Bird Of Paradise

Listen now to the 24 hour lo-fi stream by @Aloefi : plantsandbeatsradio.com

For the Season 3 premiere of Plants & Beats, Rob (@byrobbell) sits down with Jess Lin (@jess_xiaomei), creator and host of Cultureful (@thecultureful), a narrative podcast and social impact project rooted in the belief that everyday people are the experts of their own stories.

Jess is a second-generation Taiwanese American, daughter of immigrants and a community builder. Before podcasting, she spent years working in global health and living around the world, including Zambia, Honduras, and Bangladesh. But after chronic pain and disability forced her to step away from that career, she found herself having to imagine a different life.

That unexpected pivot eventually led to Cultureful.

Jess talks about teaching herself podcast production, why ordinary people deserve space to tell their stories, and how the best interviews can become something more human than a simple question-and-answer exchange.

The conversation also moves through chronic pain, family, Taiwan, travel, marriage, miscarriage, fertility treatments, and IVF, as Jess reflects on what it means to adapt when life takes you somewhere you never expected to go.

Plant of the Month: Bird of Paradise 🌿

Care Guide: READ NOW

Rob on CulturefulThis episode also continues a conversation that began on Jess’s show.

Rob joined Jess for the Season 4 premiere of Cultureful, a two-part conversation exploring family identity, personal history, Philadelphia, hip-hop, race, fatherhood, trauma, and the experiences that shaped the person he became.

In Part 1, Rob looks back at growing up in 1990s Philadelphia, from playing Tetris and Game Boy with his grandmother to the family traditions, neighborhood experiences and lessons about race and safety that defined his childhood.

🎧 Listen to Part 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cultureful-global-identity-intergenerational-stories/id1714884799?i=1000789750530