Podcast
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Hosted by Ken Fong · EN
Ken Fong gets to the heart of Asian American culture, history, and spirituality. Through interviews with culture-makers and -shapers in the Asian American community -- some you know, others you've never heard of before -- prepare to laugh, cry, and be amazed.
36episodes
Episodes
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EP 600: Dr. Jonar de Guzman On Permanently Reversing Insulin Resistance
1w ago00:55:35Tap to summarizeIn this episode, host Ken Fong sits down with Dr. Jonar de Guzman, a board-certified Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine physician and founder of 4 Truth Health. Dr. de Guzman shares his journey from witnessing the devastating, end-stage complications of chronic disease as a Southern California hospitalist to shifting his focus toward prevention and reversal. We dive deep into why type 2 diabetes and prediabetes are quietly devastating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities, often going undetected due to unique biological and cultural factors. Dr. de Guzman also breaks down his transformative 4 Truth approach—a sustainable, habit-rebuilding framework designed to help individuals reclaim their health and reverse chronic conditions.
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EP 599: The Two Kens On White American Culture and the Illusion of Loss
2w ago00:43:59Tap to summarizeIn this latest installment of their collaborative podcast series, Ken Fong and Ken Kemp discuss what's going on with the growing rise of anxiety among white American identitarian groups who believe that their identity and culture are in danger of being erased by Americans and immigrants of color.
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EP 598: Gloria Kim on the Rash of Home Burglaries Targeting Older Working AANHPIs
3w ago00:56:33Tap to summarizeIn this episode, host Ken Fong sits down with Gloria Kim to discuss a deeply unsettling and pressing issue facing the Asian American community: the targeted, syndicated burglaries of homes belonging to older, working Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) immigrants. Gloria sheds light on how these sophisticated crime rings track their victims, the profound psychological and financial toll these violations take on hardworking families, and what community members, law enforcement, and allies must do to protect our elders and bring safety back to our neighborhoods.
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EP 597: Media Mogul & Trailblazer Yue-Sai Kan On How She Changed the Media (and Beauty Standards) of 400 Million People
4w ago00:56:14Tap to summarizeThis week on Asian America: The Ken Fong Podcast, host Ken Fong welcomes legendary media mogul, entrepreneur, and humanitarian Yue-Sai Kan. Dubbed by People magazine as "the most famous woman in China" and Time as "the Queen of the Middle Kingdom," Yue-Sai has spent over four decades serving as a definitive cultural bridge between the East and the West. In this episode, Yue-Sai opens up about her deeply personal and illuminating memoir, The Most Famous Woman in China. She revisits the 1980s when she first stepped into a monochromatic, closed-off China to host the groundbreaking television series One World, broadcasting to over 400 million households weekly, which also helped her revolutionize the beauty industry in China.
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EP 596: Sneha Villalva On Cutting To The Essence Of Who Truly You Are
May 3100:52:09Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Asian America: The Ken Fong Podcast, host Ken Fong sits down with multi-talented storyteller, speaker, and former journalist Sneha Villalva to celebrate the release of her debut book, Cut to the Essence: Subtract Overload, Add Clarity, Live Renewed. Modern life systematically bombards us with excess—from overloaded schedules and information fatigue to emotional baggage—ultimately fracturing our focus and pulling us away from our authentic selves. Sneha flips the script on conventional self-help, arguing that true fulfillment isn't found by constantly adding more to our plates, but by intentionally subtracting the noise to uncover what is truly essential.
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EP 595: Writer/Director Jing Ai Ng On What It's Taken To Bring "Forge"--Her First Feature Film--To Theaters
May 2400:46:22Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we sit down with writer and director Jing Ai Ng to discuss her feature directorial debut, Forge. Fresh off its world premiere at SXSW, this stylish crime dramedy dives into the neon-lit underworld of Miami's art scene, exploring the thin line between authenticity and ambition.
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EP 594: Alex Xander Luu On Performing His Autobiographical Solo Performance "Three Lives"
May 1701:01:27Tap to summarizeOn May 22-24, solo artist Alex Xander Luu will be performing his critically-acclaimed autobiographical solo performance Three Lives @SierraMadrePlayhouse in Southern California. Written, directed, and performed by Luu, Three Lives is a raw, funny, and deeply moving one-man show that blends spoken word, physicality, and sharp observation to explore the immigrant experience. First performed in 1989 and refined over more than two decades, it has toured nationally. It traces his family's escape from war-torn Saigon in 1975 and their search for identity in America, told through the intersecting perspectives of father, son, and grandson.
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EP 593: Actors Trieu Tran and Iris Liu On Bringing the Story of Chinese Rocket Scientist Qian Xuesen to the Stage
May 900:33:38Tap to summarizeA new play based on the true story of Qian Xuesen, the brilliant aerospace engineer from China who helped launch America's space age—until Cold War paranoia forever changed the course of his life...and ours. Qian Xuesen, a promising young engineer from China, travels to America in 1935 on a Boxer Indemnity Scholarship. Advancing quickly through the ranks at MIT and Caltech, he becomes a pioneer of the American space age, co-founding JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and helping the United States of America win World War II. Then, as extreme nationalism swells at the beginning of the Cold War, Xuesen finds himself accused of being a Communist, and what happens next shapes the future of both his new and native homelands. Developed by Henry Ong and director and dramaturg Diana Wyenn from 2016 until the playwright's passing in 2018, this production marks the long-awaited world premiere of the beloved playwright and LA Theater champion's prescient and timely final play. Inspired by true events and filled with Ong's signature blend of heart and humor, Ascent reveals how fear, extreme nationalism, and xenophobia affects individual lives, shapes political decisions, and overshadows truth—often with lasting global consequences.
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EP 592: Johnny Itliong On the Leadership & Legacy of His Father Larry Itliong
May 300:46:11Tap to summarizeAmericans have had to remove the late Cesar Chavez from the pedestals we've put him on amidst a recent torrent of credible allegations aimed at him of sexual abuse, rape and pedophilia. This has resulted in a newfound interest in Larry Itliong, a Filipino American labor organizer who's often called the "Father of the West Coast Labor Movement." Until now, he's been unfairly overshadowed by the iconic Chavez, but Larry's son Johnny is relieved that more of the unabridged history of that movement is now finding an audience.
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EP 591: Nicole Dowd On the Smithsonian's 4th Annual IlluminAsia Arts & Culture Festival_May 2026
Apr 2900:49:49Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we sit down with Nicole Dowd, the Head of Public Programs at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art to discuss the upcoming 2026 IlluminAsia Arts and Culture Festival. Celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month and the U.S. 250th anniversary, this year's festival spotlights the power of Asian American storytelling through literature, film, and community connection. #IlluminAsiaFestival #aanhpi #aapi #koreanadoptee
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