E50. The One Year Anniversary Episode - with Ryan Louie, Filmmaker and Producer of Taking Off The Mask

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Ryan Louie. Ryan is the producer behind this very podcast, so it felt very fitting to have him as the guest in this one-year anniversary episode. Ashanti and Ryan follow the same format that makes this podcast what it is; they share the front and back of their respective masks and let the conversation go where it needs to be. Along the way they discuss legacy, setting boundaries, standing up for something, and what a year’s worth of podcasting has taught them. 4:40 Ashanti’s introduction. 10:30 Ashanti and Ryan begin the one-year anniversary episode. 12:00 Ashanti shares the front of his mask - ambitious, determined, smart. Then, as two men with backgrounds in teaching, they discuss conventional opinions of intelligence and why educators feel outside of that cultural sphere. 23:00 Ryan shares the front of his mask - inclusive, countercultural, collected. He explores how his socioeconomic and ethnic identity, shaped by his schooling and the surrounding power structures, affects the front of his mask. They are also men who resort to smiling in order to make people happy, and they discuss what causes this shared habit. 37:10 Ashanti shares the back of his mask - wanting kids, legacy, am I good enough? Ashanti recently got back in touch with the “Branch” side of his family, and he shares how this experience conjured up some new perspectives on life. 48:00 Ryan shares the back of his mask - opinionated, regretful, embarrassment. They discuss times they have been taken advantage of, the problem with holding in negative emotions, the stories we tell ourselves, and leveraging self-awareness. 1:03:21 Ashanti and Ryan ruminate on the question, “what do you stand for?” 1:18:24 Ryan shares how you can get in touch with him. --- Connect with Ryan Louie: Website: ryanlouieportfolio.wordpress.com Instagram: instagram.com/rynlouie --- Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected] --- Connect with Ashanti Branch: Instagram: instagram.com/branchspeaks Facebook: facebook.com/BranchSpeaks Twitter: twitter.com/BranchSpeaks LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch Website: branchspeaks.com --- Send in a voice message: anchor.fm/branch-speaks/message