Feb. 26, 2020

The Social Enterprise that Empowers Refugee Women

The Social Enterprise that Empowers Refugee Women

Social enterprise as a business structure is increasingly being chosen by conscientious people to do business while living key values. Capitalism can be such a force for good and when a business is designed with intention to serve all stakeholders,...

Social enterprise as a business structure is increasingly being chosen by conscientious people to do business while living key values. Capitalism can be such a force for good and when a business is designed with intention to serve all stakeholders, the social impact it cascades can lift entire communities and change lives. In this episode, we learn how Jin-Ya Huang has been championing social impact and community development her whole life and became an accidental entrepreneur along the way.

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortes. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five, it's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortes. Back to the

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Working on Purpose Show. Thanks for
tuning again this week. I'm your host,

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doctor Eleas Cortes, joining live from
Dallas, Texas, which is home

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base for me. You've been tuning
in for a while. You know this

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program is an inspirational thought leadership platform
that advances the conversation I'm living and working

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with fashion, inspiration and purpose.
I'm committed to helping create a world where

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business and capitalism are a force for
good, constantly working to address the immense

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for a problem society faces, serving
all stakeholders, certainly its employees among them.

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The Gallop Organization reports that eighty five
percent of the global workforce does not

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want to go to work on Monday
or whatever the shift starts. Let's change

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that together instead, make work an
enriching part of life that expresses the legal

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contribution and helps us grow into our
highest selves, all in service of the

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organization's purpose. Each week in these
conversations, I hope you walk away with

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something that changes the way you think
or that you can immediately put to use.

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Much of the content we discuss in
this program is a reflection of the

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work I do. So as you
listen, if you catch a glimpse of

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anything I can do to help,
go to my website at a leasecore test

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dot com and use the contact with
the feature to message me. Let's talk

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about what's going on for you and
how I might be able to help,

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whether it's consulting on visioneering for a
greater purpose among your stakeholders, the vitally

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inspired leadership program, the online catch
fire learning communities, or speaking for your

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company or conference at any rate.
I'm glad we're connected, and thanks for

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listening. Now onto this week's program
with us. Right next to me is

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jin Ya Huang. She's a social
impact in community development and creative innovator with

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a focus on the intersection of human
centered design, equity, diversity, and

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inclusion. She's the founder of break
Bread Breakboorders and catering with the cause Social

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Enterprise, empowering refugee women economically through
the storytelling of cooking, food and culture.

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She was also a clean interdisciplinary artist
who has shown new galleries in Dallas,

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Miami, and New York. Her
work examines her Asian identity and diasport

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immigrant experience. She has produced innovative
and interactive experience projects with museums in the

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DFW Metroplex. We'll be talking about
how she became an accidental entrepreneur, what

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break Bread, Breakboorders is out to
accomplish, and here from some of the

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amazing women in the kitchen who help
power. We're actually conducting this program on

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site from her Richardson kitchen here outside
of Dallas area. Gina, welcome to

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Working on Purpose. Thank you so
much for having me, and you are

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so welcome. I'm so glad you're
here, and I want to share with

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our listeners, of course, how
I found you or picked you up as

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I like to say, yes,
so I had the wonderful opportunity listeners to

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experience Gina sharing her ted ex her
ted talk at SMU called the Bridge Builder

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and really what first robbed me was
her love of her mother that had just

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passed and that she so revers and
loves and was honoring. She shared this

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beautiful philosophy cinema and she said something
along the lines of we all die two

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deaths, one where we take leave
of our physical body, and two when

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people stopped talking about us. And
I was completely arrested by this utterance and

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knew I had to have her on
the show and share her with all of

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you. So let's start with that
beautiful sentiment that how you feel about your

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mom? Wow? How do I
count the waves? I really just grew

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up with my mom being such an
incredible model, a role model, And

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we had actually moved to America because
my dad had lost his job and so

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my parents decided to bring the younger
kids to America to how about my aunt

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and uncle the restaurant business. And
so my mom was a chef and she

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actually really just you know, went
about running the kitchen a lot differently than

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most people. And she was really
conscious about hiring immigrants, reputees and you

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know, women to come and work
in our kitchen and really train them and

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with job skills and send them on
to bigger and better opportunities. And so

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when I lost her to cancer,
I really struggled, and so I thought,

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what a better way to honor her
legacy than to build something that you

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know is her work and continue her
work and pay homats to her as as

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we go. And so that's that's
how brig Bread break Quarters was born.

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Oh my gosh, that is so
beautiful. And of course I lost both

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of my parents almost exactly yourgo today. I can appreciate, but really embraced

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what you said about remembering and can
you to talk about and honoring our parents

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because like you, my parents are
both entrepreneurs too, and we grew up

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in the restaurant business. I have
that, yes, but to mendous way

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to start with. Yeah, so
I want to hear a bit more about

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what drives you that you're pursuing in
your life. There's a lot going on

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for you. And if I were
at first, let me back up and

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ask just you to say this.
If you were just to quickly try to

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presence yourself and introduce yourself to someone
to see that you just met at a

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dinner party who knew nothing about you, what would you say? I would

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say, Hi, my name is
Jenia Genia Long. I am the founder

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of Great Breath, break Boarders.
This is a social enterprise that stem from

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actually my social practice, artistic practice, and it is an economic inclosure program

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empowering refugee women from war torn countries, and we set them up with job

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skills and send them onto bigger and
better opportunities and honor. My mom is

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a chef. And if you have
any questions, please let me know.

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Oh my gosh, that's beautiful.
Okay, So that's I need to learn

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how to do that myself. Thank
you for that. That nice role model

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right there. Thank you. You're
welcome. So I knowing my listeners who've

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been listening for a while, know
that, among other things, I'm an

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identity researcher and I care about motivation. And of course that's why I care

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about inspiration, because it's a form
of motivation definitely. So I want to

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know what drives you to pursue all
that you're doing. I mean, you're

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a single mom. You here,
you are powering break bread, break borders,

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and you've got some principles that are
really important too. So what first,

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what is it that drives all of
that? How do you summon the

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energy? Well, it's difficult,
you know, I mean, it is

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definitely hard to get up every day
and be responsible for so much. But

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I do remember my mom taught us
to be such bridge builders, right,

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and the top three things that she
always talked about is, you know,

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number one, always do the right
thing, and number two just remember to

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always be a good neighbor. And
number three is to simply practice compassion every

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day. And you know, when
you wake up with those kind of you

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know, gratitude for moments that you
had the ability to do all this,

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they're there. They seem like simple
practices, but they're very difficult to actually

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execute by, you know, but
having that you know in mind and just

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going about it, and there's something
that drives me just because that's the way

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I was taught and that that's what
gets me going every day. Well,

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we all need a dose of that. Whatever whatever you end that for the

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rest of us. Way, yeahs
a little doubt. One of the things

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that you said in your Ted talk, which I absolutely loved and I thought

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was funny and what I also what
I also got from it to Jenya was

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it was so self deprecating and authentic. You refer to yourself as the accidental

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entrepreneur. I would totally like,
I want to understand what you mean by

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that, is that how break Bread, Break Borders came to be? But

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why an accident? Well, so
here's the thing, Like a last I

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set out to create this artistic project
to actually to honor my mom and I

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break Read, Break Borders actually was
created to be at this beautiful community dinner

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where we were going to have difficult
conversations and really break read with the communities

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and break down borders at the same
time. So, you know, we

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had set out to invite you know, people to talk about really you know,

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over food, what what these you
know, implicit biases that we set

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around us, you know. And
the ladies that we cooked with at the

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time one was from Iraq and the
other one was from Syria, and you

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know, and we we sat down
and not only you know, they're beautiful

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cooking, and they actually also stood
up and shared their life stories about you

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know, who they were, you
know, before they escapeboard torn countries and

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then you know what it was like, you know, for them to travel

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abroad and you know, survive in
refugee camps and then coming here to America

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and then also what it's like to
cook with break Broad Breakwaters and you know,

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I really honestly thought I was just
gonna like throw these community dinners and

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have it be a beautiful experience.
And that was it. And but next

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thing, I know, people came
up and said, gosh, the food

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was so amazing. How can I
get this at my home? Or I

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have a conference coming up and you
know, and I'm doing this you know

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workshop, and you know, like
I really would love to, you know,

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get this catering, like if people
are going to get woke and you

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know, they might eat woke food. And I really just thought that's interesting,

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you know, and I thought,
well, gosh, you know,

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like how would I even go about
doing that? But then you know,

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I thought about, you know,
my parents, you know, having a

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restaurant and you know, being in
the entrepreneurial spirit, and also the ladies

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actually you know, coming to me
and you know, being so excited about

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getting paid, you know, for
the first time for cooking and people coming

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up telling them how important they're cooking
is and you know, maintaining their culture

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and their heritage, and you know, they sat there and they just told

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me, they said, Ginya,
that's really cute that you want to hold

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these so help these you know,
community dinners. They're beautiful, but what

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we really need is what we need
jobs and and that's how we got started.

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And we basically created this company to
create job opportunities and you know,

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chances for them, you know,
for a population that didn't have a voice

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before to have one. And that's
like I totally accidentally stumbled into this,

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this entrepreneurship, and it's just by
people asking me, like, hey,

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can you cater And then here we
are two years later. It's stunningly beautiful.

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All the things you're addressing, and
there's even more to it later,

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which we're going to get to in
the third segment. But before we go

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too much further, I think it's
really important for listeners who made are new

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to more of the forward thinking business
concepts like conscious capitalism, et cetera,

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and being intentional and mindful serving all
stakeholders, et cetera. First help us

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understand what is what makes it a
social enterprise? So it's a business that

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is not only an enterprise or entrepreneurship, it is actually a business that is

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doing social or environmental good. And
so our business is directly impacting the refugee

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women for fore torn countries, this
population that normally, you know, that

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that normally does not have a chance
to really you know, share out you

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know, their rich culture and their
rich you know, heritage, and we're

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creating job opportunities where you know,
there's interaction between you know, not only

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the women that cook with us,
but also the diners that come and dine

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with us, and you know,
they're hearing about stories of food and culture

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and you know, and really being
impacted to practice compassion every day. And

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that is not something you know,
a normal care or does. That sets

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us apart. That's what makes us
unique in this space. So where can

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we get a meal with you?
If you're not bringing it to us the

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sert place that you do have a
cafe here, I wish that. No,

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not right now, not yet,
Not right now, listeners, let's

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get on there's somebody interested in investing
in that, then we should chat right

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absolutely absolutely, Okay, So you've
been let this now for what two years?

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Just two years just I was I
was at a corport for a full

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time corporate job, being a single
mom, and then I was running this

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as actually as a side household.
The past couple of years that recently have

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just taken leave to the to the
corporate position, and I'm actually focusing on

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break orders full time now. Yeah, and I definitely want to process.

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As for listeners, you do have
a question here from Dan who asks how

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do you find time to do all
this? And honestly, right it's overrate.

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So that's the answer, Dan,
Just don't sleep. I really want

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a presence for our listeners. Just
really what it's taken for you to do

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this, because I really respected admire
this, and I know that it hasn't

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just been like, oh, look, Pixy does this. This is easy,

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it's a great idea. Let's just
make it happen. To pull something

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like this off, it really takes
something. And I almost understand what you

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have to do to persevere. You
are a single mom, you did have

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that full time job until recently you
were working to buildad break borders along the

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way, talk to us about what
it's taken to really make these things start

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to fly so much. It really
has been challenging along the way. And

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the thing is, you know,
there's so many things that people you know,

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talk about they like, you know, we don't want to you know,

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romanticize like all the success and all
that we want to talk about all

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the struggles too. And that was
the thing. It was, it was

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difficult for time and time, like
you know, I would like go get

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my kiddo and then you know,
like my evening would start and like after

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my day job and then my night
job would bank begin. And it was

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really challenging along the way to delegate
delegate time for that. But the thing

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is, you know, when you're
so passionate about something, you know,

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you really just find the time for
it. And and we didn't get here

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by ourselves either. And the awesome
thing is that our communities along the way

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have really lifted us just every step
of the way. We have not advertised

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at all. Every business that we
have gotten is by word of mouth and

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people saying, gosh, you know, have you tried break bread Great Borders.

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You know, it's incredibly healthy,
like Mediterranean food. It's really it's

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delicious, and you get to hear
the stories behind it. The women who

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you know are in this business are
you know, in it one hundred percent.

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They work so hard and you know
they want to contribute, and you

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know, and people just sharing this
out has been so incredible that you know,

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we haven't had to like average ties
at all because of that. And

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that was actually when you know,
when we first got that boost of you

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know, the Bush Institute actually called
and said, you know, oh,

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you know, you guys are doing
such a great job, like you know,

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please, you know, come and
cater for us and and things like

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that. That just doesn't happen every
day. And it's all been like very

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organic media and just you know,
people jumping in to help out, and

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that's the thing. But we fall
flat on our face every day. There

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are so many things that are tough
about, you know, even just you

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know, capacity building, you know, trying to train you know, someone

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you know, English is not only
their second language and maybe their fourth or

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fifth language because of all the refugee
camps that they've been through and the trauma

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that they've gone through, you know, dealing with all the PTSD that that

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comes along with with those, and
you know, trying to find you know,

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that common denominator and you know,
using cooking and using food as almost

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a form of therapy, and that's
you know, it's it's been challenging but

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really rewarding at the same time.
Oh, it's just it's so inspiring.

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And of course when I heard her
story. There were two things I wanted

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to do. One, I wanted
to share you with the world, because

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I think the work that we're doing
is incredible and so necessary and a perfect

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example of how business, in your
case, social enterprise, can it start

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to really address some critical social problems, world problems. Yes, and that

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is a lot of the message that
I wanted to wanted to be able to

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share it. But then also too, I wanted to support to any way

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that I could thank you. Yes, I wanted to cheer you on and

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say, yes, keep going,
don't quit. And that's really like,

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I love what you're saying about that. Actually, I've pulled up this really

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great quote from Winston Churchill that I
kind of wanted to share with everybody.

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And I'm actually reading a really great
book by Wanted a Bunch right now,

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and this is kind of like towards
the beginning. Uh, just think about

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this, Okay. So whenster Churchill
said this success is not final, failure

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is not fatal. It is the
courage to continue that counts. And there's

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something about that really resonates with me, you know, because there were so

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many people that told us, like, you know, you're doing this as

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a side hustle. You're a single
mom, You've got a full time job.

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This cannot last, This won't work. This you have to find you

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know, you've got to, like, you know, give up one thing

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to do the other. And we
said no, We kind of bucked against

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all that system and just said,
you know, when we believe we can,

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we will. And that was the
thing that that you know, we

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just say it's purely out of my
stubbornness. I think I think it works.

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It's a necessary to entrepreneurs. So
be stubborn. That's another thing,

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Dan, be stubborn. Okay,
with that, let's rub our first break.

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I'm your host, Alice Cortez.
We do the year with Virginia Kwang,

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who is a social impact, community
development, and creative innovator with a

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focus on the intersection of human centered
design, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

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She's the founder of break Bread,
break Boarders and Catering with the Cause

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Social Enterprise, empowering refugee women economically
through storytelling and cooking food. At PATURE,

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we're conducting this conversation on site life
in the kitchen here and Richardson,

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we've been talking a bit about how
this enterprise got started after the break,

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Kevin, this is for you.
We're going to hear from some of the

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women who are here in the kitchen
working who are part of the cause.

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Stay with us, We'll be right
back. Alice Cortes is a speaker and

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00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:03.440
engagement and development catlet. She designs
and delivers professional development, leadership and engagement

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00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:08.240
workshops and can bring her expertise to
your organization. She will help ignite meaningful

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00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:14.680
development within your workforce that will increase
employee engagement, performance and retention. To

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learn more or to invite Elise to
speak to your organization, please visit her

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00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:23.400
at www dot Elisecortes dot com.
She would welcome the opportunity to help get

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00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:34.680
your employees working on purpose. This
is working on Purpose with Elease Cortes.

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00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:41.319
To reach our program today, send
an email to a lease Alise at Aleasecortes

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00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:53.200
dot com. Now back to working
on purpose. Thanks for seeing with this

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00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:56.279
and welcome back to working on purpose
if you're just joining us. My guest

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is Genia Hwang as social impact,
community development creator, creative innovator with a

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focus on the intersection of human centered
design, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

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She's the founder of break Bread Break
Borders a catering with the cause Social

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Enterprise, empowering refugee women economically through
the storytelling of cooking, food, and

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culture. She's also an acclaimed interdisciplinary
artists who has shown in galleries in Dallas,

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Miami, and New York. Her
work examines her Asian identity and diasporic

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immigrant experience. She has produced innovative
and interactive experience projects with museums in the

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DFW Metroplex. I'm your host,
Alis Cortes, So for this next segment,

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listeners, you're in for a treat
what we're doing here. Because since

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we're in the kitchen here a break
Bread Break Borders, several of the women

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who are part of the organization wanted
to I asked them to come and share

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their experience of being part of this, and so I've got the first woman

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with us here, and i want
to make sure that you all understand as

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they share their stories. Most of
all of these women, English is their

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second, third, fourth, or
maybe fifth language, and so please understand

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that she's working very hard to relay
her mind susage to you, and so

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you know that's a hard thing to
do. So recognize that. So our

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00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:07.200
first guest that we have here.
Please tell us your name and where you're

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from. My name is Misa.
I'm from Syria. From Syria, from

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Syria. Homes and how did you
get your hameld with it in the United

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States. I have been here for
four years. I came here at two

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thousand and six, twenty sixteen.
Yeah, okay, and how did you

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find Ginia? I saw my friend
that they are in. They are my

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neighbor before their friend, so I
saw them. They speaking a lot about

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some a woman who support them,
and she is good with them, and

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they are cooking like a family.
So I want to be with them,

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but I wit my opportunity is come. So they need more people because they

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have more. Event is an event, So I told my friend if they

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want more, so for that I
enjoyed with them. It's so beautiful to

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have you and get to know you. Hope our listeners understand what what What's

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what was happening in your country that
made you want to leave anyway? There's

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no safety. There's no safety,
okay, not safety. This is this

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is the idea. When you got
it, you have to leave anywhere,

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So there's it's not safety. Yeah, So glad to have you. Thank

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you what makes America great? Thank
you, thank you, thank you for

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invite us for this absolutely before before
you go, hold on, I got

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a couple more questions. Don't run
away just yet. We want more of

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you. So I want to understand
how long have you been working with Gina?

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About six months? Six months?
Yeah? Okay, I mean you're

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with them, and what do you
like about this kind of work? But

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working in this organization gathering people around
the table and give them the love and

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we told them the main idea about
us and about our culture and that's it,

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and give them the love about and
tell them we may this food to

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make everything is right because the media
maybe tell a lot of things bad thing

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about us, so we need to
correct everything and tell them who we are.

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It's beautiful and I love your food
by the way, and I happen

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to be an excellent eater. Yeah, yeah you have. Would you like

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any just say anything else to our
listeners? You no, thank you,

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and we thank our support Genia for
make us famous and we we just want

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not to success. We want to
continue in our work, so please invite

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us for anything they want. Thank
you, You're so welcome. Thanks so

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much for sharing with us. Thank
you, and welcome to the United States

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and being here and making us better. Thank you, thank you. Our

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next guest will be Rocha run Ya. Hello Runya. I remember meeting you.

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I think were you there and you
talk talk talk. Yeah, yeah,

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I remember you know, I remember
those gorgeous eyes of course. Okay,

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so do give me the kindness of
you were saying, introduce yourself,

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tell us your name and where you're
from. What you're from. Yes,

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my name is Rannie Ahmad. I
am from Syria. I have for kids,

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and I came to here with my
husband and my kids. And how

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long have you been realizedic speak up
a little bit so we cant hear you

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more. Okay, I've been here
threes and a half. Okay. And

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how did you meet Gunia? I
meet her through my nearbirth, my my

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friend. She told me about the
community with great burdens. I was very

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very excited, excited, very excited. Sorry, mine, this is not

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00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:51.400
good. Yeah, I'm very excited
to work with this community. It's it's

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wonderful because it's support special women and
refugee women. Yeah, special women and

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refugee women. So and again,
so let me make sure that you know

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00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:02.640
this two run. I did tell
our listeners that when you come on and

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shair that this you speak many other
languages. Poles is just one of them.

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So don't worry about your egoations.
Okay, we're We're grateful that you're

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00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:15.039
here sharing. So what what you're
doing here is so important as an organization,

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bringing people together and trying to break
break break down barriers and yeah,

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and she she talked about, you
know, some of the biases, the

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00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:30.759
implicit biases that people have, and
so I think the work that you're doing

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together as an organization is so important. What is it about the organization?

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And it's work that excites you?
Uh, this community actually teach me how

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to be brave, how to be
It's encouraged me to work, encourage me

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to meet people, to meet new
people, to uh to to talk American

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people. Hey, I'm a refugee, but I don't want to make any

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problem here. I want to be
I want to have a safe life here

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with my kids and with you beautiful. And when you think about the experiences

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that you're really proud of being part
of this organization, what would you say,

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excuse me just so yeah, So
one of the things that I'm super

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proud of Ranya. Is actually that
she used to actually get really really scared

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to have to cook for eight people
for lunch. Yes, yeah, and

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00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:44.359
she she would like fret over losing
you know, sleep over that. And

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but now you know, you ask
her to cook for, you know,

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weddings of hundreds of people, she'll
tell you no problem because she's got a

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sisterhood of people that can help her
to accomplish that. So that's one of

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the moments that I'm proud of her
of. But she may have others that

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she wants to just as well.
Be great. The worker's teaching me how

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to be raped and how to be
Oh, that's so beautiful. That makes

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00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:08.680
me so happy because you know,
you should grow into your full potential.

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And I'm so happy that the organization
Genia hadn't helped you to do that because

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we need more of you. We
need more of you in the world.

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00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:22.480
Thank you. So she's asked Cougar
too, Yeah, did you want to

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00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:27.279
add more not just to explain some
some questions? Okay, go ahead,

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00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:32.079
Okay, I don't I didn't have
any other questions for you. Would you

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00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:34.319
like to offer anything else to our
listeners? You know, this This show

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00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:38.799
is listened to by people all over
the world and they come to be inspired

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00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:41.799
and to learn. Is there anything
else you would want to share with them?

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00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:48.279
Yeah, just I wanted to talk
the American person. That's We've got

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00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:52.839
very hard experience, very hard strip
from from my country, from my home

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until I arrived at to America.
It's not easy to be here. Then

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I want to tell them. I
want everybody to hear about recreat borders and

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about the refugees. The refugees people
they want to got life here. Just

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00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:18.799
they want to be seeing you.
They want to have a good future for

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00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:25.480
their kids and their families. They
don't want to make any problems with the

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00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:30.720
American pupil. And I'm very proud
because I'm here and I am very happy,

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00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:34.799
and the American people will come to
me and they told me almost you

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00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:38.480
are very welcoming in America. How
beautiful. I'm very happy, happy,

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00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:41.759
Virtue. Thank you, thank you, and look forward to seeing you grow

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00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:49.759
more. Thank you. Okay,
and Max to school. Hello, Hello,

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00:28:51.720 --> 00:28:53.119
so you have to stay very close
to me so we can see you

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and hearing the small screen. Okay, so if you would and again listeners,

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remember she is speaking from her second, third, or maybe fourth or

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00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:03.519
fifth language. So understand when I
asked you a question, she might take

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00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:07.559
some time to answer. So give
us. Please tell us your name and

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00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:10.839
where you're from. Well, my
name is Kurude, I'm from Syria.

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00:29:11.079 --> 00:29:15.039
Clude clude from Syria. Okay?
And how long have you been in the

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United States? We arrived in twenty
sixteen, twenty sixteen, okay. And

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00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:26.079
did you meet Gina to the same
apartment complex? Okay? Okay. So

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00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:29.960
what I want to understand is what
do you like about getting to work with

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00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:34.640
break bread or break borders? Why
is the word interesting? Meeting people and

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00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:41.680
let them understand what we are and
break the borders with our food, and

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00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:48.839
it's very I become very happy when
I see the people and how they love

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00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:52.240
our food. And I love it
too. I love Middle Eastern food,

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00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:56.640
and as I said before, I'm
an excellent eater, so I'm good at

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00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:00.480
it. So and I do know
I grew up in the restaurantiness too,

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00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:04.960
and I do know that there's something
about bringing people together and feeding them that's

401
00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:11.319
magical. And then tell us more
about when when you bring people together and

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00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:15.640
you bring them maybe a different food
or cuisine that they're not used to eating.

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Is there something about that that's important
or magical? Yes, the reaction

404
00:30:21.559 --> 00:30:25.119
when I see the reaction of the
people on the faces of the people when

405
00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:27.880
they taste the food, if they
like it or they doesn't like it.

406
00:30:29.559 --> 00:30:32.440
Yeah, you can tell yeah,
absolutely, yeah, right, I know

407
00:30:32.519 --> 00:30:34.119
it's exactly between. Oh, that
one wasn't a favorite, but that one

408
00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:40.799
was okay, awesome And if you
could. So this show is listening to

409
00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:44.880
by people all over the world.
What else would you like to share with

410
00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:48.519
our listeners to help them understand your
experience or who you are, or what

411
00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:53.559
break bronds. We are trying so
hard to fit in this community and we

412
00:30:53.720 --> 00:30:59.160
want to be accepted. We are
trying hard to be accepted by the people.

413
00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:03.000
That's it. I only want them
to accept us and listen to us.

414
00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:08.079
We're not bad people. We just
had but circumstances that lead us to

415
00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:12.680
arrive here. And you're here in
the United States, working and contributing and

416
00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:17.559
making a difference. It's beautiful.
Thank you so very much. Thank you.

417
00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.920
Before you go, can you tell
everybody about your heritage from Chechnya and

418
00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:26.799
coming from there to see so watch
what Gina has asked her to talk about

419
00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:33.400
is her headers before she came to
Syria. My grandfather came from Chechnya in

420
00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:41.519
Russia. He arrived to Syria in
nineteen ten. And so we are like

421
00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:47.960
it's in our family that moved from
one place or another. We also have

422
00:31:48.119 --> 00:31:52.279
some food. We share some of
our Chechen food also with them. So

423
00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:59.880
it was really challenging for Kulu grandparents
to be dislike displaced from Chechnya and then

424
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:04.000
they moved to Syria and they were
displaced from there again, and you know,

425
00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:07.599
for her whole family to be here
in America. She's told us many

426
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:10.799
occasions that she feels like she's won
the lottery. Yeah, that's beautiful.

427
00:32:10.920 --> 00:32:15.559
Yeah, that's beautiful. We're almost
out of time for the segment. Did

428
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:19.200
we want to yes? Please,
yes, thank you so much. Please

429
00:32:19.319 --> 00:32:24.799
come. That's that's okay. So
sue Halea is coming in and she's reminding

430
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:29.519
us that she doesn't speak English very
well, so please remember that as as

431
00:32:29.559 --> 00:32:31.880
she shares her story. So your
name is su Hala and you're from where

432
00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:37.720
from Syria? Okay? And what
is it that you like about being part

433
00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:49.759
of break Bread break Borders? Why
is this important to you? She's getting

434
00:32:49.799 --> 00:32:55.160
coaching. It's okay, she's in
terms of you know, after happened,

435
00:32:55.200 --> 00:33:02.000
and she's away, Go ahead,
a friend and never we love to do

436
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:07.279
that, like h So what she's
what they're this is so beautiful. We're

437
00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:12.160
rendering this conversation together as a community. You're in the kitchen among the four

438
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:15.680
of us, and and what they're
saying is that she likes to do this

439
00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:20.599
work together. There's something about this
being together in a community that's important.

440
00:33:20.960 --> 00:33:25.440
As a family, that's important.
Yes, and this show is listening to

441
00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:30.200
buy people all over the world.
Is there a message or something you'd like

442
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:39.920
to share? Yes, just a
minute, we're doing a translation. Go

443
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:45.440
ahead, you have to taste our
beautiful food. You have to taste our

444
00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:51.039
beautiful food. Yes, it's a
healthy food. It's healthy food, and

445
00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:54.799
that's one of the reasons I love
it. Wonderful. Thank you so much

446
00:33:54.839 --> 00:33:59.240
for joining us. Thank you you. And with that, listeners, let's

447
00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:01.960
go on to our lab break.
I'm doctor Elis Cortez, your host.

448
00:34:02.039 --> 00:34:07.200
We've run the year with Jinja Hwang
and her team. Ginya is a social

449
00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:10.000
impact, community development, and creative
innovator with a focus on the intersection of

450
00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:15.320
human centered design equity, diversity and
inclusion. She's the founder of break Bread

451
00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:21.320
break Boarders, Catering with a Cause, Social enterprise, empowering refugee women economically

452
00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:24.639
to the storytelling of cooking, food
and culture. We're conducting this conversation live

453
00:34:24.760 --> 00:34:29.239
on site in Richardson in her kitchen. After the break we're going to hear

454
00:34:29.280 --> 00:34:31.079
more about all the other things that
Ginya's up to and how she stitched a

455
00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:35.800
beautiful life together from disparate parts.
Stay with us, We'll be right back.

456
00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:51.440
Alice Cortez is a speaker and engagement
and development catalyst. She designs and

457
00:34:51.559 --> 00:34:57.039
delivers professional development, leadership and engagement
workshops and can bring her expertise to your

458
00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:01.480
organization. She will help ignite meaningful
development within your workforce that will increase employee

459
00:35:01.559 --> 00:35:07.039
engagement, performance and retention. To
learn more or to invite Elise to speak

460
00:35:07.079 --> 00:35:12.559
to your organization, please visit her
at www dot Elisecortes dot com. She

461
00:35:12.679 --> 00:35:22.639
would welcome the opportunity to help get
your employees working on purpose. This is

462
00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:28.679
working on Purpose with elease Cortes.
To reach our program today, send an

463
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:35.800
email to a lease Alise at a
Leasecortes dot com. Now back to Working

464
00:35:35.920 --> 00:35:45.599
on Purpose. Thanks foresting with us, and welcome back to Working on Purpose

465
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:47.800
if you're just tuning in. My
guest is Genia Huang, a social impact,

466
00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:52.440
community development, and creative innovator with
a focus on the intersection of human

467
00:35:52.519 --> 00:35:55.639
centered design, equity, diversity,
and inclusion. She's the founder of break

468
00:35:55.679 --> 00:36:00.559
Bread Breakboarders at Catering with the Cause, Social Enterprise and power refugee women economically

469
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:05.119
through the story of telling of cooking, food and culture. She's also in

470
00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:07.920
a clean interdisciplinary artist who has shown
in galleries in Dallas, Miami, and

471
00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:13.400
New York for work examines or Asian
identity and diaspora immigrant experience. She has

472
00:36:13.480 --> 00:36:16.840
produced innovative and interacting experience projects and
museums in the DFW complex. I'm your

473
00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:21.840
host, doctor Alis Cortes. So
for this last segment here, listeners,

474
00:36:21.960 --> 00:36:23.880
we're going to cuddle back up here
with Ginya since we heard from her team,

475
00:36:24.320 --> 00:36:28.360
and what I wanted her to share
for this part is really she's got

476
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:34.639
this amazing ability to fuse all of
her different interests into one entity or identity,

477
00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:37.400
which I think is fabulous. So
that's what I want to focus on

478
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:39.679
next. And we had a few
conversations in the chat room, people just

479
00:36:39.719 --> 00:36:43.800
still astounded about how you do everything
that you do and still manage to read

480
00:36:43.880 --> 00:36:49.440
as well. Yes, yes,
so you have married what appeared to be

481
00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:52.800
very different aspects into your essential identity
and combine them in a way in a

482
00:36:52.920 --> 00:36:57.719
life and a creative offering that I
think is just stunning. And as our

483
00:36:57.800 --> 00:37:00.800
listeners here to say, you describe
yourself as a social impact, community development

484
00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:05.320
creator, creative innovator with the focus
on the intersection of you set are designed

485
00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:08.480
equity, diversity, inclusion. So
I want to if you will say more

486
00:37:08.639 --> 00:37:13.440
now that we've heard from some people
about break read raak borders, how does

487
00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:17.119
all that help help you express it
through break Bread, break borders as a

488
00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:23.400
social impact? You know, it
translates into metrics that cannot be measured.

489
00:37:23.760 --> 00:37:27.840
Right, There are so many things
that you know, we talk about,

490
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:32.159
you know, growth, and you
know economic growth is supposed to equate to

491
00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:38.920
success, and that is not always
necessarily true. The case is about economic

492
00:37:39.119 --> 00:37:44.920
inclusion in the way that you know
that everybody is able to participate and so

493
00:37:45.199 --> 00:37:46.920
in this way, if you really
think about it, you know, women

494
00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:53.719
actually you know invest ninety percent of
our income into the communities versus men really

495
00:37:53.800 --> 00:37:58.920
invest probably about only like thirty to
thirty to forty percent you know, of

496
00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:02.079
their income into the community. And
so when you invest in women, you

497
00:38:02.199 --> 00:38:06.440
win. You know, they not
only you know, pour it back into

498
00:38:06.519 --> 00:38:09.519
their families, they pour it back
into you know, the community. And

499
00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:13.840
also, you know, if you
really think about this, there's a whole

500
00:38:14.199 --> 00:38:17.840
multiplier effect that's happening. You know, when we work with these women,

501
00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:22.800
they're working, you know, to
pour all this back into the families,

502
00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:25.760
into the communities, and also the
people that we're speaking to, you know,

503
00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:31.800
at the events. You know that
it could be you know, twenty

504
00:38:31.880 --> 00:38:36.760
women that we help and then eighty
families that we you know, reach out

505
00:38:36.800 --> 00:38:40.400
to, and then you know,
getting to speak to you know, probably

506
00:38:40.559 --> 00:38:45.320
about eight to ten thousand people that
who dine with us, and then they

507
00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:49.679
go home and like you did,
you know, go and share the stories

508
00:38:49.719 --> 00:38:54.360
of bread break boarders with other people. That could be sixty thousand people that

509
00:38:54.480 --> 00:39:00.719
we've reached, you know, by
just the storytelling aspect, you know,

510
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:07.960
of sharing these incredible resilient women their
stories of you know, survival, their

511
00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:10.920
stories of success, and all those
things you know, come about in the

512
00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:15.920
way that you know, that is
what translates into social impact for us.

513
00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:20.199
It's not just the food, it's
it's it's the culture inheritage that really embed

514
00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:22.840
in our memories that you know,
make us go out and do more and

515
00:39:23.039 --> 00:39:27.480
you know and really think about,
you know, what is our purpose here

516
00:39:27.760 --> 00:39:31.000
right and what is the legacy that
we're leaving behind and you know, and

517
00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:36.159
thinking about really like you know what, what what that sounds like? You

518
00:39:36.239 --> 00:39:39.519
know, for the greater good of
the community. Oh my gosh, that

519
00:39:39.880 --> 00:39:44.119
really just moves me to tears.
It's so beautiful. And that's the reason

520
00:39:44.159 --> 00:39:46.280
I do the work that I do, genuine holping people get present to and

521
00:39:46.360 --> 00:39:52.800
discover, articulate and really mightily strive
to live their purpose because when they do

522
00:39:52.360 --> 00:39:55.480
the world's a better place. You're
making the world a better place. And

523
00:39:55.519 --> 00:40:00.360
I'm so grateful for that, and
I can't wait trying to food about it,

524
00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:04.440
absolutely so among them. So here's
this is, you know, the

525
00:40:04.519 --> 00:40:07.039
social enterprise offering that you've done and
along with the fact that you leave the

526
00:40:07.119 --> 00:40:10.280
storytelling, the food and the culture
into that that's so beautiful because I love

527
00:40:10.320 --> 00:40:15.840
those things. Now I want to
talk that you're an acclaimed an interd interdisciplinary

528
00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:20.119
artist. You've You've shown in galleries
in Dallas, Miami, and New York.

529
00:40:20.559 --> 00:40:24.239
Your work examine your Asian identity and
diaspricic immigrant experience. You produce innovative

530
00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:30.039
and interactive experience projects with museums in
THEFW area. So and you focus I

531
00:40:30.119 --> 00:40:32.400
think on social justice, food security, and human rights issues in K through

532
00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:38.320
twelve and higher. So I want
to understand how this your artistic expression fits

533
00:40:38.360 --> 00:40:42.320
into all this You told me before, how it wove in. And I

534
00:40:42.400 --> 00:40:47.960
can't do blicanding you do it.
Sure. So you know, artists have

535
00:40:49.320 --> 00:40:52.400
a job in the community, which
is, you know, telling the truth.

536
00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:57.960
And so when we experience something,
we can't just hold the truth and

537
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:01.320
not hold other spaces more people to
hear that truth. And so we share

538
00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:07.639
it out to the community. We're
the first investors into the community in the

539
00:41:07.800 --> 00:41:12.440
sense you know, we really really
bear our mind, body, and soul

540
00:41:12.760 --> 00:41:15.400
to the world in a lot of
ways. You know, when I was

541
00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:20.159
showing my photography, you know,
it really was incredible to you know,

542
00:41:20.280 --> 00:41:23.480
have people collect my artwork and you
know, and have it be in spaces,

543
00:41:23.639 --> 00:41:27.280
you know, private spaces in their
homes, on their you know,

544
00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:30.519
office walls and things like that,
you know, but at some point it

545
00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:35.599
is it is decorating a space,
you know, it is not moving forward

546
00:41:35.800 --> 00:41:43.199
as as a community space, as
us together as a family moving forward.

547
00:41:43.320 --> 00:41:46.679
And so I really wondered out loud, you know what that you know,

548
00:41:46.840 --> 00:41:52.519
would look like if if we were
to do this work together. And that's

549
00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:57.800
how great Regory Borders came about.
Is you know, we really rallied the

550
00:41:57.920 --> 00:42:02.760
community in a way that we ask
the community, you know, what it

551
00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:07.280
wants and what it needs. And
you know, as a social practice artist,

552
00:42:07.679 --> 00:42:10.880
when the community asks for fire,
I don't bring them water. And

553
00:42:12.119 --> 00:42:16.199
that's the thing that that really you
know, is powerful and that it could

554
00:42:16.239 --> 00:42:21.679
exchange. That we have that constant
loop. You know, we talk to

555
00:42:21.719 --> 00:42:27.320
our community about about our needs together
and we bring you know, these kind

556
00:42:27.360 --> 00:42:32.880
of social change about together and it's
it's it's with the people, for the

557
00:42:32.920 --> 00:42:37.760
people, by the people, and
that that that's what makes us difference.

558
00:42:37.480 --> 00:42:43.039
What I really want to call it
to our listeners is just how incredibly mindful,

559
00:42:43.280 --> 00:42:49.639
conscious, thoughtful, generous and kind
and just creative for your whole approach

560
00:42:49.719 --> 00:42:52.239
to life and workless. Thank you. It's really it's really enlightened you.

561
00:42:52.760 --> 00:42:55.519
And that's aeother reason I wanted to
have you on the show is that you're

562
00:42:55.519 --> 00:43:00.840
an example of what people could be
when we really are awful about who we

563
00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:04.559
are and what we're doing to our
communities into the world. It's beautiful,

564
00:43:04.639 --> 00:43:07.639
thank you, but we already are. I think a lot of times,

565
00:43:07.719 --> 00:43:09.920
you know, we wait for someone
else to kind of come along, and

566
00:43:10.119 --> 00:43:14.000
you know, and to be honest, what break Bread Great Borders is doing

567
00:43:14.159 --> 00:43:16.920
is nothing new. Under this on. There are many many other businesses doing

568
00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:21.559
this throughout the world, but I
just didn't see one in my own backyard.

569
00:43:21.800 --> 00:43:23.239
And I thought, you know,
and I asked our communities. Our

570
00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:28.199
communities needed it, needed this safe
space, you know, to share the

571
00:43:28.320 --> 00:43:31.280
love, to share the food and
the culture and to be able to you

572
00:43:31.360 --> 00:43:36.400
know, be ourselves. And so
I you know, wanted to honor my

573
00:43:36.519 --> 00:43:40.159
mom and in this love exchange that
you know, I was able to you

574
00:43:40.239 --> 00:43:44.480
know, loot the community together and
you know, to do this together.

575
00:43:44.639 --> 00:43:47.599
And without all of you, we
wouldn't be here today. And that's the

576
00:43:47.719 --> 00:43:51.800
thing. It's like, thank you
so much for holding space for us in

577
00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:54.800
this way, and thank you for
helping us grow. And we look forward

578
00:43:54.840 --> 00:43:59.719
to growing even more. I know
that you will. We have a little

579
00:43:59.719 --> 00:44:01.159
bit more time left. And there's
a couple of it. There's two other

580
00:44:01.280 --> 00:44:05.039
terms that I want to present further
for our listeners teachers. I think there

581
00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:07.239
might be newer for them as they
were for me. You mentioned earlier this

582
00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:13.000
idea that you're being a social practice
artist. Say more about what is it?

583
00:44:13.519 --> 00:44:15.519
What is that term mean? A
social practiced artist? So, a

584
00:44:15.639 --> 00:44:21.960
social practice artist, you know,
goes about making art that is conscious to

585
00:44:22.360 --> 00:44:29.079
making environmental and social change, and
it's being mindful, like you said,

586
00:44:29.159 --> 00:44:31.840
and very cognizant of you know,
what the community wants and needs are and

587
00:44:32.719 --> 00:44:38.400
really keeping our ears to the ground
and responding to that. And so that's

588
00:44:38.440 --> 00:44:44.079
how I bry social practice artists and
so BBBB is like, you know,

589
00:44:44.360 --> 00:44:50.440
our our gift to the community as
as a social practice art project and along

590
00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:52.599
those lines, if I have this, write and be correct me if I

591
00:44:52.679 --> 00:44:55.079
don't. In one of our conversations
after I met after your TED talk,

592
00:44:55.480 --> 00:44:59.280
you had said something about part of
what you've done earlier in your life,

593
00:44:59.320 --> 00:45:02.079
as you've been decorating people's homes and
you were doing it very intentionally, et

594
00:45:02.119 --> 00:45:07.199
cetera. But you felt that it
was still limited and as an expression for

595
00:45:07.280 --> 00:45:14.159
you, yes, I think you
know anything that is you know, I

596
00:45:14.239 --> 00:45:21.000
think with anyone the material aspects of
things, you know, they're they're definitely

597
00:45:21.239 --> 00:45:25.960
things that move us forward in one
way or another. But but something about

598
00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:34.320
concept policy, you know, things
that you know cannot be held tangible can

599
00:45:34.519 --> 00:45:39.880
really push us forward in a way
that you know that nothing else can,

600
00:45:40.199 --> 00:45:44.920
you know. And so a lot
of what we do here is also about

601
00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:50.000
you know, changing minds and changing
mindsets, and you know, those are

602
00:45:50.079 --> 00:45:52.519
the things that we kind of want
to move beyond. You know, a

603
00:45:52.880 --> 00:45:58.360
photograph that's decorating the wall, which
there's nothing wrong with that, it's not

604
00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:02.119
the space that we're in. You
know, we're in this space where we're

605
00:46:02.199 --> 00:46:07.920
social justice warriors and we want to
make sure that the population that we're serving

606
00:46:07.239 --> 00:46:12.760
that didn't have a voice before now
has a voice and that we're able to

607
00:46:13.639 --> 00:46:17.079
amplify amplify that voice and going forward, that's what we want to do with

608
00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:22.480
our community, and thank you for
helping us to you absolutely well happy to

609
00:46:22.519 --> 00:46:24.280
do it, and well work the
effort to do it. And along those

610
00:46:24.360 --> 00:46:29.400
lines, you're starting to hint to
it But the other the other term I

611
00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:31.760
wanted to talk more about what you
already said for about is this idea of

612
00:46:31.840 --> 00:46:37.840
inclusive economy. Yes, so you
you're really reaching into this group of refugee

613
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:43.039
women to literally offer an opportunity to
them, embrace them into your bluesom into

614
00:46:43.119 --> 00:46:46.079
your organization, and give them a
place, a way to be able to

615
00:46:46.440 --> 00:46:50.679
take care of their famies. Yes, when you think about it any this

616
00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:55.559
applies to everyone, you know,
when everyone has a living wage and and

617
00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:01.719
really you know the problems that you
think think about are you know, not

618
00:47:02.039 --> 00:47:07.840
about sort of like how am I
going to get my next meal? And

619
00:47:07.599 --> 00:47:12.239
being going hungry or you know,
putting a roof over your head. It's

620
00:47:12.719 --> 00:47:15.320
about you know, gosh, you
know, where are the kids going to

621
00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:20.679
get to school? And you know
what am I doing after work tomorrow?

622
00:47:20.920 --> 00:47:23.880
Those are two very different issues.
And you know, we want to be

623
00:47:24.239 --> 00:47:30.480
inclusive in our economy in the setup
that we're we're taking care of, you

624
00:47:30.599 --> 00:47:38.159
know, different populations and have access
to to things that really can economically empower

625
00:47:38.239 --> 00:47:44.119
everyone, so we can remove those
barriers that you know, prevent success from

626
00:47:44.239 --> 00:47:49.480
from happening. And so it's embracing
those those kind of issues that we can

627
00:47:50.320 --> 00:47:53.760
better look at ourselves and and and
you know, invite everybody to the table.

628
00:47:55.400 --> 00:47:59.679
Again. I sit here just listening
to Jena, and all I can

629
00:48:00.440 --> 00:48:05.280
be present too is just the incredible
power of the human spirit, your spirit

630
00:48:05.320 --> 00:48:08.039
in particular, to really reach out
into the world and make it and make

631
00:48:08.079 --> 00:48:10.719
a difference. And so here we
are close to the very end of the

632
00:48:10.800 --> 00:48:14.760
show. I always had to give
my guests the last word, if you

633
00:48:14.800 --> 00:48:17.280
will, So you know, the
show is about leaving with passion and purpose

634
00:48:17.679 --> 00:48:21.559
is listened to across the globe.
What would you likely our listeners with.

635
00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:25.400
Guys, you make a difference.
You have a voice, use your voice,

636
00:48:27.119 --> 00:48:35.320
it matters. And if I can
do this, anybody can you make

637
00:48:35.360 --> 00:48:37.000
it sound like that? But I
suspect there is much more to it.

638
00:48:37.199 --> 00:48:42.119
So Ginia, thank you for being
such a beautiful force in the world.

639
00:48:42.239 --> 00:48:44.920
Thank you. I'm so glad our
paths across. I think I came in

640
00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:49.079
to listen to the SMU Ted Talks
just to find you. Thank you.

641
00:48:49.480 --> 00:48:52.639
I was so thankful that you came
along. And there have been so many

642
00:48:52.719 --> 00:48:57.559
incredible things that happened since we met, Like I was actually just accepted to

643
00:48:57.800 --> 00:49:04.519
the PLS Presidential Leadership Scholarship Program where
I'm you know, working with fifty nine

644
00:49:04.639 --> 00:49:08.880
other cohorts, working with four different
presidential foundations to continue to make this kind

645
00:49:08.880 --> 00:49:13.599
of lasting social impact. And so
I'm really thankful to be here. Thank

646
00:49:13.639 --> 00:49:15.519
you, it's amazing. Congratulations by
the way, thank you. And then

647
00:49:15.599 --> 00:49:19.559
with that we're at the end of
the show. If you want to learn

648
00:49:19.559 --> 00:49:22.920
more about Gina Wang and Break Read
Break Borders, the best way to douce

649
00:49:22.039 --> 00:49:24.320
to reach out to her is send
her an email. And the way you

650
00:49:24.440 --> 00:49:30.559
do that is send it to Ginya. It's ji n Ya at break Bread,

651
00:49:31.039 --> 00:49:36.039
Break Borders dot com. Last week, if you missed the live show,

652
00:49:36.079 --> 00:49:37.800
you can always schedule be a recorded
podcast. We were on the Earth

653
00:49:37.880 --> 00:49:42.480
doctor Ellen Keith lying Burn, the
co founder of her new Standard, The

654
00:49:42.559 --> 00:49:45.719
Playbook for Women Leaders, which is
a leadership consultancy focused on developing women leaders.

655
00:49:45.920 --> 00:49:50.400
We talked about why and how women
can distinguish their contribution as leaders and

656
00:49:50.519 --> 00:49:53.119
learn some specific ways women can immediately
apply her teachings to step into their role

657
00:49:53.159 --> 00:49:57.800
as leaders. Next week will be
on the airth Doctor Raj Sisodia, a

658
00:49:57.880 --> 00:50:01.519
conscious capitalist leader and co author of
The Healing organization, Awaking the conscious of

659
00:50:01.599 --> 00:50:05.880
business help save the world. We'll
be talking about the key concept of this

660
00:50:05.960 --> 00:50:07.880
book. It is work in the
conscious capitalism movement. See you there.

661
00:50:07.920 --> 00:50:10.280
I remember that work is at least
or third of our life, So let's

662
00:50:10.320 --> 00:50:20.239
work on purpose. Well, we
hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be

663
00:50:20.400 --> 00:50:23.840
sure to tune in to Working on
Purpose, featuring your host Alis Cortes,

664
00:50:24.239 --> 00:50:30.320
each week on the Voice America Empowerment
Channel. This week, find your life's

665
00:50:30.360 --> 00:50:30.840
purpose at work.