How to Know When It’s Time to Reinvent Yourself | Tiger Sisters Live with Jenna Ushkowitz, Ally Maki, Asian American Girl Club

- Are you guys ready for the first ever Tiger Sisters Live? - I'm gonna need you to start moving and make some noise for your Tiger Sisters, Jean and Cherie Brook-Lew! - Who is the number one misunderstood Disney zaddy? - How do you feel about sardines for breakfast? - All right, what are your thoughts on revenge? - Oh my gosh, this cat! - And I think I've learned how to let the fear kind of inspire me, 'cause if you sit for a minute, and you listen to what it's saying, then it usually guides in a different direction. Like, what is the next? - Reinvention. - Reinvention. - Yeah, and that includes motherhood, right? For both of us. - Yeah, big transition. - It's a whole other thing. - Our mission has always been to empower and uplift a billion women, and we really do think we can change the world. So like, if anyone thinks that's cringe, then like, who cares? - We are your Wall Street and Silicon Valley big sisters. - And we're a top 10 business podcast bringing late night sister talk, meets boardroom strategy. - Hello, everyone, welcome to Tiger Sisters Live. Make some noise, make some noise! Are you guys ready to see Sheree and Jean? Are you guys ready? I am so excited to bring them out. After leaving their careers at Goldman Sachs, Snapchat, and LinkedIn to bet on themselves and build something entirely on their own, these two sisters have turned late night conversations about money, power, and love into one of the top business podcasts in America, and I'm here to give it up for that. DJ, hit that track. All right, I'm gonna need you to start moving and make some noise for your Tiger Sisters, Jean and Sheree Brook-Lew! ♪ Baby, I am up in the sky ♪ ♪ Up in the sky, up in the shit tonight ♪ ♪ Living my life in the best light ♪ - Oh my God, hi, guys! Oh my God, I can't believe we're here. - Oh my God. - Hi, everyone. - Is this a dream? - Oh, this is so exciting. - Hi! - Dylan, bringing the energy. - Oh my gosh, this is a historic moment. This is the first ever live show for the Tiger Sisters. - Woo! Oh my God, I'm like, my heart is beating really fast right now, and kind of looking out and seeing all of you here. I know some of you have flown in for this, drove, you know, an hour plus to come to our live show. - Like two hours in LA traffic. - Right, that's love, that's love right there. And also, just looking out at you guys right now, what a beautiful and amazing community. Thank you so much for joining us today. We have an incredible show. It's gonna be so much fun. - And it is a show. - And it's a show. - You couldn't tell from the stamp of it, it's a show. - It's a show, it's a show. Well, I'm so excited to be here, and I think, let's start with some questions about you guys and about the podcast. How does that sound? - All right, let's do it. - All right. So. - Yeah. - What is something you believed about adulthood or success at 25 that you absolutely do not believe anymore? - I think something I believed early in my 20s is that success was defined as something that was really hard to achieve. You kind of have to do it with your teeth gritted and your hand and a fist. You're like, oh my God, I need to grind those late nights and do everything, and I think that helped get us to where we wanted to be in our career, which we talk about on the pod, but now, I'm in my 30s for the last six months. I feel like a lot of it has been what has gotten me to where I am now will not get me to the next step of my life, my career, and whatever I want next, and so I think something I believed early in my 20s is you have to grind it out, and it has to be so hard, but I'm like, that's not the mindset that I'm bringing into this new decade and new chapter of my life. - Yeah, I love that, and so I like Sheree answering first 'cause then I can think about my answer. - Great. - Thank you. - I always have her answer first in case you guys haven't noticed, but I think to add to that, I would say thinking that any situation you're in is permanent. Whether or not you're in a great place in your life or if you're in a place where you're not really happy with, things just change all the time. I mean, look at us. I don't even recognize myself. What is going on? I feel like this is a fever dream, but so I think it's just good to remember whatever situation you're in, it doesn't have to be permanent if you don't want it to be. I love that. - That is beautiful. I love that, and the grind mentality, I'm like, that is very Asian, yes. - Right? I'm like, it got us here, but I'm like, I don't know. That grind mentality, I think it wears you down, right? It burns you out after a long time, and it doesn't feel sustainable, and we're looking for the sustainable thing for the long term. - Yeah, and there's no honor in grinding just to grind. I think that that's like a mindset I had to get rid of, very, very recently, where it's like, sometimes you feel like, oh, when you're in the grind, it's like honorable in a way, but that's not necessary. Like, I feel like we can really shed that. - I love that. I love that. - Cue Mulan. I don't know the song on honor. - Okay, next question. What brings joy to you now that maybe wouldn't have impressed your younger selves? - I feel like I can answer for Sheree. - What? - What? What are you gonna say? I'm scared. - Well, you do like 50 million hobbies. - Yeah. I have to make time for the hobbies in my life. I'm not gonna say it's about balance because I feel like that's like very trite, but it is figuring out ways, like I said, to make things sustainable for your life. So it's like, how do you weave in those friendships and the time for yourself and your hobbies? I would say last year, building Tiger Sisters, we're like two years in now. So like the first year, it did feel really tough at times 'cause we were working a lot. So for this like second year, I think the approach is like, how do I weave in my life into the work so it doesn't feel so burnout-y? - Yeah. I would say, I feel like since we're all friends here, I can say an answer that I feel like on the surface might seem superficial, but I think in the last year, I like learned how to do my hair. - Oh yeah. - I learned how to do makeup for the first time. Shout out Kelly Zhang, who taught me at her makeup class. - We actually went to a makeup lesson. - Yes. - It was necessary, guys. - No, and it changed my life. - It's transform us. - It changed my life. And I also got my colors done. And like all of it is because now, you know, we're more in the public eye and like we're in a- - On camera. - A role that is more visible, but I really wish I had done it earlier. And I think my whole life, I thought my value was only my brain. Do you know what I mean? I was like, oh, like what everyone says is that I'm smart and I work hard. So like, that's all I focus on, but it's actually a lot healthier and let you feel better when you can invest in your whole self. So I feel like that's a message that, especially as Asian women, like we don't get a lot. Like you're not told like, actually it's healthy to invest in these parts of yourself. - To learn how to do a blowout for yourself. - I love that. It's the matchmaker Mulan. ♪ Learn how to do a blowout and boom ♪ - Okay, this next question comes from someone in our lovely audience. Do you have any advice on marketing yourself in a way that is authentic to you? - I love this question. And thank you guys for filling out the pre-show survey because we were able to collect some questions from you. I think about marketing myself and that sounds really weird and gross to say, like, it's, I don't know, people, there's like an ick or like kind of like a stink around. Like, how do you talk about yourself? Like, does it sound like you're bragging? But my thing is that like, no one will talk about you or represent you or tell your story. So it is your job to figure out how you wanna come across. And that might be a little bit difficult, like a LinkedIn post that might be on Instagram, but what it comes down to is your personal brand. Like, how do you wanna show up and how do you wanna be known when you enter a room? So I think, I mean, obviously, like I'm posting on Instagram every single day and on LinkedIn, check it out. But like how you come across is so important. So spend some time investing and thinking about like, what are the values that I have and the features that I have that I want to be known for? And so I think it's all about personal brand and no one will care more about your personal brand or your career more than yourself. So it's something you need to spend time doing. - And I would say two things I learned from Sheree in this, because I feel like she's the like master at this and I learned a lot from her is that one, it doesn't have to be this really like heavy, scary thing. It's like trying to change your mindset around it and thinking about it as a fun thing. Like, oh, this is a fun project. This is like a lighthearted thing that I get to do in branding myself. And that's the first one. I think the second one is, when you create content and put yourself out there, thinking about what are all the times when I've seen content from someone else and I really appreciated it and it made me happier in that day, or it actually made me think or it changed my perspective about something in a positive way. And I personally used to be, I think I still am like very, very private. And I had to sort of think about like, oh, putting myself out there is helping people. So I think thinking about that mindset is really helpful. - Yeah, I'm so proud of Jean for her journey over the last two years with Tiger Sisters and on social media. Okay guys. - Thank you guys. This is what I need. This is what I needed. - It's not a surprise that I started a podcast. I've been like on social media. And like, since I was five years old, I'm like, "Hey guys." In all my childhood videos. So like, it's not really a surprise for the youngest child. - Yeah, I'd say I'm the youngest. Hey. - Hey guys. - Right? But I think for Jean, I mean, it's a complete career pivot for her. So I'm just so incredibly proud and as her little child, sister seeing the transformation I mean if I can do it you guys can a thousand percent do it like anyone here could do it if I if I can put myself on stage like this I love that the next question is very related to that from the audience um it says I'm a pretty private person but want to start building a brand online have you struggled with the discomfort of sharing online what helped you break out of that discomfort I mean I think what I just said yes yes I might have jumped ahead anything to add well i mean i think it's definitely easier when we have the two of us you know like it's the tiger sisters we can rely on each other jean can wait for me to say my answer first so she can think about her i thought of something else guys typical um it's good that it's the two of us so it's easier and i'm not saying like you know starting online you should definitely do it with someone but like when you have kind of a co-founder a co-pilot um like when you're starting a company whether it's a startup a media venture like it's always easier when you have someone to bounce ideas off of so i'm very thankful for that all right what are you gonna say okay so what i'll add is that i think for us when we first started thinking about building tiger sisters we actually talked about the mission from the very very beginning right so i think you guys know our mission has always been to empower and uplift a billion women which sounds kind of crazy and we never used to say it out loud to people because i feel like we were bashful about it it sounded like too big of a goal but now we say it and i think having that goal sort of grounds us or like anything we do is in service of it of that goal so like how could it be cringy or even if it is cringy like who the hell cares right because we're trying to do this thing we have this mission that we deeply care about and we think is really important and we really do think we can change the world so like if anyone thinks that that's cringe then like who cares yeah but then i love that okay uh two more questions one from the audience how did you start to find your voice negotiating salary and promotions with your manager and what has uh an aha what was an aha moment for you aha moment also i'm like i'm so dumb i'm like is that business what aha he's like what was an aapi i mean a i don't know i'm sorry i'm a dumb i love it okay a roller coaster how do i put this i don't like confrontation like that's who i am and i've grown to like run towards the fire and if there's there is confrontation like how do i grow from it but i kind of see like negotiating as a bit of a confrontation maybe it's not but like in my mind it is so like i would shy away from it but like i said before like no one's gonna care more about your career than you do and it is completely up to you to negotiate and to ask because if you don't ask definitely nothing will change but if you do ask something great can come out of it so like what is the best that can happen and i think the tactical takeaway for this for negotiating is practicing it sounds kind of uncomfortable or crazy to do but like doing it in the mirror and like having a script it's like if you're negotiating with your boss and you know like hey i would like you know a raise and they're like okay here's the number and they give you a number you're not like yay thank you so much you're like kind of poker face and being like okay like this is great information like i'll take it back and think about it like let's set up a follow-up meeting like you don't have the pressure to be like responding right in the moment i think the biggest negotiation tip is like you can take time to think about things yeah and practicing it like actually saying it out loud one time you'll be surprised by how much that that helps you because even just like talking it through it like does something in the neurons of your brain where like when you hear yourself saying it out loud you're like oh i've said it out loud already um and if you don't want to do it yourself you can just ask a friend any new friends here you can be like hi can i can we talk for 10 minutes on the phone and practice actually we did this um in business school we actually had a class on role playing business role plays um literally it's just like the conversations that are the toughest to have if you practice them ahead of time whether it's asking for a raise whether um it's high like hiring someone or i guess giving someone a promotion over someone else that's a really tough conversation to have um i think it's always worth practicing it's all about those aha moments amazing do you guys want to know a wisdom that my mother told me about growing up yeah you're getting older if you enjoyed our tiger sisters podcast episode on parenting and motherhood with our hilarious guests natasha leggero and sabrina jalis make sure to check out their podcast good enough new episodes drop every wednesday wherever you get your podcasts together they explore the messy and funny middle ground between old school and modern parenting okay now back to the show final question from the audience how do you make i love this question how do you make time for adult friendships and invest in those relationships i love that oh i can i can answer first hey guys um i think as you get older especially as your friends move into like different stages of life especially when people start having kids and like you know having to focus a lot of time on managing their families i think there's two parts of it the first one i haven't thought of the second one but the first one is actually being kind of like organized around it and being a little bit type a so one thing that me and my girlfriends from hbs do is that the four of us arrange this kind of like retreat every year where we have i think i've mentioned this before on the podcast maybe once we're 20 of us girls all from the same class we all get together once a year for one weekend and we just do a weekend of like bonding and catching up and like you know we've tried we've done a little bit more formal programming before where we've had like oh a fireside chat where one of uh like one of our girlfriends who goes is the cfo of a public company so we're like what's it like being the cfo of a public company like tell us every you know what i mean so i think part of it is being very intentional and um creating that recurring event whether it's yearly or or maybe quarterly um and then doing it with a group so having a few people do that together that's really helpful for having um like a group event and then i think the second part of it is like second thing i have one if you want time to think about your second answer the second thing sheree will be answering um mine's also a two-parter and i have my second part the first one is i mean like jean said it's about intentionality but i think a lot of it as we're like in our 20s 30s 40s beyond like life gets busy it's all about the follow-up and you need two people who are oh yeah open to having a friendship and having the follow-up because like i've been in the situation where you're like you're the first one to follow up and you're the second one to follow up and you're the person in the friendship where there's just like hey are we hanging out like blah blah and like they're really busy maybe it's with work maybe it's with um a new partner they're just like not in that season of their life which is like my second point is that like i think friendships and adult friendships are all about different seasons and it's okay if you have like a season whether it's literally a quarter or like half a year or even a year where you're like very invested in the social part of your life but things happen different things evolve in your life and it's okay to like kind of like fade in and out um i think of the socialness of your life yeah didn't i have a great second point guys i love that so much a lot of the time i feel like we think success is being by yourself grinding but success comes from bouncing ideas off of other people friendship getting and i mean you're working with someone who you your best friend in college here is today right who you're working with right now shout out fortune questions shout out fortune questions there's young jay young jay that's beautiful i love that i love that and speaking of friendship our next guests are two women who have spent years reinventing themselves publicly and creatively while also building real community for asian american women in entertainment and beyond you know jenna ushkowitz from glee broadway producing and being part of multiple millennial cultural milestones and ali maki has built an incredible career across acting storytelling and advocacy while also becoming one of the funniest and most successful people online together they co-founded asian american girl club give it up for aagc a community centered around identity belonging friendship and celebrating asian american women please make it loud for ali maki and jenna ushkowitz hi everyone i'm kara swisher and i'm sky galloway twice a week we get together on pivot to sort through the biggest stories in tech business and politics and we're taking the show back on the road for a live talk with jenna ushkowitz and we're taking the show back on the road for a live tour in november so we'll bring hot takes i'll bring the insight and the dick jokes and kara will try keyword is try to keep me in check you'll get to see her uh hit me in person live i'll do it if someone has to do it we'll cover ai whatever chaos washington is cooked up that week and every billionaire misbehaving that's all of them and you'll also get to participate in audience q and a so bring your best questions scott will probably answer ones you didn't ask we also have secret guests which you'll enjoy for every city get tickets at pivot tour.com that's pivot tour.com we are selling out so don't wait and we look forward to seeing you we're so excited you guys are here oh my god thanks for having us also today is the release of the Tiger Sisters on the Undefinable Podcast hosted by the one and only Jenna Shkowitz and Carole Wang which is also totally coincidental we didn't even I'm just shocked the universe has brought us together that's right we're so happy to be here yay okay so we have a couple of questions for you but before we dive into that we have a bit of an icebreaker game for you guys are you more Cherie or Jean Coden they don't know what's coming they don't know what's coming I'm okay yes it's a quiz guys are you so nervous are you guys are you so you guys are really smart okay no no no the first thing today my mom comes over she goes those girls are amazing so impressive and I was like yes I know I know they do it all meanwhile sardines sardines okay guys we're gonna ask through a couple of slides are you more Jean or Cherie coded and by the end of this there's only a couple of questions you're gonna figure out are you more like Jean or Cherie so the first one this is a very high stakes test guys so nervous okay so how do you feel about sardines for breakfast I'm gonna say no no sardines for lunch for lunch okay so you are pro sardine no no no wait at all for lunch though not for breakfast is that weird pro sardine but not in general yes but not for breakfast yes yes yes in general yes sorry okay that's kind of like a halfway halfway there are you familiar like sardines are like trending right now like on TikTok on Instagram everyone's eating them and I have a very strange craving first thing in the morning actually it starts even before then when I go to bed I'm always thinking about what I'm gonna have for breakfast the next morning and it is sardines how what's the the ingredients just by itself sardines a piece of toast some flaky sea salt a pinch of like lemon I've air fried them before they're pretty good air fried air fried yeah give me a little crisp okay yes I'm into that I would say we're halfway there okay yeah this group is very good on omega threes we're good we're good okay the next one how do you feel about binge watching an entire series in one night have you ever done that oh yeah wait really for sure okay how often not very I would say more so before I had kids before I was a mom yeah and now it's like I'll watch like 30 seconds of a show turn it off come back watch like two minutes come back like it's very disrupted it takes me like six months to watch a show now meanwhile you watch Moana like 50 times a week yes this is true I have watched Moana like 150 times yes in total yes same okay but if you could you would be binge watching yes an entire series definitely okay because this is this is me this is a Jean special she's very good at binge watching an entire series in a single night thank you I like how you turned that into a positive I'm very good at it she's very good at it I have a special skill what kind of genre like anything I like reality TV but like anything she's big on reality TV yeah me too that's another oh yeah that's another difference between us you're not so much with the um she just doesn't watch TV she has too many hobbies I have too many hobbies as we've said she needs to like spin pottery I go swimming I do pottery I play tennis but like I don't really watch that much TV honestly guys I think I'm scrolling I think that's my time that's true that's true fair enough I already think I'm Jean coded yeah we have way more questions you can't decide that well do you guys also last question do you binge binge read do you binge read also ever binge read like you'll read a whole book in one night definitely okay that's that's me I mean free free children though like I will fall asleep five minutes in now but you yes I would definitely read a whole book in one night okay we'll do the next one okay the next one all right what are your thoughts on revenge oh my gosh this cat how do you feel about revenge just in general revenge oh Jenna has something to say no yes no no I'm not into revenge I I'm not so into it what if it's so what if it's paired with this really cute cat yeah that's fair what if you saw an ex that you no longer I mean it was not an amicable breakup what if you saw them and they're like dusty now and you're like oh they don't look as good anymore like how do you feel about that I'm into that are you into that yeah yeah yeah yeah for sure I just think like active revenge is not really the game we play but you know I'm into passive revenge passive revenge passive revenge we've created a new category of revenge yeah passive revenge passive revenge so it's basically just living living the best life is the best revenge something like that yeah I think you you get what you give and I I think we gotta give kindness and whatever they get they're gonna get you know sounds like she loves revenge guys she's really into revenge like karma's gonna get ya it's a little passive revenge passive revenge passive revenge hmm okay how do you feel about an early morning workout where you and I go our separate ways we're on a completely different schedule wait us too wait I need I need to hear wait say more tell us 6am every day 6am hell yeah wait what are you doing what are you doing like a hit training mate like workout at 6 oh right training mate yeah wait you've hit like 400 or something crazy 500 classes 500 classes guys damn it's crazy wait is that like an app no no it's in like Santa Monica the studio well the it's like a studio it's by these Australian people so what are you yeah it's very cute Australian people yeah very positive vibes yeah not revenge not vengeful not vengeful okay what about you guys and what about you well we know I want to hear about you Allie yeah Allie what do you what do you do Allie oh me I haven't worked out in a long time I blame pregnancy new motherhood but I mean you know I'm like walking around the block with Charlie so I feel like that counts that counts getting steps in daily steps yes but I'm not a 7 a.m. in the morning like generally workout type person and we're complete opposites because when I'm kind of preparing lunch you're like preparing dinner yeah and I'm a night owl yeah me too oh see so I'm the early working out person I love an early morning workout like you start your day drink your lemon water that's right sorry I sound unbearable eat your sardines right eat your sardines get your omega-3s in the morning start the day off right she will like put on a swim cap and go swimming like who is she oh my god wow she's yeah I haven't done that in a little bit but I think it's the early morning workout that just gets me like going no I could never yeah no and Gina's a night owl yeah I'm a night owl ooh chicken paws how do you feel about chicken paws it is AAPI heritage month so I know this one's controversial potentially I've had I've had them once yeah and I loved them yeah okay but I ate them on a cruise ship oh doesn't sound right I was a kid and it was hey do you want to try this and I was sure and I ate them they were fine I'm shocked I'm still here but you haven't had them since I have not okay but I would yeah she's an open-minded queen open-minded they're very good for you right oh they're really good they have a lot of collagen yeah what about you I've never had them oh today's the day I'm into I love food I'll try mostly anything but if they look like that I don't know that I would it is too obviously a paw like it is a paw do you clip the nails or does the nails stay on no it's a legitimate question yeah no the nails are clipped off they need a manicure the like the paws need a manicure no well not by us by the perfect person who's preparing them no cut short or no gone gone at the dim sum I don't think so anyway this is Sheree's number one order at dim sum oh my god don't worry Jenna I'll take you out for dim sum we'll get some chicken paws Sheree's like a superhero all chicken paws it's gonna be only chicken paws no would highly recommend you guys try it if you haven't already open-minded okay okay how do you feel about four days no hair wash I feel like we're traumatizing you with our slides and we're really far too much about ourselves really learned a lot today it could be three days it could be it could be two days four days is too long pushing it for me what's the longest you've stretched it like if you had a really good blowout oh yeah with the blowout you could go maybe like five yeah six days maybe no if I'm just on zoom and I'm home I know sorry yeah yeah no the longest I've stretched one is probably three days - Yeah. - But it doesn't hold, like a blow dry won't hold hair for three days nicely that's why you need the dry shampoo i know but it won't it really doesn't work it doesn't work i'm an everyday hair washer okay next one having hobbies as an adult i feel like i've already been outed for this one yes yes yes what are some of your yeah what are your hobbies what do you do was tennis a hobby tennis yeah apparently washing your hair sounds like a hobby washing your hair sounds like a job she does it like every day guys i feel like when you have kids you're you're a constant crafter and i we like make necklaces and bracelets all the time so like i like it's very relaxing we do crafts we paint we do beads so i feel like my adult hobby is tennis and my kid hobby is like crafting do you have hobbies sally my hobby is watching survivor and the pit i love survivor and the pit don't ruin it i haven't seen the latest episode season 50 and yeah oh my god obsessed can we the billy eilish hidden idol or the billy eilish five times anyone anyone anyone anyone um yes survivor in the pit i like yeah i do think for in terms of hobbies there are a bunch that i'm like when i have kids i'm gonna start doing this again or like when i have kids i'm gonna buy all the stuffies that i want i love stuffies but i can't it's a great opportunity for stuffies yes we actually have a lot we have a lot of stuffed animals between the two of us in our shared place but not nearly not nearly as many as i want we have there's zero children just two adults but stuffies are in i mean you know the in the blind boxes you gotta have them yeah they're little comfort items oh here we go okay money we gotta get that refund you get that vat refund when you go yes when you go to europe or when you're in hawaii the tax is lower so it makes sense right right yeah i'm into it it feels a little stressful though because it's such a big purchase it's like when you're there in the moment i'm i get kind of stressed yeah you can't really sleep on it put it back yeah put it back but the savings the savings you know the savings is good it's an investment i think it's an investment i'm into it okay the next one is ordering mild thai food or no spicy no spicy no no no you gotta have the spice the spice who's mild she is oh she can't handle she always can't handle spicy everything no spicy no spicy it's not like she doesn't say we're not related in that sense because gene will have it thai spicy she loves spicy and i am the wimp between the two of us yeah so there are certain dishes that she can't have that i'll order that we have to compromise on we're like the papaya salad like no spicy no spicy spicy all the way oh i think this is the last one right is smoothie a meal i like how you guys are taking it so seriously i know we're like overthinking every question i like the audience thing yes no no everyone's really split i feel like i'm more hungry after i eat a smoothie is that crazy no i don't think it's a meal i don't think it's a meal it's like an appetizer yeah it's like first course yes i think exactly yeah and it moves push i i i eat smoothies a lot as like not like a meal replacement but i feel like during the day recently i don't feel like ingested like hard food real food hard you will be drinking a ton of smoothies though yeah yeah also she's on the go a lot so i think yes i'm just on the go guys i'm still on the go wasn't there someone on love is blind who blended chicken yes right i remember that but chicken was something right i can't remember no yeah they made like a chicken smoothie i had another friend who has an aversion to eating like he's like i don't enjoy food so he's like i'd rather stick everything into a like how is this possible and they were asian i was like i don't believe this i love eating i live to eat actually it's like one of my favorite hobbies yeah we can all agree on that cue the chicken paws yeah i think that was our last one well i guess in terms of like sheree or jean coated i mean i think ali is more jean coated for sure she's a night owl jenna's more sheree i think so i think so oh my god it makes sense it makes sense okay that seems fair i feel it yeah yay you guys passed the test with flying colors thank you so much that's why we're here we just wanted to get the a yeah you guys you're backstage like gosh they're so smart they're like professors you guys are so meanwhile we're like is a smoothie a meal right right we're that's i think why we came out we're like we're taking this seriously you know yeah but we do have some real conversation questions with you um and i mean the theme of today is reinventing yourself and also bringing more joy into your life and so we want to talk more about those two topics especially as it relates to api month so the first question we had is that you guys have both had really incredible and storied careers um that's changed directions multiple times um so how do you know when it's time to go to school and when it's time to go to school and when it's time to evolve versus when it's still time to push through what you're currently doing boredom is a really good sign of um when it's time to change i also think that being scared there's two types of scared to me like there's a scary this is not right something's wrong get out of here kind of scared like a fear and there's a scared like a a very exciting challenging scared like it's a like stepping into the next chapter so i think listening to those kind of feelings are really good signs to you know move and and kind of like guide you in your path and that's kind of how i let like those are the feelings that i kind of lead with love that yeah i think similarly i think through my whole journey i similar similar to what you said whenever i'm faced with a you know two journeys i'm like oh my god i'm like oh my god i'm like oh my god i'm like oh and one of them is very scary and one of them is not i always tend to try to go the scarier path and scarier meaning it feels like a challenge feels like something i've never done before i feel like in my career i did comedy for a long time and i remember talking to trav my partner and i was like i'm just a i'm just a comedy person i'm just a comedy person he's like what do you mean i was like i'm just here to try to make people laugh and he's like but i think you can do more than that and i was like no i can't no i can't and it took me a long time for myself to be like oh wait maybe i can do drama okay maybe i can like you know try to start something like agc um so i think it's been my own kind of letting go of seeing myself as just one particular trait or path i love that um one follow-up question i have on that topic is that um i don't know if you guys know this but i have followed both of you online for a really really long time i'm like genuinely both of you are long long time fans we are fangirling we both are we are fangirls of y'all i know and so as part of it i feel like i've always seen both of you in your lives as so like glamorous and like that that is very much how it looks from the outside right so can you give us a little bit more like behind the scenes like what's a time when you change something or you had that big reinvention where obviously it looks glamorous from the outside but on the inside it was actually really terrifying and um maybe even like really difficult i mean i still have imposter syndrome about this whole founder position right of founding something because it was something that i sort of started by accident you know and it was just based on this need of i said does any does anyone else feel this way and you know just people came from everywhere and said that they did so um i think yeah it's it's a it's i'm still kind of coming to terms with that i can kind of be that stepping into the role as like i am founder yeah yeah yeah because again i just think of myself as oh i'm just an actress i don't know you know how to do this and do that but i think like learning along the way has just been huge and being open to that too yeah i think that um both ali and i started as actresses when we were both very very young like under the age of 10 so um it's been a long journey in the entertainment industry as actresses and i think for me um going from theater to then you know working on glee for so many years which looked glamorous but it was not um it was a really big shift after glee because glee really opened up all the doors it was like a lightning in the bottle experience that um changed our lives forever in so many ways but afterwards as an actress you think like i've made it i'm gonna work forever and the truth was nobody wanted us in their audition rooms nobody wanted to hire us because they couldn't see see us as anything but those characters. So people really needed a break from seeing us all over the place like we were sick of seeing ourselves and I think that was a really scary moment of coming off the show and thinking we're all gonna go back on other tv shows and everybody's gonna work and none of us did and so pivoting to producing and going back to New York and going back on the stage all of those things felt scary I went directly back and I did some Broadway which was like so much fun but there's so much pressure that comes with that because now everybody's watching what are they gonna do next and I think that those moments were so terrifying and they may seem like wow they're they're just working they never saw the lull in between they never saw any of the transition and so I think that was like a big um a really big one for me yeah I feel like I love that we're talking about this so publicly and on stage in front of everyone because this is kind of the reality of it right it's like we see the shiny exterior on Instagram or LinkedIn but I think career paths are so um like the path kind of goes like this right and but then like only looking backwards can you really connect the dots like oh it made sense in that time and maybe there was a lull and a pivot but like you can kind of explain it while looking back but during it is sometimes terrifying totally it's so scary and I think I've learned how to let the fear kind of inspire me because if you sit for a minute and you listen to what it's saying then it usually guides in a different direction like I remember similar to Jenna I hadn't worked in a while like acting wise and I was like what am I gonna do I don't I'm gonna quit I think and then one day I was like you know what I really want to make something so I just woke up on a Saturday morning and I got my dog was in it we just filmed in my neighborhood I got a friend to like film it and we posted it on YouTube and it got like 70 views and I was like oh this is a failure no one cares and then randomly like a few months later I got a call and they were like oh they want you to be in Toy Story and I was like what do you mean how I didn't even audition for this and they were like the the Pixar casting department went on YouTube and they found this video you made oh my god and they saw and they were like that's the character and I was like so you're telling me one of the 70 views that I got oh my god I think we don't think about the people as real people that's 70 real people like a hundred people and I was like oh my god I don't know what to do with this and I was like oh my god I don't know what to do with this but I was like oh my god I don't know what to do with this people of today you are all amazing people that showed up and came out and I think we tend to forget that we see oh that's a failure like no one liked that but it's it's not true like you could be impacting so many people and we don't even know it right and your next opportunity like you never know when you put yourself out there it just opens up so many more possibilities and like room for collisions whether it's like going to an event putting your content out there putting yourself out there you never know who's going to be in that room and what does that Lady Gaga quote like what does she say that's like oh she says like if there's a hundred people in a room like you only need that one person to believe in you to like believe in you and that one person found you of that 70 views that's right I'm feeling really inspired by you guys um and your story and I think the takeaway for me is just like I need to be brave like I need to be brave yeah I also I'm just really grateful that you guys are sharing the story with us because like when I think about you two you're both these incredible multi-hyphenates with amazing resumes but now you guys are giving us the inside scoop where you're like well actually the only reason I became a multi-hyphenate is because I thought that this part of my career was over like I thought that it came from like a place of need oh yeah I feel like everything maybe kind of the biggest parts of my personal journey have been from moments of being rock bottom and then using that to kind of figure out what is the next I don't even say next iteration but what is what is you know gonna what is the next convention reinvention yeah and that includes motherhood right for both of us yeah big transition the whole other thing yeah really big transition if you guys enjoyed our recent episode about communication with professor matt abrahams you should check out his podcast think fast talk smart yes this was one of my favorite conversations and professor matt abrahams was my speaking coach when I did my ted talk last year we basically manifested this episode because we literally talked about him in an episode the year before and then now here we are besties with him and recommending his podcast check out think fast talk smart it's a podcast that comes out twice a week on mondays and thursdays they go over everything about communication and speaking whether it's presenting small talk networking they cover it all and communication is such a universal topic there's something for everyone this is also a very full circle moment for gene and me because I actually saw jenna when I was 15 maybe 14 this was when I was I think a freshman in high school or something and gene had bought tickets for the both of us to go to glee the concert so I have photos of me in my like warblers t-shirt we need the photo we don't have the photos but imagine this you guys can see it on the the podcast we did with jenna but um yeah I was just watching jenna on stage like 15 years ago and so this is like and it was sheree was a huge huge like she was obsessed I loved it too and I was I had just started my first job out of school so I I had some you know disposable income and I was like okay I'm gonna buy this as a really big gift for sheree and even even though I had started making money I could still only afford like the worst tickets so we were like in the literally the the furthest back row of nasa all the way in nasa coliseum but it was like oh my gosh life-changing I have a jenna story too no stop no I do because even though we kind of grew up in the industry together it was always like rooting each other on from afar yeah but I remember they there used to be these big halloween parties in the industry halloween was a big deal and they had one at pink taco r.i.p pink taco it's not there yes is it it's still there oh no I don't know I don't think it's still there and I was at this halloween party and I went to go to the bathroom and there was a long line and so I'm just waiting there and I see the person in front of me has like these pink knee highs and then I look up you're outing jenna right now it's jenna hardcore because it was a halloween costume I don't know do you remember no I don't remember and I look up and it's jenna and I was like oh my gosh I'm right behind jenna she's ugly she starts singing a solo for you no but that's the funny part is that ali and I didn't really know each other but every time we'd go on auditions sometimes we'd go on the same things but you would hear like the same names over and over like oh you didn't get it but ali did and she'd always they'd always be like ali got and I'm like ali got it and honestly like cheering her on because it's not if it's not my part it's not you know we're so different well first we're like who's this bitch like yeah who this bitch be no no revenge we're just so different but like you know but we'll go up for the same stuff but always it was like this like you know we're just so different but like you know we're just so different but like we're just so girl that I was like get it ali and now you guys are coo and ceo of aagc you work together every single day we do we're on zoom every day like for hours yes but again I think what we're talking about is a leap of faith moment I I kind of remember how this all happened and jenna I don't want to speak for you but I'll I'll tee up the story is I got a call from jenna one day and you're like I just had it can you tell it you're like I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't like I just had a baby I just had a baby yeah yeah and I had always admired what ali had built with aagc you know for the seven years before I came on and she had built a community and a place of safety and a place of you know belonging and we had always been talking about a podcast and she's like I want to do a podcast and I was like I'll help you but then you know we had babies and life happened and she did toy story and it was just like we were working and I had had my kid and my second kid and she was like I want to do a podcast and I was like I'll help you but then I said what are you doing with asian american girl club and she said I I just feel like this is the time that we got to get real serious with it because you were bootstrapped before you had really um kind of done this rogue on your own with t our amazing chief of staff tia and um built this amazing brand by yourself and so um I said well let me let me help let me come on let me what do you need how can I um be of assistance and so we started working together and it's been really amazing it's been so wonderful to you know work alongside her as a friend and a colleague and somebody just like deeply respect you know like what a joy it is to enjoy the people that you work with so important yeah it's it's really like life's true luxury to to love the people that you work with and enjoy and be happy and excited to go to work every day and be like oh I get to see my friend you get to see my best friend yeah we always like to say like keep it in the family and it's it's true like you're legitimately doing that but we stay legitimately blood related literally people right that just get you and are you know going to go through the ups and the downs the highs and lows because this isn't it ain't easy what what you're doing the amount of work it takes that I've learned to do a podcast and all of the stuff in between we're backstage and we're like okay now I gotta do this you're like let's make a tiktok and it's it's just never ending right so I really applaud you ladies for just everything that you've done it's so inspiring nice should we go to an audience question yeah let's do it what you want to ask the first one or the second one yeah the first one i i picked this question um i would love to hear y'all y'all ladies answers on this so um asian american female voices have become louder in this generation love love love what challenges do you still see as persistent or areas we need to work on thank you to the audience member who submitted this question yes i definitely think asking for more it's something that i still struggle with i i get like embarrassment after when i kind of stand up for myself or even if i'm speaking about myself i'll be like oh my gosh like why did i say that i see i sound not i don't sound humble like i sound like i'm asking for too much and i think that's just something that comes like you were saying with practice when i first started even doing press and doing interviews i would say things and i'd get so embarrassed after and then i kind of realized that even if i feel that way i gotta put i need to push through that and it gets easier every single time to kind of refine your voice and no one can really take your story and you don't get take that away from you right it's it's my perspective it's how i see it and i always try to look through that lens now of okay if people want to say this or that like that is that's my truth so that's all i can't beat that that was so good ally this is really good no i mean it's always a competition no i'm just kidding it's uh no i think i think it was perfectly set i i totally agree yeah and i think people are asking you because they want to hear from you that's something that i think it's easy to forget like we don't just have a platform because we're just like speaking into the ether i think it's actually really important to to be who we are and to like put it out there and to show that um it it's okay and you should be speaking up yeah and i think really beautiful things my takeaway is that like really beautiful things come from moments of discomfort um like making the ask that's uncomfortable or like choosing the scary path like you said ally and like being brave but like running towards the thing that makes us uncomfortable which is the hard thing not the easy thing and i think the second aspect to running to the hard thing is having just knowing that there'll be people who support you on the other side of that because i think that's huge aagc would not exist without all of the people who helped along the way who were like i'll wear the shirt or you know talked about it in rooms so i would say without that it's it's pretty lonely and scary and i think that was the first part of our career and then once kind of representation happened i mean even just us teaming up right it's like it's just such a morale booster of like okay this is hard but at least we're in this together yeah guys the first ever collaboration between aagc tiger sisters more to come more to come yes i think the last thing i'll say is that it is about community it's like everyone in this room like just like look around the person next to you the people that you will meet like before and after we have our reciprocity ring or that board that white board put down your ask like this is why we're so excited to do this live show is to meet you and also to to ask and also receive help whether it's offer a hand or a recommendation or a babysitter or travel rex whatever it is like this is community this is real life i love it something interesting has been happening lately which is people have been telling us that watching tiger sisters is like getting a free mba right because every single tiger sisters episode is so well researched we bring case studies we bring mini exercises we bring frameworks from everything that gene and i have learned at harvard business school and stanford's business school not to mention we have incredible guests so you guys are getting all the insights from a very expensive education when you're listening to tiger sisters and just folding your laundry or commuting to work or doing anything in the house so big news we also have a companion newsletter dropping so sign up in the link in our description and don't forget to subscribe to tiger sisters podcast anywhere you get your podcasts youtube spotify or apple podcast and now back to our show should we move on to our next segment yes guys we have an exciting next segment and some of you guys might be wondering where the heck has dylan been what is he doing i'm steve harvey son you guys are familiar with family feud right we'll get ready for the first ever tiger family feud that's right we asked 150 people aka all of you questions to these answers and all of our teams our teams will obviously be sherry and gene and ali and jenna and we will be reading off all the answers you guys have buzzers the first one to click in will be the first to guess are we ready for the tiger family feud everybody and these are the survey questions that you guys answered this is why we sent it out like i said this live show is a roller coaster it's all about you high energy absolutely okay number one biggest red flags in dating a love bombing b bad texting c no friends sad d talks about crypto too much and e still figuring things out okay jean and sherry um is it d talks about crypto too much it is not talks about crypto too much it's your turn okay a love bombing it is not love bombing the answer was c no friends wait you guys can also yell at your answer too like i'm curious to hear because the survey was what you guys told us in the polls okay question number two i love this question who is the number one misunderstood disney zaddy a gaston from beauty and the beast gay b jafar gay c the beast straight d scar gay e the huns from mulan bisexual who okay yes yes yes you can d uh d scar it is not d i'm so sorry okay okay i think it's e the hun from mulan it's not the huns from mulan even though they're the hottest see the beast it's the beast everyone it's the beast wait it's the beast what do people overspend on a coffee b uber slash lish that roger three concert tickets d skincare e eating out slash doordash that's rude okay yes ali e eating out doordash it is eating out and doordash you guys win the point yes okay question number four best childhood tv theme song a sweet life of zach and cody b are you gonna sing them oh my god okay this is the sweet life arthur what a wonderful kind of day hey spongebob who lives in a pineapple under the sea you get the best of both worlds e you're moving to your auntie and your uncles in bel-air f that's so raven it's the future i can see all right buzz in okay sheree um i would say the most universal one is f that's so raven good guess that's not the answer yes uh fresh prince of bel-air it is fresh prince of bel-air all right best asian snack number one a maggie noodles b strawberry paki c spam musubi five up to four choco pies e hot flakes and f honey butter chips okay yes jean i think it's strawberry paki good guess it is not strawberry paki yes c spam musubi i'm proud of y'all proud of y'all arigato all right um number six best broadway show a wicked b les mis c phantom of the opera d hamilton e glee please not a broadway show i didn't even know that was it okay that was a trick the one with the naked daniel radcliffe okay yes hamilton that's my fave but it's not hamilton okay a wicked it's wicked we love wicked okay number seven best way to heal after a heartbreak a girl's trip b blocking them c revenge bod d getting with his or her or their best friend e new hobbies f get bangs okay yes jenna get bangs it is not get bangs c revenge bod it is not revenge bod it was a tie between girl's trip and new hobbies that's a good one that's a good one okay number eight the worst corporate phrase a let's double click on that b that's low-hanging fruit c let's circle back on it d i don't have the bandwidth e we're like a family these are all bad okay yes jean c let's circle back on it close it is not close let's circle back yes jenna um it's e we're like a family this is not the olive garden all right what is the number one thing people pretend to understand a crypto b modern art c wine d taxes eai or f-a-h-a okay okay wait please do not pretend to understand taxes i feel like that's a trap okay um i would say c wine it is not wine yes ali a crypto it is not crypto it is ai ai everybody yes okay final question what gives you the ick fastest a mosquitoes b a man wearing flip-flops at a bar c whenever someone says the word moist d still tortilla chips b and e infringement on personal space okay yes jenna flip-flops uh good one but it's not flip-flops yes sheree infringement on personal space infringement on personal space was someone keeping score everyone wins everyone everyone wins you guys are the winners you guys win okay and also a quick thank you to our vendors and partners today you guys found some goodies on your chair under your chairs hopefully you guys got sandals at the check-in with your totes you can buy your aagc merch yeah um but we're not quite done yet okay everyone oh this is a historic night for many reasons because not only is it the first tiger sisters aagc collab it is also the collab feat lane is are we ready everyone are we ready take it away i dreamed a podcast company this is real i dreamed i'd work next to my sister i dreamed a dream but mine went wrong i dreamed a dream but mine went wrong i spent half my savings on air one i dreamed a dream but mine went wrong i spent half my savings on air one well there's no need to be afraid we're your wall street silicon valley big sisters we're serving money power and love as you're drowning in problems with misters as you're drowning in problems with misters hit it that's when the tigers come at night with their tips and strategies they will whisper in your ear and help you reinvent your and help you reinvent your do you hear the people sing singing the song do you hear the people sing singing the song do you hear the people sing singing the song of growing cash of growing cash of growing cash it is the music of the people who just it is the music of the people who just it is the music of the people who just love to save and invest love to save and invest love to save and invest when gone when gone when gone you make more dough it's in our blood you make more dough it's in our blood you make more dough it's in our blood and it's inside an envelope and it's inside an envelope and it's inside an envelope yes yes yes transition transition transition one pod more one pod more one pod more we are undefined it's our pod and it's better than it's our pod and it's better than it's our pod and it's better than me one pod more one pod more one pod more it's a mash-up you never see with guests like tiger sisters to with guests like tiger sisters to with guests like tiger sisters to christy yamaguchi christy yamaguchi christy yamaguchi one pod more even if you one pod more even if you one pod more even if you listen from miles away listen from miles away listen from miles away you're in our club and you're our you're in our club and you're our you're in our club and you're our sister sister sister one pod more and if you're watching us one pod more and if you're watching us one pod more and if you're watching us today we hope that you are here to stay we hope that you are here to stay we hope that you are here to stay one more game one more game one more game one more play Give it up for the Tiger Sisters and Asian American Girls Club. Oh my God. Yes. Okay, before we go, I want everyone in this room to look around for a second. And this room is full of people trying to become something, return to something, or rediscover something. And that is what reinvention is. Not becoming a different person, but becoming more yourself. Thank you, Jean, Shereen, Allie, and Jenna. And thank you for being here tonight. Give it up for yourselves, you guys.