A Keeper

The life of a reporter, no matter how glamorous, is notorious for paying jack. That's why it thrills us to no end when we get free stuff.

Coming from a family who hoards hotel shampoos and lotions like we're saving up for Y2K (one which we'd actually care about personal hygiene), and will drive forty miles, wait in line for two hours and wear a chicken costume for a free meal, I get especially thrilled.

So I have to admit, when I was first assigned to interview the owner of Keep Company, a hip and socially conscious lifestyle/clothing/shoe brand, even though I was delighted by the extra responsibility and bigger byline I would get, the first thing that popped into my head was, "I hope she'll give me free shoes."

And really, can you blame me?

The Benten

Funky

The Homer

Sweet

The Tatum

Adorable! Their shoes are utterly lustworthy.

But no, I wasn't able to snag some yummy sneaks for my own feet that day. Instead, I drove home filled with the excitement of a great story to tell, another fascinating person I want to expose to the world. Here was a woman who looks like she's just out of college, but with her own fashion empire. Here was a woman who was the epitome of a model Asian child but risked it all to do what made her happy.

The knowledge that I was just as happy to share her story without the promise of some colorful kicks to cover my feet, figuring out that I would be willing to write for free for the rest of my life if I could afford it, well, that is worth more than any pair of shoes.



Except for maybe these...
That is, like, a car and shoes rolled into one!

{ Keep }

Audrey Blog

If you can't get enough of my musings here, check out the newly revamped Audrey Blog.
It's full of scrumptious pictures by the ever-talented souliz, accompanied by delightful anecdotes by moi.Audrey Magazine will be opening a new site come November full of goodies and gems. Be sure to keep checking it out. :)

{ Liz }

The Face of FUNemployment

My friend and I are talking on the phone one day, telling each other, "we have to catch up! We have to go grab dinner! We do! We do!" but we haven't (in a year!) yet. And then my friend (aka "shorty" 'cause he my homeboy and totally not because he is vertically-challenged) says, "I want to hear all about your life. It sounds so great."

Me: Err...what? In what ways?
Shorty: You know, it's outside the corporate world.
Me: You mean, like, unemployed?
Shorty: No. There are two types of unemployed. One is unemployed and the other is FUNemployed. You're the latter.

What exactly does FUNemployment look like? Let's take a look...

And so much more. Tears and laughter with mommy (and daddy) dearest. Working out parts of my body I didn't even know existed. Hurrying to my car so I can drive and listen to Ira Glass on podcast. Prayers. Prayers. Prayers. Just because I don't have a full-time job right now doesn't mean I'm going to be moping at home waiting for the days to go by. This time is here for a reason and I'm going to make damn sure I spend it well.

How would you spend your FUNemployment time? Looking for a job? That's so passe. (Joking, please hire me.)

Holy hotness! After much delay, I finally have digital copies of all my work for KoreAm Journal and Audrey magazine! Yes! I will slowly upload articles on days when my brain can't think of anything witty to blog about.

I feel the articles should be introduced in chronological order so you will be able to read the first pieces I started from when I was a lowly intern to where I ended as this almighty fancy schmancy contributor.

Here is my contributor bio. Look! I even have my picture in the mag! *squeal

So how did I end up here? Well, it all began with this little piece. Apologies for the outdated pop cultural references. It has been a few months.

Working...

Since quitting my job, I have been keeping myself preoccupied with an abundance of activities. Ballroom dancing (finally got my dance shoes, yay!), gym (muscles shown upon request), job hunting, chinese learning, family bonding, website-building, Jesus-learning, the list goes on and on.

The past month has taken me on some pretty interesting adventures.

I was this close to getting a job with a top-notch, He Who Must Not Be Named celebrity gossip website. I got asked to be on TV twice, once for Extra and once for a Korean Home Shopping Network, both of which I happily obliged (hey, gotta practice that anchor voice somewhere), I was almost going to tutor the child of one of the richest families in show biz (and that's... pretty rich), I have 90% of Guang Liang's beautiful song, Tong Hua memorized, and there are more projects coming but I'd rather disclose them at a later time.

Yet, none of these things brought home any bread for my family and shoes for my (imaginary) children. None of them qualified me as contributing to the society.

Oh--one did. A little. I freelanced. I freelanced as a journalist for KoreAm Journal and Audrey Magazine.

This is where I worked...

...Okay, so no. I didn't exactly work at the famous CAA building in Century City.
More like I worked in the amazing park outside the building. Nicknamed the "Savannah" by my working galpal, the savannah is by far the prettiest park this side of town (save for the Getty) and a completely zen and tranquil location to get some writing done.

I wrote about events I went to, people I spoke with, things I saw. All of which shall be published in the upcoming weeks and which I PROMISE YOU I shall upload to this blog soon. (In fact, just made an appointment to go into the office next week to get digital copies of my work so stop fidgeting impatiently already!)

But something I don't really get to write about in those articles, but which I do get to do plenty here, are what I learned from the events I went to, people I spoke with and things I saw.

what I learned:

I learned about the precarious nature of balancing being an artist and a "celebrity" from Linkin Park and Fort Minor frontman, Mike Shinoda. I had always been aware about the dangers of fame and the blurriness of mixing art with commerce but with the recent temptation of almost working for that famous celebrity blog, I almost tossed out my morals and personal beliefs just so I can receive a regular paycheck every month. Well, not tossed out exactly, but altered it drastically. That was a big NO-NO and I have Mike Shinoda (and JCrisman) to thank for reminding me that.

I also got to check out some of his awesome artwork. His exhibition Glorious Excess (Dies) runs at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, LA until early October.

I was humbled and inspired to learn of White on Rice actress Lynn Chen's battle with eating disorders. As a former fat kid, most of my life consisted of fad diets and exercise regimes, overreating and complaints about my figure. I would always distastefully joke that I didn't have enough will power to develop a eating disorder but deep down, I knew that I do have one, as small as it might be.

The fact that Chen, as opposed to other actors and actresses who make remarks like, "oh, I had anorexia, like, five years ago" or the even worse, "I eat whatever I want. I'm just naturally skinny," is so open about her battle with anorexia and bulimia and has even taken to blogging about it to combat her addictions is admirable. It also gives me hope that not everything and everyone in Hollywood is as awful as my jaded view of the business might assume.

There are more. There were weddings and cute boys and "society girls" bonding time and oh yea --the realization that as amazing, free-ing and nourished I feel when I write and report, I don't think I could ever become a professional/full-time freelancer.

I would write for free if I could afford to but my parents don't really dig the idea of their college grad eldest daughter lounging around in pajamas, laptop permanently attached to her wrists.

So let's wait and see what else is in store for me...

Thanks Liz for the Shinoda and Chen snapshots!

Society Girls

You know those fabulous writers and journalists who get to hit all the hottest clubs and parties and events around the city for a living, schmoozing with power players and socializing for the sake of their job?

Liz and I aren't quite like that but we'll get there.

We've already named ourselves, "Society Girls" and we're planning on hitting the next hip party near you! (BTW: if you think up an even cooler name, please share...)

Society Girls: Saga 1:
We hit up Wokcano in Santa Monica to listen to Kamala Harris speak to the mostly Asian American crowd on why she should become California's next Attorney General the other night.

Photos of the speech and accompanying article will be revealed once it's published (eeks!) but here are some snaps Liz took after work was over. (And sometimes during but what are you going to do. Sigh...life of a journalist.)
This here is Dawen. He just moved from Chicago. He sings pretty songs. Listen to him here.
This here is Kelly Hu. First Asian American Miss Teen USA. She's so gorgeous and it's great to see her supporting Kamala and the Asian American community.

At first, I have to admit, I didn't recognize her. When an organizer who knew we were reporting on the event gestured that she was someone we should talk to, I had whispered to Liz, "who's that?"

Liz was like, "ask her."

But what would I say? Who are you? Um...are you Kelly Hu?

Lucky for us, someone came by and introduced themselves to her and she replied, "I'm Kelly." Jackpot. Now I know what to do next time I don't know someone's name. Just introduce myself to them. Genius!
And this here is Lisa Ling! There are not too many role models out there for a young female Asian American reporter so what she's done with her career has been thoroughly admired on my behalf for many years now. I can't completely express how blessed I am to have such amazing opportunities like this. I am one lucky girl. I need to remember not to take my life for granted. Work hard!

I'm Such a Jezebel

Comments, critiques, laughs welcomed below.

PS. Conversation with the sister...

Me: Oh crap, I totally forgot that I'm going to be unleashing my number and email to the world.
Sis: No! You can't do that!

The computer screen flashes my number and email in the Youtube video

Me: Too late.
Sis: You're going to get all these stalkers!
Me: But other anchors put their contact information on their Youtube reels
Sis: But they're not pretty!

She has a point.

Bill Clinton Brings Arrested Journalists Home from North Korea

Twitter delivered me the best news I have heard in days: North Korea has pardoned and released Laura Ling and Euna Lee!

Ling, 32 and Lee, 36 were arrested in March while reporting undercover near the borders of the communist country, under the dictatorship of Kim Jong Il.  The pair was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor by the North Korean government in June.  While their tragic arrest stirred the hearts of many, the media coverage of the incident was less than influential. I'll bet walking out to the streets right now, most of the people you ask would not even know who Laura and Euna are.

Nevertheless, our government and our hero of the hour by the name of Bill Clinton finally stepped in and took action.  According to CNN, the former president "met with top North Korean officials in Pyongyang to appeal for the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee."

For more, read the CNN Wire blog here.

Awesome day, awesome day. I wish I were still at Koream so I could help craft a feature for this news.  Nonetheless, I thank God for the return of these two journalists, who can now go home to their young families (Laura is married, Euna is married with a four-year old daughter).

And now, it is not so tasteless to post up a picture of Laura's hoooot husband, Iain Clayton.

I know, RIGHT? And they're even cuter together to boot.

Farewell KoreAm!

My favorite internship ever ended with a lunchtrip to...where else...a Korean restaurant. (We actually hardly eat Korean food at KoreAm, Gardena is a very Japanese cuisine-loving town.)

Over burning pieces of meat and spicy cabbages, the mostly female magazine team (both Audrey magazine and KoreAm are run by gals) and I reminisced about the great chats, lovely advice and superb fun I've had my four months here.

I've had many internships in my days. Mostly in the media and entertainment industry but I've worked in marketing, PR, research. I've worked for big companies in spacious suites atop Beverly Hills skyrises. I've worked in amazonian studio lots where soap stars would drive by on golf carts. I've worked in offices where the furniture probably costs more than my college tuition.

But it was in this steely factory-looking building in a city full of industrial trucks and Mexican fruit stands where I got the opportunity to explore my full print journalistic instincts, be faced with new challenges and obstacles everyday, and learn that you can love your job. And not only that, I was in the presence of an array of amazing, talented and accomplished Asian American females that dish out life advice and snarky commentary like no other. Through their life experiences, I'm able to gaze into a crystal ball and see how my life can turn out and what I should avoid.

My cousin and I had a discussion about this and I feel like if I could afford to, I would love to write, report, comment and investigate even if I weren't getting paid. I love feeling like I'm touching someone somewhere with my words and making a difference in my own way--by shedding light to stories that otherwise might not get told.

Asian American media has always had a hard time staying afloat and "in this economy" and with print journalism dying out, it's a wonder everyday that KoreAm Journal is still alive. But it's important for Asian American media to be here. When I read about Katie Holme's struggles to become an actress, it hits me differently than when I read about Sandra Oh's. I relate to Sandra more, whether it be her physical appearance of having black hair and a flat face or her family or her circle of friends. I want other Asian Americans out there to feel that kind of relatability, belonging. My feelings on being Asian American and working in the entertainment industry are long and complex and must be saved for another entry (hopefully coming soon) but I just end on one note:

Thank you KoreAm and Audrey, for giving us a voice.
Thank you for sharing our stories.
Thank you for making me feel like I belong.
Ok, so that's three notes but still...

I will miss being part of that family but you know, I'm still working on these issues right here on this blog and who knows, I might be back sooner than you think. We'll see!

Yea, we're Asian and we're proud.

Could This be the Future of Journalism?

From Fishbowl LA:

Walter S. Mossberg at WSJ writes on All Things Digital:

The journalists are paid a small amount, but the plan is to turn them into minipublishers under the True/Slant umbrella. They will be offered a share of the advertising and sponsorship revenues their individual pages generate and, in some cases, equity in True/Slant, which is backed by venture capital.

These contributors are allowed to keep writing elsewhere, either online or in traditional media, and even to promote these outside efforts on True/Slant. But they are expected to post original commentary and analysis to True/Slant. They also are allowed to arrange for their own advertising or sponsorships, in addition to what True/Slant can sell, and even, in some cases, to add other authors to their pages.

In another unusual move, the contributors also are required to actively engage with readers on the site. They must post a minimum number of comments in reader discussions about their articles and curate the comments, giving prominence to the most interesting. They are even expected to comment on each other's posts.

Journos forced to be social? Eegads - what a horrible future we live in.