Amy S. Choi and Rebecca Lehrer wanted to create an online space for people who live between multiple cultures, feel like outsiders and share a silent understanding. So the two friends got together and created The Mash-Up Americans, a website that simultaneously defies and embraces culture and traditions.
With stories that range in topic from family and pop-culture to social issues and multicultural recipes, the site celebrates the diversity and uniqueness of one of Americaโs rising demographics: Mash-Ups.
Whatโs a Mash-Up? Rupa Shenoy, founder of the โOtherhoodโ podcast, put it best in a recent ivoh.org interview:
โPeople who donโt feel like they belong have a valuable vantage. These are people who live between cultures, who feel like outsiders, who share a silent understanding. And we are in an age where there are more of these people than ever before. They have many of the same motivations, passions, goals, ethics. And collectively, they care changing the country and the world.โ
Like โOtherhood,โ The Mash-Up Americans — which is structured as an online community, editorial website and podcast — is dedicated to sharing meaningful, intelligent and often hilarious stories about culture and identity in todayโs โhyphen-Americanโ culture.
As proud Mash-Ups, Choi (a Korean-American) and Rebecca Lehrer (a Salvadoran-Jewish-American) began the project because they didnโt see an adequate representation of Mash-Ups in mainstream media.
Choi came to the collaboration with over 10 years of experience as a journalist and editor, and Lehrer brought her decade-long career in media and arts. Both storytellers had a wealth of personal Mash-Up experiences to share. In October 2013 they launched a Tumblr page, which then became a full-fledged website a year later. Their project is one example of a growing number of women-led sites that have been gaining traction lately.
Since launching their site, Choi and Lehrer have continued to write personal narratives and curate pieces that dive headfirst into the intersection of race, culture, and identity. As the projectโs site says: โSometimes we return to our roots, and sometimes we plant new seeds in unexpected places.โ
Here are some recent Mash-Up stories that resonated with us:
โBecoming Finnโ: In this personal essay, Finn Paul, described endearingly by Mash-Up editors as a โQueer-Trans-Waspy-Jewy-West-Coast American,โ examines the steps that led him to his name, his gender and his identity.
โ11 Things You Wanted to Know About My Turban But Were Too Afraid to Askโ: Rupinder Singh, founder of American Turban and social justice fellow at the Sikh Coalition, diffuses racial stereotypes around the turban in this informative piece. His responses to questions like, โWere you born with a turban on?โ and โCan I touch your turban?โ are both heartfelt and full of wit.
โHappa in Hollywoodโ: Katie Malia, Japanese-American Mash-Up and creator of the web comedy series โAlmost Asian,โ offers her perspectives on auditioning, acting and not being โasian enoughโ for Hollywood casting directors.
The stories represent the shared vision that Choi and Lehrer have for the site. โRather than waiting for somebody to speak to us,โ they said, “we created a platform and community that speaks for itself.โ To read more stories and join the conversation, visit mashupamericans.com.