Meet The Hosts | Introducing Alyssa & Brianna of Culture In Between

0:11 → 0:18
Hello and welcome to Culture in Between, a podcast about the unique experiences of growing up

0:18 → 0:24
in a culture that is different from your parents' culture. I'm Brianna. And I'm Alyssa and we

0:24 → 0:29
are the American-born daughters of two Jamaican immigrants. Thank you guys for joining us for

0:29 → 0:35
this inaugural episode. We are super excited to be doing this. Brianna and I have been talking

0:35 → 0:40
about starting a podcast for probably over a year now, so the fact that we're actually...

0:40 → 0:45
making it happen is really exciting. In case you guys ever need to know the difference between

0:46 → 0:51
who's Brianna and who's Alyssa, I'm Alyssa talking right now. I have this sultry, smooth alto

0:51 → 0:56
voice and my sister has the soprano voice and she's literally like a professional soprano.

0:56 → 1:02
Yeah, I am actually. And we will talk about that a little bit more in a little bit when

1:02 → 1:11
we introduce ourselves. But yes, I am a- professional opera singer, which I'm not like a big time

1:11 → 1:16
opera singer. You're not going to find my Wikipedia page or anything. But I do sing opera and I

1:16 → 1:24
am a soprano and Alyssa and I could not have more different voices for sure. But we are

1:24 → 1:31
really excited to be here and to do this podcast. So how about we start off by introducing ourselves,

1:31 → 1:35
what we're about. I figure out who the heck we are. Yeah. Right now you're like, okay,

1:35 → 1:40
Alyssa and Brianna, that's great. Who are we? So, I don't know. You want to go first, Brie?

1:40 → 1:46
Sure, I guess I will go first. So, as I said before, I am a professional singer, but as

1:46 → 1:53
a professional singer, you always need to have a side job as well. So, I also actually teach

1:53 → 2:03
English as a second language, too. But those are just my day jobs. I also am someone who

2:03 → 2:11
just loves learning about different cultures. And I literally read books about cultures and

2:11 → 2:17
immigrant experiences. I love to travel. Just everything about culture is just so important

2:17 → 2:22
to me. It's just a passion of mine. And that's why I'm so excited to do this podcast. I kind

2:22 → 2:29
of came up with the idea for this podcast that Alyssa was not initially fully supportive of,

2:29 → 2:34
but we don't have to get into that. We may be talk about that a little bit later. To defend

2:34 → 2:41
myself. I, I. I was supportive of the idea. So you didn't let me explain who I am. So let

2:41 → 2:47
me go ahead and explain. So I'm a software developer by trade. I'm a professional nerd. I write

2:47 → 2:52
code for a living. I have my degree in computer science. And so initially when Brandon and

2:52 → 2:56
I were talking about creating a podcast, I was like, OK, what do we talk about? Well, naturally,

2:56 → 3:02
my first instinct was to do a podcast on web development or technology, because that's what

3:02 → 3:07
I know. But Brandon is not in the tech field. We had to kind of find a happy medium. And

3:08 → 3:12
as Brianna noted, she's very passionate about culture and all that. And we found that we

3:12 → 3:18
organically, you know, as Jamaican American kids, we naturally have these conversations

3:18 → 3:23
just with each other about, wasn't it funny when mom did this or dad said this and like,

3:24 → 3:29
you know, yada, yada. And then so, you know, the idea kind of came to be that like, OK,

3:29 → 3:35
maybe we can talk about, you know, the experiences of people who live. in a culture that's outside

3:35 → 3:38
their parents because it's just something that Brandon and I talk about just all the time.

3:38 → 3:46
Yeah, for sure. And another major inspiration for me at least when coming up with this idea

3:46 → 3:55
was actually a few SNL skits, funnily enough. So maybe some of you out there listening have

3:55 → 3:59
seen these skits. They've become pretty popular. I think they are. Include them in the show

3:59 → 4:01
notes if you have. Yeah.

4:04 → 4:12
one of the five most watched skits, SNL skits recently. But anyway, so the first skit was

4:12 → 4:19
one with two, somewhere from Africa, these two parents that were clearly African of some African

4:19 → 4:28
origin, and their child who wanted to be an artist and had actually, I think, changed his

4:28 → 4:33
major to an art major in school. or to be a writer, I think, actually, I apologize, it

4:33 → 4:39
was to be a writer. But he was, you know, afraid to tell his parents that he was doing that.

4:39 → 4:43
And his parents were kind of bragging about how proud they were of him. And then he kind

4:43 → 4:49
of drops that bomb that he's chosen to become a writer. And the disappointment and the hilarity

4:49 → 4:59
that ensues with them kind of joking about the value of a writer is funny and really relatable,

4:59 → 5:06
I think, to anyone with immigrant parents, because as I'm sure you'll notice through the stories

5:06 → 5:11
that we tell with this podcast, immigrant parents are generally not supportive of anything that

5:11 → 5:20
they perceive as not being a lucrative job. So I think for a lot of people, it was a really

5:20 → 5:27
relatable. There we go, words. A really relatable. a skit, I know it was for me and for Alyssa,

5:28 → 5:34
and I remember reading the YouTube comments on the video, and there were tons of other

5:34 → 5:38
people who, you know, said that they also had immigrant parents and that they completely

5:38 → 5:45
related to that skit and how funny it was. So the other skit that I also kind of got some

5:45 → 5:51
inspiration from, which is more recent, this one apparently, I think I saw it on like a

5:51 → 5:57
list or something of like some of the highest viewed skits. recently. I don't know if it's

5:57 → 6:03
like in history, but recently. And this one included Pedro Pascal, if you know him, the

6:03 → 6:11
actor Pedro Pascal, and he played a Hispanic mother in her mumu. And you know, her son comes

6:11 → 6:18
home with his girlfriend from college. And the mother just kind of like berates him for all

6:18 → 6:24
kinds of things, and kind of interrogates the girlfriend. And it's just again, very funny

6:25 → 6:32
and very relatable as a child of immigrants. So both of those skits I found kind of inspiring

6:32 → 6:37
and the reaction to them very inspiring. And I actually talked about those skits with some

6:37 → 6:44
of my friends who also have immigrant parents. So yeah, that was really an inspiration for

6:44 → 6:49
me. And I just realized how much we can maybe talk about the universality of that experience

6:49 → 6:56
of growing up with. with immigrant parents and how funny it can be too sometimes. And yeah,

6:56 → 7:03
so I have SNL to thank a little bit for this podcast idea. Yeah, we'll include some videos

7:03 → 7:07
in the show notes so you guys can go check it out yourself. And yeah, like, you know, Ray

7:07 → 7:12
and I were able to get a good laugh out of it even though, you know, the cultures being represented

7:12 → 7:18
were different from, you know, our own. So yeah. Yeah, yeah, totally. I think. Seeing all those

7:18 → 7:25
comments, like I said, under that YouTube video made me really realize how unifying this whole

7:27 → 7:32
idea of having immigrant parents can be. And I feel like it's actually something that we

7:33 → 7:39
maybe don't talk about enough as a society. I feel like obviously everyone says how America

7:39 → 7:45
is a country of immigrants, built by immigrants. There's Hamilton and all this, you know, this

7:45 → 7:50
song, we all know immigrants get the job done, all of that. So we talk about it a lot, but

7:51 → 7:57
I feel like we don't really fully relate to one another as immigrants. I think everyone's

7:57 → 8:02
kind of in their like enclave sometimes. And so this podcast has meant to be a way to kind

8:02 → 8:08
of find the universality in that experience because I think there's a lot of universality

8:08 → 8:13
in that experience. Do we talk next about what the structure will be? Or we want to give you

8:13 → 8:18
guys also a little bit of background and us culturally so you can get to understand us.

8:18 → 8:22
But I don't know, which way do you think? Yeah, let's talk about a little bit of our background

8:22 → 8:28
first, I think, a little bit of our family history. And then we'll maybe talk a little bit about

8:28 → 8:36
the structure. So do you want to introduce our parents and what it's like to have Jamaican

8:36 → 8:42
parents? Make your parents are crazy, or at least ours are. Just kidding. When they get

8:42 → 8:45
together, they can get very loud. The decibels, I think it goes up like 10 decibels when they

8:45 → 8:53
get into a room, but the food is awesome. Yeah, so we are daughters of two loving parents,

8:53 → 8:58
Webby and Juliet. So if you hear us talk about them throughout the show, Webby and Juliet

8:58 → 9:02
are our parents. Juliet might make an appearance in the later episode. Yes, Juliet is very excited

9:03 → 9:08
to make an appearance. We're not sure about that. But we will. She's funny though. We're

9:08 → 9:12
not sure if we want that, but we'll see. She's funny. She's funny. But yeah, our parents grew

9:12 → 9:17
up, you know, humble beginnings. My dad, both like you mentioned in the intro, our parents

9:17 → 9:22
are both from Jamaica. My dad's from capital, which is Kingston, and my mom is from the countryside,

9:22 → 9:26
which is in Mandeville. And so, yeah, so they moved, they both migrated over to the States.

9:26 → 9:30
And I think in like their mid-20s or so, they actually did not know each other before they

9:30 → 9:34
moved over to the States. So they met in America. and then settled in Miami. And so we grew up,

9:35 → 9:40
you know, not only having these Jamaican parents, but also grew up in Miami, which is a melting

9:40 → 9:46
pot of its own. And so we grew up around a lot of other cultures, you know, like, of like,

9:46 → 9:50
I don't know about you, Bri, but at least when I was in school, like pretty much, I would

9:50 → 9:54
say, like 80% of the kids, somebody's parent was probably from a different country. So we

9:54 → 10:00
like we have been like engulfed in this our whole lives pretty much. Yeah, yeah, I definitely

10:00 → 10:05
agree with you. Yeah, pretty much. most, the overwhelming majority of every school that

10:05 → 10:10
I went to, people had immigrant parents, if not immigrant parents, immigrant grandparents.

10:11 → 10:18
Yeah, everyone is from somewhere else in Miami, which is really interesting and made for a

10:18 → 10:25
really fascinating upbringing really. And it also felt very comfortable having that background

10:25 → 10:31
ourselves, knowing that a lot of our friends. were having the same experience. So yeah, like

10:31 → 10:35
we were able to like, like you could go get Cuban food, you know, 20 minutes down the road

10:35 → 10:40
or go get Jamaican cuisine. Like I go get my Jamaican patties and my oxtail and all these

10:40 → 10:43
like, and it's just like, and the people in the store are like talking to you with, you

10:43 → 10:46
know, they have the accents and everything. I'm not gonna do the accent cause I'll do a

10:46 → 10:50
poor job. I made sure accidentally slip into it at some point, I'm sure doing one of these

10:50 → 10:54
episodes, but I don't want people laughing at me. So, but yeah, like, you know, you have,

10:54 → 11:00
you know, Miami is obviously a very big Spanish speaking. city, so like, you know, just surrounded

11:00 → 11:04
by culture and music and lots of just different things. So we just, you know, even though we

11:04 → 11:10
are obviously can talk best about our Jamaican culture, we feel pretty equipped to kind of

11:10 → 11:14
have these conversations because we've just been around. Yeah, yeah, I think that's such

11:14 → 11:20
an interesting experience, not only having Jamaican parents, but having mixed race Jamaican parents,

11:20 → 11:25
which I don't think people when people think of Jamaica, they think of how mixed a lot of

11:25 → 11:32
Jamaicans really are. It's, you know, because of colonialism and the aftermath of the slave

11:32 → 11:38
trade and all of that. There's such a melting pot in Jamaica in particular and throughout

11:38 → 11:45
the Caribbean really. So we are the product of that. And I think that's been really interesting

11:46 → 11:50
to experience growing up. Our mother is Chinese Jamaican, actually, which a lot of people don't

11:50 → 11:56
know Chinese Jamaicans exist. But yeah, my mother, my great grandfather was full Chinese. He came

11:56 → 12:00
over as in, I think from Jamaica, as an indentured servant, I believe is what mom said. Yeah,

12:00 → 12:05
I need to get more of the story there. But our parents are a mix up, mix up, as my mom likes

12:05 → 12:09
to say, which means we're just a mix of a whole bunch of different things. It's really cool.

12:10 → 12:14
It's cool to look back at the lineage in NC. Oh yeah, that's a little bit of our, of our

12:14 → 12:23
family history. I'm sure we will be doling out anecdotes as we go along in this podcast. because

12:23 → 12:31
there are just so many funny moments that come with having, especially Jamaican parents. They

12:31 → 12:36
are... They're a little tough on you, but... They're tough on you, but they are sometimes

12:36 → 12:42
unintentionally hilarious. Yeah, and they don't even realize how hilarious... They're very

12:42 → 12:47
blunt. They are, yeah. Which there's a novelty to that, where like, you know where you stand.

12:47 → 12:54
If they tell you something, they're not sugarcoating. So we sort of have thick skin. I know. It both

12:54 → 13:00
gives you thick skin and thin skin at the same time. It ruins your self-esteem, but also you're

13:00 → 13:07
like, oh, I'm used to this. Yeah. It's interesting. Yeah. I mean, one anecdote I will say is that,

13:08 → 13:14
I mean, pretty much the first thing any Jamaican parent will say to you when you've come back

13:14 → 13:20
after not seeing them for a long time is... Oh, you've gotten fatter. Like, oh, you've

13:20 → 13:24
gained weight. They pretty much will always. Put on weight tomorrow. Yeah, there you go.

13:24 → 13:32
There's the pot. Yeah. So pretty much that is one of the first, or if not the first comment

13:33 → 13:38
you will hear when you come back from college or something, which is, you know, yeah, just

13:38 → 13:42
something that we've definitely talked about a lot. Yeah. And they don't, they don't mean

13:42 → 13:47
any malice by it really. It's just, it's just kind of, yeah, they just kind of. speak their

13:47 → 13:51
minds. So, it's, you know, things like that. It's kind of like the topics we want to kind

13:51 → 13:55
of cover is like, you know, just this little nuances and then things like that. There's

13:55 → 13:59
this like, oh, okay, like maybe to someone who's not used to it, we're like, oh, that's kind

13:59 → 14:04
of brash. It's a little upfront, but like, yeah, it's just kind of getting used to kind of how

14:04 → 14:08
they communicate and all that. So maybe that that's a good transition into like, kind of

14:08 → 14:13
how the structure of the show, like what people can kind of anticipate. Yeah. Before we do

14:13 → 14:18
that, just... Saying that just reminded me that I feel like we really should shout out Julie

14:18 → 14:28
Mango, who is a TikTok creator. And she basically creates TikTok. She's hilarious, first of all,

14:28 → 14:37
and she creates TikTok videos, kind of lampooning Jamaican people. She's Jamaican herself, so

14:37 → 14:45
it's not malicious. It's just funny. It's really just funny. And if you're not on TikTok, that's

14:45 → 14:50
okay, because I'm not. She has YouTube clips that you can kind of watch, a lot of the stuff.

14:50 → 14:54
But yeah, I think if you care to watch, if you're gonna kind of get a better idea, we'll include

14:54 → 15:00
in the show notes and you can see some of the hilarity, hilarious stuff that she shares.

15:00 → 15:06
Yeah, for sure, for sure. So let's talk about the structure of this podcast going forward.

15:07 → 15:12
Do you want to explain kind of what that will be like? Yeah. So this will be an interview

15:12 → 15:17
style. podcast. Obviously we're introducing ourselves today, but for the majority of the

15:18 → 15:22
show we will talk to guests whose parents are from different countries so that we kind of

15:22 → 15:27
give you guys a wide array of different cultures. And it'll kind of revolve around a series of

15:27 → 15:31
questions, but we won't ask the same questions each time. We're just really looking to have

15:31 → 15:35
an authentic and engaging conversation with our guests and just get an idea of like, what

15:35 → 15:39
was it like growing up, you know, in America or wherever they are, like growing up in a

15:39 → 15:42
culture outside of your parents? What are some funny things? What are some things maybe You

15:42 → 15:47
didn't quite enjoy, you know, how has it shaped you as a human being? Things of that nature.

15:47 → 15:55
Yeah, yeah. And we really want to know how it's shaped them as a person, what they take with

15:55 → 15:59
them from growing up with their parents and growing up in a way that's probably different

15:59 → 16:06
from their fully American counterparts. I find that really fascinating. How your childhood

16:06 → 16:11
shapes you and how you were raised shapes you. So you know, having immigrant parents really...

16:12 → 16:16
changes your perspective, I think, a lot of times. So yeah, so we're really fascinated

16:16 → 16:22
to hear these stories. So we're gonna have, yeah, we'll have people with both parents from

16:22 → 16:27
the same culture like ours or parents from two different cultures, which I think is a different

16:27 → 16:34
mix as well. We might have a guest or two who grew up in a different country with American

16:34 → 16:39
parents, for example. And of course, as this podcast goes on, we're hoping to get a really

16:39 → 16:45
wide array. of experiences. So yeah, we're really looking forward to it and we hope that you

16:45 → 16:52
all enjoy it. Yeah, like our said in our trailer, like we really want, you know, what we're missing

16:52 → 16:56
in this world is connection, feel like, and I think hopefully by hearing the stories of

16:56 → 17:00
others, even if you can't necessarily relate to it, like you can learn something new just

17:00 → 17:06
about a different culture and kind of how that person experienced the world. And with that,

17:07 → 17:15
I think... We would like to wrap up our introductory episode here. I think we've pretty much laid

17:15 → 17:20
out kind of how the podcast will go. Yeah, we're really looking forward, like I said, to hearing

17:20 → 17:29
these stories. So we can't wait to have you guys along for this ride. We are... obviously

17:29 → 17:37
new podcasters. So, yeah, if we're being honest, we don't quite know what we're doing. But we're,

17:37 → 17:43
yeah, you have to start somewhere and we're starting here. And we really hope you'll bear

17:43 → 17:50
with us and that these podcasts will be really interesting. I love podcasts. I love, love

17:50 → 17:55
listening to podcasts. This is obviously our first foray into actually being behind the

17:55 → 18:03
mic now, but... I think we have some interesting stories. We've tried nothing done. In the immigrant

18:03 → 18:09
spirit, you know, you have to just try new things. As our parents always tell us, they came here

18:09 → 18:17
with nothing and look at them now. So starting from the bottom here, but we will keep going.

18:18 → 18:23
Yeah, I think you guys will like the stories. We have a website called cultureinbetween.com.

18:24 → 18:30
If you're listening to the show and you... Maybe wanna be a guest potentially in the next season

18:30 → 18:33
or something, like feel free to have a contact form if you guys wanna do that. Or just learn

18:33 → 18:40
more about Bran and I and listen to the shows online as well. So just wanted to plug that,

18:40 → 18:43
that'll also be in the show notes. Oh yeah, we're super excited. Like I said, episode one.

18:44 → 18:48
We look forward to see the journey. All right, Bri, I think we're good. Thank you. Thank you

18:48 → 18:50
for joining us. Bye. Peace.