One in a Billion

How can you make a difference when you are still climbing the career ladder and have little money to spare? How much can you give when you already focus so much of your time and effort to gain acceptance, appreciation, and accolades at work and in life?

Listen to my podcast conversation with Kyung B. Yoon -

Why would a Harvard-educated college graduate and medical school student get thrown out of a UCLA medical residency? What did he do wrong? What did he do right to get back in?  And why would he later quit his medical residency to pursue creative projects including documentary-filmmaking in China? 

Most intriguingly, how did any of these paths pave the way for hi...

Why does an American-born Chinese philanthropist want to help young Chinese in America reconnect with their roots? Why is that important? What seeded that passion? 

Tune into my conversation with Carolyn Hsu-Balcer in Episode #3 "Reconnecting with Your Roots."

Carolyn Hsu-Balcer is a designer, philanthropist, and art collector based in Los Angeles and New York.  

Having lived in Hong Kong, Thailand, and the Philippines, she returne...

LifeChangers is about Asian philanthropists sharing stories about life-changing turning points that have shaped their mindset and inspired their philanthropic passion. Now, they feel compelled to change the lives of others.

How old were you when you first started making money? 16? 17? 18?

Meet Mei-Lee Ney - an investment ad...

We kick off Season 6 "LifeChangers" today (August 26th)  with a limited special series.

LifeChangers is about Asian philanthropists sharing stories about life-changing turning points that have shaped their mindset and inspired their philanthropic passion. Now, they feel compelled to change the lives of others. 

What would you do if you've written about becoming a Supreme Court justice, dreamed of a life and career in law, put in a lot of time and work to prepare for that track - then one day you change my mind? 

Is it a waste of time, money and education at that point?

These are some of the questions that Daniel Christopher "D.C." Rogers (Harvard Class of '12) had to wrestle with during his college years. And what made him change his ...

How far will you travel outside of your hometown, your neighborhood, your comfort zone, in order to see the world differently?

Why is it important to keep your sense of insecurity as your companion as you embark on your scientific, academic or philosophical enquiry?

How does failure keep you hungry for success?

Those are some of the questions that have led to surprising discoveries and satisfying rewards for Dr. Neil Shubin (Harvar...

Should a Harvard education prepare you for failure?
Should failure be normalized in the course of higher education?
Or at the very least, would you want to learn how to take or talk about failure?

Those are the sort of questions rarely asked if you're a Harvard student who is used to acing your exams, winning accolades or top awards until one day – you suddenly lose what you've been taking for granted.

In "Where Are They Now?" Episod...

How do I want to engage in the world?
Do I want to be an academic teaching philosophy as a professor?
Wouldn't that be a very inward-looking, insular kind of life?
Is that what I want?

Those were some of the questions Janet Hook, (Harvard Class '77) asked herself before deciding not to pursue a Phd in philosophy.

For Janet, a Harvard graduate with a degree in philosophy and government, her career choice is also a lifestyle choice. She...

Many Harvard Asian American undergraduates I know with immigrant parents who are physicians receive a lot of pressure from their families to be a doctor. But not Divya Narendra, (Class of 2004)

While at Harvard, Divya was given the space and the autonomy he needed to think critically and explore creatively what he wanted as a consumer that was missing in the market. Soon, he became an entrepreneur.

In "Where Are They Now?" episode ...