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Aggie Lam and Oskar Valles, the creators of the social project and photo book Dear Hong Kong, celebrate the cultural diversity of the city through personal stories that inspire, break existing stereotypes and widen horizons.

This episode was recorded LIVE at the Hong Kong Spoken Word Festival 2021.

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Find the full transcription of this episode here.

In Season 5, we sit down with stakeholders working across numerous sectors and industries, to find a common language to address, measure, and demonstrate the impact that they are making in tackling the 17 Global Goals.

From Berlin to Sydney, from Seoul to Hong Kong, our #impact hosts bring you stories from all over the globe as you find inspiration on how to make an #impact in your community too.

In this episode, we put SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities in focus. One of its targets is to empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status. The guests you will hear of in this episode are committed to making Hong Kong more inclusive and they do that by leveraging the power of storytelling.

Dear Hong Kong is more than a book. The 50+ volunteer strong team gives voice to people from different backgrounds and highlights the contribution of their cultures to the city.

Photo Credit: Dear Hong Kong

Dear Hong Kong‘s vision is to bridge the gap between ‘local’ and ‘foreign’ communities in Hong Kong. With respectful curiosity the creators set out to gather the story of one person of every nationality, investigating how this representative contributes to the city.

In this episode, you meet two of the creative minds behind Dear Hong Kong. Oskar Valles, the Dream Architect of this project is passionate about raising awareness for diversity and inclusion. He worked with ethnic minority organisations and believes in the unity of all humans, regardless of race, occupation or religion. Originally from Spain, he made Hong Kong his home.

Aggie Lam, the Human Stories Explorer, understands how powerful and impactful face-to-face communication can be. Her life mission is to collect and discover inspiring stories. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she hopes for more compassion resulting in mutual understanding and respect among people with different backgrounds.

Dear Hong Kong Leadership Team! Photo Credit: Dear Hong Kong.


Dear Hong Kong is a storytelling, education, and art project, where photographers will imprint their style in capturing the essence of the different individuals featured.

What is that essence? You will find out in this episode. You will also hear how the creators of Dear Hong Kong found their interview subjects — and how Oskar and Aggie found each other in the first place.

Whenever in life, you have two different people telling you about somebody in particular, then you know that that person is interesting.

Oskar Valles

The featured individuals from all over the globe represent many professions and talents. From NGO Veterans to Athletes, Journalists, and Climate Activists, from Lawyers to Entrepreneurs, Jockeys, Podcasters, Social Justice Fighters, and Cinematographers, each of their stories fills this vibrant city with life.

#impact founder Regina Larko is representing her native Austria in Dear Hong Kong. She shares more about her experience being one of the interviewees in this episode too.

Diversity and Inclusion

“So everybody’s working for this cause to make Hong Kong a better place to be a more inclusive society, a more tolerant society.”

As Oskar and Aggie started working on this book project, they had to pick up a lot of new skills. Without any prior journalism experience, they challenged themselves to tell authentic stories and picture people as they really are.

Oskar and Aggie surrounded themselves with people that support their cause and keep growing their community as they run education programs here in Hong Kong.

Listen to the Podcast to hear the story behind this picture. Photo Credit: Bradley Aaron.

They spent countless hours on editing, translating the stories they collected. 80 nationalties are represented in the first edition, and they are only getting started.

What were the biggest challenges bringing their vision to life and where will they take this social project next?

Find the full transcription of this episode here.

In this episode you learn about:

  • 6:33 – The first encounter
  • 7:34 – Scouting the right subject
  • 12:03 – Next steps for Dear Hong Kong
  • 15:41 – The interviewee’s experience
  • 18:00 – The driving force behind Dear Hong Kong

Featured guests: 

Mentioned in this episode:

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