real talk
IN COMMUNITY
💙 COMMUNITY-CENTERED DESIGN: I build online communities on Discord for citizen storytellers to unearth family histories and preserve our collective memories in real-time. I approach virtual space as a cultural creator: Through our online friendships, we get to practice being better ancestors. Together, we get to reconnect with ancestral wisdom and embody the values we long to pass on to the next generation.
💛 SAFE + BRAVE FACILITATION: I hold welcoming conversation spaces to easefully explore tough questions and crystallize language for elusive emotions, using modalities of expressive arts and somatic healing. Topics include practicing storytelling ethics and skills, code-switching between multicultural strengths, and cultivating generational resilience.
Keen to foster deeper conversations through your organization or platform? Please get in touch to cast vision for what’s possible together!
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It’s said that every generation has someone who’s cursed - or blessed - with the mantle of “The Family Historian.” In this talk for the “Leaving A Legacy” speaker series, I shared how to sustainably pass on your family history with a healthy mindset that nurtures your wellbeing in the process. (November 2023)
Watch the joint conversation I moderated with actor Ryan Alexander Holmes and rapper/filmmaker Laurence Brahm about crossing cultures on social media with confidence, humor, and honesty. We explore the joys and strengths of being multicultural and how to involve your loved ones in the creative process of telling your story.
In partnership with My China Roots and Global Asian Media Entertainment (GAME) to commemorate Chinese New Year and Black History Month (February 2022).
On Sept 23, 2022, I presented “Who Is Home?: Rooting Curiosity in Community,” a virtual breakout guiding storytellers at the STORY Conference to trace the bonds of kinship and belonging that anchor their curiosity and conviction in the unknown.
I organized a 5-part AAPI Heritage Month event series on Discord featuring veteran genealogists, filmmakers, and healing practitioners to inspire and equip budding family historians with the role models, research skills, and holistic support to uncover their hidden ancestral stories.
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I organized and moderated a live Q&A on Discord with the research team behind the award-winning documentary THE SIX, the untold story of the 6 Chinese survivors of the Titanic.
We explore what it means to tell a “full” story, reclaiming your heritage with pride, mysteries that didn’t make it into the film, navigating uncertainty in the research process, and the mindset you need to trace your family history.
I co-facilitated “Continuing Curiosity,” a virtual experience equipping students at the East-West Center with the practical skills to “live their questions” with courage.
Rooted in The Exchange event series theme “Transformative Care: Creating Intertwined Futures Beyond the Pandemic” (Sept 2021).
I presented “Family Stories: The Gift that Keeps on Giving,” a breakout talk inspiring creatives at the STORY Conference to navigate the messiness of their family stories with honesty, hope, and curiosity, in order to create home and belonging through their creative work.
“I invited Chrislyn to speak after watching her videos. She was refreshing and engaging… and what she produced did not disappoint. Her workshop about migration and multicultural identity was extremely thought-provoking, many of our delegates even choosing to continue the conversation on their own cultural influences after.” – DORCAS WONG, CONTENT DIRECTOR
The population that the United Nations labels as “international migrants” goes by many names: expats, foreigners, refugees, digital nomads, 海龟. Who are they? Where do they live? Why do they move? What does “home” mean for them? Living between cultures, what kind of culture do they create, and how do they impact their communities?
Listen to our full panel at the US Embassy in Beijing in honor of UN International Migrants Day (December 2018).
podcast convos
ON AIR
Weeks into my roots-tracing adventure, I pause to reckon with my own biases and assumptions about being Asian. LISTEN ➔
I sat down with wedding photographer Petronella Lugemwa to share discoveries along my journey to trace my family’s roots and uncover the sacred stories we all bring to the table. LISTEN ➔
We unpack self-discovery as Asians in today’s world, the in-betweenness and shame we experience growing up, and the deconstruction of what we (think we) know. LISTEN ➔
How does a Jersey Girl wind up trekking around the globe in search of her identity? And how is her search changing her? LISTEN ➔