Though the Hotel Cafe alumnus has a new label and team of producers, Meiko isn’t afraid to walk alone. 

ISSUE: Summer 2012

DEPT: Personalities

STORY: Christina Lee

PHOTO: Leigha Hoonet

In April, Meiko trekked to Kahuku, Hawaii, for a gig and a few days of relaxation — alone. She’d asked two friends to join her, though neither of them was available. “I thought it was going to be horrible to be by myself, but now I’m getting more excited,” she says days prior, by phone. “I can go by myself, chill out and do all the things I want to do, without making sure that’s OK with everybody else.”

In 2007, Meiko transitioned from Hotel Cafe waitress to one of the name sake tour’s biggest success stories: Grey’s Anatomy played her songs and Perez Hilton praised her, which helped catapult her independently-released, self-titled and mostly acoustic debut album to No. 1 on iTunes’ Singer/Songwriter chart. Her latest, The Bright Side, released last May, comes courtesy of Concord Music Group offshoot Fantasy and a new team of producers. Along with longtime collaborators(Jimmy Messner, Greg Collins, Tony Reyes), Meiko enlisted Belgium producer Styrofoam — based on his remixes of Postal Service and Submarines songs. “I’ve always wanted to do that, mesh the acoustic, organic vibe with a little bit of electronica here and there,” she says.

Inspired by her current boyfriend, whom she met at the South by Southwest festival three years ago, The Bright Side also has Meiko breathlessly vowing to bake pies, declaring that she’d make a good wife, swooning. But when she rattles off this year’s traveling plans — snorkeling and eating shaved ice in Hawaii, flying to Japan to meet maternal relatives for the first time — it’s still easy to imagine her retreating to her childhood bedroom in Roberta, Ga., writing kiss-offs to boys and terrible friends. “I’ve tried to distance myself from negative people I was hanging out with,” she says, “and that’s actually why I spend a lot of time by myself, writing and doing a lot of soul-searching.”

— Christina Lee

Don’t put anything past Janina Gavankar — the “trans-beige” actress can do it all.

ISSUE: Summer 2012
DEPT: Personalities
STORY: Jimmy Lee

Continue Reading »

Nichole Bloom makes her leading lady debut in the upcoming independent film, Model Minority.

ISSUE: Summer 2012
DEPT: Personalities
STORY: Courtney Hong

Continue Reading »

Street artist Phil Lumbang took a random doodle and turned it into a local phenomenon, not to mention a sweet living.

ISSUE: Summer 2012
DEPT: Personalities
STORY: Jimmy Lee
PHOTO: Diana King

Continue Reading »

Katrina Law, the stunning star of Spartacus: Vengeance, fights the Roman Republic as Spartacus’ love interest, Mira, and faces her greatest fear.

ISSUE: SPRING 2012
DEPT: PERSONALITIES
STORY: COURTNEY HONG

Katrina Lawis afraid of deer. You
wouldn’t know it by watching her as the
strong, newly-freed slave Mira, who
fights alongside rebels on the run in
STARZ’s sex-and-violence saturated hit
series, Spartacus: Vengeance, the sequel
to 2010’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand, in
which she also starred. “This year,
everybody fights,” says Law, who is of
Taiwanese, German and Italian descent.
“Everybody has to fight. They don’t
know if they’re going to live or die.”

To get in fighting shape for
Vengeance, Law spent three months
training with fitness model Anca Marcus
in Los Angeles before jumping into
gladiator boot camp with the cast in
New Zealand. Intense plyometric and
circuit training, including sledgehammer
and sword swinging, ensured that Law
could be a badass on her own terms
during the 14-hour days on set. “There
are few shows [in which] women get to
fight and get down and dirty with the
boys,” says Law, whose main fitness
concern during the first season was not
feeling “ridiculous standing around
naked.” But these days, “I walk off a set
and think, ‘today was the best day on set
ever.’ It was such an emotional high be-
cause I had so much fun.”

She first got that emotional high
after landing the role of Cassie in The
Chorus Line while in college, something
that made her determined to possess
that feeling for the rest of her life. She
then moved from theater to television,
cast in the sci-fi thriller, The Resistance,
an independent, low budget web series
that was eventually funded and re-shot
with the help of STARZ and aired on
Syfy. Law’s pro-bono work on the series,
which she considers one of her greatest
professional achievements, made her a
standout consideration for Spartacus:
Blood and Sand.

Law’s two-year Spartacus adven-
ture has been marked by great highs
and lows: an epic New Zealand en-
gagement to her fiancé of two years, and
the suddendeath of former Spartacus
leading man Andy Whitfield. Law
considers her relationship her greatest
personal achievement. “I’m proud
ofbeing ableto maintain a healthy
relationship and all the work that I had
to put into it to keep it healthy,” she
says. As for Whitfield, who died of non-
Hodgkin’s lymphoma last September,
“it’s harder knowing this has all gone
forward without him,” she says. “It
takes the happiness from it. A humble
nod and agracious thank you to Andy
for all that he’s done in my life and for
the show.”

Perhaps Whitfield’s death has
heightened Law’s resolve to overcome
her greatest fear: getting to the end of
her life and regretting not doing every-
thing she could to live life to the fullest.
As for deer, that’s a fear to be conquered
on another day.

— CH

Spoken word poet Sarah Kay may only be 23, but she is already a force to be reckoned with.

ISSUE: Spring 2012
DEPT: Personalities
STORY: JJ

To call Sarah Kay eloquent is an understatement. The 23-year-old spoken word poet is an articulate force of nature, blowing audience members away with each enunciated adjective, suspenseful pause and wave of her hand.

Kay, who is of Japanese and Jewish descent, discovered her love for words early on. “Before I knew how to write, I used to follow my mother around the house and yell, ‘Poem!’ until she wrote down my dictation. I think that’s why she taught me how to write early on, so I’d stop making her do it for me,” Kay laughs. One day, when Kay was 14, she found out she had been registered for the New York City Teen Poetry Slam; to this day, Kay has no clue who enrolled her. But the competition led her to New York’s famed Bowery Poetry Club, where she fell in love. “I came back every week even though I was the youngest person there by far. Every thing I saw thrilled me,” she remembers.

Eventually, Kay was persuaded to go onstage herself. “When you’re 14, you’re not told often that adults want to listen to you, and this was so different,” says Kay. Her performances eventually took her out of New York and to HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, the National Poetry Slam, France, South Africa and beyond.

The turning point in Kay’s career came at the 2011 TED Conference, where she mesmerized the audience
with her talk. “I definitely think that my life has divided into pre- and post-TED,” she says.

Though she’s been incredibly successful as a spoken word poet, don’t think that occupation will be Kay’s be-all-end-all. “My great love is writing,” says Kay. “It just so happens that this was the form that I discovered at the right time.” Currently, she’s getting her
master’s in education in order to strengthen her passion project, Project V.O.I.C.E., through which she and partner Phil Kaye teach poetry and self-expression at schools. Kay is also dabbling in other projects, including plays, illustrated books, documentaries, and photography. “I’m always trying to find the best way to tell each story,” she says. And at 23, it looks like Kay’s own story won’t be reaching The End
anytime soon.

— JJ

Actor Reggie Lee always seems to play the despicable, child-kidnapping gangster. But look deeper and you’ll find a
big softie.

ISSUE: Spring 2012
DEPT: Personalities
STORY: Janice Jann

Reggie Lee discovered something about himself recently. “I’m actually kind of funny,” he says. “That is one part that
I’m starting to own.” The Filipino-Chinese American actor currently plays the sardonic Sergeant Wu in the NBC procedural
drama Grimm, but he’s usually known for his less-than-loveable roles in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Tropic
Thunder, and as a member of the Triad in the upcoming Jason Statham thriller Safe. In real life, however, Lee is nowhere
near those bad-guy characters you love to hate. In addition to his comedic side, Lee can sing and dance; his first job in
Los Angeles was in the musical Miss Saigon. “I realized if I wanted to work, I’m going to have to be a triple threat
and learn how to sing and dance on Broadway,” he says. He recounts how at 13 he had to walk two miles to get to a
bus to take acting and dance classes after school. “I think that my family has always instilled in me a strong sense of
work ethic. Even as an actor when I’m not working, I put myself back in class to keep studying and keep learning. That’s
what I love about acting – that you can never master it. It keeps things fresh.”

As one of the busiest working Asian American actors in Hollywood (he’s also in this summer’s highly anticipated finale to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises), Lee doesn’t get much downtime. But when he does, another surprising fact: “I flew home
today [from Portland, where Grimmis shot] and the first thing I wanted to do was pick my niece up from school. She’s 5. That’s who I miss the most when I go away.” Lee’s niece was even on his mind when he posed for this story. “I thought about her and the Asian role models
that are out there and I’m so happy there’s a magazine like this for her.”

How can you not love that?

— JJ

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Here are some stories

From Audrey mags old and new

For your enjoyment

‘Cause Audrey loves you!

Spring 2012

Cover Feature | Hannah Simone of New Girl

Feature | Mother Superior

Plugged In | The Reeducation of Cherry Truong

Personalities | Sarah Kay, Katrina Law, Reggie Lee, Jay Hayden, Marie Lu, Jin Akanishi

DestinAsian | Taj Campton Place, The Luxury Place, Tokyo on Foot

Mind & Body | Detox and Cleanse

Style | Meg Frampton, Mama Knows Best

My Story | Balancing Life from Uneven Bars: Anna Li

The Awful Truth | Isn’t it Bromantic?

Entertaining | Dina Yuen

Winter 11-12 

Cover Feature | Keeping Up with Kaling with The Office‘s Mindy Kaling

Feature | Booze Control

Plugged In | The World We Found, The Lady with Michelle Yeoh, Amy Rider, Ellie Wen

Personalities | Dia Frampton, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Booboo Stewart, Maria Ho, Tina Guo, John Cho

DestinAsian | Zozi, The Cosmopolitan, Chiva Som

Mind & Body | Protect Your Eyes, Keep Your Smile Healthy, Adjust Your Diet

My Story | Dying to Be Me: Sarah Yeung

The Awful Truth | Grading the Hall Pass

Entertaining | To Give and Receive, Winter Cocktails

Cultural Collage | Blog Spotlight: Cakies

FALL 2011

Cover Feature | I Dream of Jenna with Glee’s Jenna Ushkowitz

Feature | Picking Up The Pieces: faces of the Recession including Kimberly, Cat, Celena, Enid, and Alfred

Plugged In | The Fire Within book review

Plugged In | Q&A’s with Blush, Steven Yeun, Beats Per MNET‘s Yvonne Lu, Frieda Pinto, and Chin Han

Personalities | Tim Kang

Personalities | Diana Reyes

Personalities | Brent Chua

Personalities | Rachael Yamagata

Personalities | David Chiu

Personalities | Rebecca Wang

Mind & Body | Audrey staff samples Supplements

Beauty | Lighten Up with brightening cosmetics

My Story | Yangzom Brauen fights for her grandmother’s Tibet

The Awful Truth | How the Internet Changed My Sex Life

Entertaining | Surachai Tangsakyuen

Cultural Collage | Through My Pen

SUMMER 2011

Cover Feature | Unbound with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan’s Li Bing Bing

Feature | Body of Quirks ft. real women Violetta, Neha, Nebula, Helena, Jessica, Joz, Iris, Yoko, and Doris.

Plugged In | Daughter of the River Huong book review

Plugged In | Q&A’s with Jeannie Mai, Olivia Speranza, and Lucia Micarelli

Personalities | Ashok Amritraj

Personalities | Dilshad Vadsaria

Personalities | Jared Eng

Personalities | George Takei

Personalities | Priscilla Ahn

Personalities | Anjula Acharia-Bath

Mind & Body | Lose the Plastic with Angela Sun

Beauty | Sunscreen Special

Beauty | Cargo’s Judy Yonemoto

My Story | Patty Chang Anker

The Awful Truth | Dates of Glory

Entertaining | Royal/T’s Picnic Cocktail

Entertaining | Nami Design

Cultural Collage | Through My Lens: Desert Refuge

SPRING 2011

Cover Feature | New Munn Rising with Olivia Munn

Feature | Generation Diverse: Are We There Yet and Being That Asian

Plugged In | The Devotion of Suspect X

Personalities | Steel Magnolia: Anisha Nagarajan

Personalities | Late Bloomer: Randall Park

Personalities | The Queen’s Speech: Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai

Personalities | The Storyteller: Jon M. Chu

Personalities | A Joyful Noise: The Go! Team

Personalities | Dream Weaver: T.V. Carpio

Audrey Style| Audrey It-Girl: Kelsey Chow

My Story | The Wish Maker: Judy Lee of Design Squad Nation

Mind & Body | Food Fail: Natalie Minh’s Nutrition Failures

The Awful Truth | The Back-Up Plan: How To Be a Good Wingman/woman

Entertaining | Japanese Cocktails

DestinAsian | Travel Gear

Cultural Collage | Through My Lens: Poppy Fever

WINTER 2010-2011

Feature | Paradise Found: India’s Wellness Retreats

Plugged In | Bitter in the Mouth by Monique Truong

Personalities | On The Rise: YouTube Sensation Joseph Vincent

Personalities | The Glamorous Life: The Motivational Ruby Veridiano

Personalities | Party Time: Food Network Star Aarti Sequeira

Personalities | National Hero: The Green Hornet’s Jay Chou

Personalities | Soul Barer: Singer Heather Park

The Awful Truth | Dating for Dummies: New Year’s Resolutions

My Story | An Uncertain Education by Lianne Lin

Beauty | Lash Royalty’s Elizabeth Le Pek

Entertaining | Kabuki’s Master Sake Sommelier Yuji Matsumoto

Entertaining | Hot in the Kitchen with Kelly Choi

Through My Lens | Last Look of Winter

FALL 2010

Feature | Something Old, Something New … Something Red?: Asian Wedding Superstitions

Personalities | Radical Reboot: Hawaii Five-O’s Grace Park

Personalities | Girl Next Door: Pretty Little Liar’s Shay Mitchell

The Awful Truth | The Office Grind: Intra-office Dating

My Story | The Giving Tree

SUMMER 2010

Feature | Hip Hop Groundswell: Far East Movement

Feature | The New Rhythm Nation

Personalities | Comedian Steve Byrne

Personalities | Host Jeannie Mai

The Awful Truth | Going the Distance

My Story | Gianna Driver’s Cycle of Hope

Plugged In | The Surrendered by Chang Rae Lee

SPRING 2010

Feature | A Quiet Revolution: O.A.R.

Personalities | Thao Nguyen and Get Down Stay Down

The Awful Truth | Gaming the System

My Story | Veronica De La Cruz’s Fight For Life

Entertaining | In the Kitchen with Jaden Hair

FALL 2009

Feature | Protecting Our Youth

Feature | The Spicy Trade

Girl Talk | Gleek Appeal: Jenna Ushkowitz

Audrey Man | New Moon’s Justin Chon

My Story | A New Direction

Plugged In | Thirsty For More: Park Chan-wook

Stylemaker | Seventy Two Changes

SUMMER 2009

Girl Talk | A Wave of Love

—-

We’re going to be constantly updating this archives page with our favorite stories from past Audrey issues so continue to check back when you have time. If you want to read the issues in print (and really, who doesn’t) and keep a little bit of Asian American history in your archives, check our shop to purchase back issues. But hurry — they sell out fast!

“I don’t have to work in the summer.”

-Joseph Vincent (when he found out he won a million dollars on The Ellen Show)

ISSUE: Winter 2010

On The Rise

Photo courtesy of Carmen Chan | www.carmen-chan.com

When Joseph Vincent first performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he was nervous. If you watch the Youtube clip of the episode, you can see Vincent stepping onstage, his brown eyes scanning the audience in wide-eyed wonder, as if he can’t believe this is all happening. For a guy who regularly sings in front of more than 90,776 viewers, it may be surprising that he’s not used to that kind of attention. But it’s probably because those audience members are usually watching him on a computer screen.

Vincent may have risen to fame in 2007 when he started posting videos of his acoustic versions of Top 40’s on the video-sharing site, but the crooner prefers live performances. “[When] people see me on Youtube, I sing, boom, it’s done,” he says. “Onstage, they see me talk and say, ‘oh, I didn’t realize you were so funny or quirky.’ I get to be random.”

Vincent won DeGeneres’ heart (and $10,000 from her online talent competition) last summer and has since been signed with Plan C Management. The Filipino American singer is currently working on nailing down his sound. He counts Jason Mraz as a major inspiration. “That guy is just insane live. I hope to be on that level someday,” he says.

The level that Vincent is on is already impressive considering the 21-year-old only started playing the guitar when he was 15 and has never taken a singing or guitar lesson in his life. And it’s not likely that he’ll use his winnings to start either. When he learned that he had won the competition, his first reaction was, “I don’t have to work in the summer.”

Ironically, with a new CD in the works and gigs lined up across the country, it seems like Vincent will be working plenty in the new year. — Janice Jann

More stories from Audrey Magazine’s Archives here.