Hawaii Home + Remodeling • 31st January 2024

Hawaii Design with a Global Perspective

As a child born in the Philippines and traveling through Hawaii, Asia and Australia, Krsta Matepi’s early exposure to different cultures catalyzed her curiosity for art and design. Now making her home and career in Hawaii, the Australian interior designer says the Islands’ “indoor-outdoor” way of life has always felt familiar. “It was an easy transition with family and the similar indoor-outdoor lifestyle between Australia and Hawaii. I think that lifestyle connection helped me understand clien

Hawaii Home + Remodeling • 25th January 2024

Therapy Through Your Home

Anita Yokota is a well-rounded creative who draws from her licensed background in therapy to design homes with intention. She is a blogger, an interior designer, an established digital content creator, and recently, a bestselling author. Her work, she says, is inspired by a love and passion for helping others to become the most authentic versions of themselves from the “inside out.” Yokota’s designs always start with her clients’ relationships with each other and their homes. “What about your r

Character Media • 21st December 2023

New Additions to Your Bookshelf

Asian American and Pacific Islander authors from the Hawaiian Islands to the Philippines, Vietnam, China, and more hit the stands this year to tell stories representing their AAPI experiences and identities. From a fiction novel based on a mythical fire goddess to a memoir about a victorious transgender pageant queen, this list is nothing short of diverse. Read on to get the in-scoop on the most trending books by API of 2023.

Hawaii Home + Remodeling • 30th November 2023

Kitchen Cabinetry That Maximizes Space for Ohana

As a schoolteacher and working mother of three, Blair Morrison wanted an “island modern” kitchen built around the needs of her busy ohana. With grown children who come to visit home from college, including athletic teenagers who are always on the go, Morrison’s goal was to create a clean and minimal clutter-free kitchen space where the family could gather and enjoy each other’s company. By crafting stunning kitchen cabinetry with durable materials and clever storage solutions, Hawaii Kitchen...

Hawaii Home + Remodeling • 4th October 2023

A Bathroom Remodel with Peace of Mind

Homeowner Elizabeth Yee’s new master bathroom is timeless and inspired by Zen, and the sophisticated, well-traveled woman says she finds calmness and peace here every chance she gets. Drawing from principles of quiet rejuvenation — “Zen” is a Japanese derivative of the Sanskrit word for meditation — Yee’s Waialae Iki home embodies the concepts of stillness and purity. Ion Builders worked alongside interior designer Brandie Kasula and The Glass Guru of Honolulu to bring Yee’s bathroom remodel to

Hawaii Home + Remodeling • 2nd October 2023

A Waikiki Condo Renovation Inspired by Sands, Sea and Sky

In a world full of distractions, having a balanced and harmonious space is key. To create that space in his two-bedroom, two-bath Waikiki condo, architectural designer Alvin Hwang incorporated his affinity for Hawaii’s majestic mountains and clear waters. Hwang says he felt called to Hawaii for years, and just two years ago, he left his busy life in San Francisco to make his way to the Islands. “When I first came to Hawaii, I saw the mountains from the plane and almost cried,” explains Hwang. “

MemphisFlyer • 9th March 2023

Providing Safe Spaces

At the school level, the goal is to work toward progression instead of regression. It starts with teachers and staff taking opportunities to stand up for LGBTQ youth and educate other students. Schools should provide resources for queer-identifying students — resources that they can relate to and find comfort in. As Iyer says, “If I had to say one more thing it would be a call-to-action for teachers, counselors, people who are working at the student level in schools to reach out to us and be the people in school who spread the resources.

Character Media • 10th January 2023

Get To Know Our Community’s Unsung Heroes

Socially conscious organizations throughout the United States are making a meaningful impact on the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Whether addressing deep-rooted challenges experienced by the Asian community, finding solutions for issues developed during the COVID-19 pandemic or just expressing the desire to represent and honor the AAPI community, a number of nonprofits are taking a stand to effect day-to-day change. Read on to get to know these groups and what you can do to help

Character Media • 2nd January 2023

Unsung Heroes

Socially conscious organizations throughout the United States are making a meaningful impact on the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Whether addressing deep-rooted challenges experienced by the Asian community, finding solutions for issues developed during the COVID-19 pandemic or just expressing the desire to represent and honor the AAPI community, a number of nonprofits are taking a stand to effect day-to-day change. Read on to get to know these groups and what you can do to help:

Character Media • 2nd January 2023

Q&A: Unapologetically Her

I would encourage Asian women to just follow their calling, whatever it is. If it’s calling to you, then it’s legitimate. We need more Asian women in creative careers. I’m super inspired by the Asian women I work with. Every project, there’s more and more. It’s amazing to see. Also, don’t just follow the path that has made room for you, but make room for yourself, too.

MemphisFlyer • 7th December 2022

From Ari Rozario, With Love

“From Ari, with love.” Rozario chose this phrase because, she says, “We all just need a little bit of love out there.” She wanted to do something different, to spread love through something more personal. “Whenever I sell a piece, that’s how I feel about it. This piece is from me to you — with love. It’s like a personal little note. It’s like … my little doodle as a child.”

Character Media • 4th November 2022

Q&A: Natasha Liu Bordizzo Goes From Down Under to Outer Space

Natasha Liu Bordizzo isn’t afraid to show audiences her true self, as evidenced by the August premiere of Netflix’s “Day Shift.” The Chinese Australian actress rocked the red carpet in a swanky, black velvet Chanel suit, a wardrobe choice she attributes to her shifting attachments to gender roles. “My relationship with needing to be feminine is dissipating the older I get,” Bordizzo explained during a recent interview with Character Media. “As time goes on, I just seek authenticity above everyt

MemphisFlyer • 20th April 2022

Burying the Time Capsule

Santa Cruz expresses that living in Memphis as someone who is queer is like “living in a time capsule.” As for myself, I would describe my experience as living in a box. Constricting myself into walls that eventually cave in, suffocating my authentic self out of me and exhaling frustrations out onto this keyboard. That is the experience of a queer individual living in a society she is not sure is fully accepting of her.

Memphis magazine • 23rd March 2022

Finding Home at the International Farmer’s Market

In Memphis, people always look at me twice,” says Mina Hong, a Korean-Canadian-American and teacher currently residing here. The Cordova International Farmers Market is one of the few places in Memphis where I feel people won’t look at me twice. As I enter the market for the first time, I wonder if these familiar strangers feel what I feel. I wonder if they also feel like they exist in the “in-between.” I see eyes that are smaller and slanted, and others that are rounder and more almond-shaped

Character Media • 27th January 2022

Finding His Flow

When he’s not crafting some of the digital world’s most uplifting content, you can find Jubilee Media’s Jason Y. Lee surfing at home on the California coast. “With surfing, it’s not like you’re going to catch every wave,” says Lee. “That’s not the point. The point is that you learn which waves to catch and which waves you’re not supposed to go for, and you can’t do that by just sitting on the beach.”

Memphis magazine • 24th November 2021

Lessons Learned

Ask any experienced or veteran teacher for advice and one thing you will always hear is “never take work home with you.” But what nobody really says is that avoiding “taking work home with you” also means trying not to carry the weight of secondary trauma, PTSD, anxiety, insomnia, and constantly changing policies, all of which are proven to affect teachers at high rates. Sure, teachers can stay at school after hours to finish grading papers or complete lesson plans for the week, but part of bein

MemphisFlyer • 9th March 2022

Move to the Beat of the Banjo: Gangstagrass at Railgarten

“Why do we have genres?” asks Farrow. “People often like to define music by genre and categorization,” he continues. “We just come together, collaborate, and create music while trying out new things in the process,” adds Danjo. Though each member comes from a different background, for example, Philadelphian R-son who started rhyming in the first grade, and Danjo, who grew up in D.C. and always had a love for bluegrass or newgrass music (thanks to his Midwestern parents), Gangstagrass turns their idiosyncrasies into synchronicities.

MemphisFlyer • 19th January 2022

When it’s Dark Outside and We Feel the Blues

I watched as fewer people left the comforts of their homes to step outside to jog or walk their dogs. I found myself feeling lethargic at work and home. I was there to see a close friend of mine experience sudden feelings of deep sadness and anger, and another who dreaded the holiday season to come because of past trauma.

MemphisFlyer • 13th October 2021

Music to Soothe the Soul: Cameron Bethany Performs at the Levitt Shell

Bethany hopes that audiences will feel the rawness of his personality and expression through his performance. “I want it to be a nerve-calming experience. I want my audience to feel enchanted when they hear my music,” says Bethany. “I want them to feel my vulnerability.”

Choose901 • 1st October 2021

Arrow Creative: The New “One-Roof” Gathering Place for Artists, Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Art-Lovers Alike

If you’re an art-lover like me, you might have noticed that you can find art or an art aficionado in every nook and cranny of this big-small-town. That’s because Memphis refuses to lose touch with its creative side. After the closure of the Memphis College of Art (MCA) in 2020, Arrow Creative founders Abby Phillips and Dorothy Collier, saw the need to create a new ” gathering space made for artists, hobbyists, creatives, entrepreneurs and art appreciators alike. Saturday, September 18th, marke