This Filipino American Life
A podcast that explores the nuanced experiences of Filipinos in the United States, atbp.
Episodes
November 13, 2025 • 57 mins
“You’re not Filipino if you don’t speak Tagalog.” “You sound white.” “The national language of the Philippines is Filipino, not Tagalog.” “Filipino is already gender neutral.” Much of our online discourse in the Filipino community is about or related to language. The debates are out there. We here at TFAL want to tackle some of...
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October 31, 2025 • 73 mins
Have you ever thought about doing a pilgrimage? Would you want to contemplate your life choices on a hiking journey through the mountainous regions of Europe? Do you just want to hear about someone else doing that and not deal with the physical and spiritual Olympics of it all? Then this episode is for you!...
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October 17, 2025 • 62 mins
In this episode we have tfal fan favorite Faith Santilla aka “Tita Faith” in her fourth appearance on the pod! Joining Faith is the amazing and inspiring Martha Gonzalez of Quetzal. On this episode Elaine, Kat, and Producer Mike talk story about the exciting and upcoming show at The Ford Los Angeles, Labor of Love....
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October 3, 2025 • 44 mins
In this episode Elaine and Producer Mike have a conversation with singer-songwriter Stephen Ordonez also known as LABIT (@labitlabit). Stephen shares his experience growing up with Filipino American parents born in the States and how their love of music influenced his style. Fans of artists like Laufey and Jason LaPierre will vibe with Stephen’s...
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September 12, 2025 • 49 mins
In this episode of TFAL, Elaine and Producer Mike have a conversation with Los Angeles native (yes, they exist!) Chrissa Sparkles. You may have seen Chrissa Sparkles go viral with her Barbie inspired content on @chrissasparkles. In this conversation we go through Chrissa’s journey as a local kid with no connections figuring out how to maneuver...
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August 31, 2025 • 72 mins
Dear young people, How do we stay cool? Sincerely, Middle-aged TFALers There are many generations of Filipinos who live in the United States in this day and age. Immigrant generations, 2nd generations, 3rd generations, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and now Gen Z. Many have different experiences as Filipino Americans, and in many ways, some...
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August 8, 2025 • 54 mins
Joe wrote a book! Well…kinda. After a few years of gathering photos and writing, Joe has published FILIPINOS IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY, a pictorial history that traces the historical and cultural shifts of this quintessential suburb through the lens of generations of Filipinos who made the San Fernando Valley their home. This book is...
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July 25, 2025 • 54 mins
In this episode the TFAL crew has a conversation with author Randy Ribay. The crew has discussed Patron Saints of Nothing multiple times, so this conversation was long coming. In fact, we thought we had already spoken to Randy Ribay! So glad we got to have this conversation with Randy about his journey as...
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July 11, 2025 • 59 mins
In this episode Producer Mike and Elaine have a conversation with TFAL graphic designer Vincent Collyer and his brother Charles Collyer about Charles’ experience with a surprise diagnosis of lung cancer. Charles explains how a post Tough Mudder run lead to a rib injury which the X-rays lead to his lung cancer diagnosis. Post lung...
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June 27, 2025 • 56 mins
In this episode the crew has a conversation with author and filmmaker, Jill Damatac, who shares her journey from the Philippines to the States to the UK all through the lens of an undocumented immigrant. Instead of a traditional cookbook, which predominantly focuses on recipes and then sprinkles in family stories, Jill does the...
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June 14, 2025 • 56 mins
Amidst the chaos, we still have hope. A couple of weeks ago, Ryan and Joe had a conversation about being relatively new dads. With Father’s Day approaching, the two TFAL dads discuss their experiences navigating fatherhood and all that it entails. Listen as they talk about how their identities changed as new responsibilities came, how...
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June 6, 2025 • 52 mins
TFALpodcast kicks off PRIDE month with a conversation with author and illustrator Mike Curato. In this episode Elaine and Producer Mike learn about Mike Curato’s journey with Gaysians, Curato’s first graphic novel for adult audiences. Curato is best known for Little Elliot, a picture book series, and Flamer, a young adult graphic novel which has...
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On Election Day 2024, while most of the level-headed American public mourned the re-emergence of the far-right orange man, local folks in Los Angeles had a moment of electoral triumph with the victory of Ysabel Jurado to the Los Angeles City Council. Jurado is the first Filipino/a/x American to ever serve on the City Council...
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April 18, 2025 • 45 mins
In this episode TFAL’s Elaine and Producer Mike have a conversation with Lisa Angulo Reid, founder of Dear Flor @lovedearflor. Dear Flor’s mission is to bring Filipino culture to the world, one flavor at a time. Lisa shares her journey as an entrepreneur and how she transitioned from advertising to the quickly growing cannabis industry....
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April 13, 2025 • 73 mins
In this TFAL episode, Joe talks to Dr. Allan Lumba, writer, researcher, historian, and professor at Concordia University in Montreal, about potential of Filipinx Studies to inspire our community to fight for a better world. Listen how he developed into a brilliant scholar focused on Philippine Studies, the growing number of Filipino and Filipino American...
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March 28, 2025 • 70 mins
The TFAL crew is no stranger to the world of animation. In episode 28 (TFAL talks Voice Acting (and Secrets & Fears)), the crew had a conversation with voice actors Eric Bauza (@bauzilla) and Earl Baylon (@earlybgoode). While Producer Mike and Elaine were on their trip in the Philippines, they were able to connect with...
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February 21, 2025 • 64 mins
Is it truly “More Fun in the Philippines? Well technically not any more, because that marketing campaign ended in 2023. Now it’s “Love the Philippines”, but do we? They say there’s “no place like home” (which is especially fitting, since this is episode “227”… look it up, kids), but for Elaine and Producer Mike, who...
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February 4, 2025 • 86 mins
For generations, society has taught Filipinos and Filipino Americans what our specific gender roles should be. For men, masculinity is usually associated with ideas of strength, competition, emotion-less, family responsibilities, and protection. At times, these concepts can create narrow definitions of manhood and can pigeon-hole heterosexual men into certain prescribed racial, classed, and gender identities....
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January 18, 2025 • 63 mins
Did you know that men from the Philippines prior to colonization wore penis pins and rings in order to pleasure their sexual partner during intercourse? Yes, many of our ancestors had all kinds of sex toys and pleasure enhancers. In many ways, being open to sex and sexual pleasure can be seen as a form...
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December 20, 2024 • 38 mins
Episode 224 | Living with the Land – A Conversation with Dennis Arguelles This past fall, TFALpodcast’s Elaine took a California Naturalist Training Institute course with Community Nature Connection (CNC). CNC offers this course to anyone who aspires to be a steward of the land. CNC also offers customized trainings like: Backpacking 101 Camping CA...
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