Nelson Lin is a retired Chinese restaurant child laborer, with decades of experience in the food industry and shoving down his feelings. He currently takes credit for running Soupleaf Hot Pot with his mom and brother, which is Austin's first all you can eat hot pot restaurant. He also runs a meme group called Subtle Asian Real Estate, with over 23,000 members helping each other get from 0 to 1 on their first home. Subtle Asset Management, his investment company, primarily focuses on funding affordable housing with $35M AUM. He has degrees in engineering from Columbia University and Cal Poly SLO, and was formerly a techie at Apple, Microsoft, and Brookfield Asset Management.

Topics Covered:

• The history of his family from the Fujian province in China.
• Austin's welcoming environment for restaurateurs
• The difference between Austin's Asian food scene and other larger areas
• Mom and pop run Asian restaurants vs a newer wave of restaurants
• Running a restaurant with family members
• Striking balance of authenticity when serving hot pot
• The success behind Soupleaf
• Investing in real estate and tips on how to get started

Materials Referenced:

• Soupleaf Hotpot
• Subtle Asian Real Estate Group
• The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden

Dr. Pooja Lakshmin MD is a board-certified psychiatrist, author, keynote speaker, and a contributor to The New York Times. Her debut book, REAL SELF-CARE: Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble-Baths Not Included, is an NPR Best Book of 2023 and a national best-seller. Real Self-Care has been featured by Good Morning America, NPR’s Code Switch, The New York Times, The Ezra Klein Show, The Guardian, and translated into 10 languages. She lives in Austin with her partner Justin, their toddler, and their two cats, Kitty and Fifi.

Topics Covered:

• Growing up spending summers in India and navigating life as a "Good Indian Girl"
• Becoming disillusioned with medicine and psychiatry and that journey that led her on
• Her move to Austin since 2020 and how that experience has been
• The growing interest in self-care and what the difference is between self-care and faux self-care
• The nuances of holistic or integrative medicine and the barriers communities of people face in mainstream medicine
• The differences between tools and principles in real self-care and how they can work together to help you make big decisions in life
• How to apply real self-care to Asian American guilt
• Disrupting intergenerational trauma
• How to identify which boundaries are yours vs boundaries that may have been passed down by your culture or family

Materials Referenced:

• REAL SELF-CARE: Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble-Baths Not Included by Dr. Pooja Lakshmin MD
• Dr. Pooja Lakshmin Instagram
• Good Morning America Segment
• NPR's Code Switch: Real self-care takes real systemic change

On the heels of her being announced as part of ACL Fest's 2024 line up, KUTX's artist of the month and more, we're talking to the pop rap artist promqueen to share more about her past year, her musical inspirations, and more!

promqueen (she/they) is a second generation queer Vietnamese American pop rap artist based in Austin, TX. As a daughter to Vietnamese born parents, promqueen draws lyrical inspiration from her family history, own experiences and self reflection as second generation raised in Texas.

Alongside music, promqueen thrives in collaborative environments as a multidisciplinary artist across acting, community organizing and writing. promqueen is active in the AAPI community, performing at Asian Culture Fair, Asia World Night Market, AAAFF Gala, AARC Tonesfest and UT’s Silk Club 10th zine release anniversary. Through her music, she hopes AAPI folks feel encouraged to process, express and share their art to the world.

Topics Covered:

• Learnings and reflections from her szn one EP release in 2023 and what 2024 has brought
• Writing a family memoir and how it inspired the music and development of promqueen
• Music inspirations from both Vietnamese music and rap
• Themes in her music and what's to come for the rest of 2024
• Jewelry and its symbolism

Materials Referenced:

• Instagram: @saypromqueen
• Website: saypromqueen.com
• July 13th second annual prom ticket presale
• szn two vinyl pre order
• June 1st Show - Arlington, TX
• Population Change and Demographic Trends for Austin’s Asian American Population
• KUTX Artist of the Month
• ACL 2024 Lineup
• Paris by Night / Lynda Trang Dai
• Kim Son Jewlery