APEX Express: Sharing Our Personal Pink Box Stories on the Radio
On the evening of Thursday, November 14, 2019, Michelle Sou and I had the exciting opportunity to speak live on 94.1 KPFA’s APEX Express — Michelle by phone from Washington, D.C., and me, seated in the cozy downtown Berkeley studio with host Miko Lee. The energy of the studio was buzzing as Lee explained how the show would run while positioning the microphone in front of me. As I placed the headphones over my ears, the “On Air” sign blinked on, the theme song of the show began to play, and Lee introduced the segment:
You are tuned into APEX Express. We are bringing you an Asian and Asian American view from the Bay and around the world. This is your host, Miko Lee, taking you on a delicious, sweet journey into the land of yummy Cambodian donut shops, so keep it locked on APEX Express.
(Founded in 1949, KPFA is a listener-funded talk and music radio station that broadcasts across the San Francisco Bay Area, and in Santa Cruz and Fresno.)
In this interview, Michelle and I spoke about how our personal stories and UC Berkeley connections led us to get involved with Pink Box Stories, and how we helped to create this platform.
Check out a sneak peek of our stories below:
MIKO LEE: “ It’s just fascinating that… like so many of our immigrant stories, it’s about creating a kind of underground banking system. To do loans for other families so they can set up shops… there’s a financial component, right?”
As I got older I realized as immigrants you need credit to build these businesses. And so it really boggles my mind how my dad was able to do that with very little education and definitely no credit history in the United States.
MICHELLE SOU: “Yes, absolutely. My parents did the same thing as well …I was wondering how they were able to get that capital because as I got older I realized as immigrants you need credit and you need a line of credit to build these businesses and have investments. And so it really boggles my mind how [my dad] was able to do that with very little education and definitely no credit history in the United States.
My mom was trying to explain to me the informal network. In Chinese it’s called a hui… it’s kind of like a circle of very trusted connections that we will put in a certain amount of capital that’s agreed upon every month. They’ll have some sort of lottery system so that one person would get to take that lump sum and invest it in a business. Then every month, there would be a trusted person to be able to make sure that everyone is putting in the money and it’s being distributed properly. It’s a very tight-knit circle.”
MIKO LEE: “Tell us what you want people to know, if they find Pink Box on Medium or Instagram, what do you want them to walk away with?”
DEBBIE KIM: “…I think especially in this current political climate, I feel like for me, I see this as really a celebration of immigrants.. but also to recognize the hardships has taken for us to get here. And I think right now it really sends a strong message that we really do stand in solidarity with our community and that, you know, we are a strong community, whether you’re a donut kid or not.
I really think that it’s so important right now that we do stand together to be able to show that, you know, immigrants do work hard, immigrants do bring so much to this country, and it’s so wonderful to do that, through donuts.”
Get Pink Box Stories five times a month by following us on Instagram at @pinkboxstories. We’ll continue to publish in-depth stories here on Medium once-a-month. If you have connections or contributors to suggest, contact us on Instagram at @pinkboxstories or by e-mail at pinkboxstories@gmail.com.
