This week, we have host Chenni Xu to discuss the new book of an old friend from her expat days in Beijing, Qin Qin (formerly Lisa Qin), Model Minority Gone Rogue: How an unfulfilled daughter of a tiger mother went way off-script, which debuted earlier this year in Australia and New Zealand and was published by Hachette.
In this episode, Qin Qin discusses her journey of transformation into her true self, challenges along the way of this reconstruction, and also her writing journey and the road to publishing. Qin Qin and Chenni also discuss their similar upbringings, expectations, and how to break out of those constrictions — successfully or not. Qin Qin’s spiritual, career, personal and her own sexual identity figure into her “Becoming” story.
Self-care Tips:
Chenni: My aspiration is to get back into a five-minute daily morning meditation, using the free app Insight Timer.
Qin Qin: Hug a tree. Nature is so freeing.
Recommendations:
Chenni: I just finished reading Emily Witt’s new nonfiction memoir, Health and Safety: a Breakdown. I thoroughly enjoyed her depiction of the Brooklyn rave scene pre and post pandemic and her own journey through a relationship, drugs, the rave scene and in the middle of all that getting a job at the New Yorker!
Qin Qin: House of Kwa by Mimi Kwa
About our guest:
Qin Qin grew up striving to be ‘good’. By 29, she was an ex-lawyer with four degrees working overseas for UNICEF… and a miserable overachiever. After one too many crises, Qin Qin chose to question the script, a journey she explores in her debut memoir, Model Minority Gone Rogue (Hachette ’24). Qin Qin was named a 40-under-40: Most Influential Asian-Australian and is a librarian and regular speaker. Her life mission is to live consciously on her own terms.
About our host:
Chenni Xu Cohen is NuVoices Board Chair (’24), and a strategic communications consultant with over a decade of experience in crisis management, media relations, and building influential networks with key opinion leaders across think tanks, academia, and government. She has provided consulting expertise to Fortune 500 companies at the c-suite level, international organizations and academia. She has a passion for the arts and is an aspiring writer.