Da Eun Yoon on Names, Voice Work, and Living Between Cultures

Christine interviews multilingual actor, voice artist, and audiobook narrator Da Eun Yoon, announcing her as the narrator of the middle grade novel in verse Love Language (out August 4). Da Eun shares the meaning of her Korean name and her changing English names, describing challenges introducing “Da Eun” at Northwestern and eventually embracing it. She recounts moving to New York after graduating from Northwestern (2023), being encouraged to try voiceover, and discovering audiobook narration as a career. The conversation explores her upbringing in Korea speaking English at home, identity crises and accent work in both languages, the “shadowing” method for learning pronunciation, and feeling different across Korea and the U.S. She discusses passion as acting despite fear, her work as storyteller/translator bridging cultures, uncertainty about where to live, and how narrating Love Language resonated with her.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:07 The Story Behind Her Name

01:55 English Names and Identity

04:06 Announcing Love Language

04:37 Career Path to Audiobooks

06:34 Living Between Cultures

09:27 Relearning Korean and Shadowing

11:32 Northwestern and Family Talk

12:24 Finding Passion and Fear

14:10 Where to Live Next

15:18 Final Thoughts on Love Language

16:14 Thanks and Goodbye

Redefining “Normal” After Traumatic Brain Injury: Dr. Maria Stella Bonn on Disability, Advocacy, and Checklists

On The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Dr. Maria Stella Bonn, Associate Professor of Information Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, discusses her 2011 bicycle accident–related traumatic brain injury and her writing on disability and “normal,” including the idea that everyone’s baseline varies. She reflects on unpredictable health changes, including a breast cancer diagnosis two years after her TBI, and how recovery reshaped her views on capability and judgment. Bonn says she wishes others would assume people are okay and let actions demonstrate abilities, offering a story of walking her kindergarten-aged child to school during recovery. She emphasizes the importance of an advocate, describing how her husband ensured therapies occurred, pushed her to persist, and helped expedite replacement of her skull flap after an emergency craniectomy. She also discusses improving information handoffs in healthcare and co-parenting through simple checklists.

00:00 Meet Dr Maria Bonn

00:35 The Bike Accident

01:27 Normal Versus Disabled

03:26 Life Can Change Fast

05:05 Cancer After TBI

07:02 What Disability Means

08:37 Recovery With Her Child

09:17 Why You Need An Advocate

11:29 Medical Handoffs And Checklists

13:28 Closing Thanks

Dr. Jason L. Hornick on Balancing Academic Pathology, Parenting, and Personal Passions

Christine interviews Dr. Jason L. Hornick, a senior soft tissue and bone pathologist and academic leader, about balancing a demanding academic career with family and self-care. Hornick shares a personal love of cats and discusses parenting twins while managing work, emphasizing the importance of an understanding partner, being fully present at home, and separating clinical work from family time. He describes waking early to write and edit, prioritizing about seven hours of sleep, and critiques medical training culture that normalizes self-neglect and fatigue. Hornick highlights cooking and returning to rock music after a long break as key outlets that reduce burnout and model a well-rounded life for children. Professionally, he describes shifting from primary research to editing journals and textbooks and advises learning to say no to invitations to protect time and wellbeing.

00:00 Meet Dr Hornick

01:09 Cats And Family

02:01 Parenting And Academia

04:11 Early Mornings Sleep

06:00 Self Care In Medicine

07:39 Cooking As Therapy

08:37 Returning To Rock Music

10:12 Hobbies Prevent Burnout

12:31 Work Life Culture Shift

13:35 Evolving Academic Focus

16:16 Research Without Goals

17:07 Learning To Say No

18:46 Closing Thoughts Mentorship