundations of Human Design, it’s hard to understand the basics, let alone the intricacies of your charts. As a Health and Human Design coach, I’m here to help you understand your design so you can determine how to best integrate your design, and live your life with the least amount of resistance.

In this episode, I aim to clear up a few questions and misconceptions of Human Design for you! Knowing your Human Design can help you understand yourself better, shed some light on your gifts that you can offer the world, and how we all function harmoniously together.

Episode Highlights:

• A summary of Human Design

• The foundational elements of a Human Design Chart

• A breakdown of my own Human Design

Just “listen to your body.” Haven’t we all heard this before? But what does it even mean? And more importantly, *how* do you even do that?

It’s a question I’ve asked myself for the better part of a decade while dealing with sports injuries, recovering from adrenal dysfunction, and a variety of circumstances.

In this episode, I share how confusing and overwhelming this question felt, how I came to realize that in many ways it’s a skill that not everyone has developed, and how I’ve come to learn what “listening to my body” means to me - and the tools that taught me how to do so.

Episode Highlights:

• Why listening to your body is confusing

• What it means to listen to your body

• How I learned to listen to my body

• The tools that taught me how to do so

I fully believe that what we feel physically has a direct connection to what’s going on with us mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.

In this episode, I discuss how even though we're well into the new year, I'm still feeling the effects of 2020.

You’ll hear me share:

• Feeling bothersome and overwhelmed

• Overcommitting and struggling with energy management

• What I did to reconnect with myself

Do you love your work right now? How is it affecting you physically? Mentally? Emotionally?

Continuing on with the discussion of work-life balance, is there such a thing as “too much” work if you love what you do?

Join me in this solo episode as I explore this topic, as well as hear me discuss:

• How to approach your work if you don’t love what you do?

• The difference reframing your mindset and finding little joys on the job can make

• How I was able to turn things around in my day job and make it enjoyable once again

Work-life balance is an argument of the ages, but is there a universal solution to it? Listen in as I go through the varying definitions of balance, differing perspectives, and an alternative approach to bringing harmony into your daily life.

By the end of the episode, I’ll walk you through different questions to ask yourself, all of which will hopefully lead you to figure out what work-life balance can look like for you.

Episode Highlights:

• Defining and perspectives of balance

• Assessing priorities and boundaries

• Questions to ask to determine what work-life balance can look like for you