Full transcription of our conversation with Oskar Valles and Aggie Lam of Dear Hong Kong.

Find the summary, our favourite quotes and all links mentioned in this episodes in our show notes here.

Regina Larko 0:02
Anyone who cares should be all over this. This is what our listeners say, recorded in Hong Kong and presented by Regina Larko. Yeah, that’s me. Hashtagimpact podcast interviews people making a social impact with their work. Our show wants to raise awareness for our guest’s work with impact by giving them a platform to share their inspiring stories.

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That was such a long intro. And this is the most structured and scripted you will hear me speak during the whole evening. Because usually I don’t speak like that. Like who is this person? It’s such an honor, can I say, to be podcasting here today. I can’t believe it in front of real people. I’m so not used to this anymore. I’m a little bit nervous.

And I want to say thank you to Rachel from Hong Kong Spoken Word Festival. And Hong Kong Stories, one of my favorite Hong Kong podcasts, for actually putting in the work to bringing all us here together tonight. Thank you. And from the humble beginnings of a few years back when Rachel I and two other podcasters, I think, it was sat in an empty room for our first live podcast recording, I think it’s so meaningful to be doing this here today in this crazy year with two so inspiring guests from Dear Hong Kong — Aggie Lam; Oskar Valles.

I actually don’t want to introduce you. I want you to I want you to tell our audience here tonight and also our listeners that are now listening in what you were doing at Dear Hong Kong? And what Dear Hong Kong, and may I show it to the audience to begin with, this beautiful book that you might have seen in bookstores across Hong Kong. What is inside this book? Because it’s so much more than a book, isn’t it? Oskar, do you want to tell us what this is all about?

Oskar Valles 3:12
Sure. Thank you so much, Regina, really, to know, Regina is inside this book as well, is one of the inspiring stories. So we’re Dear Hong Kong, this crazy idea that we had the two years ago, we started documenting humanity in Hong Kong, all the nationalities in the world that live in Hong Kong, and they have contributed to Hong Kong.

So it’s like a celebration of cultural diversity and one of the beautiful things that Hong Kong has, we had no idea what we were getting into. We don’t have a background in journalism or photography or anything, but we started interviewing people selecting the most inspiring person from every country, interviewing them and taking good portraits of them. So they’re all in here. And we’re super happy to be sharing with you guys today.

Regina Larko 3:58
And I know I mean, you told me about this idea. It was a few years back, I bumped into Oskar at an event and then it was just this crazy idea that this Spaniard was telling me about. Yeah, so I’m looking for all these people from all over the world. Do you know any people that are not like British or Australian or Canadian? Do you know any other nationalities? Please? There is a list.

I remember you sent me this link from like, it’s a note note what is this called? You are collecting this on Notion! Notion! Plug for Notion. Maybe they want to sponsor our podcast. And then I look and I say my first thought was, this is crazy. You know, how is he going to hunt down all the nationalities in the world and he thinks he’s going to find one representative of every nationality in Hong Kong. That’s ambitious. I liked it. And then I of course, I tried to think really hard who do I know. Nominated a bunch of people and I at that point, I Didn’t know of Aggie yet. Because Oskar, you had this crazy idea. But you kind of started, the seed was planted. But quickly other people kind of became part of this. And this is where Aggie comes in. Aggie; Why did you join Dear Hong Kong? Why do you care so much about the stories actually, that you’re telling with this book? I know you’re from Hong Kong, we have to say.

Aggie Lam 5:26
Yeah. So I think it started when I work in a full time job, which is a social enterprise, work doing cultural education. So we bring in people from different countries into local school to get people to be more curious about the world, to break stereotypes and understand actually that all cultures and countries that are beautiful in different ways. So I had this idea of, maybe there are so many stories that we should tell people. In my full time work, I’ve met people from like, refugees, domestic workers, countries that I’ve never heard of, like, Somali, Sambalpur.

Like, for me as a local in school, we never heard of these stories or countries. So I actually had similar idea of maybe I should do something on social media just to share to students of people stay in Hong Kong with inspiring stories. And I met Oskar, should I share the story?

Regina Larko 6:25
Yes, it’s the I think it’s the best story I ever heard how you the, the story of the two of you. So please, please share with us.

Aggie Lam 6:33
Okay, so, in my company, I am in charge of working on the database of the human resources. So there’s one day I was looking through all the people in our database, one by one, and I saw this guy called Oskar in the tracker. And then I asked my colleague, and I was like, Who is this guy? And they’re saying that, Oh, this is just like old uncle work in Hong Kong trying to do some stories. But it’s just an idea. Maybe you can talk to him. So then we have a meeting. And Oscar told me about his idea. And I said, Oh, it’s really interesting. Maybe I should join and be part of it. So then now we have been like two years already and happy I have just published a book.

Regina Larko 7:17
Yeah. Amazing. And I mean, let’s look inside. Yeah. And give them a round of applause for actually finding so many people. So how many people did you actually track down for this first edition? How many countries did you did you find?

Oskar Valles 7:34
So we have in this in this volume, the first volume we have 80, eight zero, different nationalities. We talk to like 100 people and we have another database with people that some people nominated and I think I want to go back to the story because it’s like whenever in life, you have like two different people telling you about somebody in particular, then you know that that person is interesting.

You know when you ask who is inspiring in Hong Kong from this country. So it was quite easy for us to just ask around and then people will nominate they will nominate people that they know and then we just stalk them a little bit and decide to interview them and then in a separate session, we will take the the portrait so maybe we can have a look.

Regina Larko 8:22
Let’s have a look inside and our audience here today can actually see it but for our listeners at home of course we’re going to describe this to you. So let’s open the book and I mean just the cover I mean all these beautiful colors. The the design is beautiful as well may I point out and also your, I said like where’s my hashtagimpact merch and all my t-shirts. I love the branded t-shirt, I love the color.

Oskar Valles 8:47
We’re so lucky. In our journey, we had some needs, for example, we need to have a designer and then in one event this Creative Mornings I did like a 30 second speech. And then somebody was offering to give like his time to do the design and this is amazing like he tried to get this Hong Kong feeling.

Regina Larko 9:15
Yes, our assistant coming in and actually co host of hashtagimpact Belinda Esterhammer. May I bring that up as well? Thank you. Thank you Belinda. Thank you so much. Actually, we need the book back. And this was so not rehearsed, Belinda. Thank you for always surprising me as well. That was awesome. This, yeah, but maybe we can, maybe Aggie, can you help us stand up so that people can see it as well. So let’s tell the story of this of this particular picture. What can we see on that picture?

Oskar Valles 10:02
Yes. So this was one of the most beautiful photos we took, we work with 10 different photographers. So actually, this story is the story of Dr. Mike from the Philippines, he is a doctor, and he opens the Hong Kong University for domestic workers to have a class during the weekends. So we put all the class together.

So it’s, like 100 of them. super nice. So caring and super proud to be there. You know. And, and also, I mean, in this in this photo, we tried to capture this pride of both, I mean, the teacher, which is like a father of all of them, and, and then the students themselves. And, you know, like, we were talking to the photographer, and he wanted to kill us, because like taking a photo of, you know, like, 100 people, and they all have to be smiling. And they all have to be looking good.

And everything you see, there is like a one of the ladies in the front that he had to lift her shoulder. So it’s a and they are, I mean, they give this message right off you know, we are more than what the people think we are. And we were trying to get this inspiration through like people across the book, like Regina, that have done amazing things for for Hong Kong. And I think people should know about this, local people should know about all these stories.

Regina Larko 11:28
And I think this is also how it … That’s what I think maybe you also didn’t anticipate when you first had that crazy idea collecting these stories. But what it now has become because what I understand that it has become from this beautiful book and art project to also an education project now as well. So that’s what you’re working on right now. Right? Aggie, what are you? What do you want this to become now moving forward?

Aggie Lam 12:03
Right now we’re actually working with some teachers and also training teachers to create an educational guidebook so we can use this book as kind of our reference materials and some of the stories to bring it into schools. We also want to do exhibitions and also events, just for people to talk to people from different countries and give them a chance and also a safe space for them to chat and have dialogue to understand each other.

Oskar Valles 12:34
Yes, please, people, if people in the audience, please share the word that’s very important for us. It’s a social project where we’re not earning anything during this two years, or any of the people in the team that we have, like more than 50 volunteers. So everybody’s working for this cause to make Hong Kong a better place to be a more inclusive society, a more tolerant society. So any help that you can give us joining our team or nominating somebody from an exotic country, we’re still looking for some some people or you know, talk to your company and maybe to do an exhibition in the in the premises or, or anything. So.

Regina Larko 13:13
It’s an amazing success story. But people of course, always want to hear what’s, you know, what’s going wrong? And what was the big failure, the big epic fail? Where you were thinking like, Oh, my God, why have I even gotten myself into this? I can imagine like, Rachel, earlier this week, like what am I doing organizing a crazy podcast festival?We want to hear the juicy bits now as well. You know, we’re gonna keep this among us. No, no one’s gonna know. Yeah, off the record. But what what was something that was like hard about this, or that is hard right now.

Oskar Valles 13:49
One of the hardest things I think Aggie agrees is to to try to get this inspiration because you have like a one hour interview. Usually in a coffee shop, just the two of us with the interviewee sometimes we have to do it online.

But, you know, the inspiration we would get during this interview, and we don’t have a background in journalism, we try to do our best. But then trying to put it through, trying to put it in a story because there’s all small stories. So trying to give that was a big challenge and also the tone of the or the interview, we chose to do it in first person. So is the person speaking to to the to the reader, but we wrote it so just just to get their agreement that it was their voice.

And it was what they wanted to say. So we had a lot of back and forth to see okay, does everybody feels comfortable with, with how people see you. And also with the photos is like this is my best smile or something. We try to escape that we try to actually like picture the person who is this person, what is this person care about, and be able to portray that in the photo. So that was also very, very difficult. But we were working with really talented photographers.

Aggie Lam 15:06
So I agree with Oskar, there in the interview, there’s actually a lot of emotional moments. Like sometimes we kind of also cried at the same time, and when they share about their personal story, so we really want to put across this emotions through the stories where it’s very challenging for us. That’s for us with no background, we took quite a long time in the project to think of whats a way to describe what portrayed the story and get the audience when they read it they understand the emotions from the stories.

Regina Larko 15:41
I keep looking like over my shoulder here, because I know that at some point, there’s going to be someone showing me a mean, a mean number. Okay, then I still can ask them, then we still have time. Thank goodness. Thank goodness.

Yeah. I mean, maybe I can just share a little bit from from a participants point of view, right? I mean, I was, I was almost, I don’t know, shocked when you said, oh, maybe you should represent Austria. So that’s where I’m from. Was anyone taking a guess what his weird accent comes from. Yay, hailing for Austria. And then I guess, you know, I mean, the competition is not that big.

Let’s be honest, how many Austrians are in Hong Kong. I was still I was still very, very honored that you would even consider me to be part of this. And I, I also thought that you did such a, you did such an amazing job, what you just shared like this challenge of you putting words in my mouth, right and in the people’s mouth, and you choose a picture that I wouldn’t have chosen. Like to be honest. Like, I also probably didn’t see myself in that picture as much as you saw it. But now can I just say, now I’m so glad you saw me. Does that sound weird? Now I’m getting all emotional. But now I feel this is actually more, more me. And maybe the way I think other people should perceive me is actually not how I really am right. And I’m really getting emotional. And I didn’t plan that at all.

But that’s, that’s something I think a gift you gave for all the people that you allowed to share their story. But I think also a gift that can inspire others as well to also reflect upon their own story, because that brings me to Hong Kong Stories. Everyone has a story to share. Right? And I would, you know, love to hear even more of, of yours. Right? So maybe as we are coming to the end of our podcast today as well. Can you like what is your “why” in this? You know. Like, why are you keep it? Why do you keep showing up for this project? Without any pay? Right? no one pays you for this. You have to put so many hours in, but you still you still do it? Why?

Oskar Valles 18:00
That’s a really good question. I think we were driven by the same inspiration that all of the heroes, we call them heroes, because you are heroes, well, in the in the book — all the interviewees. And I think one commonality I came to realize that almost everybody in this book is tapping into who they really are, what the magic is, and then they shine. And we can see in your in your podcast, like the way you’re doing things. It’s like that’s you, that’s your, your inner child dancing with your presence some, some some things in your podcast.

And, and I think, I think for me, it’s like, I mean, after work in a corporate world, I was trying to do that as well, to try to find who I really am and the things that I enjoy doing. And then I think this is one of them. And that’s that’s why we feel so comfortable. And we learned so much because sometimes in life and you can have a very big salary, but you’re not growing as a as a person. So even if we are not getting paid, we are growing so much and we’re learning so much from everybody we work with the heroes, the angels that how we call our volunteers and, and actually the whole city of Hong Kong. So we’re we’re discovering a lot of things of what to be a Hong Konger is. And, and why people come here and they feel comfortable in this city.

Regina Larko 19:33
Aggie do you wanna like tell people how they can find you like, where do they find you? Tell us your website? Where do people, where can they buy it? People across Hong Kong, please buy it in your local store and support this amazing initiative? Where should they go when they want to reach out to you and get involved?

Aggie Lam 19:51
Okay, our shop is shop.dearhongkong.org and our Instagram is Dear Hong Kong. Basically just type Dear Hong Kong and you will find us.

Regina Larko 20:03
Amazing. And of course, all of our guests and our regular listeners know that you have to go through the quickfire round before I let you go. Yay, quickfire round. We still got a minute! Making an impact means:

Oskar Valles 20:22
Making an impact means changing people’s lives, even if it’s just a little bit.

Regina Larko 20:27
Who inspires you in the way they are making a difference in the world? Who comes to mind first?

Aggie Lam 20:33
I think Phyllis from Mother’s Choice that we interview her in the book.

Regina Larko 20:37
Who is in the book as well. They’re doing amazing work. Shout out to Mother’s Choice. They were on the podcast as well. And last but not least, what could everyone do right now, in the audience, listening at home, to make the world a better place.

Aggie Lam 20:50
Try to talk to people around you, understand their stories, just to like respect and understand what their stories are. And next time when you meet someone try to appreciate them better.

Regina Larko 21:06
Thank you. I think this is a beautiful call to action. Let’s just do that. Yeah. Thank you so much for doing this with me tonight. Thank you. Thank you all for being awesome.

And onstage now the one and only Cissy Radford coming up next In The Changing Room.

Yes, absolutely. Check out Cissy Radford’s podcast In The Changing Room. And there were many more amazing podcasts as part of the Hong Kong Spoken Word Festival that you have to check out.

I want to give a shout out, of course, to the amazing Rachel Smith from Hong Kong Stories podcast. Absolutely one of the best podcasts in Hong Kong, and can be enjoyed all over the world. So check that out, Hong Kong Stories.

I also want to give a shout out to This Hong Kong Life from Kelly Support Group. They were actually our very first charity beneficiary for when we are running like our own podcasting online courses.

And we are so proud that they are putting their voices out there. Then there’s also Vincent Hiscox podcast Over Fourty Wellness. And I’ve had the great pleasure to also work with him in one of my podcasting masterminds.

So make sure to show these podcasters some love, I add all the other podcasts that were part of this two day festival, in the show notes in the episode descriptions, so you can find them and check them out. As you hear I am I on the go. This is when I love to listen to podcasts. So I thought you know, to keep this authentic and live and unedited.

Why not record this outro live as well, on the go, just into my phone. That’s what I’m doing right now. So really, I think a lot of people when they think about starting a podcast, they think about equipment, and tech and all these things that you might need to start a podcast. You know, if you have a phone, you’re good to go. Yeah, actually, you’re good to go.

And if you want to learn about how to start a podcast and learn from other successful podcasters, how they are running their shows and how they make it worth their time and effort that they’re putting into their productions then please join me for an upcoming workshop, a free workshop, you can check out at www.hashtagimpact.com/workshop, where I am filling you in on all the tips and tricks, what you need to know to start your own impactful podcast.

Last but not least, and I know I shared many links now. But the one of course that you have to check out is the Dear Hong Kong site, check out www.dearhongkong.org. They are amazing, follow their work, and if you are here in Hong Kong, then you are actually really lucky because they are doing an exhibition at the Hong Kong Cultural Center in TST on the 17th and 18th of July where you can see some of the portraits that are featured in their beautiful book. So make sure to check that out.

If you are maybe working with a school here in Hong Kong, then definitely make sure to get in touch with the Dear Hong Kong team. They want to bring this, you know this vision that they have for cultural diversity, inclusion. They want to bring this to schools here in Hong Kong to work with the next generation. So it’s so worthwhile to get in touch with this amazing team. I mean, you heard you heard now in that episode, how amazing Oskar and Aggie are and this amazing team of volunteers and heroes and angels and all these people that have been part of that journey. So make sure to check them out at www.dearhongkong.org. Yeah, and with that, I want to say thank you. Thank you for listening and I talk to you soon. Bye.

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