Joy Ng is an Asian American writer, community service worker, and events organizer from San Francisco, California. Born and raised in The City, she’s worked with numerous Filipino American organizations, ranging from PACE at SFSU to the Veteran’s Equity Center in SoMa. She actively works within the world of Asian American hip hop, most recently working with Ro3lay to coordinate the Native Immigrant album launch at the  I-Hotel Manilatown Center. With a wide range of experience in both academia and hip hop, she connects both worlds through her writing, publishing pieces such as “Friscopinos & the Native Immigrant” and “Re: CIRCA91.” In addition, she contributes to the telling of Asian American narratives through her “High Tides” series—a set of non-fiction short stories based on her Chinese American mother’s experiences in San Francisco.

In this episode, Joy reads through snippets of her articles (I wish she read more!) while diving into some personal reflections in regards to ethnic identity and community-building. She provides a valuable narrative of Asian American identity, connecting her Chinese American heritage and her deep involvement within the Filipino American community.

3 Pieces of Advice

1. Be fearless.

2. Don’t second-guess yourself.

3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Articles

High Tides: Shaking Earth

In the thick of July summer heat, Yue Ming was eight months pregnant with her second child, while raising her 6-year old daughter and navigating U.S immigration. By 1989, Yue Ming became a naturalized citizen and petitioned her parents’ immigration to the U.S from China with minimal English skills. When she first arrived to San Francisco in 1981, at the age of 21 with her new husband, she wept every night thinking of home […]

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Friscopinos & the Native Immigrant

Seated across Ro3lay in a humid conference room at the Bayanihan Community Center, I quickly cut to the chase, pressing my old friend for an answer from the heart: But WHY did you make Native Immigrant? What makes this different from your last projects? Ro3lay spent the last five years making this album, and would spend the next few months showing me the answer. […]

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Re: CIRCA91

From mother to motherland, CIRCA ‘91 hits hard, cuts deep, and gets straight to the heart of the matter. By the time I made my way to “Us,” I was rolling deep in the set up of poetic construction in Ruby’s storytelling, from recounting working class migrant stories, survival in America, fatherhood disappointment, and looking for a place of self, to delivering one of the most powerful rise-up tracks of 2017. Alongside Rocky Rivera, Klassy, and Faith Santilla going full force on “Us,” this line up of unapologetic emcees pushed everything over the edge with the ultimate Filipina power anthem. […]

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Shoutouts

Ro3lay

Ruby Ibarra

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