In the Heritage By Design podcast, Gabriela DeRobles, Jade Wu and Meagan Driver connect with heritage speakers and signers from different backgrounds to explore stories and experiences at home, work, and in the world in general to build up the community and show the struggles and the beauty of being heritage by design.

Episodes out on Spotify:

• Episode 1: Who are heritage speakers? – In this episode, Gaby, Jade, and Meagan explore the heritage speaker community, their own identities as heritage speakers, and the joys and struggles that come with being a heritage speaker.
• Episode 2: Growing up a heritage speaker: A Mexican-American Experience – In this episode, Jade and Meagan chat with one of their hosts, Gaby, about her Mexican-American, bilingual experiences. Identity, language, family dynamics – they talk about it all!
• Episode 3: The long and winding road from China to New York City: A big move for a little kid – In this episode, Gaby and Meagan chat with one of their hosts, Jade, about her childhood moves from China to Michigan to New York City and her experiences learning English and holding onto her home languages. Come hear about the path she took to teaching Taishanese and Cantonese, and check out her new book Learn to Speak Taishanese I!
• Episode 4: Wait… I’m a heritage speaker?! Discovering the Argentine in Argentine-American – In this episode, Gaby and Jade chat with their co-host Meagan about her path to discovering her heritage identity and her experiences learning Spanish. Come listen as they talk about the grandparent influence on heritage languages, the weight of being bilingual in certain spaces, racial passing, multilingualism in public schools, and more!
• Episode 5: Intersecting Gujarati, Swahili, and Urdu: A Performer and Educator’s Story – In this episode, Gaby, Jade and Meagan chat with their first guest Asif Majid to learn about his background growing up in a family enriched with cultural and language identities from around East Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Listen along as they discuss and learn about the influence of Asif’s work on Islam and theatre performance, how the weight of shame impacts our willingness to speak our heritage languages, and more!
• Episode 6: Hungry for heritage: One author’s journey connecting with Cantonese through writing and food – Join Gaby, Jade and Meagan in this episode for AAPI Heritage Month as they hear from Jenny Liao, author and heritage speaker of Cantonese, as she shares her experiences learning to embrace her heritage through writing and food. From tips for budding authors to her favorite Cantonese treats, come see how Jenny has turned the emotions around her bilingual reality into stories that celebrate and empower young heritage speakers and their appetites!