Manila Mogul | Growing Up With Filipino Parents feat. Chris

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Hello and welcome to Culture Between, a podcast that explores the unique experiences of people who

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have grown up in a culture outside of their parents' culture.  We are your hosts, Alyssa

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and Brianna, and on today's episode, we are excited to be joined by Chris, whose parents

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are from the Philippines. Chris, welcome to the show, and thank you so much for joining

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us. Yeah, thank you guys for having me, Alyssa and Brianna. Thank you so much. Awesome. Do

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you mind just giving a brief introduction to yourself? Yeah, so my name's Chris. It's kind

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of weird because I usually do like a YouTube intro, but... So I'm a solo app developer and

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I basically code apps.  I live and breathe it. I love development and I make YouTube videos

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teaching others how to do it. Nice. And Aloha, is that like your main company? feel like I've

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seen, is that, I know you do the YouTube stuff, but is that kind of your main  company? Gotcha.

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I don't really talk about it on YouTube that often, but  that's actually what I do like

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full-time. So I started this company a long time ago  and that's, the bills. I've been

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working on that. And so all the solo stuff, that's just kind of like on the side for fun,

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like a hobby. Awesome. Very, cool. Awesome. And so, obviously Chris is here to talk about

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his Filipino background. So can you tell us, Chris,  where in the Philippines your parents

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are from and where you grew up? Yeah. So both my parents are from Manila. I wish I could

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tell you guys like more specifically, like where they're from Manila, because they've told me

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a couple of times, but they've also said like a couple of different cities. So I'm like,

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not even sure anymore,  they're both from Manila. And then I grew up in Dallas, Texas. So that's

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where I'm at right now.  But I lived in a bunch of different cities in the U.S.  Not really.

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I haven't lived anywhere outside of the U.S.  But grew up in Dallas and then I decided to

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come back here over the last like two, I think like two, three years ago, I came back.  Do

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you know, does Dallas have a big Latino community or anything or like what brought them to Dallas?

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I'm just kind of curious. That's not a case I hear. It really, it really doesn't have a

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big community. And I think that that definitely  I think had some impact on, like, I think

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we'll probably talk about in deeper questions, but no, there really isn't that big of a community

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here. And as I went to other cities, I think that became more apparent to me when I like

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went to even like going to shockingly, like I went to school in Nashville and I was like,

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wait, there's actually like a bigger community here. And then obviously you go to LA or you

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go to Houston. like, oh wait, there's like a ton of Filipinos here. No, no, not, not too

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much in Dallas. Okay. Yeah. Cause, Texas is not a place I hear many immigrants going to.

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Houston, apparently, is pretty Yeah, Houston I hear it, not... than that, no. Yeah, Okay,

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yeah, because our parents went to this typical New York, you know, north thing. Sorry, I didn't

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mean to catch you. Houston's a big one. It's like to the point where like, I think when

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we wanted specific Filipino food, we would literally do like a five, six hour road trip just to

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get to Houston. That's where all the restaurants are. But there's like nothing in Dallas. And

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I think like every time a Filipino restaurant would open, There's just such a little community

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that it would kind of slow down after like six months usually, which is sad. I think there's

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only like maybe now like one or two Filipino restaurants even in Dallas like today. Wow.

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Okay. We'll definitely get into food near the end for sure. We have usually asked some questions

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about that. But yeah. Well, I mean, now I'm kind of curious. Was that isolating at all?

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Like not having that Filipino community? Or was it like you didn't notice it until you

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went to other places? Definitely the second. think I  just didn't notice it.  Just because,

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like that's all I knew. Like even like the high school I went to, I think  it's kind of

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crazy, but it was like a,  it  was like an all boys like Catholic school.  And it was like

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small. Like the graduating class was like 40 people, which I thought that was normal and

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like big. And then I started like, as I got older and deeper in high school, I was like,

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wait, your high school has like thousand people.  But because of that, it was so small. think

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I was like one of maybe for the entire high school, like the entire high school. I think

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I was one of like four Asian people, entire school. But I think because  that's all I was

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exposed to.  was so normal. So I didn't even notice that there was such a small community.

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It wasn't until I went to college  when I realized, oh, wait, no, this was actually like  very

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different. Like this was very,  this was not a normal thing. Like usually people are exposed

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more to their culture. So. That was something that I did have to figure out, think, during

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college.  My brother,  he went to a high school that was a little bit more diverse. And it

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was interesting because seeing him grow up, he's like way, younger, I think like maybe

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six or seven years younger.  I got to in real time see him come to that realization like

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way, way earlier.  But yeah, that was,  it was,  I think it wasn't isolating until I realized

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it. Interesting. That's really interesting. I mean, I guess if your normal is like that

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small, like hearing for a graduating class of is like, Blows my mind because I don't think

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I've ever lived. My graduating class was like 700. Oh my gosh, her graduation was like five

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hours long. Yeah, so like it's like crazy. I was like, oh, that must be kind of nice because

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I guess everybody knows each other kind of thing. Maybe. But that's really interesting to think

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that like, yeah, but I guess if you just don't know, I don't know. That's yeah, that's kind

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of an interesting experience. We're in Nashville. I'm just curious. Where did you to school in

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Nashville? Yeah, so I went to Vanderbilt University. OK. Yeah, but going back to what you were saying

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about how I've heard other people say that like, yeah, like you don't realize something's different

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until like you're in a different place. And then you're like, oh, wait, this other people

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like did have community and all that. But another thing that I've heard sometimes is that when

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you grow up in a place that like maybe doesn't doesn't have a big Asian community or whatever

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community you're a part of, sometimes as a kid, it makes you kind of want to like not distance

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yourself from your culture, but just like fit in more. Like, did you feel that at all? So

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I think that was something I didn't understand until I went to college, but  I didn't realize

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that I 100 % was doing that,  like 100%. And also, I didn't realize it at the time, but

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I think my parents were also trying to kind of purposely do this as well. So both my parents

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came from the Philippines and... So my dad's a doctor here in the US, he like, like they

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both like, and my mom, when she came to the US  was a nurse, but now she's just like kind

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of helping out my dad with his private practice right now.  They both came from the Philippines,

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super poor, like super poor. Like  it was, I have absolutely no idea how they did that.

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I have no idea how he became a doctor. It like makes no sense to me, but  I do distinctly

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remember that like,  I don't think they were really purposely trying to do it, but looking

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back at it, I think they were. I think they were trying to really force us to fit in with

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like the American culture, like really here because when I listened back to some of the

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stories they were telling us, they would always like tell us how like they had to kind of do

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that to fit in, especially when going into like medicine. And  I think my dad was like, yeah,

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I had to like lose the accent really quick, like because people wouldn't take me seriously.

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Like  when he, cause he's doing like neurology and he said it's like a field where Everyone

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is super old. Everyone is super white. to get that much respect, like you had to kind of

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there. I think same thing with my mom. Like being a nurse, feel like she was probably around

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a lot of other Filipinos because a lot of there's a lot of Filipino nurses. Like that's just

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the thing. But  I do think, though, that to fit in with like the just just the I guess

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like the hospitals and  just kind of to play that game. Like that's kind of what I was hearing

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from them.  They I they kept telling us.  And I, again, I don't, I seriously don't blame

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them at all for this, like, especially looking back, but they would tell us to do certain

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things. like I  distinctly remember, like,  I think they, like, I think they Loki did not

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want us to learn Tagalog, like the Filipino language really wanted us to be  extremely

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good at English. Um, I remember my mom would like  really make sure that,  um, she, her

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like Filipino accent did not come out in certain situations. She got really good at like turning

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it on and turning it off.  And I didn't think much of it at the time, but then looking back,

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I realized like they definitely did that so they can fit in better like themselves. And

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I think they did kind of push that on us. Personally, I didn't find a problem with it because again,

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I didn't know. I had no idea they were doing that. Looking back when I went to college,

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was like, OK, that's kind of messed up. I could tell though that my brother, who when he was

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in like high school, middle school, he again, like he saw this a little earlier that he was

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like a little upset with them about that. Like he was like, why are you not exposing us to

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the culture? Like,  so he kind of went a little more with this identity crisis. But  for me,

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I was like, super ignorant, lived in bliss.  Um, so I didn't bring it up with them, but

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so I did have to talk to him until like, cause he was kind of frustrated with them. Like,

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why didn't you teach us to go? Why didn't you tell us culture? And I explained to him, like,

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did you know, you don't understand, like, like they probably didn't even realize they were

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doing that, but like, was the situation. Like it's different. Like they weren't as accepting,

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like.  Right now, it'd be crazy if someone made fun of your accent while you're talking, like

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now. back then,  you had to fit in, especially  if you want to succeed in a hospital or you

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wanted to play that game. So I think when I explained it to him,  he kind of led up on

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them and realized, okay, this wasn't  on purpose.  I think they like... And I can tell also,

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think now,  my parents are kind of slightly regretting that a little bit.  I can tell they

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kind of wish that they did expose us more. Like  they don't really directly say, like, we wish

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we taught you Tagalog. But like, I think they kind of are like, oh, man, like, like, I can

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tell that they're beating themselves up a little bit for not exposing us to that,  because the

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world is more accepting now. And I think they realize, like, it's, you know, like, that that

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was something that  they probably it's just harder now that we're older to like, to kind

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of gain that stuff. Yeah.  Yeah. I'm sorry. I forgot the original question. No, you're

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good. That was good. That was actually. Gosh, you hit on a lot of things that I was going

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to ask you, so I'm gonna try and recap. So I was gonna ask you, I'm actually familiar with

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Tagalog, I was gonna ask you if you speak Tagalog. Did  you answer that? No.  But,  and I'm gonna

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say,  I mean, it's always so sad to hear a little bit that immigrants feel like they have to

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assimilate. mean,  not that it's bad to assimilate per se, like that hiding the accent, you know?

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And I do find that my mom and dad sometimes will...  cover up their accents a little bit

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when they're around like people they know aren't aren't Jamaican and all that and I'm like mom

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why and it's like whatever, you know, but  Man so many interesting things you okay So a few

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questions I have is did your parents meet in the Philippines and then come over together

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or whether that was it like kind of a separate? Dallas so, okay.  Apparently they both came

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completely separately and then I think they met  I think just cuz like he's a doctor if

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she was a nurse not in the hospital, but I just met through connections, think. of crazy to

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me. like, how is there the chance? There's like such small like, there's like very no Filipinos

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here to begin with. How is it that you just like they're like another one? Identified each

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other. Why? Maybe that's why they like stuck out so far there. Yeah, no, they came separately.

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OK, that's I mean, same with our parents. And then I just think it's funny that you're like,

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yeah, ignorance is bliss kind of kind of thing like your brother and you had very, you know,

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vastly different kind of experiences. But that's cool that you've been able to, I guess, help

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him grapple with that a bit and not be upset and understanding  your parents' vantage point

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there.  Was your dad a practicing doctor in the Philippines before he immigrated here?

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You know, I don't think he was. I he did his residency here. So he, I think, finished med

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school in the Philippines  and then he ended up, yeah, I think, doing residency here. Because

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I think he was telling me, I think he had to apply to like... so many different places to

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like get accepted here. And  it was also crazy because he told me like, this was him bashing

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me when I was doing college applications because I was talking about like, I have so many college

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applications to do. And he was telling me like, you know, I had to apply to like 1000 residency

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programs. We didn't have the internet. I had to hand it to him. And also I couldn't afford

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paper. And I was like, okay,  I won't do that anymore. Yeah.  So I don't think he was practicing

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there.  I he did the residency here and got accepted here.  gotcha. Yeah,  I'm always curious

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about that because I know my mom  was a practicing pharmacist in Jamaica before she came to the

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States.  But a lot of times what happens, know, when you do come to the States, a lot of times,

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even though you've been working professionally, don't transfer and all that, and you kind of

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have to start over. And she had to go to school here in New York. So I was just curious if,

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you know, that was a situation he went to. But I do know that lot of immigrants do kind of

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come over here for residency as well. Go on, but go ahead. you have anything?  Oh, I just

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wanted to know, like  you said, since you grew up with your parents, of either subconsciously

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or consciously, kind of trying to not  be too Filipino, you know?  And now that you're older,

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like have you kind of been  trying to learn more about the culture and learn? Yeah. I think

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definitely OOO. for sure, like, um, at least a little bit more.  But if I'm like really,

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really honest with myself, I can tell that it's definitely not to like the extent of my brother,

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for example. That was something I was kind of struggling with. Like I, I did feel kind of

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bad where I was like, why do I genuinely like not like really care too much to learn about?

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Like, why do I not care about learning Tagalog? Like what, what is up with this? Like is something

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wrong with me? So that was,  I did struggle with a little bit.  Um,  and so. I realized

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though, like,  it was just kind of like how I was able to like reflect on this. I'm like,

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oh, you know what? think like part of it is cause this was kind of suppressed a little

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bit. Again, not their fault. I completely understand why they did it. But, um, I do think that that

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does have an impact on why, like at least compared to a lot of my friends and then definitely

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my brother, like I just genuinely am like not as interested in it. But I think as I'm getting

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older though, and like, um, as I like meet more people and as, especially when I went to college,

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I think that really like improved a lot where I. I started getting at least a little bit

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more of an interest and I have noticed so that has changed like over time.  Just because I

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think I'm like now meeting more Filipino people and I'm meeting more like now when I'm traveling,

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like I'm  like I've gone to the Philippines like a few more times now, like as I've been

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older and it's been completely different where now I'm like, oh, I actually really want to

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like, I really want to come back here and to do that. I actually think I need to understand

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this like a lot more. So I do think that slowly. Yeah, I have been like  really wanting to expose

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myself more naturally and it's like a genuine thing. But for sure, though, like it has been

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like a process.  It's been something that I've I've been like personally bothered with that

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I'm so like like like I'm not that interested in it. Yeah,  hopefully that answers the question.

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No, that makes sense. And I guess that  I can see how that would cause a little bit of a

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complex.  I feel like I had more identity issues than you did growing up. Well, people would

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ask me like, what are you? And I was always like as a kid, like, what does that You know,

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and so but I guess we were so exposed being in Miami where there are a lot of Caribbean's

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and Filipinos and Hispanics and everything there being I guess Different wasn't that I don't

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know. It's kind of a norm Yeah, little bit so it's like but I like if I didn't grow up in

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that culture or where there was exposed to all this stuff would I maybe struggle with the

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same thing, you know, or maybe I should work with it but in a different way as like well,

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why does why people ask me this? Because people go off how you look and blah, blah, you know,

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and stuff. so, man, that's really interesting. OK, so you kind of,  one question I usually

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like to ask too is like, have you been to the Philippines? It sounds like you have. Did you

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go a lot when you were younger, kind of throughout your life? Like, how's that been?  Yeah, we

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went sporadically, like when we were younger, I think, just to like visit grandparents.

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Very, very sporadically, like maybe like once every like  six to seven years or something.

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So I think, yeah,  I think like I think I've gone back more to the Philippines in the last

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two years, which has been,  think, three or four times. Oh, wow.  Okay. Before.  So I've

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been there maybe 10 or 15 times in total.  each  time has been very different as I've gotten

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older, especially  definitely as I've gotten older. I've  had a completely different experience

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now, and I'm a little bit more cognizant about the differences. I actually want to... Like,

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at least now I'm old enough to go kind of explore and like see things and like have a completely

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different experience rather than when I was like five. I have been a couple of times. It's

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been very different every single time, but yeah, it's, it's something that is, I mean, it is

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really expensive. So it's like really hard to come back. But if I could, I do want to, that

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is something I do want to do more, more often. That's cool. Do you have like, yeah, cause

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we used to, when we used to travel, we'd be like, go visit grandma and grandpa. Like, I

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don't know. Nowadays we don't have so many. living family there anymore. But like,  um,

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when you did go to visit your grandparents,  were you even able to communicate with them?

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Yeah. Yeah. Shockingly.  I shockingly was. I will say, I think it got a little harder as

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I got older a because they like started  declining in age, but then also, I don't know what it

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was, but I think like, I think like when you're younger and you're like more like a kid, you're

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just, it's just for some reason easier to communicate with people. then like, just as you get older,

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awkwardness starts happening. But yeah,  it's really weird, but I don't remember any of the

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conversation that well, but I do remember when I was way younger,  really communicated with

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them a lot. And then as I got older, it was a lot harder. But I do think it's partly like

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an age thing. Like they just had a harder time kind of communicating.  But yeah, I think when

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we did visit, like we were pretty close. And then we also did  do a lot of phone calls too.

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which again got a lot tougher, like as time went on.  But yeah, I was able to actually

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understand. Oh, that's great. they're not with us anymore,  the Philippines,  yeah, they're

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like, yeah, looking back on it, yeah, it is kind of weird. Like we did actually communicate

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a lot,  which this is like the first time I'm thinking about  that. Well, that's something

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that we hear a lot about when we talk to guests who maybe do speak their parents' native language.

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that... You know, they can talk to their grandparents and all that. But I know since you said you

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don't speak Tagalog and I don't and I know like when you're younger, it's easier for you to

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pick up languages. So I really think it's great when parents can teach their kids. But, you

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know, and I don't I don't actually know like how difficult it is to speak Tagalog. Like

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I don't try to learn Spanish and stuff like that. But I'm actually not sure. I haven't

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heard much Tagalog, even though I know that is the main language, but I don't know how

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hard it is. I think it's similar. It's actually like pretty similar to Spanish. Like there's

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so many words that crossover because like I think Spain. Yeah.  Is trash. It's trash. And

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like,  think  so. I can't really like speak it, but I think  I understand like maybe like

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50, 60 percent. And then obviously they love to sprinkle in like some English in there.

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So makes it so much like if there's one English word and like a bunch of Tagalog, I'm like,

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okay, I think I know what's going on. Even when we went back to the Philippines recently, like

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I was just there with with my dad just for like a I just tagged along, he went  for a reunion

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work thing.  we hung out with some of his high school friends. They only spoke Tagalog the

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entire time. I was just sitting there, but I could fully understand what they were talking

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about. I was kind of surprised.  Maybe I did pick up a bunch of stuff. It also is kind of

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similar to Spanish in some ways. I feel like it's easier languages, especially if you kind

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of know Spanish already. That's really cool. I just didn't know if they like... Spoke it

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to you. Well, I guess, no, you wouldn't know it if they spoke it to you in the house. But

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I like, maybe hearing your parents just innately kind of... Yeah. You kind of just naturally

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absorb it. And yeah, understanding is easier than having to respond back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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That's really cool. No, I mean, so when you did visit, I don't know if you had like cousins

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and stuff over there to the Philippines, but like, did your family ever be like, oh, like,

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make fun of you for being Americanized or... Shockingly? Honestly, shockingly,  not really.

20:58 → 21:05
To be honest, most of them were just really fascinated.  yeah, I don't think there was

21:05 → 21:14
ever a single,  there was no negative connotation with it at all.  So it was never a thing where

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it felt weird. And then vice versa too, was  also never,  at least from my perspective,

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but  for sure, just in all the interactions I had with cousins or anything, We were both

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just genuinely fascinated. And I remember we would always like compare things.  the big

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thing we would honestly compare was like the price of things. Video game, and then I would

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have a video game and they'd be like, like, I don't know why, but for some reason, there

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were just some things that were just, some things were substantially cheaper in the Philippines.

21:42 → 21:47
And then some things were just  super expensive. And it definitely had to do with like how it

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was being imported. But  I just remember like some video games, like that was the big thing

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we were comparing. We'd compare it like, they'd be like, oh, this thing cost me. Oh, I got

21:54 → 22:00
this video game, like this. this Game Boy Advance costs like $20 and then I'd be like, this was

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like $300. We were just so fascinated by like the differences and, but it was always just

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a general, a genuine fascination. Like it wasn't really like a, like a, like a negative comparison.

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Yeah. Oh, that's great. That's great. Okay. So you mentioned. You were like, oh, when I

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was applying for college applications, my dad was like, well, I had to apply for like a thousand.

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So that's a common trope we see with like Filipino, sorry. Immigrant parents is like,  well,  you

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have it easy. Look at what I had. Like, OK, so was that a common theme that you experienced

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or like? Yeah, think. Yeah, like directly, honestly, I think  they could have done this so much

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more, but my parents rarely played that card. Really? OK.  Yeah, that was that's why it stuck

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out so hard to Like rarely ever pulls it out. But I just kind of picked up on it a lot of

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the times, like just subconsciously, where, like,  I would be doing something and then

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or they would tell a story or something. And again, they weren't doing it to kind of tell

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us but they would just like they would be like reminiscing or something and be like, Oh, we

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had to go do this.  And, then I'd be like, Oh, my god, like, that sounds horrible.  What I'm

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doing is so much easier. And so they they I think they dropped some of those things, not

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on purpose, but I kind of picked it up. But they rarely actually directly told me, this

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is easy because I used to do this. It was more of, kind of just picked, and my brother's the

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same way too. I think we all naturally picked it up because we just subconsciously, think,

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thinking to ourselves, okay, how did they come to the US? That makes no sense, especially

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now we're hearing about how hard it is to immigrate in and we're hearing all these things. As we're

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getting older, we're putting the pieces together. how is this possible? like, okay, getting into

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med school and doing this is just hard in general. How did you do it? Like from the Philippines,

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no internet, no nothing. Like what is going on here?  So I think as we started getting

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older and having our own experiences, we just naturally started comparing it to theirs. So

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they didn't even have to do any of that for us. Like, just did it internally. And I think

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we,  all three of us genuinely kind of like, like, like kind of bad. And like we started

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comparing,  comparing our experiences there without them saying anything. I think the fact

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they didn't say anything directly, just like maybe once or twice, have they pulled that

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card? I think since they didn't, it kind of hit us a little harder because since we came

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to the realization ourselves,  then like,  even for example, like when I told my brother, like,

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like, hey, like you shouldn't feel that like, like this is, I know,  you know, they,  kind

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of feels like they purposely didn't teach us Tagalog or they purposely suppresses, but like,

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okay, put yourself in their shoes because he's trying to, he's going to med school as well

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too. But then when I explained to him, you know, like, you know what these interviews are like,

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you know, like the, you know, the people you have to talk to don't, cause he always complains

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to him, complains to me about how like, he feels like he to kind of play this game and like,

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he just wants to help you. He just wants to be a doctor, but he hates how he has to kind

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of play into the system to be able to, to, do what he needs. And I was like, okay, now imagine

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that, but everyone's super racist. All this stuff. And I think when, when, um, when he

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hears that stuff,  I think just because he's coming to this conclusion and he's not hearing

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it from my parents, it just hits a little harder because then I think he's like, oh man, didn't

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even like they had every right to say that to him, but they chose not to. And I think it

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just,  just like, just, the, those stories and how it applies to us. Just, I think we absorbed

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it a little differently since they didn't do that. But I do know, I have a lot of friends

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who like, they say their parents play that card like every day. And I feel like sometimes though,

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if they do that,  it might wear off a little bit. But in our case, it was so rare.  We just

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didn't do the conclusion ourselves, to be honest. That's so interesting. It's more effective

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that way. think it is too. I'm just not, I'm going to like be very silent and then subtly

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drop things like, wow. Our parents.  My mom especially definitely would play. Oh, yeah.

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I still does. I I should say. gosh. Yeah. Well, I describe it as this like innate indebtedness

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that you have, especially when you have parents coming from like a developing country like

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Jamaica and Philippines, like, you know, and stuff. just knowing what they had to go through.

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And when you go there and visit, you know, make us a very poor country and all this. It's like

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seeing stuff sometimes. My mom's like, see where we grew up and I'm man, OK. I really need to

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not complain about my first world problems. But you also don't want to be hit over the

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head with it every time because then you feel like, know, I'm so It can make you feel like

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you don't have any problems at all. like, OK, just because I grew up in a country that has

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more resources, it doesn't mean that there's no problems anymore at all. That would be great,

26:52 → 27:03
but yeah. Yeah, 100%. Well, topic that we talk about a lot on this podcast is how narrow The

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view is for many immigrant parents of what is a good profession.  Yeah. And you mentioned

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that both of your parents are in the medical field. Your brother is going into the medical

27:12 → 27:16
field as well. You know, I think you're in a good field, but I know sometimes immigrant

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parents don't really understand the tech industry and if that's a good thing to be. So how did

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your parents feel about you kind of going in this? Yeah,  it sounds like you're kind of

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it's your own company, right? Like, hello. And so like, how do they feel about you kind of

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taking more of an entrepreneurial route, even though it is in the tech space? Yeah, it was

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so interesting to get to this point because  I think  originally I actually was going to

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go into medicine. So in high school, I was dead set to go to med school, be a doctor,  just

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because I think that was also the only thing I knew to just seeing my parents. was like,

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okay, this is it. Also at the time,  there was really no tech. It just was not a thing. think

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maybe the internet, I do distinctly remember Wi-Fi didn't really happen until around my

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high school. like everything was still wired. there really was no internet or anything that,

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it was just like, people, tech jobs were not a thing. Like coding was like really not a

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thing. Like none of this was a thing. So medicine was the only thing I kind of had. So I was

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really dead set on doing this. And both my parents for sure pushed all like me and I have two

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other brothers. So they pushed all three of us like she's definitely going to medicine.

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I think it's cause that's all they knew too. Um, it wasn't until I think around like junior

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or senior year of high school  when,  I started taking the medicine so seriously that I started

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like going to these medical camps. And this was like my choice. Like I was like, Hey, I

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kind of want to try this out. Like where there's some stuff in high school where you can go

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and shadow like during the summer and like, they'll kind of expose you to medicine.  um,

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I think I remember.  watching an eye surgery and I was like, okay, I'm not doing this.

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I was like, okay, I'm not cut out for this. And then I remember talking to my dad too.

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And  I told him like, like, okay, I really don't want to do this, but like, I'm to stick it

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out. And then I he started questioning like, okay, so like, why are you trying to do medicine?

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And I was like, I was like, oh, cause it's really good money. It's very stable. And he was like,

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whoa, okay, okay. It's like, there's infinite other ways to make money. Like,  like he's

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like, why are you doing this? And he actually started kind of questioning  my reasons for

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getting into it. And he was actually the one that kind of convinced me not to do medicine,

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which was surprising.  Um, which also, I don't think I really fully appreciated until I got

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like a lot older, um, because, but I think it was also because he  genuinely loves it and

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he, but he also knows how hard it is. So it's one of those things where he was like, like,

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you know, the world's definitely changed. You're super smart. Like if you want it to make money

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some other way or like, you'll figure it out. He's like, was confident that I would figure

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it out. So he knew that it wasn't like a thing where I had to go into medicine to survive.

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So I think that's why he also felt comfortable pushing me away from it. If I just genuinely

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didn't, I wasn't interested in it. He obviously wanted me to do medicine because I think he

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loves it. It'd be amazing if he had a son who also did it,  which he's saying with my youngest

30:13 → 30:18
brother, right now, because he genuinely does love it. But he basically talked me out of

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it because he was telling me like, he's like, no, no, you actually like,  this is such a

30:22 → 30:29
hard field. And like it is it is going to like, like grind at you for years and years and years,

30:29 → 30:34
not even just the amount of work, but just like the emotional trauma, like the stress, like

30:34 → 30:38
everything. And he said, if you don't love this, like you truly should not do it. And I think

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the minute he said that, I was like, okay, like, yeah, then what am I doing? Like, I definitely

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should.  I was like, that sounds horrible. would  this? And so I think once I got his, like

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kind of his blessing, where he kind of took me away from Um, that's when I started exploring

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other paths and, I still didn't understand tech. still didn't know like that was an option.

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So when I went to school at Vanderbilt, um, I actually majored in study economics and finance.

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So, um, studied econ because that was like the closest thing to business. And aside from medicine,

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I was like, Hey, what else is there aside from medicine? Just business. I, that was the only

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thing I knew, um, like that existed. I still didn't know what it meant, but I knew that

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if it's not, you know, medicine, there's, there's a business side of medicine, probably business.

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That's what I'll figure out. So econ and finance were like the closest things to that.  luckily,

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both my parents were actually, they were very supportive of me kind of going in there. But

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I think they were very supportive of it because  they, like, I think they realized that I would

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probably be very miserable doing the medicine thing. And I think they were like, okay, we're

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definitely not going to push you towards that. And I think they were just happy that I picked

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something and had a path and that's what I was going towards. However, once I got to college,

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That's also, think around, so I started going to college, um, 2014, like 2013, 2014. That's

31:58 → 32:04
actually when Apple released Swift, the programming language. And I just so happened to try to

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pick it up while I was doing these classes. So like, I started coding, I started getting

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into this and I was like, this is kind of interesting. Um, and I think that's when the world of like,

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Hey, maybe I can like do something in tech, like became a thing. That's where they actually

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were like. No, no, no.  And I remember  fast forward and  I've only worked at one other

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company because I so I started this company in college alowa. And I've actually been doing

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it full time for like, maybe like eight or nine years now. It's like been a long time and I've

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been doing this. But I did work at one company after college. And so I worked at Google for

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one year in New York. And so really good. That's me.  Google is like a very pristine company,

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especially with like college. But my parents were like  so averse to me working there because

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and I remember distinctly my mom, she's totally, she totally is going to think I'm making this

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up. But she was point like point blank told me, how can you work at a website?  You don't

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understand. Like, like,  took the work with this company, but they were, um, they, I think

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because they were, that also made me realize they were very accepting of me going into business

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because they kind of understood that too.  medicine business, but anything outside of that,  that

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was really foreign to them where they like didn't understand it. They're like, you're not going

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to survive. Like  we're going to take care of you now or something. Yeah. Like you're trying

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to work at a website that makes no sense.  It wasn't until I think  after  when I started

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at Google, they started talking to some of their friends  and their friends were telling them

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like, oh wait, your son's at Google. That's, that's, that's such a good company. And they

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were like, oh, is it really like.  And then I remember they called me and I remember my

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dad was like, hey, we just like talk to some of our friends and like apparently Google is

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really good. Great job. And I was like, I was like, yeah, I was like, I told you guys. And

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then same thing too. think when I, when I was like, I'm going to quit Google and start a

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company and do this full time. Cause I only worked at Google for a year and then made the

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decision. I'm going to go do this full time. Same thing too. I think they were like very

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hesitant about that, but I think because of the Google thing, and I think they realized

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how. insane of a like they were wrong on that. They were a little bit more open minded to

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if he wants to quit this and do this,  he can figure it out. But then I think  once  I like

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the same situation, I think they told their friends like, like they're hesitant to say

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it, but they're like, oh, he quit Google and he's like starting a company. think then when

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all of their friends were like, wait, that's crazy. Like, that's amazing. I think they were

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like, oh, this is great. like it only worked when they got validation from like, Yep.  But

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they were very, the tech part, they were very against that. They didn't understand it until

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they heard from external people like, Oh, that was actually a good, that's a really good company.

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My son's trying to work there. Like,  so yeah, but, but, uh, medicine and business, was like

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medicine business and then tech. And now they're  like wildly supportive. They're like  super

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happy that I'm doing all of this stuff.  Um, but I think they also knew though, like,  um,

35:14 → 35:19
Even if I was going to try to do it, they probably couldn't stop me from doing it. They kind of

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realized, like, I was kind of like pretty horrible in high school where they basically were like,

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OK, we're done with you. Like, we're to focus on  other  brothers. That made me realize,

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like, all right, now I got it. I it. OK, I can't really rely on them here. I have to do it.

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And  I think they just saw, how I was able to kind of just do things without them. And they

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just don't like don't worry about me as much. Yeah. OK, when you say you're horrible, you

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mean like. Academically or just like Chris is always doing his own thing. We don't know.

35:46 → 35:52
No, think like academically, but also that was in high school. I was really into again.

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That was kind of when like Wi-Fi just started. Internet kind of started.  I was super fascinated

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by it, but I was like very addicted, but not addicted as in like like most kids are addicted

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to social media or addicted to video games. But I was addicted to like just like understanding

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it and like.   Even in high school, I was kind of making like without coding or anything just

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like small websites and like things and playing around but um, they Really did not like that

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because they thought it was a distraction  from like school and stuff So they would always

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try to take it away They would always try to find a way but I would always find a way to

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around it like  they there was like this crazy thing where I like bought a Phone that had

36:34 → 36:39
like a browser just so I can continue to do like website stuff. Okay, but I like told them

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it was a calculator. There are just so many little things, which in hindsight, I'm like,

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I bet they like knew but,  little like I think there was just I was really  like on paper

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really bad. And they, they kind of just gave up and like, all right, we're just gonna let

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do whatever you're gonna fail all your classes and it's fine.  They saw when I like, I kind

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of took that as a challenge. I'm like, okay, well, let's see. And then I like  the greatest

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grades I've ever gotten the minute they like let up on me and  I think that's also why they

37:09 → 37:12
trusted me with the whole medicine thing when I said, I'm not going to do like, I'm not really

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good. They're like, oh, you're good. Like you'll figure this out then you want to do business.

37:16 → 37:21
Great. I'm sure you'll succeed in it. And they kind of like, let me do my own. Oh man. So

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many things. Okay. There are so many funny things. I think my favorite is definitely, how are

37:25 → 37:30
you going to work at a website? I love that.  I just love that. That is fantastic. And I

37:30 → 37:35
mean, you sound like an amazing student because to go to Vandy, is, you know, great, great

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school, go, go work at Google. Goodness, like college. Yeah, like that's nuts. OK. And making

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me feel old here. He was going into college when I'm graduating. So, oh, man, I'm like,

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dude, like I am like, oh, this guy is like legit. mean, you document your stuff. So I have an

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idea of your  level of things. That's that's pretty mad respect, man.  And I loved the part,

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too, where, like you said, how your parents. didn't understand it until other people were

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like, oh no, actually this is great. Because that to me is also a very immigrant parent

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trait because I  feel like immigrant parents really care about what other  immigrants think.

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And their children, how their children present too. exactly. And how they can present their

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children. I think that's part of why they always want their kids,  aside from just your well-being,

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they want you to go into these professions so that they can then brag about you to their

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friends.   So I found that really funny that it wasn't until their friends told them it

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was okay that they were like, okay, fine, it's all right.  Yeah, 100%. So I think we'll go

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on to our  light-ending questions here, where we're just going to ask you just cultural things.

38:55 → 39:00
So we kind of referenced food a little bit earlier. So let's start there. What are your

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favorite Filipino dishes? Yeah. Um, so, okay.  By far my favorite thing, it's a dish called,

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um, sisig, which is honestly, I don't really know officially what's in it because I keep

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having it like in different ways, either chicken or pork, but it's like fried, like this fried

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chicken, pork rice dish, but I absolutely love it. It's like addicting. And I like it the

39:22 → 39:28
way my mom makes it. He also makes it in like a Filipino food is so unbelievably unhealthy.

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It's like,  there's no redeeming quality.  do it. Like there's, it's so bad for you, but

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tastes so good. So she makes it in a lighter way where I don't feel horrible after eating

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like  that. But  that C-sig is like probably one of my favorites. There's another one called,

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um,  longanisa, which is, it's like a breakfast kind of thing. It's like a sweet pork. It's

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like a sausage that looks way too red and like really sweet, really good. That one's also

39:57 → 40:01
really good. So I used to eat that for breakfast all the time. And that was like my favorite

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thing. So half the time we would be eating like spam and rice and eggs for like, um, breakfast,

40:05 → 40:10
but then sometimes we'd have the longanisa and I'd be like, Oh, this is a good day. Like this

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is, this is really good. So those two are my favorite. then,  um, and then there's like

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this dessert that I  absolutely love called a buko pandan, which is like a coconut,  um,

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uh, like almost like ice cream, coconut dessert in the Philippines. So I was so obsessed with

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it. That's like the one thing that I was like, I need to find the recipe and do it myself.

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When I moved away from home and I think it was in like, I think it was actually after college.

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I was like, I just had not had it in so long that it's the first Filipino dish where I was

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like, okay, I'm going to go look up the recipe and go do this myself. Cause there's no restaurant

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within like a thousand miles that is like selling this thing either. And I don't know what I'm

40:50 → 40:55
to see my parents. So those are like the top three dishes, those two things and the dessert.

40:55 → 41:01
Very cool. Okay. So even though like there weren't a ton of like Filipino restaurants and stuff

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in the area, sounds like your mom cooked a lot of Filipino food, you would say, in the house?

41:06 → 41:13
Yeah. She did. She did. That was one thing  that was  kind of, in hindsight, was surprising

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to me. So they did want to assimilate us like  in a lot of different areas, except for some

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reason,  it was like all Filipino food.  What was also interesting was I remember me and

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my brothers would like, like, we would really want her to like make like spaghetti or just

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like other  like, not because we didn't like the Filipino food, but just because it was

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so rare that we were like, Oh, like, let's  make this thing. But she just like love cooking

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Filipino food. So I will say that it's probably like one thing that, that they didn't really

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like compromise on.  And yeah, we didn't really have any,  like we didn't really, um, Although

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we didn't really bring, oh no, we did. We actually did bring some of this food to school actually,

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now that I think about it,  for lunches. There  really wasn't anything that happened with

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that though. Because I  know a lot of people, they get a lot of heat for bringing food to

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school or something, but  that did not happen with us.  It was usually  people were kind

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of interested in it and then  were like, oh, okay, interesting. And then didn't want to

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eat it, but like.   That's cool. Yeah, we didn't really have any problems. Wow I'm like this

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is such an interesting interview because a lot of things you've touched on is like yep That's

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been the thing somebody has talked about this has been a thing and it's like  You know food

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if I guess keeping the food has not too surprising because I know That's a nice way for people

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to still be tied into their culture even if they're in the States  It's also just like

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one of the hardest things to change like I feel like what you get so used to your own food

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and then like to go to a different place and it's like, oh no, this is like, they probably

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think American food is really bad, you know? yeah. Maybe, yeah.  No,  you talking about

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like, you know, that was gonna ask actually, if you took Filipino food  to school, because

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we had a guest who's from Korea and he would take kimchi  to school and kids would be like,

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oh, this. And he's like, said he would ask his mom, like, can I just have like a hot dog and

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pizza? Because he didn't like that it was, were making fun of him about it.  But that's good

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that people weren't doing that with you. Okay, so  one food we hear about a lot  in the Philippines

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is balut. And so...  Have you ever tried it?  And... Yeah,  maybe... Well, we described

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it before, Tor, I guess. Do you wanna do that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's like...  I know

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it's an egg and I know it's like the fetus. I think the chicken fetus is like unborn, like

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literal embryo. And I don't know why people eat it. think they said it like, it gives you

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like entered like life or something. But I've never had it, but my brother has. I remember

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we went to a wedding where he like, or yeah, no, I think it was a wedding and he like, it

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was just on their menu or something. And he was like, Oh, I like want, he's like, Oh, can

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I get this? And my parents were like, are you sure? Like, John, that's not like, that's not

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like a, I don't think you're going to like it. He's like, no, no, no, I want it. And I think

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like, He didn't know what it was. then I think he,  he like, but I think it was too late because

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he was just like,  he was also like a very adventurous eater, like loved finding things. But I remember

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he like ate it and then like the entire venue like erupted and like laughter. We're so happy.

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but he told me after he was like, that was horrible. I was like the worst thing, but he was just

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like, so like he couldn't  like hide it. But I think my parents were just waiting for him

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to throw up.   It's like,  don't think there's any, apparently you have to douse it in vinegar

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and a bunch of things just to mask the taste. It's just not good. It's like, it's just more

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of like a symbolism, I think. That's my guess.  Yeah. No,  we hear about it. We actually interviewed

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another guest. She grew up in the Philippines. Her parents were  missionaries actually. American

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missionaries. Yeah, American missionaries. it's like white girl in the Philippines and she

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was telling us about all that. I think her favorite foods were like, katikati or something. I can't

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remember what it was. It was called that. Yeah. And so now we just we asked her about Balut

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as well. We just it's a fun one that we like to  eat. Do you remember she tried it? I think

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she said she had. grew up in like a village. Like she was like she was like nowhere near

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Manila and all that. so  so yeah. So she like had actually tried all of these like foods.

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Yeah. She said she used to eat all kinds of like dead animals. don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

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Yeah.  I think if I grew up there, it sounds like 100%, like everyone who grew up there

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has had it at least once. I have a feeling in my lifetime I will It's like a rite of passage,

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right? As a Filipino, maybe you gotta do it. I think it is, for sure. Yeah, well, speaking

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of our previous guest who grew up in the Philippines, like because she grew up kind of in a remote

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part of the Philippines, she didn't know about this, but I've heard so much about Jollibee

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as like, yeah. And so yeah, just. Like, can you explain kind of the, like, fascination

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with it? Because I've heard a lot about it, but I don't know how it's different from the

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fast food here in the US. Yeah, I think it's just like, because it's the number one, like

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most well-known fast food chain in the Philippines. And it's like, I'm trying to think of what

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the equivalent would be. It'd be like the equivalent of like,  because there's also a mascot too.

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And so it's almost like a,  like  a phenomenon. It's not even like a brand anymore at this

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point. It's like, there's like a bee, like a literal like B mascot and it's like, I'm pretty

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sure the B like also goes to like children's parties. Like everyone just loves this thing.

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It's definitely not like McDonald's because I mean, I don't know who wants that clown.

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Yeah. He's a lovable mascot.  I don't know what an equivalent would be. You know, it'd be kind

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of like McDonald's and the Duolingo Owl.  Oh, OK.  Where like you like love this thing. Yeah.

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But so I think it's because  it was one of the few things that I think like went past the

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Philippines, which is why people love it. And like that rarely happens with like Filipino

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food and like, just like cultural things.  Like they don't really break past the Philippines.

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So when it does, it's like a huge deal.  I think in Jollibee was like in the U S  like so many

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people drove and flew like, like so far because it was like such a big deal that it happened

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where like, I know this happens a lot with like Korean food. There's like a lot of like,  like,

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like  Korean fried chicken change that are in the U S so it's very like, It's very common.

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It's like not a crazy thing when you see that here. Filipinos, think when they see something

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from the Philippines, it's so rare that they're like, it's like a thing. So I think when it

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opened in Houston, everyone in Dallas, all the family members would go down there just to

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like, literally just to go to the drive through. So that was one of the things that I think

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we like, when we did the five or six hour road trips, it was just to go through the drive

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through of Jolly Beach, just to go get it. And we would come back. And so now it's in Dallas,

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which is a huge deal. And then I remember seeing it in New York. There's like one so close to

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Times Square and I was so surprised. okay.  But yeah, they, I think that's why it's just

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like, cause if anything, like same thing too, like why I think Filipinos like love Bruno

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Mars or something. They're like, oh, he's half Filipino. Like, yeah, like, like we need to

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support our culture. Cause it's like, there's like a lot of singers who are like mainstream

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that like break past the Philippines. So  I think that's why. Okay. I forgot that Bruno

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Mars was. Oh yeah, I forgot that too. So many of those little things. sorry, go No, no, no.

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was going say, well that kind of brings us to another fun question we like to ask is like,

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do you have a favorite celebrity from the Philippines? It might at the moment be Bruno Mars, even

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though he's half Filipino. He counts, he counts. Yeah, I think he's from Brazil. So like, don't

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think he grew up in the Philippines, but I think just like, there's just so few that people

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are like, I think we're not. Like, we're gonna latch on here,  like, this is our person. I'm

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trying to think,  anytime there's a mainstream person that's even tangentially Filipino,

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all the Filipinos latch on. Even if they're like, oh, they're married to a Filipino person.

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Like, oh, this person, we love them.  I  don't know what it is. Filipinos, like, anything

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remotely related to the Philippines, get very happy. Well, I think you brought up a good

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point about how,  you know, kind of like, how,  it's just like... K-pop craze and all this

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stuff. Like,  it's not surprising to see, all these, like I said, you know, restaurants there

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serving Korean food and stuff. like,  guess that hasn't happened for like other countries

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per se. And then like we were watching. We're big into tennis and so I'm watching like Miami

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Open right now and there's a tennis player like Eyal. Yeah, I think name is Alexandra. Yeah.

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And she's like, I heard she's like a star right now in the Philippines. Yeah.  And so like

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she's just kind of like 19 year old. up and coming to like first Filipino person and I

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was like, oh, maybe that's what I just, I just kind of thought of that as you were saying

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it. It's like, even though she's young and up and coming, it's like, like, 100. Yeah. You

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know what? I'm pretty sure I'll probably hear about her very soon. There was this Filipino

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powerlifting woman who was in the Olympics. I remember people were like, I think the rise

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in the number of women who started powerlifting immediately. Everyone just became an expert

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at powerlifting that day. Wrestlers.  Were so happy  when they saw one person.  This is so

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rare. I got you. I remember actually, were, I don't know if you remember this, Alyssa,

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but we were with Alyssa's Filipino friends one time when a Filipino woman won  Miss World

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or Miss Universe or whatever.  Yeah, and they were so proud.  Yeah,  it's nice.  when you

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get that representation. sure. Yeah, I think so. It just happens so rarely. I  think it's

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also something interesting I've seen is that a lot of...  I have some friends who  are like,

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oh,  some people when they see other people that are the same race as them, they sometimes

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don't like it.  for example,  I know  some Koreans who when they see... like other Koreans, it

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could be a good or a bad thing where they're like, they're like, they either like, oh, they're

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probably bad. Like, like, like, let's not talk to them. Filipinos. It's like if a Filipino

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sees another Filipino, they're just like, oh, we're family. Like, yeah, they're like so happy.

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Or if you literally it's even to the point where, again, if you say like, oh, my friend is Filipino,

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they're like, oh, you're amazing.  Like, think you guys like look Filipino. So if you told

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anyone, that's hilarious. She gets that a lot more than me. Really? Okay. Yeah.  Close enough,

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like you're Filipino. Like I said, one of my best friends still to this day is Filipino.

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And, you know, I've been to her house and  birthday parties and has been around her family

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and it's like, they are always very welcoming. I will say that. So it's very, very true. So,

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yeah, no. And I do. I do. That's the number. Well, I get Filipino or just some kind of Hispanic

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a lot.  But like ever since I left my in Miami, people. don't really see me as that. then like

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ever since I've left Miami, that's like the number one thing people just like assume I'm

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Filipino. And  I'm like, I'm not.  Our mom is Chinese, Jamaican. It's very Jamaicans are

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very mixed up with a lot of things. So it's amazing in there. It's just deep in there.

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Anyway,  can Chinese. OK, that I can definitely see that. OK. Most people are like,  Yeah.

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It's understandable that people would like.  They see the Asian, I think, and that's naturally

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where they just go, oh, maybe Filipino.  Because I don't expect people to think of Jamaican

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Chinese.  They think of Bob Marley with dreads and stuff as Jamaican.  Yeah. All right. So

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our last question here is,  since you've been to the Philippines quite a few times, actually,

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do you have a happy place there, your favorite place there when you go? Yeah, I think  I do

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like there is this one beach that I have not been back to for forever, but I do remember

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it's called  Boracay. So that's like a beach area. And I know that it's like been closed

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for a long time. I think it's reopened now just because of all the like the hurricanes and

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tsunamis and like kind of destroyed it a little bit. But I do remember that like just the entire

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time there when we went there. And I think I was maybe like, I don't know, nine or 10 or

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something, but It just stuck out so vividly because I was like, there is literally no place

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on earth that I've been to like this. And I remember like visiting California and going

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to beaches, but I was like, this is just so different. Like it just does not feel like

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I'm even on the world right now. And so I always remember that and I still haven't been back,

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but now that I heard it's reopened, I heard it's like 20 times more expensive now, apparently

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like it's,  uh, it's still exactly like just as nice, maybe even better because they like

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renovated a lot of things.  Um, but that's.  for sure, I think, where I'm like, I bet if

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I went back, I'd probably still have the exact same feeling. That's awesome. That's so heartwarming.

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Awesome. This was a great conversation, Chris. This is a lot of fun. I always like to get

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to talk about the Philippines. Like I said, I grew up around a lot of Filipinos, so I feel

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like I know a little bit more than maybe the average person. That's always fun to talk about

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this topic. So, yeah, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. We had a great time. Yeah,

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absolutely. Yeah, thank you guys so much for having me.