The Diaspeirō Podcast is a multiethnic and multicultural space for folks from all walks of life to share about their identities through stories of exploration, hurt, pain, healing, and transformation. Our stories are colorfully written, messy, and ever-changing that deserve a space to be heard and seen. Whether you are at the beginning of reckoning with your story or in the process of reclaiming it, this space is for you. Come with a posture of listening and learning as we explore our stories along with and any relevant topics pertaining to our experiences.
Mona Sang is a 1st generation Cambodian American chef, mom, and daughter who is the owner of Khmai Cambodian Fine Dining in Rogers Park, Chicago, IL. Mona was born in a refugee camp where she lived with her mother and siblings after fleeing the Khmer Rouge. Resettling in the U.S, Mona witnessed her mother use cooking to support the family. Her passion for food and cooking led her to work for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Chicago’s largest restaurant group to now owning her own restaurant. Using her mother’s recipes, Mona hopes to showcase Khmer culture, history, food, and strives to share her and her mother’s story of survival.
In this episode, Mona shares about her and her family's survival stories and resettling in the States. You will hear about her special connection to food and how it's brought upon healing in her mother's life leading them to the food industry.
18 Nov 2021
Episode 14: Breaking Generational Curses Through Writing // Maryann Samreth
Maryann Samreth is a trauma writing coach helping people write their trauma stories, heal through the process, and reclaim their power. She has published over 100 poems and personal essays online and has reached over 1 million people on TikTok and through her memoir podcast, Mental Breakthrough. She is the founder of Sincerely Miss Mary, where she hosts group and individual coaching programs to help people write personal essays, memoirs, and social justice pieces.
In this episode, Maryann takes us through her writing process that became a catalyst for her healing journey. We discuss topics like intergenerational trauma and healing, mental health, and what it means for us to heal as second generation Khmer/Cambodians.
Music: Sunny Days - Anno Domini Beats
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Want to share your story? Email diaspeiropodcast.com or DM IG: @diaspeiropodcast
21 Oct 2021
Episode 13: Growing up Khmer in Chicagoland // Siha Gnet
Siha is a 2nd generation Khmer American who grew up in Chicago. He is a father, husband, musician, and story teller at heart professional career in business development, content distribution, and sales engineering.
In this episode, Siha talks about his family's journey to Chicago after being sponsored as refugees from Catholic Charities in the late 70's, and early 80's. He brushes over shame, identity, adjustment challenges, and how his father was a core part of the community.
If you like this podcast, please subscribe, like, and leave a review.
Want to share your story? Email diaspeiropodcast.com or DM IG: @diaspeiropodcast
Music: Easy Saturday - Bad Snacks
30 Sept 2021
Episode 12: Southeast Asian Representation in the AAPI community with Laura Houcque Prabhakar
Laura Houcque (originally Ouk) Prabhakar is a Southeast Asian educator in Chicago. She represented the Cambodian Association of Illinois on the steering committee led by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago that advocated for the TEAACH Act in Illinois. Laura is currently involved with building curricular resources to provide Illinois educators with implementation tools. Generational trauma has motivated Laura to break the cycle and to rewrite the narrative as she hopes to also raise awareness of the Cambodian diaspora in general.
In this episode, Laura describes her upbringing from France to the U.S navigating what it means to be Khmer in a family that assimilated to American culture for survival. She also speaks about advocating the TEAACH Act in Illinois and the importance of advocating for SEAN voices within the Pan-Asian Diaspora.
Music: Late Truth - Audio Hertz
31 Aug 2021
Episode 11: Discourse on the Khmer-American diaspora and identity with Sotheara Lim
In this episode, Sotheara and I discuss our experience in the Khmer-American diaspora and where we are within the bigger Khmer-American context.
Sotheara Lim is a a second generation Khmer American from Cambodia Town, Long Beach, CA working in Marketing. His passion project is @Khmer_Renaissance. It is an Instagram page where he write essays on Khmer culture, as well as encouraging discussion and community amongst my followers. His goal with this page is to highlight and amplify Khmer voices, break down institutional stereotypes, help our community heal from their generational trauma, and really just uplift other Khmers who are doing something positive.
Music: Summer in the Neighborhood - Bad Snacks
21 Jul 2021
Episode 10: Being Blasian with Vannary Kong
Vannary Kong is of Cambodian and African American descent. She is currently a graduate student at Harvard University majoring in International Relations and a Research Assistant at Princeton University focusing her research on U.S. Populism Foreign Policy. In this episode, Vannary shares some challenges she faced with being biracial and how it's shaped the way she views herself now. She also discusses how generational trauma motivates her to be a cycle breaker.
If you liked this episode, please like subscribe, and leave a review!
Music by: Dehydration by Loxbeats https://spoti.fi/34tPBBO Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/-dehydration Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ns2NUq-1Ctg (https://youtu.be/ns2NUq-1Ctg)
23 Jun 2021
Episode 9: Being a Biracial Expat // Tina Kramm
Tina Kramm is a student at Moody Theological Seminary in the Clinical Mental Health Program. Tina has a multiracial and multicultural background. Her father is from Madagascar and mother is ethnically Hungarian from Serbia. Tina moved to the U.S. from Hungary in 2011 and considers herself an expatriate here. Her multicultural background has allowed her to understand her racial and cultural identity in a unique way and she hopes to encourage others through their journey of discovering and processing their racial and cultural identities.
In this episode, Tina discusses the challenges of being biracial and multicultural in a different cultural context. She discusses her learning journey relating to race relations in America and how it further developed her identity as being Black/African and European.
If you like this episode, please subscribe, like, and leave a review.
Want to share your story? Email Diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com
Music: The Truth - Anno Domini Beats
Marlon Finley was born and raised in Chicago. He is passionate about working with and mentoring youth at risk. He has been with organizations like UCAN Chicago for the over 20 years.
In this episode, Marlon walks us through his shoes, discusses the needs of his community, and dismantles negative perceptions about the Black community.
If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave a review.
Want to share your story? Reach out to diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com
Music: Like That - Anno Domini Beats
8 Jun 2021
Episode 7: Cultural Assimilation with Melissa Casiano-Sebastian
Melissa is a second generation Filipina American campus minister to FilAm student in Chicago. She was born and raised in Southern CA, and after graduating from San Diego State moved to Chicago to start Filipino American-specific campus ministries with her husband, Justin. She enjoys to caring and empowering the next generation of FilAms through the campus ministry work she does through helping them intersect their Catholic/Protestant faith and Filipino American identities.
In this episode she shares her experience of internalized oppression within her family system, and the way it has impacted her upbringing.
If you feel led to share your story DM @diaspeiropodcadt on Instagram or email diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com (mailto:diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com)
Did you like this episode? Follow & leave a Review!
Music: Easy Sunday - Bad Snacks
1 Jun 2021
Episode 6: A Story of Survival and Resilience // Sophia Lee
TW: Genocide, fleeing, shootings, bombings
In this episode, Sophia shares her parents' genocide survivor stories.
Sophia Lee is a second-generation Khmer-Chinese American registered nurse in the greater Boston area. She is one of the authors (out of many great authors) of the history book
Asian Texans: Our Histories and Our Lives, edited by Irwin Tang, which chronicles the long and fascinating history of Asian Americans in Texas. (Book sold on Amazon). She teaches Khmer folk dance & language through her church, and is obsessed with Japanese Kit Kats.
Follow her blog at http://searchingforsubstance.wordpress.com (http://searchingforsubstance.wordpress.com/).
If you would like to share your story please DM @Diaspeiropodcast on Instagram.
Music: Drop - Anno Domini Beats
26 May 2021
Episode 5: Khmer Identity with Daveth Cheth
Based in LA, Daveth Cheth (he/his) shares his ethnic story and the intersection of his sexual identity (queer/non-binary) as a Khmer person. He shares the importance of learning Khmer history, language, and embracing the Khmer identity. He teaches Khmer language classes and works with other Khmer folks in exploring nuances of identity.
If you feel led to share your story, email diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com (mailto:diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com) or DM IG: diaspeiropodcast
Music: A Caring Friend - Bad Snacks
19 May 2021
Episode 4: Mental Health Stigma in Cambodia
Mony Thay is the podcast host of Noggin Notes Cambodia. He is from the Stung Treng Province of Cambodia and advocates for mental health issues in his community. He is also an HR executive and is continuing to educate and bring awareness to mental health issues in his workplace. In this episode, we discuss the cultural perceptions of mental health in Cambodia, stigma, and barriers to seeking treatment.
You can find his podcast @noggincambodia mental health awareness platform on Instagram @monuspeople
If you feel led to share your story, email diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com (mailto:diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com) or DM me on IG @diaspeiropodcast
Music: Hanging out - Bruno E.
11 May 2021
Episode 3: Between Two Worlds // Justin Casiano-Sebastian
Justin Casiano-Sebastian is the eldest son of Filipino immigrants. He currently serves Filipino-American college students through a religious, non-profit organization and is also a grad student at North Park Theological Seminary. Justin loves his partner Melissa, as well as the Cubs, Bulls, and Boba.
You can find him on Instagram @justinteaseasaltfoam
If you feel led to share your story, email diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com (mailto:diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com) or DM me on IG @diaspeiropodcast
Music: Anno Domini Beats - Sunny Days
4 May 2021
Episode 2: The Complexities of Immigration with Abena
Abena Motaboli is a Chicago-based educator, visual artist, and writer. Known for her intricate plastic installations and meditative line-work in her paintings, she is influenced by her home country of Lesotho and Southern African culture. She uses ephemeral material such as plastic, tea, dirt, and coffee to comment on displacement, past memories, and the culture of creating.
Growing up in international communities and being an immigrant, she is strongly influenced by the diversity of people, memories, displacement, the other, and ideas of human resilience seen through immigration.
She has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibits such as SOFA Chicago, Bhavan Gallery based in London, Woman Made Gallery, DIFFA Pop-Up Gold Coast Gallery, and Aqua Art Miami to name a few, her work is also placed in private collections throughout the U.S.
You can find her art at www.abenaart.com or Etsy @JoyousByAbenaart
Music: LAKEY INSPIRED - Better Days
29 Apr 2021
Episode 1: Introduction
Welcome to the Diaspeiro Podcast! This episode highlights why this podcast was started and the meaning behind the name, Diaspeiro.
The following questions are answered:
Why did I start this podcast?
Who is this podcast for?
Why Diaspierio?
What the podcast isn’t.
The host, Sophia, also introduces herself, her background, and shares a part of her ethnic story.
If you feel compelled or led to share your story, please email diaspeiropodcast@gmail.com.
Music by:
Dehydration by Loxbeats https://spoti.fi/34tPBBO
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/-dehydration
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ns2NUq-1Ctg (https://youtu.be/ns2NUq-1Ctg)
Reach and audience
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
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