Dear White Women Sara and Misasha

When you turn on the TV or open a book, or look for memes on the Internet… how easy is it to find someone who looks like you? Your family? Because it’s never been that easy for us. So when today’s guest, who started her own media company called Mixed Asian Media out of her OWN frustration over not being represented out there, came across our radar, we immediately wanted to know all about her, her company, and her vision of what being mixed Asian is in today’s society, media, and our own journeys.
 
We couldn’t wait to have this chat with Alex Chester-Iwata, as today we get VERY real about growing up mixed Asian in the United States, belonging in Asian spaces, the questions that White, Asian, and other monoracial (listen in to find out more about THAT word) people ask biracial and multiracial individuals that we REALLY wish you wouldn’t, and so much more. This episode continues our look into what it means to be biracial and multiracial in this country, and even if that’s not you, we guarantee that someone you know is living this experience. This is about all of us.
 
What to listen for:
Our latest thoughts on representation in the media, and what led to the formation of Mixed Asian Media
How to make spaces more explicitly welcoming of multiracial people.
Why we love the term “monoracial” - and what we want more monoracial folks to know about what NOT to ask multiracial folks.
About Alex Chester-Iwata:
 
Alex the Founder/CEO of Mixed Asian Media - A website and community for mixed APIs, recognized by the Nielsen Consumer Report on AAPIs. Alex received the 2023 Women of Distinction of Assembly 69th of California award and last year was one of the Asian Hustle Network’s top 50 Unsung Heros. Alex received her BA in 2021 from St. Mary’s College she graduated with honors and received the Dean’s Award for community engagement and academic excellence. Alex is a board member of ACE Next Gen's NYC Chapter and is on the Board of Directors for the American Advertising Federation LA. She is a community leader for the Lunar Collective and she is also part of the 2023 Jews of Color cohort The Workshop, she also serves on the advisory board of her alma mater St. Mary's LEAP Program, and is a member of Gold House and is part of their inaugural Journalism Accelerator Program
Alex is also an Actor. Some acting credits include Broadway’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Gillian in This Space Between Us Off Broadway’s Keen Company. TV credits include New Amsterdam, The Good Fight, and The Closer, to name a few. @AlexFChester @MixedAsianMedia

DEAR WHITE WOMEN -  Multiracial Asians - it’s time to get personal 
Why is talking about the multiracial identity and deconstructing the misperception of the Asian monolith important and relevant to you listening, if you’re not multiracial? Several things.
Census information - over 10% of the population identifies as multi-racial, but will changing demographics be enough to combat racism?  We don’t think so.
Belonging matters - and if we’re to create a thriving society, how do we ensure that multi-racial people belong? 
Legislation - and why we are where we are as a country.  Interracial marriages were only made legal in 1967 - 56 years ago!!   
Listen this fall for personal stories from your two biracial - Japanese and white - hosts, Sara & Misasha as they interview some must-know multi-racial folks, deconstruct history and misperceptions like the model minority myth and the false narrative of Black-on-Asian crimes, examine the power of advocacy and change and more in this powerful arc they’re kicking off on the Dear White Women podcast, a show that’s been running for 4.5 years. 
Follow Dear White Women so you don’t miss these conversations!
 

We do this work for our kids, and for ourselves.  And when we talk about this work, there are a lot of spheres we need to change to make this world better for said kids - including schools, kitchen tables, policing and the false idea of law & order, public services, government, and the workplace. And, to focus on workplaces for a second, we always talk about how when we discuss racism, we’re talking about the SYSTEMS that run our society – but we also make it really clear that systems are made up of people, and so if we don’t take the time to do some inner work, we won’t be making changes to the systems that’ll be meaningful and sustainable. 
 
That’s why we love this discussion we’re about to bring you, about reimagining inclusion in the workplace.  It was really a fantastic action-oriented book that lays out practical things that you can do in the workplace to help uproot systemic racism, literally things you can start doing differently TODAY.  And you know how much we love practical action-oriented things - it sort of reminded me of our own book’s listen/learn/act framework!


Plus, we are huge fans of Mita Mallick, who if you aren’t following on LinkedIn already, you should be.  So listen in, and if you like what you hear, go on and do two things - order the book Reimagine Inclusion, and then go tell someone at work about Mita’s work so you can bring her into your organization and deepen the change!
 
What to listen for:
How Reimagine Inclusion is different from other books on DEI in the workplace
Some of the 13 myths that Mita deconstructs
How we should frame the role of white men and women in this work
Where the cultures of companies seem to be headed right now  
About Mita: 
Mita Mallick is a corporate change-maker with a track record of transforming businesses. She gives innovative ideas a voice and serves customers and communities with purpose. She has had an extensive career as a marketer in the beauty and consumer product goods space, being a fierce advocate of including and representing Black and Brown communities. She is the author of Reimagine Inclusion: Debunking 13 Myths to Transform Your Workplace, being published by Wiley in October 2023.
 
Her passion for inclusive storytelling led her to become a Chief Diversity Officer, to build end-to-end inclusion ecosystems across big and small organizations. Mallick has brought her talent and expertise to companies like Carta, Unilever, Pfizer, AVON, Johnson & Johnson and more. She’s a sought-after speaker and coach to start-up founders, executives, and public CEOs. She is also the co-host of the popular podcast, The Brown Table Talk, part of the LinkedIn Podcast Network. On the Brown Table Talk, Mita and Dee Marshall share stories and tips on how to help Women of Color win at work, and advice for allies on how they can show up.
 
Mallick is a LinkedIn Top Voice, a contributor for Harvard Business Review, Adweek, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. Mallick has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time magazine, Forbes, Axios, Essence, Cosmopolitan magazine, and Business Insider. She was featured in a documentary created by Soledad O’Brien Productions for CBS News entitled: Women in the Workplace and the Unfinished Fight for Equality. Mallick holds a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She lives in New Jersey, US, with her husband and two children.
 

They say never meet your heroes, but we’re so glad we got to meet two of ours, as they gave us the shot of hope at the end of our conversation that we all need, considering everything that’s happening around us currently. 
To be honest, we had been looking forward to this conversation ever since David Louie (Episode 212, if you want to go back and listen) made this introduction, and it was everything we had hoped it would be. Not only because Doug Jones and Bill Baxley are legal powerhouses, but also because they were just two men, doing what they believed to be right, because perhaps they were the only ones who could have fought this fight. 
And that - the power of one, standing in your beliefs and speaking up for those who cannot - is something we should all carry with us from this conversation.
 
What to listen for: 
How two white men growing up in the South came to their belief in and advocacy of equal justice 
The role that witnesses - especially the white wives of Klans members - played in the various trials, both in positive and negative ways
What these lawyers would say to people who diminish the ongoing impact of systemic racism, and claim that “slavery happened so long ago”...
The most powerful way young people can do so that lawmakers hear their voices
About Doug Jones: 

A celebrated prosecutor who brought long-overdue justice to the victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Doug has built his career on fighting impossible battles. In 2017, he shocked the political establishment by winning a special election to fill a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama—the first Democrat to do so in 25 years in the state. On Capitol Hill, he quickly built a reputation as a well-regarded and effective legislator, passing more than two dozen bipartisan bills into law in just three years. 
Doug’s first job after graduating from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University was as staff counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary for Sen. Howell Heflin (D-AL). Following his stint in Washington, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1980 to 1984. Doug left government service in 1984 and was in the private practice of law in Birmingham, Alabama, until President Bill Clinton nominated him to the position of U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate in November 1997, and he served as U.S. attorney until June 2001. It was while serving in that position that he successfully prosecuted 2 of the 4 men responsible for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church—finally bringing full justice and closure nearly 40 years after the attack that killed four young girls. Along with taking on the Ku Klux Klan, he indicted domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph and prosecuted other criminals who sought to use fear, hatred, and violence to inhibit the rights of others.
Doug is the author of Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights which recounts a key moment in our long national struggle for equality and the successful prosecution of two Ku Klux Klan members 40 years later.
In 2022, Doug was selected by President Joe Biden to be the Nomination Advisor for Legislative Affairs to help to guide the selection, nomination, and successful confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court of the United States. In this role, Doug continued to upon the important relationships he had established while in Congress to help gain bipartisan support for the President’s nominee. 
Today, Doug is of Counsel with ArentFox Schiff, a Senior Distinguish Fellow with the Center for American Progress, and is involved in a variety of different political and civic organizations. Doug resides in Birmingham, AL with his wife, Louise, and dogs, Scout and Dakota. He has three children Courtney (married to Rip Andrews), Carson, and Christopher as well as two grandchildren

If you know us, you know that we love to focus on our shared humanity - in other words, the threads that bind us together, those common traits regardless of anything else, the things that make us human, after all. And so when we discovered our next guest, we felt like we found a kindred spirit - after all, his whole platform is called The Humanity Archive.
 
If you, as we do, believe in the power of humanity, in telling everyone’s stories, and being sure that those stories that we may not have learned in our own classes and schools growing up are being told now - especially for the sake of our children - then you’re going to want to listen to our conversation with Jermaine Fowler, read his book The Humanity Archive, and please, share your thoughts with us once you do!
 
What to listen for:
How the love of a library shaped a budding historian’s future
The central premise of humanity and how it is a thread throughout all of our histories
The whitewashing of American history – and the role Black scholars have played in re-orienting the truth
About Jermaine: 
Jermaine Fowler is a New York Times Bestselling Author and public historian who founded The Humanity Archive, a media company that uses history to explore the stories of humanity. His work sheds light on the unsettling history and current realities of poverty, racism, and educational inequality in post-industrial cities. Jermaine offers hope by studying traditions of excellence that connect us and push us toward a better world. He teaches us how history can be a powerful tool for transformational change, uncovering our blind spots and features voices and perspectives traditionally erased from the past.
 

If someone talks to me (Sara) about summer reading, honestly, my brain first goes to fiction novels.  I love them, and I have been noticing that if they’re particularly well-written, I end up learning a whole lot about humanity.  And the book we’re highlighting for you today is just one of those phenomenal book experiences.  
 
We’re excited to bring to you a book set in the era just after World War II and the incarceration of Japanese Americans on American soil.  So many books talk about the experiences IN those camps, but we’ve seen very few opportunities for us to all learn about what it was like for people to return to society, to be released with very few possessions and no real home to return to.  Naomi Hirahara dives into this period of history in her books Clark and Division, which was set in 1944 Chicago, and its sequel which we’ll focus on today, Evergreen, set in postwar Los Angeles. We highly recommend both of these books - please let us know what you think!
What to listen for:
Why it was important for author Naomi Hirahara - who writes both fiction and nonfiction books - felt like this topic was best suited for a historical fiction novel
How her personal experience as a Japanese American played into the storyline
When you can find her on her book tour for this brand new novel, Evergreen, in 2023! 
About the author:
Naomi Hirahara is the Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning author of Clark and Division, and the Edgar Award–winning author of the Mas Arai mystery series, including Summer of the Big Bachi, which was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and one of the Chicago Tribune's Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers; Gasa Gasa Girl; Snakeskin Shamisen; and Hiroshima Boy. She is also the author of the LA-based Ellie Rush mysteries. A former editor of The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, she has co-written non-fiction books like Life after Manzanar and the award-winning Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor.