Entrepreneurship Archives | Talking Taiwan Podcast

Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry: Our Talk with Founder Lisa Cheng Smith Ep 135

Felicia Lin — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 13:51:25 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan, Lisa Cheng Smith, has channeled her love of Taiwanese food, cooking and premium ingredients into creating Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry. Yun Hai sources premium ingredients for Taiwanese cooking, directly from artisans, farms, and soy sauce breweries in Taiwan.

In this interview Lisa not only talks about how and why she started Yun Hai, and her vision for the business, but she shares her favorite Taiwanese restaurants, cookbooks, and some great resources for tips on Taiwanese cooking.

Taiwanese food lovers, this episode is definitely for you!

I initially spoke with Lisa earlier this year but so much has happened with Yun Hai since then, so a week or so ago we spoke again to get some updates. Be sure to listen to the end of the interview to hear about all of the exciting developments.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

What inspired Lisa to start Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry
Where Lisa’s love of Taiwanese food comes from
The chili sauce that inspired her to start Yun Hai
The slow food movement
What Lisa loves about the food in Taiwan
How long it took Lisa to set up Yun Hai
The story behind the name Yun Hai
The challenges of running a small online business
How Lisa met her business partner
Yun Hai’s collaboration with Rose Bakery for the Lunar New Year
Lisa’s favorite Taiwanese holidays and festivals
Lisa’s Taiwanese cookbook recommendations
Other sources recommended by Lisa for Taiwanese recipes (blogs, YouTube)
Products offered by Yun Hai
New products
How Lisa choses products for Yun Hai
Yun Hai’s connection to Win Son
Lisa’s Taiwanese restaurant recommendations
Future plans for Yun Hai
The short documentary that Yun Hai produced about soy sauce makers in Taiwan
The newest developments with Yun Hai since the initial interview with Lisa earlier this year
Yun Hai’s Kickstarter campaign for Yun Hai Selection Dried Fruit Line (pineapple, mango, guava)
New products that Yun Hai is introducing
How Yun Hai has been growing
Yun Hai’s plans to open a store in East Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
The Yun Hai Stories newsletter

How Eva Lou Runs a Multi-Lingual Children’s Book Publishing Company Ep 131

Felicia Lin — Mon, 24 May 2021 22:04:30 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

My guest on this episode is Eva Lou a writer and publisher and the founder of Madeleine Editions, a multi-lingual children’s book publishing company, that offers books in English, French and Mandarin Chinese. Madeleine Editions published Monster Dance, a children’s book created to help children deal with and understand the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. For every copy of Monster Dance sold, a donation will be made to Donate PPE.

Eva spoke with me about the uniqueness of what Madeleine Editions is doing with their digital books, which are a multisensory experience, that combines animation, and the beauty of the spoken word and music. She shared a particularly memorable story that involved the recording of music for the book, The Little Baby Airplane.

We also spoke about her personal writing projects and her perspectives on what It takes to be a writer.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

How Madeleine Editions got involved in publishing the children’s book, Monster Dance
What it took to get Monster Dance published so quickly and in a timely fashion
What inspired Eva to start Madeleine Editions
How Madeleine Editions publishes multi-lingual books in three languages: Chinese, English and French
The Taste of a Strawberry, the first book that led to the creation of Madeleine Editions’
How Madeleine Editions’ books combine animation, the spoken word and music
How Madeleine Editions collaborated with Deutsche Grammophon:
How 3-7 years of age is a critical time for children to be exposed languages
How Taiwanese supermodel Chiling Lin (林志玲) got involved as the Chinese narrator for Monster Dance
How Eva’s personal background set her on the path to run a multi-lingual publishing house
How Eva relates differently she when speaks English, Mandarin Chinese and French
Eva’s connection to Taiwan
The many different languages spoken in Eva’s household
The joys and challenges of running Madeleine Editions
What it was like working with illustrator Guy Gilchrist
One of the highlights of her work with Madeleine Editions involved the recording of music for the book, The Little Baby Airplane
The uniqueness of what Madeline Editions does as a multilingual children’s book publisher
How Madeleine Editions’ books can expose children to other nonnative languages
The musicality of language
Eva’s career as a writer
The novel that Eva has been working on that is related to Taiwan
Madeleine Editions’ plans to adapt The Little Prince for children 3-7 years of age
The series of essays that Eva is working on about homes vs. houses
Eva’s writing routine
The difference between a career in publishing vs. being a writer
Eva’s perspective on being a writer and what it takes to be a writer

Elena Liao Founder of Te Company: Running a Tea Room in the West Village Ep 111

Felicia Lin — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 11:55:16 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

When I first interviewed Elena in 2013, she had just won the Entrepreneur Challenge and Competition. She was launching her Taiwanese tea business Té online. Since then, I’ve wondered how she was doing and a couple of years later, I learned that Elena had opened a tearoom in the West Village.

I’ve visited the tearoom and it is a place of pure zen where tea drinking becomes a ritual. A true ambassador of tea, Elena sees the tearoom as a way to connect with others, to experience tea, and to demonstrate how it is brewed. Many of her customers are dedicated tea drinkers who first cultivate their tea drinking habits there. In this space, tea drinking is an activity of tranquil introspection.

In October of 2017 I invited Elena back on to Talking Taiwan for an update.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

What’s happened since the last time Elena was interviewed on Talking Taiwan in 2013
What it was like opening and running the tea shop
The tea education and tea tastings that Té offers
How Elena was able to get press for Té
Advice for people who want to open a brick and mortar store like Té
What’s next, her future plans for Té

Supei Liu: Her Experiences with Nomi Network and Entrepreneurship Ep 110

Felicia Lin — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 13:33:20 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

The last time I had my guest Supei Liu on was six years ago to talk about her work with Nomi Network. Supei is the VP of Global Initiatives and Co-founder of Nomi Network. Nomi Network combats human trafficking by creating pathways to safe employment, empowering women and girls to break cycles of slavery in their families and communities.

After spending seven years based in Cambodia and India, she’s relocated to the U.S. Last week we got caught up and talked about what’s she’s learned from her experience working with Nomi Network, and how she’s come to see herself as an entrepreneur. She also shared some thoughts on how to navigate parent-child relationships.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

How Nomi Network has grew and developed up to 2014
What learnings there have been for Nomi Network since 2014
How Nomi Network focused on providing job skills training
How Nomi Network faced a bottle neck after 2016 and switched from trying to create employment opportunities to partnering with businesses or organizations that have employment opportunities
How world view and the definition of success varies depending on cultural context
What Supei has learned about happiness, fulfilment and success (from working and living in Asia for seven years)
Supei’s return and relocation from Asia to the U.S.
Personal stories of how women have grown and been helped by Nomi Network’s training
How Nomi Network started doing virtual training through Zoom
How the Coronavirus pandemic affected Nomi Network
How Nomi Network selected 240 graduates of their training programs to become community outreach workers; these community outreach workers were trained to become contact tracers, and they would educate and inform the community about the best health and safety practices related to COVID-19
Since May of 2019 Nomi Network has been able to reach 160,000 people through its 240 community outreach workers and staff
Supei’s upbringing and background
How Supei was able to work through parent-child issues with her mother when she lived with Supei in Cambodia for three years
Supei’s transition from the corporate to nonprofit world in 2008
When Supei realized that she’s an entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship as the pursuit of solving problems
How Supei worked with a distillery to create liquor from a cashew apple fruit
Supei’s proudest accomplishments
How Supei’s work is going to change now that she’s relocated to the U.S.
Why Supei has decided to return to the U.S.
What Supei is working on beyond and outside of Nomi Network
How courage is not the absence of fear

CoFounders Gary Reloj and Bonnie Chan Raise $30,000 for PPE Relief Initiative and What’s Next Ep 106

Felicia Lin — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 01:12:56 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

My guests on this episode of Talking Taiwan are Gary Reloj and Bonnie Chan, co-founders of the PPE Relief Initiative (PRI). I had Gary on as a guest previously in episode 79, only a couple of months into the COVID-19 pandemic. He talked about his own personal battle with COVID and the PPE Relief Initiative’s crowdfunding campaign. Since then, the PPE Relief Initiative has surpassed its goal of raising $30,000, and has also been selected by GoFundMe to be a featured campaign on their COVID page.

When asked about the mistakes they’ve made and lessons they learned, Gary responded that he’s not afraid of failure and embraces it as long as there’s something that can be learned from it. Gary and Bonnie talked how they’ve tweaked things since phase one of the crowdfunding campaign and shared some of the work productivity tools that PRI uses. Bonnie offered some general advice for people interested in doing crowdfunding for a cause. The two also shared a lot of exciting updates.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

What’s happened with the PPE Relief Initiative (PRI) since we first interviewed Gary about it
Bonnie’s role in creating a strong brand identity for the PPE Relief Initiative
How the PPE Relief Initiative got selected by GoFundMe to be a featured campaign and what it means for the campaign
The PPE Relief Initiative’s next fundraising goal is $15,000 to support an additional 1,000 healthcare workers
How the PPE Relief Initiative has grown and recruited new volunteers
How the support that the PPE Relief Initiative is not only supplying healthcare workers with PPE but giving them emotional and moral support
Some of the biggest challenges they faced in trying to reach their initial fundraising goal of $30,000
The failures and lessons learned during phase one of the PPE Relief Initiative’s crowdfunding campaign
How some of the healthcare workers that PPE Relief Initiative has worked with who have had to resort to wearing garbage bags, bed covers, and men’s old clothing as PPE
How important it is to have the right team of people working together to achieve goals together
What they did when contributions to the GoFundMe Campaign plateaued and stalled
How they tell and capture the stories of healthcare workers through their “Stories from the Frontlines” videos
The note that went viral – written by KP Mendoza, a healthcare worker featured in one of PRI’s “Stories from the Frontlines” videos
The shift from first focusing more on individual donors, to phase two in which they are planning to focus more on partnerships with e.g. community organizations, businesses, and student groups
Why Gary embraces failure
How PPE Relief Initiative learned from the mistakes it made during its first phase and has improved its processes
The work productivity tools that PPE Relief Initiative uses
The importance of organization and setting up an infrastructure
The goals of the second phase of PPE Relief Initiative’s Go Fund Me campaign
The difference between GoFundMe and GoFundMe Charity
The Promise Society, fiscal sponsor of the PPE Relief Initiative
General advice for anyone interested in running a crowdfunding campaign
The importance of email campaigns and data to PRI’s fundraising campaign
PPE Relief Initiative’s plans to partner with a local politician to hold a virtual roundtable with healthcare workers giving testimony on their experiences
PRI’s plans to make an impact on policy regarding healthcare worker protection

Nomi Network CoFounder Supei Liu Discusses Human Trafficking Ep 104

Felicia Lin — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 13:04:26 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

In the spirit of giving, with Thanksgiving approaching and the holiday season soon upon us, I thought I’d share this interview from 2014 with Supei Liu one of the co-founders of Nomi Network. Hear Supei tell the story of how the desire to create more awareness about human trafficking led to the creation of Nomi Network, an organization which gives economic opportunities to empower women and to protect them from human trafficking. Last year, the organization celebrated its tenth year.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

The work that Nomi Network does
The story of the Cambodian girl who inspired Diana Mao, Supei Liu and Alissa Moore-Williams to found Nomi Network
How their desire to raise awareness of human trafficking grew into creating an organization
How Diana, Supei and Alissa all had full-time jobs when they started Nomi Network
How Supei became the first full-time employee of Nomi Network
Supei’s background in corporate America
What Supei does for Nomi Network
How Nomi Network is about creating economic opportunities for women and children at risk of being trafficked
Prevention as one of the keys to dealing with human trafficking
How Supei works directly with the women that Nomi helps
How Nomi Network started a program in India in 2012
The social issues that the women Nomi Network helps have to deal with
The challenges that the Nomi Network has faced
Nomi’s “Buy Her Bag Not Her Body” campaign
Products made by survivors and women at risk
Nomi’s key accomplishments
How Nomi was awarded one of the top nonprofits in 2014
Supei’s connection to Taiwan
Sex trafficking in other parts of the world including Taiwan
How her early experiences have shaped her
Supei’s advice for those wanting to create an organization or to work for a specific cause

Andrew Yang Venture for America U.S. Presidential Candidate Talks Entrepreneurship Ep 103

Felicia Lin — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 15:34:37 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

In 2013 I spoke with Andrew Yang who was the CEO of Venture for America at the time. He was at his office and multi-tasking during our interview, so when you listen to the interview, you’ll hear some background noise and typing. At the time he talked about being invited to the White House amongst several things.

Who would have predicted that a few years later that he would be running as a Democrat for the 2020 U.S. President election?

Many now know him as the Presidential candidate who proposed something called the “Freedom Dividend.” With the 2020 U.S. Presidential election results unfolding, and Joe Biden recently declared President-elect, some say that there may be a place for Andrew in the Biden administration. I thought it would be a good time to share this interview that I did with Andrew.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Andrew’s involvement with the Entrepreneur Challenge and Competition and connection with the Taiwanese American Professionals
What is Venture for America?
What it was like for Andrew to be invited to the White House and speak to President Barack Obama about Venture for America?
How Venture for America was modeled after Teach for America
What cities Venture for America was in (at the time of the interview) and where they were planning to expand to
What types of startups Venture for America works with
How long is the bootcamp that Venture for America fellows are required to go through and what are they taught
How many fellows there were in Venture for America (at the time of the interview)
What are some of the things that the fellows have done/accomplished
How Jeff Weiner the CEO of LinkedIn has agreed to join Venture for America’s investment council
The highlights of being involved with Venture for America for Andrew
What’s the most challenging thing about running an organization like Venture for America
What motivates Andrew with Venture for America
Who are some of Andrew’s role models in the nonprofit space
What’s the difference between a struggling and successful entrepreneur
What advice Andrew has for someone wanting to start a community-based organization
What Andrew’s future plans are for Venture for America
Andrew’s book Smart People Should Build Things
Andrew’s thoughts on Taiwan and the entrepreneurship of the Taiwanese people

Jason Wang: How his Advisory Firm Makes Coronavirus Face Shields for the Front Line Ep 102

Felicia Lin — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 17:40:14 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Jason Wang, the Founder of Cypress River Advisors spoke with me about how his advisory firm which is normally not in the business of producing PPE, was able to start the production of face shields at scale in four weeks in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort which is called Face Shields for the First Line, donates face shields to health care and essential workers.

We also talked about how they cut down on the shipping costs and minimized waste by using polypropylene a material lighter in weight than acrylic and flat packaging due to the origami design of the face shield.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

What’s it been like being in Taiwan during the Coronavirus pandemic
Jason’s, upbringing and career path before he relocated to Taiwan and founded Cypress River Advisors
What brought Jason back to Taiwan
What Cypress River Advisors does
How Cypress River Advisors has been impacted by COVID-19
How this advisory firm had no prior experience producing PPE but its Face Shield for the First Line effort was able to produce and ship their first face shields in four weeks
Why Jason decided to start Face Shields for the First Line
How Face Shields for the First Line began with producing intubation shields and then face shields
The origami design of the face shields and light-weight materials used to cut down on shipping costs
What bra elastic has to do with Face Shields for the First Line
What’s been most challenging with Face Shields for the First Line
What’s been most rewarding about Face Shields for the First Line
How Jason manages the business of Cypress River Advisors and Face Shields for the First Line
How fatherhood has changed his outlook on life
The future direction of Face Shields for the First Line

Dr. Peter Tsai N95 Mask Inventor: The Man Who Created the Technology Ep 100

Felicia Lin — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 16:15:07 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Dr. Peter Tsai is the Taiwanese American inventor of the technology behind the N95 mask, the piece of personal protective equipment that has become such a part of our everyday vernacular since the onset of the global Coronavirus pandemic. With the shortage of N95 respirators at the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Tsai was called out of retirement to figure out how to sterilize N95s for reuse, and to help scale up production of the masks. In part one of my interview with him he talks about his roots and early career. Dr. Tsai also explains how the technology behind the material of N95s works, offers some suggestions on how to make more protective D.I.Y. masks, and why everyone should wear masks.

Next week we’ll be sharing part two of my interview with Dr. Tsai next week, in which he talks about how he was called out of retirement and what has happened since.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

What it was like growing up as one of 10 children
One of his early childhood inventions
Why he decided to pursue further studies in the United States
What it was like when he first arrived in the U.S. and what his expectations were
The biggest challenge Dr. Tsai faced when first arriving in the U.S.
The tough decision that Dr. Tsai had to make about his two daughters while he was still working on obtaining his PhD degree
When and how Dr. Tsai started working on the material that is now used for the N95 mask
How adding an electrostatic charge to fibers improves their filtration efficiency
How the “corona charge” (yes, the same word “corona” but different in meaning from the Coronavirus “corona”) when added to microfibers improves filtration efficiency by 10 times
The first use of this charged fabric technology was for air filtration in 1992
In 1995 the U.S. was set to issue new standards for respirators, which is now called the N95
The 95 of “N95” mask refers to the fact that it needs to filter out 95% of submicron particles
How the science behind charging fibers works
The misconception that the size of a fabric’s pores need to be smaller than particles to block them
Electrostatic charged media is good material for respirators
The comparison between cloth masks (which are made of woven material) and N95 masks (which are made of nonwoven material)
Cloth masks with higher filtration efficiency must be compactly woven, thicker or higher weight
How cloth masks are good shields to contain the virus inside a mask avoid infecting others
Cloth masks are not ideal but they can contain the spread of the virus to others
Dr. Tsai’s recommendations regarding wearing cloth masks
The most commonly found types of nonwoven materials that can be used as a filter for a D.I.Y. mask
How to test if a fabric is hydrophobic
How a MERV 14 home use filter (typically used for air filters) is electrostatically charged and hydrophobic and good to use as a filter for a D.I.Y. mask
Dr. Tsai explains why he thinks everyone needs to wear a mask (whether its cloth or N95)
How Dr. Tsai is working on making high filtration efficiency materials more breathable
Research on the material used for the N95 mask began in 1987, then in 1992 the technology used for the N95 mask was first developed
The material has been improved from 1992-2018
How Dr. Tsai is motivated to innovate by the changing needs of the industry

JD Chang: Founder of Crushing the Myth Ep 80

Felicia Lin — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 13:10:11 +0000

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Crushing The Myth (CTM) is an Asian American speaker series that shares Asian American stories and perspectives with a global audience. Established in January of 2019, CTM aims to connect Asian Americans and allies to each other.

I spoke with the Founder of Crushing The Myth, JD Chang about why he created CTM, and its mission.

Crushing The Myth is about showing that Asian America today is more than just the “Model Minority” label and telling Asian American stories that make people LISTEN, LEARN, and INSPIRED.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

JD’s experience of the model minority myth
What Crushing The Myth is about and what it represents
What is the mission of Crushing The Myth (CTM)
How JD started his career as a film line producer
What JD thinks about TED Talks
South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference
What Crushing the Myth offers to its participants (prospective speakers)
What’s the biggest challenge JD has experienced with Crushing The Myth
The highlights of working on Crushing The Myth
How people can sign up to do a Crushing The Myth talk
The training that Crushing The Myth provides to its speakers
JD’s tips for public speaking
JD’s tips for looking good on video
Where you can watch the CTM talks

Entrepreneurship Archives | Talking Taiwan Podcast

Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry: Our Talk with Founder Lisa Cheng Smith Ep 135

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

Related Links:

How Eva Lou Runs a Multi-Lingual Children’s Book Publishing Company Ep 131

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Elena Liao Founder of Te Company: Running a Tea Room in the West Village Ep 111

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

Related Links:

Supei Liu: Her Experiences with Nomi Network and Entrepreneurship Ep 110

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

CoFounders Gary Reloj and Bonnie Chan Raise $30,000 for PPE Relief Initiative and What’s Next Ep 106

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Nomi Network CoFounder Supei Liu Discusses Human Trafficking Ep 104

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Andrew Yang Venture for America U.S. Presidential Candidate Talks Entrepreneurship Ep 103

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Jason Wang: How his Advisory Firm Makes Coronavirus Face Shields for the Front Line Ep 102

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Dr. Peter Tsai N95 Mask Inventor: The Man Who Created the Technology Ep 100

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

JD Chang: Founder of Crushing the Myth Ep 80

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links: