Episode 57: Last Words - Season 4 Finale

This is it. We made it. Season 4 finale. As many of you know, Project Voice has been running for a little over 2 years since November 2016. When I first started the podcast, I only expected myself to produce 15 episodes at the most. It was started by me and a bunch of my friends who I invited to share their experiences on the show. Most of us didn’t come from an academic background in ethnic studies or Asian American studies. We were just speaking from our own experience[s]. I was learning as I was going through the conversations taking place on Project Voice, and over time, eventually became very active and involved with the activist community. I learned to be more convicted with my beliefs while at the same time, open-minded and respectful towards those who hold different views from mine. I’ve learned and listened from a variety of perspectives. As many of you know, I have not been in the U.S. for a few years now and just moved my base to Australia where I’ll be living for at least another year. During this time period, I plan to reach out and connect with the Asian Australian community and potentially other Asian diasporic communities all over the world outside the U.S. As an American, I feel like It’s time to learn and listen again. My busy schedule means I won’t be able to keep up with our monthly release for Project Voice. However, I do want to say that I spent a long time to decide putting Project Voice on another hiatus. To be honest, I wanted to transition out of Project Voice for more than a year now and have been putting this decision on hold because I see how much value it offers to our community. I can see how much I’ve grown through this project as well as many other people who’ve been following PV since. I feel honored to see how many people have heard about Project Voice and how many inspiring change makers have been interviewed on our platform. At the same time, ironically speaking, I do feel like I’ve lost my voice working on Project Voice, a now large-scale platform for influential voices. For me right now, I want to spend some time to rest and reflect on how Project Voice can continue thriving as an AUTHENTIC media outlet for our Asian community tuning in all over the world. What can we do with our content to keep our audience informed and engaged AUTHENTICALLY? As a child of immigrant parents, I knew what it’s like to feel like I have to reinvent the wheel and now having an established platform for other Asian diasporic folx to share their stories, my next questions are: how can we improve our reach so that many others won’t feel the need to reinvent the wheel?  And also, how can I transform Project Voice into a self-sustaining platform for not only our current generations but our future generations of aspiring creators and storytellers as well? I’d like to thank our listeners for tuning in, sharing feedback on our podcast, and engaging with our content. I’d like to thank our team members for the time and energy they put into contributing a cause that they care about. I’d like to personally thank Grace Abe, our graphic designer and illustrator for leading last year’s rebranding project. Because of Grace, we were able to provide a powerful visual experience alongside with the release of our episodes. Last but not least, I’d also like to thank our sponsors, Found Coffee and Bharat Babies for believing in our mission. If it weren’t all of you, Project Voice would not be where it is today. Much love, Jess