Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for tuning into Former Colleagues. I'm Eric Yang, your host. I wanted to make this quick little intro episode to explain my whole deal and what the show is. I've been a full time actor for a little over a year now but I took a bit of a weird path to get here, a path that took me through years of coding and button down shirts and spreadsheets and most decidedly not acting school.

The last few years have basically turned a lot of my understanding of the world on its head. My strengths from my old life turned into weaknesses in the new one and vice versa. So it's been a confusing but exciting time. So I sought out friends who also jumped from corporate to creative to compare notes and and maybe even commiserate a little about how it felt like we started chasing our dreams a bit too late. And we started having some pretty interesting conversations that I realized I wanted to share with other people like us who are maybe in the process of taking a leap and also for anyone who's just sitting at a desk and doesn't feel quite right about the way things are going career wise.

A bit more of my background. I've pretty much wanted to be an actor for as long as I can remember. But for whatever reason, even when I was a kid, it was it was always just ingrained in me that it wasn't a real job for real people. So I never actually spoke up or asked to take acting classes or anything like that. I spent a lot of my life just taking the path of least resistance, looking back.

I majored in economics in college because, you know, employment. I finally tried out my first acting class freshman year, and I realized I loved it. But then I never really put myself out there. I did end up minoring in theater but barely did any acting on campus because I had this habit of bailing from auditions at the last moment. I guess I just didn't really feel like I was part of that community.

Like, oh, if I've never heard of Chekhov or I didn't know what a box step was at 18, then maybe it was already too late for me. That mentality basically followed me after I graduated. I won't bore you with the details here, but I went into finance for a few years, worked my way up the ranks, and found myself at one of the top funds in New York. And for a fleeting moment, the Asian parent community was extremely proud of me. And here's something that surprises people when I tell them now.

I didn't hate that job at all. I was a data scientist, and I got a real left brain kind of satisfaction out of my work. It was like solving puzzles. But then there was always this nagging feeling that I'd always I I maybe left some part of me behind and that the feeling would grow and compound if I woke up decades later and never ever even took a chance on acting. I think the main things that held me back were probably my lack of confidence and experience, but it also just didn't seem like a time that Asian representation was at a place that the industry could support a career for someone that looked like me.

And then a few things happened. So there was a spike in Asian led movies. I remember watching The Farewell, Crazy Rich Asians, and then Parasite cleans up at the Oscars. Then the pandemic hit, and I'm just at home with a lot more free time. So this is where I put on my econ hat.

Asian media and therefore Asian actors are now, quote, unquote, "bankable". Demand for us will rise, yet supply is sticky. Meaning, it might take a few years for would be Asian actors to start taking acting classes and changing careers. And that's basically how I moneyballed myself into buying a microphone and giving voice acting a try. Then I got really lucky for the first couple of years.

I booked voice over commercials, video games, audiobooks, even an anime. I got signed. Then I took the next step and started auditioning on camera and for theater, And I got on an episode of FBI. I did a movie that went to Sundance. I starred in two Off-Broadway plays.

I left my job. And I'd like to say that I never looked back, but between, like, the actors' strike, production slowdowns, and just the everyday fear that comes from being a freelancer, I definitely have. My life's definitely changed a lot, for better and for worse. Maybe I'll get more into that in a future episode. So here I am at this point in my life where I'm feeling very spiritually satisfied, but the future is, financially and otherwise, not so certain.

I had to break down a lot of my old mental models. Like, I don't know anything about making a podcast. You asked me five years ago to make this show, I would have spent, like, years in preproduction making sure everything was perfect and polished. And now I wrote the outline for this episode last night. So I think the goal of this podcast is to capture both the highs and the lows, all the realities of life after you've made a change that your former colleagues called you brave for, which, of course, is ridiculous because brave people are off putting out fires or driving ambulances or something.

But it would make me very happy if a few of you listening found some inspiration in this or even a blueprint for trying that creative thing you've always wondered about. It'd also make me pretty happy if some of you listened and decided, hey. That's just not for me, which is totally valid. And it'd make me even more happy if you followed us on Instagram at @formercolleagues or on our website at formercolleaguespod.com. Thanks so much for listening.

We have 10 great guests for this season one we're calling it and hopefully many more in the future and maybe some more ramblings from me, who knows? Oh, and if you are or know someone that would make a great guest for this podcast, send us a message. We'll see you next time.