LISA PHU
CREATOR | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER |wRITER | NARRATOR
I’m Lisa Phu (she/her), a first generation Chinese American, mom of two daughters, and a New Yorker transplanted in Alaska. I work at the Alaska Beacon as a reporter and deputy editor. Previously, I spent eight years as an award-winning public media and print journalist, reporting for the Juneau Empire, KTOO Public Media, KSTK, and Wrangell Sentinel. I've also been Public Information Officer for the City and Borough of Juneau, lead facilitator for StoryCorps Alaska based in Utqiagvik, and an educator in Hong Kong, Tanzania, and Bhutan. In 2017, I was an AIR New Voices scholar, and in 2021, an AIR Edit Mode fellow.
The making of Before Me started in October 2016, days after my first daughter was born. Six years (and one more kid) later, it’s finished. To get here, I did a short residency at Alderworks Alaska Writers & Artists Retreat. Before Me is also supported in part by the Juneau Arts & Humanities Council and the City and Borough of Juneau.
LAN PHU
SHARED HER STORY WITH ME, SO THIS PODCAST COULD BE SHARED WITH YOU
My mom grew up in Kampot, Cambodia — where she loved going to beach with her family, sneaking tastes of coffee from her Grandfather, watching her neighbors practice the drums for Lunar New Year, and eating the most ripe durians she could find. She and her husband were forced to flee this life in 1974, spent about 6 years surviving as refugees on the border between Vietnam and Cambodia, and decided to leave home for good in 1980. When my mom stepped onto the boat that would eventually lead her to a new life in the U.S., she was watching over two daughters, two nephews, and a niece — and she was pregnant with me.
SELF EVIDENT is an independent home for Asian American stories and storytellers.
Self Evident Media was founded in 2019 to address a widespread lack of Asian-centered programming in public media.
Through its flagship podcast (Self Evident: Asian America’s Stories), growing oral history program, and studio projects, the organization is now building infrastructure for nurturing, documenting, and activating Asian America’s stories — with a strong belief in the value and power of self-representation.