The Emily Quotient
By The Emily Quotient Podcast
The podcast is hosted by Emily Fang, a Taiwanese American solopreneur who spends her time between San Francisco and Asia. She leans into the uncomfy topics of moving abroad, shedding our known identities, and building businesses while traveling.
Emily is also the Founder of Asian Wander Women Community and Travel Summit.
The Emily Quotient Jan 13, 2023
22. Building Travel Retreats: the science of female friendships through vulnerability and connection
In this hour long podcast, Joanna and I cover:
- context being ex-colleagues in Singapore
- what we were thinking when planning the first ever travel summit in Taiwan
- what stressed us out
- hard lessons we learned stepping into leadership roles
- how we feel about planning future AWW travel retreats
21. How I Built the first ever Travel Summit for Asian Women
After 6 months of planning with a team of 10 volunteers, we planned the first ever travel summit for Asian women in Taiwan. We worked with the Taiwan Employment Gold Card Office, Talent Taiwan, Coffee Meets Bagel, and even had the CEO of Remote Year Tue Le speak at our event.
Here I share my learnings, our thought process, and how we successfully pulled it together.
20. What I Learned about Dating in 2023
I share my lessons from dating this year. I'm turning 30 this year, so I spent a lot of time going on dates and dating more intentionally.
19. New job, new apartment, and residual reverse culture shock in San Francisco
I share a few big updates on my personal life on a new job and new apartment, as well as what I've been learning to tweak my mindset and systems moving forward so I can do everything.
18. I’m so f*cking pumped for Asian Wander Women Summit 2024! Missing friends and hard dating lessons
17. Annie, NYC-based engineer, and I talk about our recent trip to Taiwan, how trips are financed, and potentially moving to Asia
Annie and I were in Taiwan remote working and traveling together in early 2023 from February to April. She's usually based in New York and we made plans to root ourselves in Asia for a couple of months. We discuss how she financially planned for this trip while owning her own place, what tips she has for people going off and doing something similar, and what's next for her future going back between US and Asia.
16. Single at 29: do I want kids? where should I go?
15. Our deep reflections of 2022
Questions for reflection
- What were your best moments of 2022?
- How have you grown as a person?
- What are you most proud of in 2022?
- Who are you thankful for?
- What are 3 things you discovered about yourself?
- What is something you learned about yourself that you're bringing into 2023?
- What's one thing you want to leave behind?
- What are things you want to prioritize in 2023?
- What habit do you want to commit to in 2023?
Hope you enjoyed this reflection of ours!
14. What it's like working remotely and being an Asian American male in Southeast Asia with Besta Wang, a Security Compliance Analyst
being a Chinese American who grew up in Minnesota
how Besta failed the first time moving to Singapore and how he succeeded the second time
how remote working in Southeast Asia has been for career progression
finding friends and community as an Asian American male
the future: dating, settling down, and finding a partner (guest appearance)
advice for those who want to embark on a similar journey
13. Should I quit my job? How to evaluate your situation based on risk tolerance and future planning, what I wish I did beforehand, and the stark realities of not having a stable income
Should I quit my job?
Emily Fang shares how to evaluate your situation based on risk tolerance and future planning, what she wished she did beforehand quitting her tech job in Singapore, and the stark realities of not having a stable income she had to overcome.
She also shares an update on where's she at now, with the media company, her side projects, and consulting for a tech startup in San Francisco.
Check out SafetyWing, nomad insurance: https://bit.ly/3Bf2vY4
Disclaimer: the above is an affiliate link which will give a small percentage of commission to the channel, with no extra costs to you.
12. Coping with reverse culture shock: an odyssey from Singapore to San Francisco
11. Risk averse or risk seeking? How Asian parenting molded us into the people we are today
In a previous Instagram story, we did a poll to see what kind of topics were of interest to our audience. Most recently, it was navigating the complexities of the east and west, which can be broken down into so many subtopics. One that I thought could be relatable was Asian parenting and how our role in our Asian families made us into who we are. For those that don’t know, Jane is a twin. Emily is an only child. I myself am the youngest of two.
We all grew up with different versions of Asian parenting, but all found ourselves ending up either living or working in the east and the west. While we all ended up in Singapore at one point, there is definitely an overlapping thread on the kind of personality that is able to move overseas for work.
10. One of us is leaving Singapore! How to make great friends and maintain relationships IRL & on social media
One of us is leaving Singapore—any guesses who?
We talk about how we all met via social media on Instagram, strategies on how to find and maintain great friendships as an introvert and extrovert, as well as discussing what the future holds for us three.
Singapore is a transient country where many people will come and go—our experiences of this is happening in real time. Hope you enjoy this chat among friends.
9. We're Not Really Strangers—get to know your hosts better!
Jane brought up the great idea to use "We're Not Really Strangers" deck of cards to ask personal, deep questions so our viewers get to know us better.
8. New cohosts! I'm glad we met each other in Singapore
I introduce my new cohosts Jane Kim and Emily Chen to the Asian Female Lead podcast—we're a trio that have become really great friends in Singapore and wanting to offer our own experiences living overseas. Can't wait to keep chatting with you all.
7. Deep inner thoughts of The Fang Girl (updates, my headspace, and what's new)
I lend a glimpse of my intimate thoughts of where I am in the moment.
6. How to make it to 10 years of friendship: communicating needs and long distance
Time is finite—as we've gotten older, we realise the importance of strengthening friendships. There’s so many variables that can make or break friendships. Thinking about this made me chat with my best friend of 10 years to talk our development of friendship that happened between high school to our late 20s. Ana, who is one of my best friends, and I share how we’ve seen each other grown in the past decade, and not prescribe what we think the other needs, but learn how to give what the other wants.
5. Stephanie leaving Hong Kong to pursue tech journalism in Myanmar, and not wanting to get married
Stephanie Li is a tech reporter based in Yangon, Myanmar covering startups and technology in emerging markets including but not limited to Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Philippines.
Originally from Hong Kong, she decided to stay in Myanmar when the covid-19 pandemic set in and she’s been there ever since. She gives us a peek into the mysterious Myanmar and tells us what the tech landscape looks like through her own experiences. We chat about going against Chinese traditional norms, unconventional thinking, and what it means to be boldly free.
Note: this interview was conducted on Jan 23rd before the military coup in Myanmar.
4. Shilpa on leaving corporate law and Australia for Singapore, building new communities, and type A tendencies
Shilpa Jain left her job as a corporate lawyer to become an entrepreneur in the mental health space. Motivated by her own burnout and stress, she started Talk Your Heart Out, a counselling and coaching services platform that is digitally accessible and affordable in Singapore. We catch up and talk about how her life has changed since coming back to Singapore, how we build community as adults, and we bond over our type A tendencies.
3. Tanya on designing rockets at NASA, being 50/50 Singaporean and American, and starting her own venture
Originally from Singapore, Tanya had moved to New York City, where she pursued Mechanical Engineering and Physics at Columbia University. After graduation, she went on to design rockets at NASA, airplanes at Boeing, and electric motors at Virgin Hyperloop One.
Recently she started her own venture called Hexagn, using 3D CAD software to design jewelry. We talk about her adjustment coming back to Singapore, starting a new business, finding love, and how her identity has changed throughout the years. You can check out her jewelry line here: www.hexagnjewelry.com.
2. Good to Better: Small Things You Can Do to Lead
This is a short, quick episode on how to build up leadership skills in three concise ways. Sparked by a conversation on becoming new managers, I found myself chatting with a friend on how ill-prepared we are. However, not all leaders are managers so this can really apply to anyone. I rounded up three important ways that can help build up simple competent leadership characteristics, and how to get from good to better leading.
1. Zhen on the Chinese working mentality, motherhood, and personal development
Zhen Li is a good friend that I've met in Singapore. She's moved from Liaoning (China) to New York, and is now living in SG with her family. Through her relocations and changes of roles she's taken on, she shares her learnings of becoming a more outspoken data scientist from working in Western culture and how having a child has changed her way of thinking when it comes to work life balance.
Connect with Zhen!
0: Meet Emily Fang, Host & Producer
Emily Fang is your host for Asian Female Lead. In early 2020, she quit her tech job in San Francisco, California and started a new life in Singapore.
With this new podcast, she hopes to spotlight more Asian female leads and bridge sisterhood with those living in the east and west. She wants to bring forth stories to share with listeners back home to unpack the Asian diaspora & East-West modernity on topics like career, dating, happiness, and identity.