Poor People
Stories about our immigrant experience and being raised with bare necessities.
And a place to safely rant about how that affects our thoughts today.
Meet the Hosts
Jackie Ha
Jackie is a Vietnamese American woman whose parents immigrated to the United States as refugees of the Vietnam War. She grew up in a single-parent household, which she attributes for her keen sense of independence and curiosity that helped her navigate through new and challenging situations. She is the first person in her family to graduate from college, and she currently works in the tech industry.
Over the years, Jackie has had access to various opportunities and different tools and knowledge that she wishes she knew about while growing up. After living in 3 different states and traveling to many other ones, she has collected several interesting stories about the Asian American experience (not everywhere is like the Bay Area!). She hopes that listeners find her experiences shared on this platform to be useful (at least somewhat!) to help navigate today’s world, particularly in the fields of education and civil/community action as a POC.
Mee Cha
Mee was born and raised in northern California from refugees parents of the Vietnam War. She grew up in an extremely sheltered childhood, escaped as the first woman in her family to attend university away from home, getting a degree in the STEM field, and is now working professionally in the technology industry as a software engineer.
Mee believes the struggles of her family living in a different society and having to adjust to the new norms have shaped her empathy and understanding of those also struggling in economic and social spaces. She wants to build a platform for her and others to share conversations with different perspectives about societal issues and to give back to the community by answering questions and discussing topics of financial wellness within the people of color space.
The concept sparked during a passionate discussion about the failing United States economy and lack of economic and health safety nets during the COVID19 crisis. Jackie and Mee have been sharing angry political and economic dialog for years and have finally had enough. The more they talked, the more they realized they had similar backgrounds and were bouncing many of the same thoughts off each other.
Whether that was a coincidence or not, they believed it would be beneficial to share their conversations and also broaden it with those of differing views and upbringing.
Vision
Too many times do we see our Asian-American household families and friends (plus other underprivileged families) worry about classic "traditional" problems, and fail to see some major issues in the long run. Number one is financial stability. We believe it is essential to share our experiences and thoughts with the community to provide beneficial insight that may have previously been foreign.
Poor People is a passion project inspired by our underprivileged backgrounds in an attempt to give back to those who need it most: our past selves.
What does it mean to be successful? What is the balance between old traditions and new? Do your views differ from your parents? How do you find the balance between the two? Are you exhausted?
Our conversations attempt to extract and discuss a lot of these questions that haunted us as kids and the new ones we tackle as first and second-generation Asian American adults.
Values
- Provide progressive conversations and views in today's economic environment
- Challenge traditional views imposed on us by our immigrant roots by disrupting the status quo and tearing down barriers we face
- Build a safe space for people to share their experience and voices
Audience
The information and discussions are open to anyone of any social-economic background, race, and ethnicity. Even if we discuss our topics with a POC point of view, we attempt to keep dialog and solutions as thoughtful as possible.
The Name
The "Poor People" name has two meanings:
- a sentiment to how both our families got by with very little
- a reflection of our former selves lacking knowledge that would have proven helpful as adults
We joke by saying "poor young Mee and Jackie didn't know better". Hopefully we know better now, or know which questions to ask and where to search for answers!
Credits and Resources
Our podcast is hosted at Anchor.
Most stock image and assets are from various artists on Pexels and will be given proper credit.
- Alone and Frustrated by Pixabay
- Pendant light by Burak K
- Balanced rocks by Nandhu Kumar