EP 120: Season 4 Finale - Behind The Scenes Of My Passion Project
Welcome to the season finale of the Fuck Saving Face podcast! In this heartfelt episode, I reflect on the journey of Season 4, filled with inspiring guests and meaningful conversations aimed at empowering mental and emotional health for Asian Americans and voices of color.
Reflecting on Season 4: I’m deeply grateful for the amazing guests who've shared their stories, making this season both unique and impactful. I’m taking a summer hiatus to embark on exciting adventures with my daughter and partner, traveling to Mexico, New York, and Montana.
A Passion Project Unveiled: During the break, I’ll be focusing on my long-awaited book, How to Disappoint Your Parents in 10 Shameless Steps: a Modern Asian American Guide. Despite challenges in figuring out the best publishing path forward, I remain committed to sharing my journey authentically, reflecting on my personal and professional growth.
Empowerment Through Connection: The podcast has fostered invaluable connections and even led to meaningful client relationships. I emphasize my commitment to making a positive impact through mental and emotional health advocacy.
Season 5: A Project of Heart: Teasing Season 5, I unveil plans for a deeply personal 10-part series inspired by my book. I’ll be pivoting creatively, focusing on what truly matters to me.
Personal Growth and Fitness: I share my transformative experience with personal training, reflecting on newfound strength and resilience. Training sessions with Andrew not only enhance my physical fitness but also offer mental and emotional support, aligning with my journey of self-discovery and empowerment.
Looking Ahead: As we prepare for the next season, I invite you to reflect on your own journeys, celebrate resilience, and embrace personal growth.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in mental health, authenticity, and the multifaceted experiences of women of color in today's society. Thank you for being part of this journey with me.
Download a sample of my book:
How to Disappoint Your Parents in 10 Shameless Steps: A Modern Asian American Guide
Takeaways
Season 4 of the podcast is coming to an end, and Judy Tsuei is taking a summer hiatus to travel and work on her passion project, a book titled 'How to Disappoint Your Parents in 10 Shameless Steps, a Modern Asian American Guide.'
Judy discusses the challenges she faced in getting her book published and the importance of having a big platform in the publishing industry.
The podcast has been fulfilling for Judy in terms of making connections and providing mental and emotional health support and resources.
Judy shares her experiences with personal training and how it has had a positive impact on her mental and emotional health, as well as her relationships and business.
Season five of the podcast will focus on Judy's book and will be a project from her heart, regardless of the challenges she may face in production and publishing.
For updates and more inspiring content, visit wildheartedwords.com and sign up for Judy's newsletter. Your support and feedback mean the world!
Episode Highlights
00:00 Introduction and Season Four Wrap-up
01:17 The Challenges of Publishing a Book
04:01 The Impact of Personal Training
09:22 A Project from the Heart: Season Five
Transcript:
Judy Tsuei (00:02.606)
Welcome to the F*ck Saving Face podcast where we're empowering mental and emotional health for Asian Americans and voices of color by breaking through taboo topics. Life may not always be pretty, but it is indeed beautiful. Make your story beautiful today.
Judy Tsuei (00:24.462)
Okay, so we're wrapping up season four. It's been a long and kind of different season. There have been a lot of people who've reached out to me to ask to be guests on the show, which is very, very flattering. People I highly admire and respect. And so we wanted to push out those interviews. But now we are going to close season four, take a summer hiatus. I'm taking my daughter to travel to Mexico, to New York. I'm gonna take a birthday trip with my partner to Montana.
And then from there, we will reconvene. And during the summer, I am mapping out season five, which is gonna be a bit different. So I've had this passion project and this book that I've wanted to write for a very, very long time. I've mentioned it in various places every single time that I've been interviewed to just kind of gauge awareness and interest about it.
And it's called How to Disappoint Your Parents in 10 Shameless Steps, a Modern Asian American Guide. So I wrote a whole book proposal for this, had a high level agent at CAA review it. I've had different agents review it. And they've all come back and shared with me that memoir is really hard to publish unless you have a very big platform. My platform may not be big in terms of, you know, those millions of followers. I have clients with millions of followers, but...
It is meaningful to me. I've had people who followed me for years, decades even. I actually had someone reach out to me who I hadn't spoken with in 25 years. So that's probably the max. And recently a new marketing client, and I'm putting new in quotes because we'd actually worked together seven years ago and they remembered me, reached back out to me and, you know, asked if I was still available because they've now transitioned and they're ready to launch a whole new company in a bigger way. So we're.
starting with them and that's very exciting. So those are the kinds of relationships that I've built in my life online and offline. And that to me is the most meaningful because when I did my Ikigai, if you haven't done your Ikigai, it's basically that one key purpose that you have in your life. And it's a very extensive exercise to figure out what it is. Mine was impact. It is impact. And I always want to know that I'm making a positive and beneficial impact. Even if it's in the smallest of gestures.
Judy Tsuei (02:44.654)
or in the biggest of ways. So because of that, I've found that this podcast has been extremely fulfilling to that end. Does it generate revenue? No. However, it has led to remarkable connections and some people have actually become clients or I know that the purpose of it is to provide mental and emotional health support and resources so that you know that you're not alone. So that...
you know that things can get better on the other side of whatever it is that you're going through so that someone else can put into words things that you've experienced that maybe you didn't have the words to articulate. And ultimately to provide some resources for those of us who are either new to the mental and emotional health journey or rediscovering ourselves. And maybe we don't have the resources to invest in a therapist or
in any of the resources that we wish that we could have. And so this is not by any means medical care. It's not in replacement of therapy, but it will hopefully provide some sort of hope and just the feeling that there is someone who gets what you're going through and that you're not going through it alone.
My hope is that in season five, as I reveal chapters of the book, that you'll see exactly what I've gone through. And I will share that I recently signed up to work with a personal trainer. One of my dear friends, Kim, invited me to a boxing class. And if any of you have never done boxing and actual sparring, it's extremely cathartic, especially if you've had anger issues to work through or highly stressful situations or whatnot. So I actually had gloves that...
funnily enough, I tried to sell because I like to declutter as much as possible. And it never really worked out and I'm glad that I never sold them. And so it's come back around. I used to do Krav Maga, I used to do kickboxing, and the person who owns the studio immediately was just such a light. I had a huge smile on my face after the first class. Also, I had felt muscles that I hadn't felt.
Judy Tsuei (04:56.846)
in a really, really long time, even though I do work out regularly. And so he came up to me after class one day and said, hey, I want to work with you. And this was after there was another woman in class who saw me boxing and she's like, this isn't your first time, right? Because you for sure aren't boxing like this is your first time. And so Andrew and I have started working together in personal training sessions. And I've actually found it has been monumental.
in so many other aspects of my life and we've only just begun. So he continues to amplify me, build up my confidence. And I see that playing out in different interpersonal relationships. I see it playing out in my business. And this is a big investment in me, in just specifically me. And I know Andrew's also gone through different life experiences. He's a decade older than I am. And because of this,
The sessions that we have are not just physical, but they're also mental, emotional support, and even business support. So we've been able to talk about different opportunities that my branding and marketing agency can support his business and his venture, especially as he's looking to expand in a different state. And we talk about what our core values are in building a business. What is meaningful to us? Is it meaningful to us to...
let's say make the most money possible or is it more meaningful to us to be able to spend time with those that we love? And I do. Right now my daughter is nine. She's already told me, mom, when I go into fourth grade, I would like for you to not do this, this and this because it's embarrassing. And so we have a very open conversation.
Her child therapist told me that she loves seeing when my daughter and I come into the room together and the three of us talk because she can see how close we are. And hearing that just really makes my heart delight because she is a priority. We just went whale watching here in San Diego to go see the blue whales that are migrating. And I turned and I looked at her at some point, we were on this really fast moving catamaran. She was smiling so big with her eyes closed and just.
Judy Tsuei (07:06.318)
in pure bliss and glee and turned and looked at me and just told me how happy she was. And that means the most to me. So in me building my company, yes, a goal is growth. A goal is to hit certain revenue markers. But those goals are not at the sacrifice of the time and the freedom that I get to spend with her to be able to take these opportunities to really be with her. And especially as a divorced parent since
I already only get half the time with her, it makes it even more meaningful. And even better still, Andrew offers a kids boxing class. So Wilder is the only girl in this class with boys and watching her form, watching her box, she loves it so much. And during the summer, he's mentioned that because all the kids are going to be on summer,
vacation and summer hiatus, he's going to take a little break. But he said, if you and your daughter want to come in, if your daughter wants private sessions, I'm happy to give those to her because he sees her potential. He's continually building her up in class, saying how strong she is. She outperforms the boys. My daughter really loves it. And to be able to encourage and nurture that with a strong force beyond me that's supporting her is remarkable. Andrew's been telling me that he can't wait.
for me to see the before and after pictures of me after 12 weeks. I'm excited for all of the different levels. It's empowered me to even talk to my therapist and say, you know what, we've been working together for almost two years. It's been absolutely supportive and helpful. I have these tools now and I wanna try to figure out other ways that I can support my mental and emotional health. And right now,
these personal training sessions are it. One of the goals that we've been trying to work on in therapy is me owning my life and really enjoying it and no longer waiting and no longer asking for permission. Now this looks the way that I thought that it was going to look and I'm very, very excited about it. So to that end, next season, I actually reached out to a production house that works with
Judy Tsuei (09:22.382)
NPR podcasts and really big name podcasts, asking them for an assessment of this idea that I have for this 10 part series about my book. And I've had other publishers and people tell me, if you broaden the category beyond Asian Americans, there are so many other people who can relate. Children of immigrants, people who come from different multicultural backgrounds. However, it pans out. I even worked with a book coach to...
come up with a structure for a book that I can and probably will write that will amplify my personal brand and hopefully create opportunities to do more live speaking opportunities. But this season five is going to be a project from my heart. It's going to be what I want to write. The production house came back with a quote that was extremely beyond my budget. And I think that the important thing is to pivot.
Whenever we are offered more information, we can decide yes or no. And we can also decide maybe there's another option I haven't explored. Maybe this is a redirection. Maybe it's a time for me to bank on myself. And that's exactly what I'm doing for season five. So I hope that you will join me in taking this hiatus, enjoying your summer. I'm hoping that here in San Diego, the sun will come out. It's
tends to come out at 530 now. It's like gray all day and then comes out then. But I hope that when we relaunch, that it will be filled with so many stories and so many moments for you to see what can transpire over time and how you can triumph over challenges that at times can be truly heartbreaking and very lonely. In training with Andrew, one of the things that he's told me is you are extremely strong.
I've known this intellectually for the things that I've overcome in my life and in my past and even in my marriage and divorce. But I don't think that I fully grasped it until I see this person who is this epitome of strength. I mean, he's extremely fit and has trained, I don't know how many, you know, thousands of people at this point, built and sold multiple gym businesses.
Judy Tsuei (11:37.454)
But when he looks at me and he's like, you don't even know how strong you are. And the way that you look at yourself is not the way that I see you, which if you're like me, you've probably heard that from other people before. I wish you could see yourself the way that I see you. But being there in that space and having someone champion you and to affirm that you are strong, that I am strong, he could tell just from the way that I move, how athletic I am.
that he could see and he's like, I don't think you realize how strong you are. You have such endurance. I see you in class. I see the way that you box. I can tell immediately watching different students in class, what they're working through, what their stamina is, where they are in terms of fitness. And all of that has been just such a big reminder of.
our capacity and our potential. And when you had to hustle and grind for so long, I think we just become accustomed to how resilient we are and how tenacious we are. And we forget how much work it took for us to get here and how much power we have to continue to move forward and create the lives that we want. So my invitation for you now listening to this episode and as you take a break,
for the summer, or if you want to go back and listen to all the previous episodes, is that I hope you remind yourself every single day. I hope you look in the mirror, which is something that my therapist has told me to do, to continue to affirm 25 positive attributes. I now look in the mirror and I say things like, I love you, please forgive me, thank you. That's the Ho 'oponopono Hawaiian practice. And I have forgiveness work that I continue to do for myself.
have love work that I continue to do for myself. And as I continue to do this, I bring it into the world in my work. I now have an amazing team. We're continuing to grow. People can sense our company culture. They're referring us onwards. And my team believes in us. They believe in what we have the capacity to do. And every single time I talk to them, I know how talented they are. And I cannot wait.
Judy Tsuei (13:54.894)
the world to see more of that. So from the professional front to the parenting front where, you know, I have this trainer who gets to see me and my daughter in different facets, gets to see the way that we connect with one another. And he continues to remind me that it's through the hard work that I'm doing on myself that we have the relationship that we do, that she is becoming the human who she is because I give her the space and the room and the safety to do that. And I just want you to know,
If you need to hear this reminder today, that you are so powerful and that you've probably forgotten because it's been a grind or you've been going or you've kept your sights looking forward and not really taking a pause, taking that pulse check of where you are now, or even maybe you're in a dip and a lull and I'm here for you, I wanna see us all thrive.
and just feel so content and at peace and at ease. So if you want to stay in touch, I will continue to send out my newsletter. You can go to wildheartedwords .com and sign up for that. And I just really look forward to what this switch up for season five is going to be, because it will truly be all the stories that I've wanted to share, everything that I wanted to write, and what I genuinely feel like my purpose has been.
on this planet to take all of those experiences that I've gone through and transmute them and bring them up on a bigger level. As I always say, life may not always be pretty, but it is indeed beautiful and you can make your story beautiful. Wishing you well, stay in touch.
Judy Tsuei (15:46.766)
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you'd like to support me and this show, please go to iTunes and leave your review. It means so much to me and it'll help others find this podcast. I'll catch you in the next episode. And if you'd like to stay in touch between now and then, please visit wildheartedwords .com and sign up for my weekly newsletter. I've had people share with me that it's the best thing to arrive in their inbox all week. Aloha.
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Keywords: F*ck Saving Face podcast, Judy Tsuei, podcast, season, book, publishing, mental health, personal training, strength, relationships, parenting
