EP 543: Shin Yu Pai On Rebooting Her "Ten Thousand Things" Podcast

Shin Yu Pai was already a published poet and museologist when she entered a contest by the Pacific Northwest's National Public Radio to pitch an idea for a new podcast that focused on Asian Americans. Around seventy people submitted concepts, but NPR picked Shin Yu's. That propelled her into the very formulaic world of NPR podcasts. She learned quickly, and her show became a huge hit in that region. But after three years, she was told that it had come to an end. Shin Yu found ways to identify and process her grief, and then decided to reboot her podcast with the help of an independent production company. But now, unfettered by NPR's way of doing things, Shin Yu is bringing much more of her own voice and perspective to Ten Thousand Things, the award-winning podcast about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life.