Hello, hello, it's Brooke Divard and you're listening to the naked beauty podcast. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. This episode is a little bit different than my typical episodes, but this topic was just too important. And I think one of the things about having a podcast and the platform is you can use that platform to tell other people stories to raise awareness to increase empathy.

And with all of the violence and anti Asian rhetoric happening, I thought this was too important to let just pass by crimes targeting Asian Americans have risen dramatically since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic stop a API hate is a coalition that tracks incidents of violence and harassment against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the US and they have reported nearly 3,800 instances of discrimination against Asians in the past year.

And the number could be much higher because elderly people are being targeted for these attacks, which is just awful and heartbreaking. It makes you just wonder what's even happening with humanity.

But because these attackers are targeting older people, sometimes these incidents of hate crime are not being reported because they're targeting people that may not have the access or the knowledge or the language skills to know to report these crimes, which is again part of the problem.

As I spoke to the three amazing women that you'll hear from today on this episode, there are some themes that constantly came up.

This idea of the Asian community being gaslit and being made to feel like what's happening to them is not as serious as it is media portrayals and how a lack of Asian representation really harms people's understanding of the Asian American experience, but also growing up not seeing yourself reflected impacts your sense of self as well.

We talk about this hate crime in Atlanta and how the media is reacted to it. And in some instances isn't even referring to it as a hate crime.

We talk about Asian women being hyper sexualized and how that's impacted the women that you're going to hear from.

For me, one of the things that's been really eye opening as I reflect back on my own education is that we don't learn about Asian American history as much.

And from a historical perspective, and you think about the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned immigration to America from China.

Chinese people in this country were not even allowed to become American citizens until 1943.

And our country has a history of racism and policy against Asian Americans.

And I don't think it's something that we talk about or reflect on enough. So I have linked to some resources in the show that so you can educate yourself and learn more because I think that's very important for all of us to do.

So on this episode, you guys are going to hear from Charlotte Cho who is Korean American and she started so co-glammed.

And then an amazing skincare line called, then I met you that I just absolutely love her episode of naked beauty is amazing.

And if you are a K beauty fan, she pioneered K beauty in the United States. So you have to go back and listen to her episodes from about a year ago.

Then I talked to Lucy Zhang, my longtime friend. She does social for Vogue magazine. She had a lot to say and just spoke so openly about how everything happening right now is impacting her, but also reflecting back on growing up and being made to feel different.

And then being fetishized when it comes to dating. And then I speak to my amazing manager at work, Natalie Chan, she grew up in Sydney. So she has a different perspective.

But we have a lot of parallels in terms of growing up and going to majority white schools and how that impacted us. So I really think you guys are going to learn a lot from hearing from these three women that have gathered from this conversation.

And I would encourage you all to kind of heed their advice. One of the questions that I ask every single person I interview is what do you want allies to understand about this moment and what can allies do to help.

And they gave some really great tips and advice. So please enjoy this episode. Share it with people in your community and your network who also want to build empathy for the Asian American or Asian experience.

And thank you guys so much for listening. Let's get into the episode.

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