A master-class in personal and professional development, ultra-athlete, wellness evangelist and bestselling author Rich Roll delves deep with the world's brightest and most thought provoking thought leaders to educate, inspire and empower you to unleash your best, most authentic self. More at: https://richroll.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Joanne Molinaro Is The Korean Vegan: Lessons On Life, Identity, & Food
A central theme of my podcast is the power of a plant-based diet to enhance the quality of life for both the individual and the whole.
Over time, the show has grown to embrace a wider variety of themes—art, entertainment, cuisine, entrepreneurship, spirituality, sports, social justice, creativity, equality, and more—each guest sharing his/her respective expertise and experience.
Some conversations traverse more than one field. Only a select few impart powerful, impactful lessons across several.
Joanne Molinaro is one such human—a cultural phenomenon who goes by the moniker, The Korean Vegan.
Born in Chicago to immigrant parents from what is today North Korea, Joanne is a (soon to be) New York Times bestselling cookbook author, food blogger, marathon runner, social activist and corporate law firm partner (although she just resigned last week) with millions of fans across a variety of social media platforms—including over 2.5 million on TikTok—obsessed with her wisdom-laced and thought-provoking food content, garnering her features on CNN, CBS, The Food Network and many other mainstream media outlets.
Joanne’s audience isn’t just massive, it’s insanely engaged—a loyalty rooted in her wholesale re-imagination of the cuisine landscape. Her content is so fresh, so beyond nice photographs or the A-B-C food preparation tutorials to which we’ve grown accustomed, that it’s fair to say Joanne has pioneered an entirely new content genre altogether.
Exquisitely captured in irresistible sixty-second short films with a penchant for virality, across her social channels Joanne masterfully entwines food, culture, education and self-improvement with incredibly honest, vulnerable, heartfelt stories about life, relationships, grief, family, divorce, surviving abuse, and the immigrant experience. Her deeply personal yarns tug on the universal—an authentic relatability that leaves most teary-eyed upon each’s film’s conclusion.
One of my most memorable encounters of 2021, our conversation spans her remarkable career balancing corporate law firm partner duties with the full-court demands of her growing voice of public influence. We cover her path to veganism (a journey that ironically began with her husband reading Finding Ultra), her experience as a Korean woman living in the diaspora, the many ways in which food and social justice advocacy intersect, and the importance of humanizing the immigrant story.
To read more click here. You can also watch listen to our exchange on YouTube. And as always, the podcast streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
This is a powerful, potentially life-altering conversation on the importance of creativity, self-empowerment, and leveraging social media for good.
May this extraordinary woman inspire you to think more deeply about your own story—and the indelible power inherent in sharing it.
Peace + Plants,
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Thanks to this week’s sponsors:
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For a complete list of all RRP sponsors, vanity URLs & discount codes, visit Our Sponsors.
Show Notes:
- Connect with Joanne: Website | Instagram | TikTok | Twitter
- Book: The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes from Omma’s Kitchen
- YouTube: The Korean Vegan
- Al Jazeera: How does immigrant food shape identity? | The Stream
- CBS: The Korean Vegan dishes out life lessons and stories of her diaspora experience
- Ad Week: NBA’s DeAndre Jordan Spreads the Gospel of Going Plant-Based With His Show, Cooking Clean
- VegNews: NBA Star DeAndre Jordan Is Now A Chef On A New Vegan Cooking Show
- CNN: How TikTok is teaching a generation of people about food
- LAIKA: Joanne Molinaro, aka The Korean Vegan, Doesn’t Mince Words
- Healthyish: ‘The Korean Vegan’ Makes Cooking TikToks That Get Real, Quick
- LiveKindly: Addictive Vegan Recipes and No B.S.: Get to Know ‘The Korean Vegan’
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Thank The Team: I do not do this alone. Send your love to Jason Camiolo for audio engineering, production, show notes and interstitial music; with additional engineering by Cale Curtis and additional music by Moby; Blake Curtis & Dan Drake for video, & editing; graphics by Jessica Miranda & Daniel Solis; portraits by Davy Greenberg & Grayson Wilder; copywriting by Georgia Whaley; and theme music by Tyler Piatt, Trapper Piatt & Hari Mathis.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.