Ta For Ta

This week on Ta for Ta, Juliana speaks with Roseann Lake, a journalist with The Economist who is currently covering Cuba and was formerly based in Beijing. She is the author of Leftover in China: The Women Shaping the World’s Next Superpower. In this episode, Roseann discusses her book and her efforts to build an international network to empower women in China who challenge societal expectations regarding marriage and family. She also reveals the secrets behind publishing a book in China, including the challenges of widespread censorship of women’s issues and voices. In addition, she discusses her forthcoming stage play, The Leftover Monologues.  

This week on Ta for Ta, Juliana speaks with Joy Chen, former deputy mayor of Los Angeles and author of Do Not Marry Before Age 30. An internet star and new-media entrepreneur in China, she uses her fame as a platform for her mission: to help 100 million Chinese women realize their full potential. Joy discusses the creative processes and inspiration behind writing her book (which went to print 20 days after being submitted), her experience as a contestant on the Chinese oratory show Super Speaker 超级演说家, where she gave a 15-minute speech entirely in Mandarin with only one day of preparation, and the personal importance of her Chinese identity.   Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and follow @taforta on Twitter. Let us know what you think of the episode!  

This week on Ta for Ta, Juliana speaks with Elizabeth Knup, the regional director of the China office for the Ford Foundation. On this episode, Elizabeth discusses her jump into the private sector, her job as co-director of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies, and navigating cultural divides in the business sector after the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999. Elizabeth also provides an introduction to some of the important philanthropic and public interest work that the Ford Foundation currently undertakes in China. Enjoying the Ta for Ta podcast? Follow Ta for Ta on Twitter here.  

This week’s episode of Ta for Ta features Samm Sacks, a Cybersecurity Policy and China Digital Economy Fellow at New America, where her research focuses on emerging information and communication technology policies, especially as they relate to China. Samm leads New America’s DigiChina Data Governance Project, which produces analysis of developments related to data privacy and security, artificial intelligence, and data governance. In this episode, Samm reflects on her (sometimes indirect) career path and strategies for thriving in a traditionally male-dominated industry. Samm also recounts her experiences offering testimony on data governance issues before the U.S. Congress, and her concerns about the future of U.S.-China relations in this complex and constantly evolving field.  Follow Ta for Ta on Twitter here, and please rate and leave a review on iTunes.

This week, Juliana spoke with Jen Loong, the managing director for Greater China at HYPE. Prior to her work in venture capital, Jen led Hong Kong and China market entries for Groupon, Lululemon, and TOMS. At Lululemon, she built the initial retail team and showroom presence while introducing yoga as a concept and practice at events throughout Hong Kong and China. At TOMS, she launched the brand through retail distribution of more than 28 flagship stores, an ecommerce setup, celebrity endorsements, and grassroots shoe-giving partnerships to activate social giving as a lifestyle. She recently founded WanderSnap, a company that connects creatives with families and businesses to create original content for roughly 58 cities in Asia. Jen also discusses her roots in Shanghainese culture, the critical importance of mental wellness as an entrepreneur, and her perspective on the early days of Alipay.  

This week on Ta for Ta, Juliana speaks with Heather White, the director of the documentary film Complicit and the founder and former executive director of Verité, a nonprofit that advocates for labor rights and partners with entities in both the public and private sector. The conversation follows Heather’s career and interactions with China — tangentially at first, as an undergraduate at Harvard, before she moved there to work after the United States established trade relations with the People’s Republic of China. She spent years shining a light on labor injustices and conducting audits in China on behalf of major U.S. brands.

Leta is a best-selling author, journalist, and scholar. Fluent in Mandarin, she is the first American to receive a Ph.D. from Tsinghua University’s Department of Sociology. Leta has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, Ms. magazine, the BBC, CNN, and many others. She received the Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism in 2002 for her China reporting. She is also the author of two best-selling, critically acclaimed books: Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China (2018) and Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China (2014). Identified by The Telegraph as an "awesome woman to follow on Twitter," Leta was named a Mellon Visiting Assistant Professor at Columbia University and recently moved to New York.

Mei Zhang, a native of Yunnan Province, is the founder and CEO of WildChina, an award-winning luxury sustainable travel company based in Beijing. Mei holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company until she found her true passion during an arduous pilgrimage on a Tibetan mountain: sustainable travel. Mei subsequently founded WildChina in 2000. A few years later, in 2009, WildChina was recognized as one of the world’s best adventure travel companies by National Geographic Adventure magazine. That same year, Mei was named as one of Travel + Leisure’s A-List of Top Travel Advisors — an accolade she has earned every year since then. In 2016, Mei was identified as a Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist. WildChina now has offices in China and the U.S. Its business model is presented as a case study to all first-year students at Harvard Business School. Passionate about unlocking authentic travel experiences for the forever-curious Chinese traveler, in 2011, M

Rebecca Liao is the executive vice president of Skuchain, a blockchain platform that provides an end-to-end solution for the supply chain. She is also a writer and China analyst. Rebecca was a member of Secretary Clinton’s foreign policy team for her 2016 presidential campaign, responsible for Asia trade and economic policy. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, The National Interest, Bloomberg View, n+1, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, the Times Literary Supplement, ChinaFile, The Diplomat, Huffington Post, Dissent magazine, The New Inquiry, the LA Review of Books, The China Story Journal, and Tea Leaf Nation. She regularly comments on China for Deutsche Welle and Channel NewsAsia and has also appeared on HuffPost Live and SiriusXM Radio.  A graduate of Stanford University, where she studied economics, and Harvard Law School, Rebecca founded The Aleph Mag, a digital magazine about art, culture, and Chinese law and politics. She se

Sarah Keenlyside began her career as an investigative journalist at the Sunday Times newspaper in London before moving to China in 2005 to set up Time Out's first English-language publication. After seeing a number of visitors struggle to navigate Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, she was inspired to launch the Bespoke Travel Company, which quickly grew from a one-woman outfit to the tour service of choice for high-profile clients, including Matt Damon, Metallica, Apple, and Warner Bros. Passionate about entrepreneurship, women in the workplace, and mental health issues, Sarah has given talks on all of these topics to a wide variety of groups. She was also a finalist for the “Inspiring Woman Award” in the 2018 British Business Awards hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce. Ta for Ta is a biweekly podcast focused on capturing the lives of women in and from Greater China at the top of their professional game. Sarah Keenlyside Website: https://bespoketravelcompany.com/ WeChat: BespokeBeijing Facebook: https:/

Samantha Kwok's passion is to help young graduates and professionals make genuine connections with potential employers, and empower them to take control of their own career development. She is the founder of JingJobs, an online and offline platform dedicated to connecting China-focused startups and fresh bilingual talent. Over the last four years, JingJobs has serviced over 800 companies and has provided countless job opportunities to young professionals based in Beijing and Shanghai. As the president of the Beijing Women’s Network, which has over 4,000 members, Sam facilitates events and workshops that provide training in workplace skills that are relevant across various industries. Five years ago, Sam moved to Beijing, where she founded JingJobs at the age of 22. She received a WeWork Creator Award in 2018 and was a TEDx speaker in Dalian in 2017. Ta for Ta is a biweekly podcast focused on capturing the lives of women in and from Greater China at the top of their professional game. Samantha Kwok 郭婷婷 JingJob

This week, Juliana visited Libby Lam, a mother and children's book author and illustrator, at her alma mater, the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong. She took the time to discuss her dramatic career switch and share more about her professional philosophy. We learn how her time in the corporate world at PepsiCo and the Walt Disney Company influenced her, why she decided to write in English instead of Chinese, and why she made the decision to go back to school. Ta for Ta is a biweekly podcast focused on capturing the lives of women in and from Greater China at the top of their professional game.

Jamie Barys is the Chief Eating Officer of UnTour Food Tours, China's top-ranked food tour operator. A native of Tennessee, Jamie believes that the best way to get to know a culture is to eat your way through it. Whether she’s exploring China's hidden hole-in-the-wall restaurants or sneaking back into kitchens to snag behind-the-scenes recipes, she’s always hungry for more. Never one to keep a good thing to herself, Jamie co-founded UnTour Food Tours in 2010 to help visitors discover China's best-kept culinary secrets. Jamie has been living (and eating) in China since 2007. Ta for Ta is a new biweekly podcast, hosted by Juliana Batista, which captures the narratives of women from Greater China at the top of their professional game. “Ta for Ta” is a play on the Chinese spoken language that demonstrates equality between the sexes. Tā 他 is the word for “he”; tā 她 is also the word for “she.” For more musings and links about the people and topics covered in Ta for Ta, check out Juliana’s Medium page. Juliana loves

In this week's episode of Ta for Ta, Juliana sits down with Tiffany Ap, the China bureau chief for Women's Wear Daily. In her reporting, Tiffany covers how the worlds of fashion, beauty, and business interact. On Ta for Ta today, we explore retail and fashion in China, and answer questions such as: Why are Chinese consumers flying to Turkey to buy handbags? Why doesn't China have a big luxury house yet? Why is the daigou (代购 dàigòu) shopping phenomenon still relevant? We also get her expert advice on what works — and doesn't — for Western brands that have expanded to China. Ta for Ta is a new biweekly podcast, which captures the narratives of women from Greater China at the top of their professional game. “Ta for Ta” is a play on the Chinese spoken language that demonstrates equality between the sexes. Tā 他 is the word for “he”; tā 她 is also the word for “she.” For more musings and links about the people and topics covered in Ta for Ta, check out Juliana’s Medium page. Juliana loves to hear from listeners — s

Joan Kaufman is the New York-based Senior Director for Academic Programs at Schwarzman Scholars, a newly launched elite international master’s program training leaders in global affairs at Tsinghua University in China. She is also a Lecturer in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As an expert on both China and global health policy, she was Director of Columbia University’s Global Center for East Asia (Beijing) from 2012-2016 and Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. Her experience in China goes back to 1980, when she was the first international program officer for the United Nations Population Fund, and since then she has lived and worked in the country for 15 years. Ta for Ta is a new biweekly podcast, which captures the narratives of women from Greater China at the top of their professional game. “Ta for Ta” is a play on the Chinese spoken language that demonstrates equality between the sexes. Tā 他 is the word for “he”; tā

In Ta for Ta’s debut episode on the Sinica Podcast Network, we featured Chenni Xu, a corporate communications executive and gender advocate. She moved back to New York after spending nearly a decade abroad in Beijing. Tune in to hear about the #MeToo movement in China and the proponents at the fore, Chenni’s views on gender inequality and professional representation for women, as well as her own experiences as a woman and an Asian American in China. Ta for Ta is a new biweekly podcast, which captures the narratives of women from Greater China at the top of their professional game. “Ta for Ta” is a play on the Chinese spoken language that demonstrates equality between the sexes. Tā 他 is the word for “he”; tā 她 is also the word for “she.” For more musings and links relevant to this episode of Ta for Ta, check out this post on Juliana’s Medium page. Juliana loves to hear from listeners — send her a message at ta.for.ta.china@gmail.com.

Our episode today features Anla Cheng, Founder and CEO of SupChina - the premier digital news platform about China which aims to inform and educate an English speaking audience. What struck me about Anla is that she has such an incredible poise and presence, certainly acquired from much wisdom in both finance and journalism. We really dig into the importance of portraying China genuinely through the media, what it means to break through the "bamboo ceiling", and how resilience and courage key to a sustainable career.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Alice Mong, Executive Director at Asia Society Hong Kong Center, amid their outdoor sculpture garden on a Friday afternoon. We talk about “being inspired” by Asia Society and how Hong Kong has spirit, but not yet soul. Bubbling with energy, she peppered our conversation with the most fascinating museums, documentaries, lectures, and art that are capturing her attention right now. We also get into the details of China’s current museum development and how China can deliver culture to the masses through non-traditional pathways. This is an episode you can’t miss...

We sat down with COO and Co-founder of Clare.AI, Bianca Ho, in her Hong Kong office recently. As we began chatting, she revealed more about her company's hypothesis on the world - "letting everyone speak in their local language". Also covered - crouching tigers and hidden dragons, and how everyone on Bianca's team is doing something impossible...

After a much anticipated return we had the chance to chat with Miranda Wang - biologist, environmental advocate, and entrepreneur. As co-founder and CEO of Biocellection, she aims to turn plastic waste into a concept of the past through innovation. We discuss why culture is a product of design, why she is so rebellious, and even get into some technical aspects of plastic recycling. Questions? Suggestions? Want to be interviewed? Contact ta.for.ta.china@gmail.com