Latest / The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen / 489 - Why "Saigon Bonbon" Could Be Our Cultural Export of 2026? - Saigon Bonbon: Tee Tran, Bao Han, Michael Le

Transcript

489 - Why "Saigon Bonbon" Could Be Our Cultural Export of 2026? - Saigon Bonbon: Tee Tran, Bao Han, Michael Le · The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen

0:00
[SPEAKER_04]: Welcome to the Vietnamese podcast.
0:01
[SPEAKER_04]: I have old friends with me and new friends with me today.
0:07
[SPEAKER_04]: Today we are going to talk about something that's very near due to my heart, which is a culture in branding.
0:15
[SPEAKER_04]: I have tea here with Balthan, husband and wife, and I have Michael, Michael Le, the best.
0:23
[SPEAKER_04]: But three of them hosted a wonderful party I went to a week ago, and I can't tell you how special really was.
0:32
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll get into that.
0:33
[SPEAKER_04]: But T, why don't we start?
0:35
[SPEAKER_04]: Can you introduce yourself?
0:36
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, for sure.
0:37
[SPEAKER_05]: Hey guys, my name is T, and I am a, I was born in Vietnam, and in 1975, after the war, our family immigrated to Montreal Canada, some Canadian,
0:50
[SPEAKER_05]: and grew up in the environment that was very, very francophone, you know, and so the only place that you would learn about Vietnamese was within our household, so, and then we grew up.
1:08
[SPEAKER_05]: fast forward, I guess a few years later, met the way moved to America, I think we can get into the detail later, because that's essentially my background.
1:17
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I'm a Montreal, Montrealer, and then moved to the United States around 10 years ago.
1:24
[SPEAKER_05]: Great.
1:24
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, T's wife has been on the podcast before, and we have her here today, Bob Han, would you like to do a introduction?
1:33
[UNKNOWN]: Sure.
1:33
[SPEAKER_06]: Hi everybody, this is Bahaan and I am used to be a singer, I used to be a person I saw not anymore.
1:41
[SPEAKER_06]: Originally from I was born in Vietnam, I grew up in Austria, Vienna, Austria, and when my family is still resides, I think the U.S. for a couple, oh gosh, 99, since 1999, 1999.
1:55
[SPEAKER_06]: I was seeing for a while and then I had to stop in 1990 and in 2010, because I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease before that, and then I met my soulmate, and it was been, there's been, doing stuff together for the rest of the time.
2:16
[SPEAKER_00]: this.
2:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi guys, my name is Michael.
2:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I was born in 2000, so I'm a 2000's baby.
2:23
[SPEAKER_00]: You're the dragon.
2:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I was born in Florida and I lived there most of my life and then moved to LA in 2020.
2:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Most people know me from social media, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
2:33
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people know me from my family and then my dancing.
2:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I do a lot in the K-pop space, a lot in just a
2:39
[SPEAKER_00]: the day and space in general, but this year kind of broken out to do like a lot of different things, more kind of focusing on the entrepreneur out and basically a year ago that's where I met T and we started this amazing project or he brought me onto this amazing project and I guess you know that's kind of why we're here to chat about yeah you know let's start with the event
3:06
[SPEAKER_04]: Before we even start with the event, I wanted to say that Hun, you gave a speech that I think has gone viral.
3:14
[SPEAKER_04]: I think it's over a million hits now.
3:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yeah, I love it.
3:18
[SPEAKER_04]: It's crazy.
3:18
[SPEAKER_04]: So if you guys have seen this speech that Hun gives on stage, she talks about how tea and her met in the early days and you read an excerpt of a book.
3:32
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's the most moving thing.
3:36
[SPEAKER_04]: It was born of this event, this night that you guys put together.
3:42
[SPEAKER_04]: So, can you tell me what that evening was all about?
3:49
[SPEAKER_05]: The evening was about, I think, a love letter to Bauhan.
3:55
[SPEAKER_05]: I think the core of what we're trying to do outside on Bonbon is it was inspired 100% with Bonbon, you know, so one of the things that we're just talking about during the evening was about vows and promises, right?
4:13
[SPEAKER_05]: When we get married, we make all these promises to our loved ones, right?
4:18
[SPEAKER_05]: We talked about to richer or poorer, to sickness and in health, and
4:25
[SPEAKER_05]: When we say these vows in sickness and in health, we say because they tell us to say it, but we don't truly understand what that means until we actually live it.
4:35
[SPEAKER_05]: And for me, obviously, with Bow Hunt, with Parkinson's,
4:40
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a reality that I see every day, and from the moment that she wakes up to the moment that she sleeps, you see the struggles, you see the difficulties, and as a husband, you don't know, you become like helpless, you don't know what to do, you don't know how to help, and the one thing that it's always constant in my cases, you choose to love her, you continue to love her no matter what.
5:08
[SPEAKER_05]: One of the things that's really, really fascinating and really great about Bahrain is, even though she has Parkinson, she has a health issue, she doesn't let it run her life.
5:21
[SPEAKER_05]: She doesn't let it take it over.
5:25
[SPEAKER_05]: She had to retire from Paris by night, so she was probably at the peak of her career when she had to retire.
5:35
[SPEAKER_05]: So you could imagine how hard that must have been for somebody that has been on stage all her life.
5:41
[SPEAKER_05]: And pretty much that's your passion, baby.
5:44
[SPEAKER_05]: It's what you know, it's how she connects with her fans and to be able to be in the situation where you have to let go.
5:52
[SPEAKER_05]: Must have been very difficult and I don't know half of how she felt.
5:55
[SPEAKER_05]: But if you see her on an everyday basis, uh, turn it, you would not know that because she still lives life to the fullest.
6:07
[SPEAKER_05]: And
6:08
[SPEAKER_05]: Every day, she wakes up, she's positive.
6:12
[SPEAKER_05]: Every day, though I see her struggle, she sometimes she can't even pull up her pants or she can't even shower and wash her hair, but she doesn't care because her philosophy is, I'm alive and that's the most important thing, you know, even though my health is not 100%.
6:31
[SPEAKER_05]: I have an opportunity to really do other things.
6:34
[SPEAKER_05]: If I can't say anymore, I'll find something else that's going to keep me alive and positive.
6:39
[SPEAKER_05]: And for me, that is so inspirational.
6:41
[SPEAKER_05]: And so, through what she's accomplished as an artist, what she's accomplished as a human being, was very touching for me.
6:52
[SPEAKER_05]: So I want to somehow acknowledge that, you know,
7:01
[SPEAKER_05]: While she was performing, not only did she entertain people through her music or performance on stage, but one thing that I think that goes unnoticed is that she connected with the community.
7:15
[SPEAKER_05]: And that, I think, we have to give credit to the entertainment body that is parsed by name.
7:22
[SPEAKER_05]: If we have to go back to the war, and at post war, Vietnamese people living in America didn't have a source of entertainment for some kind of nostalgia component in order to remind them of the country that we left.
7:35
[SPEAKER_05]: So, for me, it was...
7:37
[SPEAKER_05]: her role was to be able to reach out and to educate but also entertain and teach us about what our history was about and somehow in there she connected with her fans very well on this deep emotional level and I remember whenever you know when we first dated and I would go to a concert and then I would see her fans talking to her one thing that always comes out was
8:07
[SPEAKER_05]: The only reason why I was Paris but I think is a view because I connected with you.
8:12
[SPEAKER_05]: I felt proud to be Vietnamese because the way you express yourself on stage, the way you sang, the way you connect with your fans, you're very human and that's stuck to me.
8:20
[SPEAKER_05]: So I go, I'd like to take that DNA of what she embodies.
8:26
[SPEAKER_05]: Can I make that into something?
8:28
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think that's where a bit of how Saigon Baldwin came about.
8:36
[SPEAKER_05]: I thank you note for about how I'm for doing what she's done for the past 40 years at one stage, you know?
8:42
[SPEAKER_04]: So you talk about this name, Psychon Bonbon, where is that come from?
8:47
[SPEAKER_05]: So, so, Psychon Bonbon, so we're, you know, we're, we're, we're a, we're selling gummies, but I don't think that that's what we want to be, right?
8:59
[SPEAKER_05]: But at the core, if you want to analyze what Psychon Bonbon is, obviously,
9:04
[SPEAKER_05]: SIGON is the way we describe us being proud to be Vietnamese, the bond bond side has a lot of historical component to it.
9:16
[SPEAKER_05]: So we all know that Vietnam was part of French colonies and if you look at all our food and all our culture, very much everything is based on the French from the
9:35
[SPEAKER_05]: For me, it was kind of cool to be able to see if there's a way that we can demonstrate our showcase, our history, and our heritage through the name, and it just happened that ball ball.
9:46
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm French, I'm from Montreal, means candy.
9:49
[SPEAKER_05]: And it has kind of like a word, play a words with Saigon, Bonbon, so kind of like kind of rhyme.
9:55
[SPEAKER_05]: So hence the name Saigon, Bonbon.
9:58
[SPEAKER_04]: Beautiful.
9:58
[SPEAKER_04]: I love the heritage that you bring up.
10:03
[SPEAKER_04]: I wanna know how the young people are connected to this brand, because we have Michael here from a different generation.
10:10
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that our generation,
10:13
[SPEAKER_04]: Jen Xerzer, you know, we come with a totally different place of culture and how did you when you first heard of the idea of it, what made you sign on?
10:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was a couple of things.
10:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I think for me, so the reason I started social media was because I wasn't inspired by the early YouTubers like Ryan Yuga, I always talk about him.
10:38
[SPEAKER_00]: He's one of my inspirations that really made me realize that
10:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, you could kind of turn really anything you're passionate, you know, what you just wanted to do into a career.
10:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And back in the day, you know, social media dancing wasn't really looked at as a serious thing.
10:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And for me, both of my parents, they were nail salons, they were always like, entrepreneurs.
10:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And I felt like I just naturally got that.
11:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And I wanted to kind of pursue my own passions as a career, whether or not it failed just because it was something that I was proud to do.
11:13
[SPEAKER_00]: when I started social media since 2015, was I want to inspire people to realize that, you know, no one's very in them, they can really do whatever they set their minds to and just inspire them, and kind of like set a new generation of like, hey, like, I'm just going to go for it, I'm going to see what happens, and if other people, you know, if it works out, then amazing, and I really hope that people see that they're not limited to just what their peers or other people tell them to get, you know, it's possible for them.
11:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So when they approach meals about last year,
11:43
[SPEAKER_00]: he was telling me to their story and obviously it was like super touching because I feel like that was it resonated a lot with me and then the branding was like on bomb on itself and the message of being able to kind of put my
11:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But I've built and also built something with a really amazing legacy to, again, inspire others and really shine the attention on the API community.
12:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, this is, this is perfect.
12:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, 2,000, so I'm here to drag in.
12:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So I saw the Chinese Lionel.
12:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, oh, it's so fresh.
12:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So just the visual, the branding of it, everything that he kind of presented, it was kind of like he had this polished kind of thing that he like showcased to me And I was like, yeah, of course, like why wouldn't I want to support this, you know?
12:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just felt like there was a lot of synergy.
12:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, like Them as people on very big energy person too, so I just felt like when we had our first conversations It felt very natural.
12:37
[SPEAKER_00]: They felt like there were already families.
12:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, like this is something I really wanted to
12:42
[SPEAKER_00]: to kind of get into, and that's kind of what, like, sold me.
12:47
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, arguably, Paris by night is one of our biggest exports, but it's still internal.
12:53
[SPEAKER_04]: It's still Vietnamese to Vietnamese, right?
12:56
[SPEAKER_04]: Globally, but we don't really, I mean, do we?
12:59
[SPEAKER_04]: Let me know, talk to me, are, do we have a bigger brand that moves from within the Vietnamese world?
13:08
[SPEAKER_04]: to, I mean, Vinfast is probably one example, but do we have other examples of that?
13:14
[SPEAKER_04]: And why don't we, if we don't?
13:17
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, why don't we have more, if, I don't know if you guys know of anybody, I want to hear it.
13:23
[SPEAKER_05]: It's funny that you say that, cause,
13:27
[SPEAKER_05]: One of the things for me as a garden principal when we created Saigon bond was exactly that, actually what you're talking about.
13:35
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, we take a couple of steps back.
13:38
[SPEAKER_05]: I think our generation, you talked about Gen X.
13:43
[SPEAKER_05]: When we came here after the war as immigrants, the way our parents taught us, they were in survival mode, right, literally.
13:58
[SPEAKER_05]: trying to get integrate yourself in society and just make sure that our kids will have a better life.
14:05
[SPEAKER_05]: That's pretty much what Gen X is right on the innovation.
14:08
[SPEAKER_05]: And so it wasn't about expression.
14:11
[SPEAKER_05]: It wasn't about being vocal or expression yourself.
14:14
[SPEAKER_05]: It's like, you know what?
14:15
[SPEAKER_05]: Just keep quiet, work in your cubicle.
14:18
[SPEAKER_05]: You don't even need to have managerial positions, just do as tall and just try to fit in.
14:26
[SPEAKER_05]: just do your job, and hopefully by doing this, the next generation of kids will be able to have a better life.
14:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And I remember my dad, I mean, as in one example, and I'm sure that this story is hundreds and thousands of times, my dad was working at two different jobs.
14:42
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, when he was in Vietnam, he was a lieutenant colonel.
14:46
[SPEAKER_05]: My mom was a lawyer, but when they came here, they had nothing.
14:50
[SPEAKER_05]: They were just taking care of their four children.
14:52
[SPEAKER_05]: My dad was working at a motel.
14:54
[SPEAKER_05]: He was doing two jobs and going to school at the same time.
14:58
[SPEAKER_05]: My mom had to sacrifice and say, I'm going to stay home.
15:01
[SPEAKER_05]: And I mean, take care of the children.
15:02
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, so, so, so, so, so there was a certain
15:09
[SPEAKER_05]: ideology that we have to, while we're in a different country, we still need it to protect who we are, just to culture understanding that this.
15:17
[SPEAKER_05]: And that was well done internally within our homes, right?
15:22
[SPEAKER_05]: Whether it's through food, whether it's through music, whether it's to education and talk about how life was before the war.
15:28
[SPEAKER_05]: So all these things we got to be able to understand that.
15:32
[SPEAKER_06]: Yes, I'm sure.
15:33
[SPEAKER_06]: So it was a survival list, you were saying survival mode.
15:36
[SPEAKER_06]: But I think at the same time, they were trying to, they were trying to ask convinced us, ask kids to watch first tonight, because that's their attempt to preserve our culture.
15:48
[SPEAKER_06]: So watching Paris benign was for me, in the beginning, when I first started, I noticed, yeah, I didn't like, I don't watch it, I don't want to, but I understood later on what the intention was.
15:58
[SPEAKER_06]: Attention, what person I was trying to do as well as what my parents were trying to do.
16:02
[SPEAKER_06]: They wanted us to watch it because you can learn from that.
16:04
[SPEAKER_06]: You can learn, we're living in this, you know, we live in all over the world, we are spreading all over the world.
16:09
[SPEAKER_06]: And so the only way for us to preserve the culture, the only way as kids, the next generation to it.
16:15
[SPEAKER_06]: Keep that is to watch personal.
16:17
[SPEAKER_06]: And because that's how the educators say, Jim Ringo Man was, you know, tell your stories.
16:22
[SPEAKER_06]: And then, you know, so that's how I learned from the culture.
16:26
[SPEAKER_06]: And so, because of that, I would say that's what laid the, you know, the foundation for me.
16:31
[SPEAKER_06]: to do the same thing, to, you know, to preserve the culture in terms of freedom of the culture and for the next generation.
16:38
[SPEAKER_06]: And that's where he comes in, because we, you know, we wanted to do this for the next generation, because we wanted to find a way, but again, like you said, personally, but now we said a mom mom, which is hopefully going to be a platform for cultural representation and, you know, and just,
16:55
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, preserving, you know, I don't know what I'm saying.
16:56
[SPEAKER_05]: No, I totally agree with what you're saying, babe.
16:58
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think that that's where you know, that was us Gen X, right?
17:02
[SPEAKER_05]: So fast forward now, 2026.
17:04
[SPEAKER_05]: We're talking about second-third generation of Vietnamese.
17:08
[SPEAKER_05]: They didn't grow up with what we went through.
17:13
[SPEAKER_05]: and they totally different that look I mean my goal is exhibit a right full of life full of expression we're not in traditional jobs anymore right we're not you know necessary to sell nail salon owners or the doctors or the pharmacists we are now dancers singers chefs graphic designer fashion designer it's great and and we need to celebrate that and not good
17:40
[SPEAKER_05]: A stop, you know, I think our role has evolved as well too from a gen X perspective is that before I get why mom and dad protected our culture, because we were in a new country and it was, you know, there was the unknown.
17:55
[SPEAKER_05]: Now that we've gone through generation two and three,
17:59
[SPEAKER_05]: What I believe and what I want side on bond bond to become is now unleash this talent, unleash this way of the next generation how they can express themselves because we're not there to lead anymore, we're just there to give them guidance.
18:16
[SPEAKER_05]: tell them this is what we've gone through, wide matters, but other than that, let them express themselves.
18:23
[SPEAKER_05]: And that's where I think to answer your question, I mean, we did like a whole 360, to answer your question.
18:28
[SPEAKER_05]: Why, how I see sidon bond like as a brand?
18:32
[SPEAKER_05]: I think we may be one of the few first ones to say, or what I want to become, I don't know if I want to become, is, you know what?
18:42
[SPEAKER_05]: Vietnamese American in 2026, we hear you.
18:46
[SPEAKER_05]: We know you.
18:47
[SPEAKER_04]: OK, I'm going to go a little deeper with you.
18:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
18:49
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to take it from there, but I'm going to ask you, Michael, you've toured with the K-pop community, and that music space.
18:58
[SPEAKER_04]: Why is this even important for Vietnamese people to be put on the map?
19:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I feel like I've all the...
19:08
[SPEAKER_00]: the Asian representation.
19:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's kind of luckily for me, I'm very happy and proud that Asian and general AAPI, like in the last few years, has really started being pushed forward now.
19:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like people are starting to really realize us.
19:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And for me, just being Vietnamese, I haven't seen that many represent people to represent other than me, and maybe a few others, until maybe like,
19:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, last year this year and I really wanted to just feel proud of where I came from and just the whole culture in general of how my parents and grandparents grew up as well and kind of showcase that in a more of a forefront light.
19:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it was just more of me being like, yeah, this is an amazing opportunity, like, why not?
20:04
[SPEAKER_05]: The part is of what, of expressing and evolving what it means to be Vietnamese American.
20:11
[SPEAKER_05]: I think that's, he's like one of the pioneering things.
20:14
[SPEAKER_05]: What's side-on-bond or what, we want to accomplish?
20:16
[SPEAKER_05]: What are we creating a platform to have more Michaels?
20:20
[SPEAKER_05]: What don't we give them the opportunity?
20:21
[SPEAKER_05]: Michael was a pioneer, able to break barriers in the realm of the Michelle fans of the world and so forth.
20:29
[SPEAKER_05]: So, but,
20:30
[SPEAKER_05]: others don't feel like they had an opportunity to give that.
20:33
[SPEAKER_05]: So why don't we give them this platform to create it, right?
20:35
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay, I got to see some of you don't because the reason why T and I wanted him so badly on the board because it's the story, you know, of we were so touched by, you know, this one that even we know somebody.
20:47
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
20:48
[SPEAKER_06]: So that's what makes him so Vietnamese sense of.
20:51
[SPEAKER_05]: So this means setting flowers to Michael now, okay?
20:53
[SPEAKER_05]: And we all know Michael
20:59
[SPEAKER_05]: tick-tockers in the world.
21:02
[SPEAKER_05]: The top Vietnamese over 50 million followers, you know, for sure.
21:06
[SPEAKER_05]: What really struck a sensitive nerve to me, the reason why I approached you, Michael?
21:10
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think I told you that before, is beyond the 50 million followers.
21:17
[SPEAKER_05]: I was watching a YouTube video and you didn't interview, and you talked about your mom.
21:23
[SPEAKER_05]: You talked about your family.
21:26
[SPEAKER_05]: And you talked about how in your wildest dreams you want to become the provider for them.
21:32
[SPEAKER_05]: And I remember there was a quote somewhere and they said, mom, just say, well, I don't want you to do nails anymore.
21:38
[SPEAKER_05]: Just stay home, I'll take care of you, you know?
21:40
[SPEAKER_05]: You already worked so hard in the last few days to raise all the kids.
21:44
[SPEAKER_05]: Why don't you just take a break?
21:45
[SPEAKER_05]: I'll take care of you.
21:46
[SPEAKER_05]: For me, coming from a second or third generation of enemies, you know what that showed me, Kenneth?
21:54
[SPEAKER_05]: It showed me that even though he thinks he's white-washed, that he grew up here and hang around with non-Asian.
22:03
[SPEAKER_05]: Just those values shows me that he grew up in a Vietnamese family.
22:07
[SPEAKER_05]: because it cared for family, that family values was more important than anything else.
22:11
[SPEAKER_05]: And I'm sure you did it unconsciously, Michael, without even knowing that what you just said in that interview or what you really believed in was really say a core value of what being Vietnamese is.
22:25
[SPEAKER_04]: So there's,
22:27
[SPEAKER_04]: of a million different ways to promote our culture.
22:31
[SPEAKER_04]: Why this?
22:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Why this form?
22:34
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I, I, I, I, I agree.
22:36
[SPEAKER_05]: Saigon bond.
22:37
[SPEAKER_04]: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
22:49
[SPEAKER_05]: We're always, but then I always play games in terms of, we're always do top-fives of everything.
22:55
[SPEAKER_05]: You're top-five artists, you're top-five music, John Ray, and then obviously top-five food.
23:02
[SPEAKER_05]: Mm-hmm.
23:02
[SPEAKER_05]: You unanimously, whenever we do devoting, number one is always being a niece.
23:06
[SPEAKER_05]: And again, if we want to focus on the reason why it's because we grew up with that, you know, my dad, so this was the arrangement.
23:13
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't know how it was in your family.
23:15
[SPEAKER_05]: in my family, the arrangements were during the week, my dad is play, so he would cook family style play, so there's always gotten the call, the sounds, and that's
23:26
[SPEAKER_05]: And then we can, they switch roles.
23:29
[SPEAKER_05]: Mom would do a suit that would last Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
23:33
[SPEAKER_05]: So she wanted to do, for they, you, my personal favorite my mom does is me with it.
23:41
[SPEAKER_05]: So that's it.
23:42
[SPEAKER_05]: And so, and that would be the trade up.
23:44
[SPEAKER_05]: But every day we were having an issue with soap.
23:47
[SPEAKER_05]: My direct exposure to Vietnamese culture was to food and for me that was just a natural way for me to bring the brand to life and the best way to connect with everybody is to food.
24:00
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a social event.
24:03
[SPEAKER_05]: Everybody's gathered around.
24:04
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a shareable event.
24:06
[SPEAKER_05]: It's one of those activities that you can just enjoy and have everybody participate.
24:16
[SPEAKER_05]: this girl here loves gummies.
24:19
[SPEAKER_05]: She grew up, you know, you can say too.
24:21
[SPEAKER_05]: You grew up in Drew in Australia.
24:23
[SPEAKER_06]: I grew up with Haribo.
24:24
[SPEAKER_06]: Haribo was.
24:25
[SPEAKER_05]: So you guys know Haribo?
24:26
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
24:26
[SPEAKER_06]: You can ask anybody you funny because when I, when the, you know, when the worth was for that was was being that we were, we were, we were, we were having gummy gask, not sure, not sure, not sure gummy bears.
24:36
[SPEAKER_06]: I think we drove my friends.
24:37
[SPEAKER_06]: Text me they go.
24:39
[SPEAKER_06]: This is so you.
24:40
[SPEAKER_06]: I can't believe it.
24:41
[SPEAKER_06]: Why did you take this whole long because you are going to be back with you?
24:43
[SPEAKER_06]: You are going to be back with you.
24:45
[SPEAKER_06]: So they called me this.
24:46
[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, oh, okay, I guess I guess people knew about this.
24:48
[SPEAKER_06]: So I, I love the business.
24:50
[SPEAKER_06]: I grew up horrible, but when it was younger, obviously I was able to eat as much as I wanted.
24:55
[SPEAKER_06]: Now I'm not so anymore, because I, I, I got diagnosed with,
24:59
[SPEAKER_06]: It's totally pretty bad, but that was the first years ago I think I'm going to die very bad now.
25:03
[SPEAKER_06]: So it's yeah, so I was told not more anymore than it's like even when I told me my parents made it to my dad that really launching, I mean, because why would you do that?
25:12
[SPEAKER_06]: Too much sugar.
25:14
[SPEAKER_06]: the first thing about he was, no, too much of a go.
25:17
[SPEAKER_06]: I go, dad, it's lotion, and then he's taking the response.
25:21
[SPEAKER_05]: So when my father-in-law was talking about health things, I go, okay, well, let's make a dummy, but a dummy that's healthy.
25:28
[SPEAKER_05]: And if you look around the train's these days, that's what too, not only for Bauhan, obviously for Bauhan, but also for everybody else.
25:33
[SPEAKER_05]: Everybody's very concerned.
25:34
[SPEAKER_05]: Everybody's very aware.
25:35
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm a diabetic.
25:36
[SPEAKER_05]: And everybody's aware, so you know, so everybody's aware that what they put in the body on points of air is checking now this apps, now you can go and go and see stories and scan the UBC code to see where not a telltale.
25:47
[SPEAKER_05]: So for us, as part of our core DNA, it was important.
25:51
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm only that the product tastes good, that the cool flavors, you know, we could talk about the flavors later on, but it was really important that we produce something that's high quality, that is healthy, that it uses natural ingredients,
26:04
[SPEAKER_05]: and that doesn't harm the body.
26:06
[SPEAKER_05]: So that was one of the quite serious results.
26:08
[SPEAKER_06]: Obviously, because I knew I loved going to be bears and now to take their way from me, I've found like, and that's what I literally, I said, tell me, are you taking away from me?
26:17
[SPEAKER_06]: One thing you'd like to do is enjoy taking away from me.
26:20
[SPEAKER_04]: So that's why I don't do...
26:23
[SPEAKER_04]: product, interviews, and conversations never really.
26:27
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, I have sponsors like Red Bode and been fast, nice, and casinos, but the reason I wanted to do this because it's very near due to my heart, this idea of branding the culture.
26:40
[SPEAKER_04]: And the shape of these gummies is what makes me really exciting.
26:48
[SPEAKER_04]: It's so cute.
26:50
[SPEAKER_04]: And to replace the idea of bears, gummy bears, would get out one, a lunge is so special and specific.
27:01
[SPEAKER_04]: Tell me how that came about.
27:06
[SPEAKER_05]: I feel like I'm giving credit to Baha'un a lot, but it is about Baha'un, you know, a few minutes ago we were talking about how she celebrates life every day when she wakes up, even though there's Parkinson's or health issues, and she lives to the fullest.
27:24
[SPEAKER_05]: So I love telling stories when I
27:32
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm a marketing brand guy in my, you know, I've been doing this for 25 years.
27:35
[SPEAKER_05]: I've always been exposed to brands where you would have product and you have all these features and then you try to find meaning to it brand.
27:45
[SPEAKER_05]: And I got sick of that.
27:46
[SPEAKER_05]: I go, I want to do the reverse.
27:47
[SPEAKER_05]: I want to have meaning first and a creative product based out of something that's meaningful.
27:52
[SPEAKER_05]: So for this, particularly, I wanted to showcase that contradiction of what omelun represents.
28:02
[SPEAKER_05]: Come long, we all know.
28:04
[SPEAKER_05]: He's about celebration about prosperity, he's about luck.
28:07
[SPEAKER_05]: We see him during that, during touch on toe, during weddings, during store openings, so special celebrations.
28:15
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, special occasions, right?
28:17
[SPEAKER_05]: So when I see Bauhan every day celebrating life to her fullest, I go, do we have to wait for special occasion to celebrate?
28:28
[SPEAKER_05]: do we have to wait for something special to happen to wait up and say today is the best day of my life?
28:34
[SPEAKER_05]: So, so the use of the lung is actually a contradiction of what he's supposed to stand for or she's supposed to stand for.
28:43
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm saying is that I want to have a lung every day of my life to remind me that every day is a reason to celebrate the honor of our hun.
28:51
[SPEAKER_05]: So every time you open a bag and you're going to see that, that's your reminder and that's a reminder for everybody that's going to enjoy
28:58
[SPEAKER_05]: Let this guy be a celebration every day, not just on special occasions, hence the reason why we had a lot.
29:04
[SPEAKER_04]: It's awesome.
29:04
[SPEAKER_04]: I love the meaning and I love the flavors because my favorite of the batch has been tamarind spicy tamarind.
29:13
[SPEAKER_04]: Mango, mango, because I just love this flavor profile so much.
29:17
[SPEAKER_04]: How did you guys develop this stuff?
29:19
[SPEAKER_04]: Do you want to go or do you want to go?
29:22
[SPEAKER_05]: Go ahead.
29:23
[SPEAKER_05]: You did.
29:24
[SPEAKER_06]: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
29:25
[SPEAKER_05]: So, I guess we'll start with the spicy, mangled tamarind.
29:29
[SPEAKER_05]: So, again, part of our DNA, we want everything with food is so important for the Vietnamese culture, right?
29:36
[SPEAKER_05]: And what I find that very unique about the Vietnamese cuisine, it touches all the taste buds.
29:46
[SPEAKER_05]: Meaning, there's salty, there's sweet, there's sour, there's bitter, there's mommy, there's spicy.
29:53
[SPEAKER_05]: So, you know, it's an explosion of flavor.
29:55
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think that's why we love it.
29:56
[SPEAKER_05]: That's how it's on top of our list, right babe?
29:58
[SPEAKER_05]: So, I wanted our collection, or at least the introductory collection of our lineup of flavors to represent that.
30:07
[SPEAKER_05]: This whole explosion of flavors that touches all the taste buds.
30:11
[SPEAKER_05]: So, the one that you're holding right now,
30:13
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a tribute to street food that we used to see in Vietnam, so it's a swi and we of them, right?
30:27
[SPEAKER_05]: So you would dip it in and have that thing.
30:29
[SPEAKER_05]: So we wanted to recreate that and have a little twist add a little bit of tamarind which is man to have that little nice sourness to it, so that as you can see all
30:40
[SPEAKER_05]: are going to be combos.
30:41
[SPEAKER_05]: So that's one thing that we wanted to make in really special, is that it's not never going to be just one flavor.
30:46
[SPEAKER_05]: Maybe a combo just because, you know, just like our Vietnamese flavors, it's an explosion.
30:50
[SPEAKER_05]: So this one here, in particular,
30:53
[SPEAKER_05]: That little spicy kick to an at the end and it'll be great, you know if you guys have a chance to try it Well, I tried it first through all the shop because like and that is wild like the spice is at the end Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
31:21
[SPEAKER_05]: So that's the first one.
31:22
[SPEAKER_05]: So I'll get tribute to Vietnamese cuisine.
31:24
[SPEAKER_05]: The second one, I'm not sure which one you have there.
31:26
[SPEAKER_05]: All right.
31:27
[SPEAKER_05]: So that one here is a main staples in terms of one of our favorite Vietnamese fruits that's available in Vietnam is Le Chi, which is Javai.
31:38
[SPEAKER_05]: And now this one here just like a bit of what we're trying to do with Michael is that how do we modernize this?
31:45
[SPEAKER_05]: So, you know, just leech yourself is good, but let's do a little tweak to it to make it modern, to make it different.
31:51
[SPEAKER_05]: So we decided to add this botanical floral side of it, which is Boham, which is Rose.
31:56
[SPEAKER_05]: And again, you know, Boham is a very thing.
31:58
[SPEAKER_05]: We usually have it at T. So I thought it would be a nice combination, try it out, and I think
32:03
[SPEAKER_05]: From what I've seen so far, that is part of one of the favorites as well, too.
32:08
[SPEAKER_05]: This combination of leechy and rolls.
32:10
[SPEAKER_00]: There's like the easiest and like gateway for people because they're like, oh, I've had leechy stuff before.
32:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, that's true.
32:17
[SPEAKER_05]: You're right, you're right.
32:18
[SPEAKER_05]: And then finally, the last one, this my personal favorite for me, it was like, mandatory that they had to be part of our introductory.
32:27
[SPEAKER_05]: One of my indulgences in life is Vietnamese desserts.
32:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And the jazz of the world at the button.
32:35
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, and all this stuff, right?
32:37
[SPEAKER_05]: And so the two big ingredients, if you guys know in a Vietnamese culture, is coconut and pandan.
32:44
[SPEAKER_05]: So you, that you look, for me, it's like the best thing you will.
32:48
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, so for me, it was very important to be able to represent you, like you, coconut pandan in the gunning shade, hence our interpretation.
32:58
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
32:59
[SPEAKER_04]: It's so crazy because when I think about all the flavors, the word Wi comes to my mind.
33:06
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, elements.
33:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
33:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Interesting.
33:08
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
33:09
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
33:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Very elegant flavors that comes to my mind.
33:13
[SPEAKER_04]: Wi.
33:13
[SPEAKER_04]: It's not, um, it doesn't hit you over the head.
33:18
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, one of my favorite candies is, get all my, um, when Alie's brutal, it's like, it's tough, it's, uh, it's in your face.
33:26
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
33:27
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, you have licorice and you haven't just sometimes ginger and, and all these, like, the peels, um, but it's really strong.
33:36
[SPEAKER_04]: It's really strong, actually.
33:37
[SPEAKER_04]: It's really strong.
33:38
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
33:39
[SPEAKER_04]: And they're a little balls that are really grown.
33:41
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah.
33:42
[SPEAKER_04]: But this one reminds me of all my flavor, but the glyphide,
33:46
[SPEAKER_04]: Wow, version of it.
33:48
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so, look, what not, I'm not here to sell.
33:54
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm here because, you know, about 100 I have, you know, we've noticed other for a long time and I really love the story of what T and Michael are bringing to the world.
34:04
[SPEAKER_04]: And I especially believe in the branding aspect, which people ask me why do I do the podcast?
34:12
[SPEAKER_04]: And, um,
34:13
[SPEAKER_04]: As a young boy, I always was ashamed and embarrassed of my Vietnamese hair.
34:20
[SPEAKER_04]: And I always said to myself, one day, the young people will walk out of an airport, whether they're in Vienna or Argentina.
34:30
[SPEAKER_04]: For Korea, they will feel a sense of pride being the enemies.
34:34
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think we are about to get to that point.
34:36
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, there are funny things that you see, because I remember when I was in the high school, I brought a leechie to school.
34:42
[SPEAKER_06]: And the master is at the time, but of course, lots of me go, they were not really exposed to Asian fruits or Asian fruits as much as today.
34:52
[SPEAKER_06]: I remember bringing a leechie to the school, and they are, and that's been 30's there.
34:57
[SPEAKER_06]: Instead of facing that, what is that?
34:58
[SPEAKER_06]: So I thought, it's a fruit, it's an Asian fruit, it's leechy.
35:01
[SPEAKER_06]: So as he said, no, now that we can, if this happens to, oh, at the next generation, we just give them that back and take that to school.
35:08
[SPEAKER_06]: So you will, everybody would love it.
35:09
[SPEAKER_06]: They wouldn't have done it really for that, I would say.
35:11
[SPEAKER_06]: So just let them eat that and then you will know.
35:13
[SPEAKER_04]: And you know, there's a lot of truth to what you're saying because when you hand up product over, and you said, you'll know.
35:22
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
35:23
[SPEAKER_04]: It's packed with culture, it's packed with so much history.
35:27
[SPEAKER_04]: That's right, in the flavors that we're consuming.
35:30
[SPEAKER_04]: And so it makes me very proud to hear this story.
35:35
[SPEAKER_05]: If I can add to that, I think that growing up here, you're not the only one like what you just expressed, I felt it as well, too, you know, until my first trip back to Vietnam, until that kind of like turned my life.
35:50
[SPEAKER_05]: values and pretty much my life right you know so so I get it and I think we're not the only ones we all went through that as children of Immigrant parents coming here in the country, you know Maybe these generation understand it less because they felt that less but we felt it a lot because we were the only ones Yeah, everybody else around us was not Asian so we felt almost like forced to become
36:14
[SPEAKER_05]: a similar to the point where we lose our identity.
36:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I feel like even with me growing up, I felt like it wasn't anything for me and necessarily be proud, like media, like mainstream media, like I felt like Asians were always kind of like more like the jokes, of like media, like we were never genuinely taken seriously.
36:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like in the last,
36:39
[SPEAKER_00]: honestly just like even in the last five years like it I feel like it completely flipped and now like people are really realizing like we're not just what we're not the stereotyped Asians that you guys think we are you know more than tourists than the martial arts that is on TV.
36:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
36:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, so I feel like in the last few years a lot has had really changed and then of course like our the branch Login that he told me I was like, well, this is crazy This is our flavor and for me coming from the dance world We have a thing that we call it on sauce.
37:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You know as a dance.
37:13
[SPEAKER_00]: We have our own sauce favor.
37:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I didn't but still
37:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so it felt so like synergistic of like this is crazy like we get it's now actually showcase you know the culture that we have that we've grown up with that people have like no idea really about and obviously the platform that I've built I want to be able to to not only just showcase it but also even learn and educate myself as well as I'm building this
37:45
[SPEAKER_04]: message and story everything was connected with really really thought out and it was um yeah so both of you all three of you have said the word platform a few times hey so uh when i think of gummy luttan heads i don't think of platform right
38:00
[SPEAKER_04]: But there's a reason why you guys keep bringing a platform, right?
38:04
[SPEAKER_04]: So I want to hear what that vision for the future, why is this a platform?
38:11
[SPEAKER_04]: And what does that actually mean when you guys use the word platform in a conversation like this?
38:17
[SPEAKER_04]: If I may start.
38:19
[SPEAKER_05]: So the party last week that you attended?
38:24
[SPEAKER_05]: There was this magical moment that I happened that I witnessed, and then I saw it again on social media, nothing.
38:31
[SPEAKER_05]: And that moment was young creators, young Vietnamese creators, going up to Paris by night singers, like Baha'un, like Chouplein, Chouplein, Chouplein, Gituizin, Gituizuin, and in awe.
38:49
[SPEAKER_05]: was crazy to watch that.
38:50
[SPEAKER_05]: It was like, I'm talking about it.
38:52
[SPEAKER_05]: I didn't get the servers.
38:54
[SPEAKER_05]: And you know, I like it.
38:55
[SPEAKER_05]: And I'm not exaggerating.
38:56
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, why is it going even born when these people were like, okay, that's exactly it.
39:00
[SPEAKER_05]: And that's why I was very crazy.
39:02
[SPEAKER_05]: I found it and surprised to see that reaction.
39:05
[SPEAKER_05]: And you know, I was listening to to one of the young creators talking to you, babe.
39:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
39:09
[SPEAKER_05]: And they're saying,
39:11
[SPEAKER_05]: I've been in admiration for you all my life.
39:14
[SPEAKER_05]: I've seen you, and I've married you, and I can't believe this the first time that I've had an opportunity to talk to you.
39:21
[SPEAKER_05]: And this is life-changing, this is so fun, I like to exchange.
39:25
[SPEAKER_05]: So that moment, Kenneth, is my platform.
39:29
[SPEAKER_05]: That moment for me was magical, because, intentionally or unintentionally,
39:37
[SPEAKER_05]: We're creating a bridge between Gen X and Gen Z.
39:42
[SPEAKER_05]: And that bridge, for me, is key to what defines psychone bond bond.
39:47
[SPEAKER_05]: Beyond candy, beyond anything that will sell, how do we connect?
39:54
[SPEAKER_05]: with Gen Z in a way that they respect the traditions while evolving.
40:02
[SPEAKER_05]: And how do we give a hand?
40:04
[SPEAKER_05]: We're not there to preserve anymore.
40:06
[SPEAKER_05]: We're there to let them grow.
40:08
[SPEAKER_05]: I think the best analogy would be
40:11
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, if you look at it three years of that we are the roots and these guys that are flowers and the branches I grow let them grow But as long as their foundation is good and we'll keep on providing them with guidance and why in matters the rest is up to these guys to do it and that's the platform that I want to create more exchanges between our generation generation
40:33
[SPEAKER_05]: for them to be proud of who they are.
40:36
[SPEAKER_05]: They need to look up to us in a certain way for guidance.
40:39
[SPEAKER_05]: But not to lead anymore.
40:41
[SPEAKER_05]: That's the difference that I find.
40:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you go and I'm saying what I tell you that Michael, right?
40:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, before it, because I saw you took, so you have this, I want to know you're in genuine.
40:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I didn't have this and you told me not to.
40:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I
40:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I said I was like wait.
40:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want you to try it.
41:00
[SPEAKER_04]: I could obviously pen in but I was like I was like before put in my mouth.
41:04
[SPEAKER_04]: I was thinking there's this fall in line of the Gwefy and it falls right in line of it.
41:10
[SPEAKER_04]: It's very elegant.
41:11
[SPEAKER_04]: It tasted so elegant.
41:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah
41:14
[SPEAKER_04]: I should never be eating this.
41:17
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't be eating this.
41:18
[SPEAKER_04]: No, it's healthy.
41:19
[SPEAKER_00]: It's crazy too, because I actually didn't know truly what pandan was.
41:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I realized a dessert I used to eat.
41:27
[SPEAKER_00]: It was pandan.
41:28
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like the green one.
41:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like the coconut milk.
41:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
41:33
[SPEAKER_00]: That was one of my favorite desserts.
41:35
[SPEAKER_06]: You didn't know that was so good.
41:37
[SPEAKER_06]: Exactly.
41:37
[SPEAKER_06]: I remember when you tried this bread, you brought it to you.
41:40
[SPEAKER_06]: You tried it.
41:40
[SPEAKER_06]: And the first thing you go, you said,
41:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It was crazy, I was like no way and then it's so many different things.
41:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, a lot every Asian specifically, they're always this like this.
41:54
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, you know what to call it?
41:55
[SPEAKER_05]: To call it like the Eastern Asian vanilla.
41:59
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, that's what they've heard.
42:01
[SPEAKER_06]: It's very light.
42:02
[SPEAKER_05]: Because it's in every flavor.
42:03
[SPEAKER_06]: It's like, but it's established.
42:05
[SPEAKER_04]: So this is what I want to do.
42:07
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to ask Michael because Michael has not been a Vietnam yet and then I'm going to ask you to come back on the podcast to do in podcast with you after you come back.
42:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's cool.
42:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
42:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, right.
42:18
[SPEAKER_04]: So before you leave to the Vietnam, what do you thoughts?
42:21
[SPEAKER_04]: What do you think is going on over there?
42:23
[SPEAKER_04]: And then will you take a bag of this back to Vietnam?
42:26
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
42:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
42:28
[SPEAKER_00]: No, for me.
42:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Vietnam's always been some somewhere I wanted to visit.
42:34
[SPEAKER_00]: It's interesting because my grandparents They're always like they were like, oh, don't go back.
42:40
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like a good government or whatever it is I don't know if it was just collect.
42:43
[SPEAKER_00]: They haven't researched it But okay, like I'll just kind of put on the side like I don't know what's going really on there So I was pretty just on uneducated.
42:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I was hurt.
42:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll really eventually
42:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And then as a recently, I just started, more people are just starting to talk about it.
42:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, what's going on if you're not like, what do you mean?
43:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And just a couple of weeks ago, I found out Vietnam was like one of the number one Asian country that grew out of all the Asian men.
43:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, no freaking way.
43:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And I started looking into it.
43:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And I obviously, I've seen how beautiful it is.
43:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And they've also seen like how, um, like it's the number one, I'd chance you'd be teetitude.
43:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I was the number one country, uh, that like stretches your dollar out, like for its balance.
43:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, this is insane.
43:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I have to go.
43:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just started recently in traveling and, um, in my head, I'm just like really excited.
43:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, obviously I want to have someone that kind of knows they were around as well, but I really want to just be able to fluke experience.
43:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I was the last time you went.
43:40
[SPEAKER_05]: Two years ago.
43:41
[SPEAKER_05]: So we come back every two years.
43:43
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, my best friend lives there.
43:45
[SPEAKER_05]: So we kind of spoil, we have people to take care of us.
43:48
[SPEAKER_05]: But I was telling you before, I hope you can have the same impact as I did.
43:56
[SPEAKER_05]: I went back to Vietnam.
43:57
[SPEAKER_05]: I believe around 2007 to 2008 for the first time, right?
44:01
[SPEAKER_05]: So I was born in Vietnam.
44:02
[SPEAKER_05]: I was two years old.
44:03
[SPEAKER_05]: We left in 75 and then fast forward 40 odd years.
44:08
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, later, I got to go back.
44:11
[SPEAKER_05]: And let me tell you my goal.
44:13
[SPEAKER_05]: I went there with no expectations, because I had no memory or recollection, other than stories that Mom and Dad used to tell us and how it was.
44:24
[SPEAKER_05]: So that's the only visual memories that I had.
44:26
[SPEAKER_05]: So I remember I was the, we were, we did a pissed-off in Bangkok.
44:30
[SPEAKER_05]: So I'm waiting at Bangkok to go to, to sit on and then it says, Ho Chi Minh City, cycle, oh, it's happening, you know, I'm gonna be there in a few hours.
44:38
[SPEAKER_05]: It's crazy.
44:39
[SPEAKER_05]: So the minute,
44:41
[SPEAKER_05]: I laid foot down at the airport for the first time because at that point I was still in Montreal, I was still in Canada, so I've never seen little side-on or bell-layered useless.
44:49
[SPEAKER_05]: I've never been exposed to so many Vietnamese people in my life.
44:53
[SPEAKER_05]: So I got off at the airport, went to pick up my luggage, and everything was in Vietnamese.
44:58
[SPEAKER_05]: Everybody was speaking Vietnamese.
45:00
[SPEAKER_05]: I was overwhelmed with emotions.
45:04
[SPEAKER_05]: It kind of like that feeling where you go, I'm home.
45:09
[SPEAKER_05]: in a weird kind of way, because like you, I didn't really identify if you were me scoring up.
45:14
[SPEAKER_05]: But somehow, this magic moment, the minute that I stepped down on the airport and I hope you feel that way too, or something in that line, everything changed.
45:23
[SPEAKER_05]: My whole perception about being Vietnamese changed that moment.
45:27
[SPEAKER_05]: I remember the first food again, right?
45:30
[SPEAKER_05]: So food seems to be a common denominator here, at a bowl, a soup on the street, on those schools,
45:39
[SPEAKER_05]: I got emotional, I started balling, I started crying, for no reason.
45:43
[SPEAKER_05]: And I don't understand until this day I don't understand why I cried.
45:46
[SPEAKER_05]: But it happens to a lot of people.
45:47
[SPEAKER_05]: Everything, all the emotions, Michael, and Kenneth, they got to be.
45:52
[SPEAKER_05]: It overwhelms me, you know, overwhelm me.
45:55
[SPEAKER_05]: And all the stories that I used to hear when I was a kid from Mom and Dad, it came to life visually.
46:02
[SPEAKER_05]: Now, from the place where Mom and Dad met in the high school, I passed by the school, you know, amazing.
46:08
[SPEAKER_05]: And then I went, because my parents, my mom went to Medicare E, and then they went up to Dalat to yes, science, I passed all these things.
46:15
[SPEAKER_05]: This is where Mom and Dad met, you know?
46:17
[SPEAKER_05]: So all these things,
46:19
[SPEAKER_05]: got to me.
46:21
[SPEAKER_05]: And from that moment on, it changed my whole perception.
46:26
[SPEAKER_05]: Literally a 180 degree turn.
46:30
[SPEAKER_05]: I came back as a changed person, proud of my heritage, proud of my traditions, seen my people.
46:37
[SPEAKER_05]: Right, babe, we're all going to say that.
46:38
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, that's my people.
46:39
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, and I see, and at that time, you know, it wasn't as evolved that it was today, you know, every, every two years we go back, the city changes, it's growth, it's really cool, you know, but at that point it was still relatively poor.
46:53
[SPEAKER_05]: So that's why we got to see the struggles and and our people on the street, you know, working hard.
47:00
[SPEAKER_04]: I can't wait to hear that.
47:01
[SPEAKER_05]: So I wanted to hear a story like that.
47:02
[SPEAKER_04]: I like all this.
47:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I do want to make me want to go even more because that is very interesting because I do feel like the age in America and usually does feel like
47:14
[SPEAKER_00]: there's not a place for us, or there hasn't been a place for us, you know, in a sense, growing up just because of how it's culture has been.
47:22
[SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, it's really interesting.
47:24
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't don't think that that place is for you, too, because you know, I don't want to like throw some cold water and you're like, it gets a little bit, it gets a little bit like wacky because we're like,
47:37
[SPEAKER_04]: What we don't belong there, we don't belong here, we don't belong here, we're kind of bit worth it.
47:42
[SPEAKER_04]: That's a crazy thing.
47:44
[SPEAKER_04]: I agree with.
47:44
[SPEAKER_04]: We're absolutely great.
47:45
[SPEAKER_04]: Diaspora Kids.
47:46
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, like, is the craziest thing?
47:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Where can we find second on blind blind?
47:52
[SPEAKER_04]: Where can people buy this?
47:53
[SPEAKER_05]: As of today, we've got two places you can get.
47:57
[SPEAKER_05]: First place is on our website.
47:59
[SPEAKER_05]: So, psychonbombon.com.
48:02
[SPEAKER_05]: From what I've seen from all the orders, you get it within two or three business
48:07
[SPEAKER_05]: so it's pretty good.
48:08
[SPEAKER_05]: And the second place is TikTok shop directly as well too.
48:12
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, okay.
48:12
[SPEAKER_05]: So, oh, like retail physical right now.
48:15
[SPEAKER_05]: No, we're going to get this.
48:16
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, it's in the works.
48:18
[SPEAKER_05]: We want to be able to be in retail locations.
48:21
[SPEAKER_05]: Right now, we just want to make sure that things are going to go smooth.
48:24
[SPEAKER_05]: We want to make sure that the option side of the business it runs well.
48:28
[SPEAKER_05]: Once that's going to be well-oiled, then we can tackle more retail
48:34
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, I try to be funny.
48:36
[SPEAKER_04]: I've kind of a lot of people ask me this.
48:38
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, that event.
48:39
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, I know it.
48:41
[SPEAKER_02]: No, I know it.
48:42
[SPEAKER_04]: I know it.
48:44
[SPEAKER_04]: When is the magic gummies coming?
48:46
[SPEAKER_06]: It's like, hey, it's like, hey, it's like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
49:00
[SPEAKER_05]: So the funny thing about that is that something like a CBD or a CBD, it actually would help go on from a part of our conversation, it actually comes around.
49:14
[SPEAKER_05]: And we have, you know, experimented with some gummies before from our hunt,
49:20
[SPEAKER_05]: So, that's what it's coming.
49:22
[SPEAKER_06]: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
49:49
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, because I'm not saying that I didn't know what I was doing, but it's just that if you feel like I was just a movement.
49:54
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, yeah, it was not, it was not the thing that I wanted here.
49:58
[SPEAKER_06]: We got you some testing.
49:59
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
50:10
[SPEAKER_05]: the people beside the young people, does that's right?
50:13
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
50:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The story telling what we have, I feel like that's just the natural progression that we're going to have because obviously the older generations, like in general, the youth, I mean, all of us, I think, we're now where we're all focused on trying to live healthier, live better, just longer lives and obviously a lot of what we're eating and day-to-day stuff, it doesn't give us enough nutrients, what we mean.
50:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think providing it, I think we're like the
51:02
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, I want to thank all three of you, Michael, Bavante, for spending time with me today.
51:09
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's a real honor and a really, like, a big privilege to really sit amongst, you know, visionaries.
51:15
[SPEAKER_04]: That's how I think about you, wow.
51:17
[SPEAKER_04]: And this product is very, you know, like I said, it's very elegant as a candy.
51:21
[SPEAKER_04]: Right.
51:22
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
51:23
[SPEAKER_04]: I shouldn't be eating, but I had like 12 of these already.
51:26
[SPEAKER_06]: That was counting.
51:27
[SPEAKER_06]: It's only 40 minutes.
51:29
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, it's only 30 minutes.
51:30
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, it's 30 minutes.
51:30
[SPEAKER_05]: But thank you so much, Kenneth, to have us here.
51:33
[SPEAKER_05]: Congratulations on your podcast.
51:36
[SPEAKER_05]: I think that you may or may not know, but the impact that you're doing as well to contribute to the visibility of Vietnamese in America is underestimated.
51:48
[SPEAKER_05]: So we thank you for creating platforms like this for us to be able to exchange and share.
51:53
[SPEAKER_05]: So, so,
51:54
[SPEAKER_04]: great success in the future in the future and I want to add this because I know you guys spoke about having a podcast studio.
52:02
[SPEAKER_04]: I always encourage every Vietnamese person to have a podcast because it's amplifying right you have a bunch of
52:17
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, and so on a bit of what we just talked about where it becomes a place where we exchange young and old new and fresh, you know, I think it'll be a really good opportunity.
52:28
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
52:29
[SPEAKER_04]: So when you guys are up and running, you know, please let me know.
52:31
[SPEAKER_04]: And I don't know, could you?
52:33
[SPEAKER_04]: And like I would love to invite you back to talk about your career.
52:37
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
52:37
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
52:38
[SPEAKER_04]: And after you get back from Vietnam, I want to hear, you know, what you thought of it.
52:42
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
52:43
[SPEAKER_06]: Can you say?
52:45
[SPEAKER_06]: Yes.
52:45
[SPEAKER_06]: Just because I didn't have a chance to save before, because, you know, you're obviously, you brought up the party and the speech that both, actually, I didn't hear, and I had, and first of all, it's been over a week and I haven't had a chance to think.
53:03
[SPEAKER_06]: everybody for you for those who came the night and of course those the ones that wrote about it and posted on social media.
53:13
[SPEAKER_06]: It's been an overwhelming, we for me I haven't had a chance to respond because I apologize but it's coming because
53:18
[SPEAKER_06]: There's so much I want to say and I haven't been able to put any words to the motions, you know, it's like it was like you for it for me, because I felt so loved and felt so supported.
53:29
[SPEAKER_06]: It was just all the night, it was just the world.
53:31
[SPEAKER_06]: It was very much the vibe that we were all in love and support.
53:36
[SPEAKER_06]: And I don't want to cry because I told myself, I'm not crying at all.
53:39
[SPEAKER_06]: But I just want to thank everybody and it's coming from here and I'm going to
53:45
[SPEAKER_06]: right at the top of the suit.
53:46
[SPEAKER_06]: So thank you guys so much.
53:47
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you again.
53:48
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you.
53:48
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
53:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
53:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
53:51
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
53:52
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for listening to the Vietnamese with Kenneth Win.
53:55
[SPEAKER_03]: Special thanks to Brittany Tran, to Jane Win, Katherine Win, Tina Fam, Sydney Jamie, and Crystal Tran.
54:03
[SPEAKER_03]: Please find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at the Vietnamese podcast.