Courtesy Jennifer 8 Lee

Believe it or not, Jennifer 8. Lee did not grow up dreaming of becoming a journalist.  Instead, she aspired to be what few little girls dream of—an investment banker. As a 13-year-old, before Wall Street’s heyday, she stumbled upon a children’s guide to investment banking. The book painted a wonderful picture of how investment bankers help build a better world. The idea may seem humorous given today’s economic climate, but for the self-proclaimed science and math geek, Lee believed the profession “seemed like a good and honorable thing to do, being able to build the infrastructure of the country.”

At Harvard, she continued to follow her passion for numbers by majoring in applied math and economics, but ultimately decided against an investment banking career. “Everyone in college wanted to do investment banking, but I was never someone who wanted to do what others wanted,” she recalled. Her need to avoid following the herd is clear—after all, how many people do you know with a number for a middle name?

Journalism, though, was not something Lee stumbled into. During high school, she was editor-in-chief of her school newspaper, had entered many writing contests and was a writer for The Harvard Crimson. She remembers being a “painfully mediocre writer” until spring of her junior year.

During the summer between her junior and senior year of high school, Lee decided she wanted to become a journalist after attending a Dow Jones program for minority youth. She wrote a story about how organizations used arts to help gay teenagers open up about their sexuality. After interviewing and being touched by the story of an African American gay teenager who had tried to commit suicide twice, she realized that through journalism, she was “able to listen to people’s stories and give them a voice.”

Now, Lee is a well-known, influential Asian American journalist, having worked for eight years with The New York Times, which she joined at the age of 24, and also as an author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, which examines how Chinese food in America is very much American. She explained that The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is “an allegory of self. You look at this thing—it’s Chinese, but made in America.” While conducting research for the book, she reached out to the Chinese diaspora, finding it amusing to encounter ethnically Chinese individuals like her who were not only American, but also Indian and African.

The success of the book led to an appearance on the Colbert Report as well as a TED talk, both of which Lee credits for legitimizing her in the eyes of Silicon Valley professionals. After accepting a buyout package from The New York Times, Lee is doing less writing and more of what she calls “structuring.”  She describes herself as an “operational and systems person” and is keen on building a system that departs from legacy media, such as newspapers, and moves toward new forms of media.

While “many people have been lamenting the death of print,” Lee believes that the industry is due for its next stage of evolution. Lee is excited to contribute to shaping the future of journalism, which she believes will revolve around “knowledge sharing, building relationships and furthering the osmosis between techies and writers.”  Through her involvement with Hacks/Hackers, Lee works with  journalists and techies to build a system in which writers can reach a broader audience through different forms of media and allow them to become more business-savvy and marketable. For Lee, this is particularly relevant in today’s environment where blogs and online journals highlight the prevalence of web-based self-expression.

For this reason, Lee is pushing for journalism’s next wave, which will allow people to connect more extensively through social and digital media. For example, she is working toward the proliferation of low-cost, open-source tools such as Wordpress, the transformation of Wiki software to being geographically specific and for primary source materials to be available to the public. If her work succeeds, we can look forward to a world where journalism is even more revolutionized. This will be when formerly private videos, photos, documents and programs become more available and individuals immerse themselves in the journalistic process.

As Lee looks forward to journalism’s future, she also reflects on her own successes.  Thinking about the advice she would give her teenage self, she said, “It will all work out.  Everything happens for a reason, even if you do not know what the reason is at the moment.” Clearly, she has taken this advice to heart. From dreams of investment banking to esteemed journalist and author, Lee has transformed herself and will continue to do so by strengthening the relationship between tech-savvy and content-minded individuals and welcoming the changing media landscape.

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“We’d find ourselves always circling back to why it was so significant to have good Asian representatives instead of lame ones—there are so few public figures in the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) universe, that it [unfortunately] places a burden on those in the public eye to represent us all,” said Nguyen.

Courtesy Hyphen Magazine

And that’s exactly how Disgrasian came to be: The two created a simple hit list of all the “Disgrasians” (disgraceful Asians) and “Amazians” (amazing Asians), or for lack of a better word, a “Boba” if you were on the fence.

The rest is history. Since then, Disgrasian has grown to average over 11,000 unique visitors every month. The blog eventually evolved into a prime source of AAPI pop culture, as well as a candid forum for discussing hard-hitting issues about race, politics and society.

“There’s never one simple point of view that shameful behavior is all around us in this world, and that you don’t have to bang anyone over the head with facts and figures in order for them to learn a thing or two. It’s not about telling anyone what to think—or readers necessarily agreeing with what we think. It’s far more effective to draw someone with a laugh and get them thinking for themselves,” said Nguyen.

Whether it’s about the longstanding tradition of public shaming in China or the embarrassing candid photos of the “Asian Jersey Shore” cast, Disgrasian offers readers, Asian or not, a unique way of sharing their opinions, gaining perspective and discovering something about themselves they never knew.

“If something in the news pisses me off, then it’s probably something I should write about,” Wang said.

The pair said they work independently from each other, and there are very rare occasions when they will write about the same topic. Every week, Wang and Nguyen feature an “Amazian of the Week” and a “Disgrasian of the Week,” which vary from politicians, athletes and celebrities to ordinary people doing amazing and not-so-amazing things.

But like many Asian Americans, Wang and Nguyen lead ordinary lives doing extraordinary things. Growing up, Wang and Nguyen had tough Asian parents and their upbringing has become something that defines them. Though their families don’t quite understand what blogging is, they are very supportive of their work—and that’s all that matters.

“They’re excited about what we’re doing and how the site is growing. Sometimes I think my mom and dad are the most faithful people in the world because they always get behind my creative endeavors even though they only semi-understand what I’m doing,” Nguyen said.

Wang’s parents read the blog every day and send them notes on how they enjoy reading their articles. Their parents have always had insights and opinions to share, which has helped their blog grow every day.

“Both my parents read the blog and love it,” Wang said. Ironically, her parents don’t realize that when they read about “Hardass Asian Parents,” they are reading about themselves.

“My mom doesn’t recognize herself at all in what we’re writing. She’s quick to point out how terrible and overbearing her Chinese friends are to their children, but when talking about herself, she’ll say something like, ‘Your dad and I were really chill. We never pushed you to do this and do that.’ And I’m always like, ‘Riiiiight.’”

Wang followed a path any “Hardass Asian Parent” would want for their children. She went to an Ivy League, played not one but several musical instruments, got straight A’s, and did well on her SATs. But even though she eventually took an unconventional path by becoming a writer, she’s doing what she always wanted to do.

“For a moment in seventh grade, I wanted to be an astronaut, mostly to impress my ‘Hardass Asian Dad,’ who’s a physics professor and consulted for NASA. I kind of wish that I had followed that ambition a bit more because it would be really effin’ cool to go to space! But, other than that, I was always the kid who kept a journal and wrote short stories and made up little histories—like the time I created a genealogy for the Pac-Man ‘family’—so yeah, I guess I always wanted to be a writer.”

When asked how being Asian American defines them the most, Nguyen says it’s a need for approval that never dies, no matter how hard she tries to bury it. For Wang, it’s being a perfectionist because there’s no difference between being Asian and being a perfectionist. To her, being Asian is about always wanting to be the best.

With thousands among millions of devoted followers and fans, where will Disgrasian take us next? Wang and Nguyen said they will keep doing what they want to do until they don’t. And that’s the beauty of writing—it’s a long, miserable yet rewarding journey that you just have to trust will take you somewhere.

As Nguyen said, “This is actually really un-Asian: we don’t know.”

Wang said, “Who knows. But honestly, there is no Disgrasian crystal ball. My ‘Hardass Asian Dad’ always said I was a poor planner—and, you know what? He was right!”

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Q: You have been labeled as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.  To what do you attribute your success?

Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

A:  David Filo and I began creating a directory of the web, which would become the foundation for Yahoo in 1994, as engineering graduate students at Stanford University. We were fortunate to live in a country that enabled entrepreneurs to flourish, innovate and thrive due to a strong commitment to R&D [research and development] and education, access to capital and a culture that encourages innovation.

Living in Silicon Valley, we had access to mentors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, lawyers and a very talented workforce. Risk-taking is a key ingredient to success and failure often a badge of honor. Growing up in this type of environment and hearing the stories of other entrepreneurial companies like Apple, HP, Intel and Cisco gave me the courage to take an entrepreneurial path, innovate and follow my passions.

Q:  How does today’s Yahoo compare to your vision for the company when you first founded it?

A:  It’s pretty similar, although the internet has gone through enormous growth since we started Yahoo in a small campus trailer. Our vision has always focused on providing access to the things that matter most to our users. When we started Yahoo, there were less than 20,000 websites and fewer than 10 million people globally on the internet. Today, there are more than 200 million websites with 90,000 created daily, and the internet population is nearing 2 billion people.

Fundamentally, we’ve also always believed that the majority of content on the internet should be free, as it represents a great social tool for the world. Fifteen years later, we’re serving hundreds of millions of people globally with free content and communications tools and have built a very successful business on an advertising-based monetization model.

Q:  What is your vision for the future of Yahoo? What types of projects are you working on now for Yahoo?

A:  The future of Yahoo looks very bright. There are a few big industry trends right now—more and more devices are internet-enabled, from mobile phones to tablets to televisions. This means that people need more ways to organize and deal with the information on the internet. Yahoo’s original mission to help people navigate the massive amount of information remains truer than ever.

We recently launched new mail and messenger apps for the Android platform, as well as HTML-5-based mail and news sites for the iPhone and a custom-entertainment app for the iPad. Yahoo also announced plans to acquire Associated Content, which provides high quality, personally relevant content. Its 380,000 contributors, creating 50,000 content pieces each month, will enable us to provide even more localized content for our users.

Q:  What continues to inspire you and your vision for Yahoo?

A:  I’m always amazed at how much the internet continues to change people’s lives. As fast as the internet and Yahoo have grown, and as remarkably as our lives have already changed, we are just at the beginning of this great transformation. The internet really does have the ability to transform lives and create socio-economic opportunities for people around the world, especially for those living in emerging markets.

Half of the next billion Internet users will come from emerging markets and most will access the Web on a mobile device. I’m excited to think about how we can create even more relevant and compelling tools and content for the next generation of Internet users.

Q:  If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your teenage self?

A:  I would have told myself to study harder in school (although I studied pretty hard!) and play more sports, especially golf, which I wish I had learned to play when I was young. I would spend more time with my friends and really spend more time listening to my mom, uncles and aunts. Now that I’m getting older, I see they sure were right about a lot of things!

This interview, conducted over e-mail, has been edited for clarity.

Photo: Yahoo!

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Mochi: How did the Google job come along?

Jess: I had expected all along that I would be a software engineer, so those were the jobs I was looking at. I planned to join Intuit, which makes tax and accounting software, when I got an email from a Google recruiter.

Mochi: What was the journey like getting hired by Google?

Jess: The interview process at Google was a lot longer and more chaotic than at other tech companies. I did about 11 interviews, but they were all casual and really friendly.

Mochi: Speaking of casual, I have to ask about the lava lamps and beanbag chairs… Is it true?

Jess: Yes, lots of lava lamps, beanbags, and colorful bouncy balls. I remember I was in the middle of an interview in this room with a floor-to-ceiling glass window that faced the hall, and all of the sudden a huge red ball (the kind you see at the gym) rolled past our room. I stopped mid-sentence and was like “What was that?” and my interviewer waved his hand and said “Oh, don’t worry, that happens all the time.”

Mochi: What’s a typical day like at Google?

Jess: It’s a lot of meetings with my engineers and then some time making mockups of ideas and then designing new features. Of course, punctuated by an amazing lunch/dinner/breakfast at Google’s great cafes. The point of the Associate Program Manager program that I joined was to train young people fresh out of college and to teach them to be product managers. Google just kind of threw you into it and expected you to hit the ground running. Sink or swim.

Mochi: What projects were you working on at Google?

Jess: There is this feature of Google Maps called My Maps, which lets people create their own maps by dragging and dropping pins and plotting lines on the map. In the beginning, we decided we wanted to create a feature that allows people to make their own maps, so we could have a more complete map of the world. I got together with a group of engineers who were also interested, and we got a user interface designer and a usability researcher. It was our little team.

Mochi: So all these people are in different branches of Google?

Jess: Well we’re all generally assigned to Google Maps already, but yes, this was a specific team out of that group. We also got some volunteer help from people in other teams/departments unrelated to Google Maps.

Mochi: Does everyone have time to do everything?

Jess: Google has this thing called 20 percent time where anyone can work on any other project in 20 percent of their time so we had our own group of “20 percenters” who helped out. We started designing the feature with lots of brainstorm sessions, writing on whiteboards, coming up with mockups, building a working prototype. The usability researcher tests it in the lab where people from outside Google come in and play with the feature. We’re on a side of a one-way mirror, watching people interact with the prototype.

Mochi: This sounds like a costly process – innovative yet pricey – how do you think Google is doing now in the recession?

Jess: Well, I left Google in 2007 before the economy tanked, but Google is pretty well positioned because it makes a product that people love to use and it has a strong monetization model that works. With online advertising through Google, you know exactly what you’re getting back for your money.

Mochi: So I guess the only question left is, why did you leave?

Jess: I wasn’t looking to leave, but I had gotten a little restless.

Mochi: And then Polyvore popped up?

Jess: I fell in love with this fashion online community, but the small technical stuff bothered me. So I wrote a long email to the CEO and bam, got offered a job.

Mochi: In this new and upcoming industry … are there a lot of Asians?

Jess: In tech companies? Yes. Especially at Google, promotion of innovation and new ideas is ubiquitous. There’s an open mailing list that anyone can join to mail in ideas and get feedback. In general, tech companies are open company cultures. And, following the liberal feel, Google is race-blind and all kinds of people work there. Google even spoke out against Prop 8 here in California.

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At 25-years-old, Brooklyn-based poet Tao Lin toes the fine line between the sublime and the just plain ridiculous.

From his book titles ["eeeee eee eeee" - the sound dolphins make] to his books’ contents [one of the poems: "some of my happiest moments in life occur on AOL instant messenger"], Lin’s quirky and oft bizarre works invoke a deadpan, absurdist aesthetic. Inspired by “boredom and loneliness,” his poems are akin to empty thoughts on crack. Yet their sheer audacity is pretty hilarious.

This Taiwanese American is no stranger to online stunts either, posting on Craigslist for an “army of interns” and shamelessly promoting his endeavors through blogging and insistent e-mails. Some of his tactics have even garnered him the stink eye from other bloggers and web sites.

Love him, annoyed by him, or just plain dumbfounded by him, the merit of Lin’s work is in the eye of the reader.

His forthcoming book, entitled “Shoplifting from American Apparel,” is set to come out this fall. Mochi recently interviewed Tao Lin via e-mail.

Do you approach your writing with a philosophy or mantra? If so, what is it?

Maybe “write what I want to read.”

Tell me about your journey to becoming a writer.

I played a text-based online role-playing game called “Gemstone III” in middle school. I think that maybe increased my awareness of sentences and adjectives and things to a certain extent. Later on, I read the book version of “Fight Club” [and] then read Kurt Vonnegut after seeing his name on Chuck Palahniuk’s unofficial website. I also saw Amy Hempel’s name on the website and read everything by her … and then at some point I read “White Noise” by Don Delillo, thought it was funny and wanted to write a novel like that.

What does your name mean?

I think it means “the way.”

What is this “army of interns“ you speak of and how does one join?

I advertised for interns on Craigslist once for me and like four other people. The interns would be all of our interns. Something like 200 to 300 people responded, many of them NYU or Columbia students. Later on, I advertised for interns on my blog and people became my interns. To join you just make a blog saying you are my intern. I don’t know who is or is not currently my intern; I don’t communicate with my interns about intern things.

Tell me about your novella, “Shoplifting from American Apparel.” How did the incident that inspired it go down?

I went in American Apparel to shoplift a shirt to wear to a reading I had that night. I remember thinking that the reading was in an art gallery or something and that the shirt I was currently wearing was making me feel bad, which motivated me to want a new shirt. An undercover policeman (or security person) stopped me on the sidewalk outside. [Ed's note: In case you were wondering, Mochi doesn't endorse shoplifting, even though it can make for a fascinating book subject.]

What are you working on now?

I’m responding to e-mails mostly. I have completed my next two books. I made some graphs and posted them on my blog. I am also focused on doing things related to Muumuu House, a press I started. Its first book will come out in March, a poetry book by Ellen Kennedy.

Does your heritage influence your work?

My heritage does not influence my work, I feel, except in ways that anything else would influence my work, like having a toy poodle or having no legs.

What are your books driven by?

I feel my books are driven by me writing what I want to read, which changes often, but could be described as funny, detached, existential literature written mostly in concrete language (unless in the style of Lorrie Moore) about people being depressed or lonely or bored or hanging out.

Is there something that repeatedly inspires you?

Coffee.

How did the G-mail chat poetry come about?

I read G-mail chats and thought “haha.”

To buy Tao Lin’s books, visit his website: http://www.heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com.

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Beauty gadgets and gizmos galore are replacing our basic, daily beauty routine more than ever—and why wouldn’t they? Read below to discover beauty in all of its technological glory.

Clarisonic *Mochi Beauty Editor’s Pick!*

Those who are willing to spend a little extra cash will find a handsome reward with Clarisonic’s breakthrough skincare technology. The Clarisonic removes six times more makeup than regular face-wash. It also helps reduce dry skin patches, oily areas, blemishes, and can be used daily, for all skin types. It comes with a “sensitive skin” detachable brush head that will gently buff away dirt and oil, and includes three cleansers (Refreshing gel, Nourishing gel, and Hydrocare).

Price: $195 at Sephora.com

Neutrogena Wave

For a wallet-friendly cleanser, try the Neutrogena Wave instead. The Wave has a built-in refillable foam cleanser and amotion massage brush, which allows the product to remove dirt, makeup and oil. The product can be used in the shower and is also gentle enough for daily use.

Price $15.99 at Target.com

No! No!

This compact gadget is a portable and sleek hair removal device that uses Thermicon technology -a gentle heat wave that destroys hair painlessly and without irritation – resulting in 64 percent less hair re-growth.

Price: $175 at Sephora.com

Dr. Perricone Light Renewal

For those wanting to improve skin tone and texture or to soften pesky wrinkles and fine lines, Dr. Perricone Light Renewal was developed to gently and effectively do just that – all for a price, of course.

Price: $270 at PerriconeMD.com

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Features:

Wii Balance Board-where all of Wii Fit’s activities are performed

The Body Test:

This test is designed to assess the user’s athletic ability. It begins by checking your center of balance and body mass index. To do so, you stand on the center of the Wii Balance Board with feet spread shoulder-width apart. The Wii will then tell you where your center of balance is based on your posture. For example, if you exert more pressure on the right side of your body when standing up, your center of balance is slightly to the right. The Wii will also provide tips on how to correct your posture, such as suggesting types of exercises you could do. After your center of balance and BMI is calculated, two random balance tests are given, which results in a Wii Fit Age. If you are as fit as a 21-year-old, then your Fit Age will be 21. Your Fit Age can change if you retake the Body Test after becoming more or less in shape. You can track your progress by saving your Body Test results on Wii Fit’s calendar.

The Wii Fit Bank:

The more activities you perform, the more Fit credits will be added to your Fit Bank. The more Fit credits you have, the more activities will be available to you.

The Work Out:

There are more than 40 activities you can do with a Wii Fit. The four main categories are yoga, balance, aerobics, and strength training. With yoga, you can learn how to master the tree and warrior poses. Head-bumping a virtual soccer ball and doing ski jumps are part of balance training while lunges and side planks make up part of strength training. Aerobics exercises include swiveling an imaginary hula-hoop around your waist.

Benefits:

Wii Fit acts like a personal trainer because it shows you how to properly perform certain exercises and tells you which activities you should do to achieve your fitness goals. During and after each activity, you will be given feedback on your performance. As you progress in your training, the level of difficulty increases and more activity options will become available. For example, harder yoga poses will become available to you after you master basic poses. After each activity, you will also be given a star rating on your performance. You can then compare your rating to those of the other people who played Wii Fit.

Price:

The Wii Fit costs approximately $90 and can be purchased online or at stores such as Best Buy.

For more info: http://www.nintendo.com/wiifit

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