My Day Job

Vivian Man
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The work and life podcast for Asian professionals navigating modern careers

  1. 15h ago

    Episode 27: Behind Lee’s Donuts - Taking Risks, Choosing Partners, & Growing Together

    How do you grow a business people already love and choose the right people to grow it with? Celine Bacani, co-owner of Lee’s Donuts and a real estate professional, joins me to share the experiences and decisions behind both careers. Growing up in Vancouver, Lee’s was part of her family’s visits to Granville Island. Years later, she and her husband, Allan, became the people helping shape its next chapter. We talk about protecting what makes Lee’s special as it expands, learning to trust others with what you’ve built, and working with the person you come home to. Celine opens up about growing at different speeds in a relationship, giving each other room to make mistakes, and why love alone isn’t enough to make a business partnership work. Along the way, we get into her competitive ballet years, the first boss who gave her a chance, and how her real estate career connects with growing Lee’s. A conversation about taking risks, choosing your people, and figuring out what success needs to leave room for. In this episode, we explore: • How competitive ballet shaped Celine’s discipline—and the all-or-nothing thinking she’s learning to loosen • What helping open a Dairy Queen taught her about leadership and trusting people before they’ve proven themselves • Growing Lee’s Donuts while protecting its community roots • Choosing business partners who share your values • Working with your spouse when you don’t always agree or grow at the same pace • How real estate helped create a foundation for her other businesses • Redefining success through family time, self-acceptance, and decisions she can feel good about Explore Celine’s businesses: Lee’s Donuts IG: @leesdonuts.ca YVT Real Estate IG: @yvtrealestategroup Super Me. IG: @besuperme Enjoyed the conversation? Follow My Day Job Podcast, leave a review, or send this episode to someone you think would enjoy this conversation. Find us on Instagram: @mydayjobpodcast

    Episode 27: Behind Lee’s Donuts - Taking Risks, Choosing Partners, & Growing Together

  2. Sep 29

    Episode 26: A Life in Change

    Jay Kiew has helped more than 50,000 leaders navigate change, but he's been living it his whole life. Over lychee Hi-Chew, we talk about guiding his blind dad through Singapore, moving eight times before age 12, surviving eye cancer as a baby and betting on himself with a mortgage on the line. Jay also gets real about losing his confidence on stage, being one of the few Asian speakers in the room and raising daughters who know they can figure things out. Connect with Jay • Book: Change Fluency: A Playbook for Leading Through Disruption • Website: changefluency.com • Instagram: @changefluency • LinkedIn: Jay Kiew • YouTube: @ChangeFluency Mentioned in this episode • Shawn Kanungo, innovation strategist and keynote speaker • Jerry Won, speaker coach and founder of World Class Speakers

    Episode 26: A Life in Change

  3. Aug 31

    Episode 25: Startups at 9, Stand-up at night

    What happens when your day job is helping tech startups grow and your night job is making strangers laugh? Meet Bradley Fung, Education Program Manager at New Ventures BC and stand-up comedian who won Canada's Next Best Comic at the Sorry Comedy Festival. From growing up as a shy kid in East Van to performing at Just for Laughs Vancouver, Bradley shares how he balances two very different worlds, lessons he’s learned along the way, and the one flop that still haunts him today. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much interviewing a guest before. Hope you’ll get some chuckles listening to this episode! Bradley’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bjfung3/ Buds and Suds Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/budsandsudscomedy/

    Episode 25: Startups at 9, Stand-up at night

  4. Jul 31

    Episode 24: In-Between and Free

    This week's guest, Lisa Nakamura Durrell, has spent her career finding the human story hiding inside every industry – food, TV, brand work, you name it. In our conversation, she takes me back to her childhood in Calgary, split between Vietnamese, Japanese, and Canadian worlds, and walks through the unlikely chain of events that got her a spot on a national cooking show. We also talk honestly about ambition after motherhood, what she's still trying to figure out now, and why she'd rather measure her life day by day than chase one big legacy.

    Episode 24: In-Between and Free

  5. Jul 1

    Episode 23: Reclaiming Roots

    In this episode of My Day Job, I sit down with Vanny Whitchelo — host of Khmer Voices podcast, and co-founder and director of the Cambodian Cultural Centre in British Columbia. Vanny arrived in Canada from a refugee camp at just three years old. Her journey since then has been anything but linear. From navigating identity as a Cambodian-Canadian teenager, to a winding career through communications, nonprofit work, social media, and eventually finding her way back to her roots through cultural advocacy and storytelling.

    Episode 23: Reclaiming Roots

  6. May 31

    Episode 22: When Purpose Finds You First

    Nhu is the founder of Nhu Design Studio, where she helps mental health coaches, somatic healers, and wellness practitioners build brands rooted in real story. But before any of that made sense, she was a sixteen-year-old exchange student landing in California with a new American name, a fearless attitude, and zero plan beyond wanting to see a bigger world. Her path from there was anything but linear. From community college in San Jose with some twists and turns that made a pandemic-era logo challenge on Instagram into a business. In this episode, we talk about what it feels like when purpose arrives before you're ready for it, the loneliness of entrepreneurship nobody warns you about, why branding is really about listening, starting therapy as an Asian woman, and why she stopped going by Nina and reclaimed her Vietnamese name. We also get into what success actually means when you strip away the highlight reel. And for Nhu, it has nothing to do with designer bags.

    Episode 22: When Purpose Finds You First

  7. Apr 30

    Episode 21: Growth Through Life's Unexpected Transitions

    Kathryn Chao is a group benefits consultant with 16+ years in the industry and principal advisor at JM Group Benefits Consultants. In this episode, we're snacking on childhood crackers and getting into the stuff that doesn't make it onto a LinkedIn profile - growing up in Richmond with a strict mom, stumbling into insurance through a summer job, moving to LA during COVID as a self-described introvert, and ultimately coming back to Vancouver to build her own business. Kathryn also opens up about navigating divorce and the practices that helped her come back to herself through therapy, boundaries, solitude, and gratitude. This one's a reminder that your career path and your life path are the same path.

    Episode 21: Growth Through Life's Unexpected Transitions

  8. Mar 31

    Episode 20: Freedom to be - From the Philippines to Canada

    What does it actually mean to be free to be yourself? Alan Yuarata grew up in a rural village in the Philippines, lost his father when he was young, and won a national writing award at 17. In 2010, he moved to Canada and started over. Today, he helps run one of Canada’s busiest airports and he’s also a published children’s book author. In this episode, Alan shares how moving to Canada gave him the space to build a life, embrace his identity as a gay man, and write something he once thought he’d never share.

    Episode 20: Freedom to be - From the Philippines to Canada
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About

The work and life podcast for Asian professionals navigating modern careers

Information

  • Creator
    Vivian Man
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    My Day Job