Moving to the U.S. was hard for Michelle’s family, and it impacted how she was disciplined growing up. As a parent herself, she’s coming to terms with experiences her parents now deny. Betty Ming Liu, a life coach who specializes in childhood trauma, speaks with Juleyka about nurturing our inner child and ending the family cycle of violence.

Michelle Yang is an advocate whose writings on the intersection of Asian American identity, body image, and mental health have been featured in NBC News, CNN, InStyle, and more. Her memoir, PHOENIX GIRL: HOW A FAT ASIAN WITH BIPOLAR FOUND LOVE is forthcoming. Learn more about her work and writing on Instagram @michelleyangwriter 

If you loved this episode, listen to Talking About a Brother's Emotional Abuse and You're Grieving and in Pain. They Call You "Crazy."

Featured Expert:

Betty Ming Liu is the online Life & Work Coach for at NYU’s journalism graduate school. Her personal pronouns are she/her. Learn more about her work here. Betty also teaches journalism at NYU, where she was awarded the university’s Outstanding Teaching Award. As a life coach, she specializes in issues related to diversity, communication skills, writing, alcoholism and addiction, the immigrant experience, and, transforming childhood triggers and traumas. Before becoming a professor and life coach, Betty spent 16 years as a full-time New York City journalist and was a New York Daily News columnist who covered diversity and the immigrant experience. She is the recovering daughter of her beloved control freak Chinese immigrant parents, who raised her in New York City’s Chinatown. Betty recently moved to Los Angeles, where she and her rescue pit bull and 17-year old cat live five minutes away from her grown-up daughter.

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