Category Archives: Business

Having a Hard to Pronounce Name: Does it Make a Difference?

When I was an undergraduate, a Filipino American classmate once asked me why I was pronouncing my last name wrong.  What?  I was pronouncing my name wrong for the first 20 or so years of my life?  Apparently so, and … Continue reading

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Shark Tank: “Gold digger” Yunha Kim & Simple Habit

I think the last time I wrote about Shark Tank was when 3 Korean American women were trying to raise money for their dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel, where one sister (I think the one that went to Stanford for … Continue reading

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Manicurists, Casino Workers, and Medical Scientists: A Glimpse into heavily Asian American Jobs

More than half of all American “personal appearance workers” (including manicurists and pedicurist) are Asian American, while more than a fourth of all casino workers are Asian American.  A little more than a fifth of all computer and mathematical area … Continue reading

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Filipino American Downward Mobility and other Asian American Data Points from Pew Research

After he graduated from high school this year, Number Two Son mentioned to me that one conversation he has continually had with a close Filipino American friend regards how few of their Filipino American peers were ambitious with their college … Continue reading

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8Books Review: “Trespassers?: Asian Americans and the Battle for Suburbia”

Because I had grown up in neighboring Newark and then lived in Fremont California for many years before moving to San Jose, I was intensely curious to read what Trespassers? Asian Americans and the Battle for Suburbia by Willow S. … Continue reading

Posted in 8Books, 8Series, Books, Business, Discrimination, Education, Local, Real Estate, San Francisco Bay Area | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Sticks and Stones and Asian Last Names

“Stick and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me” – A Children’s Rhyme After The Wife and I got married, she said that she would change her last name.    She had a Filipino last name that … Continue reading

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Eking out a living riding a bus: Asian American Seniors in New York

In the Asian ethnoburb where I live, one sees three kinds of buses.  One kind is the Santa Clara Valley Transit public transportation bus, and another is the kind is the tech bus, as white Google buses pick people up … Continue reading

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White Flight from Asian Neighborhoods and Schools

While many white liberals declare themselves strong advocates of diversity, in her essay “Ghosts of White People Past: Witnessing White Flight From an Asian Ethnoburb,” Anjali Enjeti says that for many of them, that advocacy ends when a certain percentage … Continue reading

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8Books Review: “The Wangs vs. The World” by Jade Chang

Jade Chang’s novel The Wangs vs. The World  follows one crazy Chinese American family as they try to piece their lives back together after the economic recession of 2008. Mr. Charles Wang  is a self-made man who immigrated from Taiwan and … Continue reading

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Victoria Lai’s Sweet Taste of Success Running an Ice Cream Parlor

I caught this NBC News feel good story about pursuing your dreams recently about Wellesley-educated, former lawyer and Washington, D.C. insider Victoria Lai who had worked for the Obama administration (as Counselor to the Director for U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, DHS) … Continue reading

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Struggles in Oakland Chinatown

The only Chinatown I remember growing up was Oakland Chinatown.  When my family first came to the Bay Area, we lived in the East Bay, and Oakland Chinatown was the nearest place my parents could get Filipino vegetables and other … Continue reading

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TAP-SF Presents: Careers in Taiwan Panel

So I’m a bit behind on this blog post – back in July of this year, a friend of mine asked me to videotape her for a panel she was speaking at for the San Francisco chapter of Taiwanese American … Continue reading

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