#30 - Mỹ Thị Bùi

Naoko Tsunoda was born in Los Angeles in 1976 and adopted by Japanese expats the following year. Despite knowing she was adopted, it was not until she turned 18 that Naoko’s parents revealed that she is ethnically Vietnamese. Thus began a decades-long search for the missing pieces of her history, culminating in the discovery of her birth name: Mỹ Thị Bùi. Now in her forties, Naoko is learning to embrace her dual identities via her love of tea. The events of 2020 propelled her to start her own online tea boutique, Key To Teas, where she offers tea sourced directly from Japan and Vietnam. 2020 also sparked a search for her birth mother and an older half-sister. She hopes that by sharing her story, this serves as a beacon to help reunite them.

#29 - Pod Swap! Self-Evident

Bonus Episode, Self-Evident: How Do Stories Change Lives? The impact of storytelling is often portrayed as a story changing the life of the person consuming it — and changing the world by reaching as many people as possible. But what about the person who offers their story to be consumed? How else can we define the value of our life’s stories, and the importance of how they’re shared?In this second episode of a three-part series, Managing Producer James Boo invites Randy Kim (Host of the Banh Mi Chronicles) and Tracey Nguyen Mang (Host of The Vietnamese Boat People) to dig deep and get personal about how they’ve seen participation in storytelling change the life of one person at a time.Self-Evident Credits:Produced by James BooEdited by James Boo and Harsha NahataSound mix by James Boo and Timothy Lou LySelf Evident theme music by Dorian LoveOur Executive Producer is Ken IkedaSelf Evident is a Studio To Be production. Our show is made with support from PRX and the Google Podcasts creator program — and our listener community.