Hi there, you are listening to pei pals and today I am interviewing someone I’ve known for 39 years, quite literally my longest lasting pal, my mom.

So welcome to a special episode of the podcast—one that’s a little different and a lot more personal. Today, I’m sitting down with my mom for our first-ever recorded conversation.

We’ve never really done this before—just the two of us, talking about her life, our family, and things we’ve never said out loud. It’s truly astonishing the things we never discuss with our parents because we just take it for granted.

In this conversation, I get to learn more about who she was before she became “Mom”—her upbringing, the challenges she faced, the things she felt but didn’t always show.

There are stories I’ve never heard, emotions we’ve tiptoed around, and some real moments of reflection. It’s been eye-opening and surprisingly grounding to hear her perspective, especially on things I thought I already understood.

This episode is a chance to slow down and connect—to look past the everyday roles we play and just see each other as people. I hope it sparks something for you too—maybe a conversation you’ve been meaning to have with someone important in your life.

So here it is—me, learning more about my mom than I ever expected, and appreciating her in a whole new way. Thanks Mom.

Hi there, you’re listening to Pei Pals, and today I’m interviewing my friend Davis.

Davis, for lack of a better word, is an alien. And I mean that with affection—truly, in the most positive way possible. I later discovered that whatever I I was feeling is the feeling of being in the presence of a future billionaire. They're just built different.

I met Davis over Korean BBQ a few years ago when I was based in Taipei, and as I mentioned—it was instant confusion. Is this guy for real? Is his brain composed of TSMC processors, and his heart a humming motherboard?

But I quickly learned he’s one of the most caring, considerate, and generous people I’ve ever met. And the more you learn about him, the more it all makes sense. He’s a true onion in that respect—layer after layer, but at the center, a chewy, gooey, golden nugget.

Who else do you know who set going to Harvard as a goal when he was six—while basically living in poverty, with occasional blackouts from unpaid electric bills? Or who gave to charity and supported his entire family with his very first paychecks out of university?

Actually, Davis is the person who inspired me to start giving more to charity, which eventually led to the creation of my nonprofit Baan Books (Thai for House of Books) and everything that followed.

We don’t talk about work much, because if you know me, you know I usually find that the least interesting part of most people. Let’s just say this: Davis is determined to make an impact, change lives, and inspire—and he’s already doing all of that, very successfully.

Thanks, Davis!

Kanae, or Kanae-chan as I usually refer to her, just happens to be one of Japan’s most well-known Latin dancers. But to me what stands out more is how that happened, and that's all about her mindset and approach to dance.

We met at a dance festival in Tokyo - actually she had a solo performance, and I managed to work up the nuts to ask her for a dance. It turned out that we have a lot in common, which is something you’ll occasionally find in dance.

People have hobbies such as dance for many reasons - some to just have fun, some to socialize, some to be active and get out of the house. For me, one of the primary reasons is to challenge myself and create a feeling of self-growth, since it comes with a pretty large learning curve. In other words, you'll get people with ambitious and somewhat obsessive personalities (guilty) and Kanae-chan is similar here.

Her other big passion is self-growth and self-love. Again, not surprising since they are all related to ambition and drive in some way.

We’ve got a short episode here with Ms. Sunshine. We talk about green and red flags in people, the specific affirmations she’s used to feel happier in her life, the somewhat enclosed box that is Japanese culture, and what the future holds for her in terms of life coaching.

Sugoi ne, Kanae-chan