Former Tinder CEO Faye Iosotaluno joins Dave to talk about her unlikely path from growing up in West Covina to leading one of the world’s biggest tech brands. She shares her family’s immigrant story, her dual finance and English background at Penn, and the career leaps that took her from Merrill Lynch to Viacom, SoundCloud, and ultimately the CEO seat at Tinder.

Faye opens up about navigating male-dominated industries, learning to speak up, building products that serve women, and the responsibility of being one of the very few Asian American women to lead at the highest levels of tech.

In this episode, I sit down with Manny Maceda, the former Worldwide Managing Partner and CEO of Bain & Company, and now Chair of the firm. Manny’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and leadership across cultures. Born in Boston and raised in the Philippines under a dictatorship, Manny’s family fled to the U.S. after his father, then a senator, was forced into exile. What began as a visit to see his father turned into a lifelong journey in America that led him from Illinois Tech to MIT and, eventually, a 37-year career at Bain.

We talk about how his early experiences shaped his empathy and adaptability, his path from a young immigrant engineer to the first Asian leader of Bain, and how he’s helped transform the company into a $6 billion global firm while keeping its culture of mentorship, diversity, and purpose at the core. Manny shares lessons on leading through transformation, building inclusive teams, and why culture, not strategy, is the most sustainable competitive advantage.

We also discuss his remarkable encounters, from nearly derailing Jack Welch’s MIT speech (and ending up at lunch with him the next week) to navigating racial barriers in corporate America and staying grounded through mentorship and family.

It’s a powerful conversation about leadership, identity, and giving back, both to the next generation and to the countries that shaped us.

Ju Rhyu is the founder and CEO of Hero Cosmetics, the company behind the cult-favorite Mighty Patch that redefined acne care and became one of the most successful K-beauty exports in America. Born in Korea and raised in Seattle, Ju’s story spans continents — from her father’s entrepreneurial journey in the logging business to her own winding path through Brown, Kraft Foods, and Samsung before taking the leap into entrepreneurship.

In this conversation, Ju opens up about growing up between cultures, the lessons she learned from her father about independence and business, and how a simple patch she discovered in Korea turned into a $630 million brand acquisition by Church & Dwight. We talk about the early scrappy days of bootstrapping, the mindset shift from scarcity to abundance, what it’s like building a category-defining brand, and how she’s now reflecting on life and purpose after a major exit.

For Asian American professionals and founders, Ju’s journey is a reminder that success doesn’t have to follow a straight line — and that sometimes the best way forward is to bet on yourself.

A lot of people are in the job market right now and not sure how to differentiate themselves. On this episode, I talk to my dear friend Lisa Chang, the Global Chief People Officer of The Coca-Cola Company.

We talk about growing up in the South as the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants and not really embracing her Asian identity until she was in college at the University of Virginia. She has literally run human resources for the biggest companies in Atlanta from The Weather Channel to Turner (Turner Broadcasting System, Inc) to Equifax to the Blank Family which owns the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United FC, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, PGA Superstores. Now she runs human resources for Coca-Cola worldwide.

We get into breaking the bamboo ceiling. We also discuss curiosity, asking for help, learning the right kind of mistakes, and the power of real networking and results-driven resumes. This one is packed with insightful advice from someone who has hired top executives from around the world.

Congressman Ted Lieu joins me for a powerful conversation about his journey from immigrant beginnings to becoming one of the most outspoken voices in Congress. We discuss his family’s pursuit of the American dream, his years of service in the U.S. Air Force, and how those experiences shaped his commitment to public service.

Ted shares candid insights on what it means to run for office as an Asian American, the political shifts happening within our community, and why silence is never an option when democracy is at risk. We also talk about how to engage friends, family, and future generations in civic life—especially when misinformation and disillusionment run deep.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make a difference, this episode is a reminder that change starts with each of us.

Today’s guest is Hans Tung, Managing Partner at Notable Capital and one of the most influential venture capitalists in the world. Hans has appeared on the Forbes Midas List for 13 straight years—landing in the top 10 five times—and has backed iconic companies including Airbnb, Coinbase, Slack, Affirm, Peloton, Poshmark, Xiaomi, Meituan, and Flipkart.

In our conversation, Hans shares his journey from growing up in Taiwan and immigrating to California at 13, to navigating Wall Street, experiencing the tech boom in China, and ultimately shaping Silicon Valley as a global investor. We dive into what he looks for in founders, how he’s navigated being an Asian American leader in venture capital, and why conviction, resilience, and community matter now more than ever.

Most of us grew up believing that if you work hard, keep your head down, and deliver results, success will follow. But my guest today argues that’s one of the biggest myths in business. Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, from Stanford Graduate School of Business, has spent decades studying power and leadership — and his research shows that visibility, influence, and networks matter far more than raw performance.

In this conversation, we dive into the real rules of power: why Asian Americans in particular often hit the bamboo ceiling, and what it actually takes to rise and lead effectively. Jeff and I talk about why waiting for permission is a trap, why imposter syndrome is just another excuse, and how power can be used not only to advance yourself but to do good for others.

This is a candid look at the game behind the game — with stories from Jeff’s decades of teaching and research, and personal reflections on how Asian Americans can claim more influence in business and society.

David Liu’s story is anything but predictable. Born in Queens and raised in Westchester, he went from being one of only a handful of Asian kids in his school—navigating racism in 1970s New York—to studying film at NYU, launching CD-ROM projects with the Smithsonian, and co-founding The Knot, one of the first big internet media brands and taking it public right before the dot.com bubble burst.

In this conversation, David shares how film school shaped his entrepreneurial mindset, the serendipitous meeting that turned “the worst idea AOL ever heard” into a $1.6M investment, and why storytelling is the most underrated skill in business. We talk about building one of the first online ad models, bluffing with confidence, creating the universal wedding registry before e-commerce was mainstream, and how his journey as a founder, restaurateur, and oyster farmer always comes back to creativity and adaptability.

Whether you’re a founder, creator, or just love a good origin story, this episode is packed with lessons on resilience, reinvention, and the power of narrative.