The Spark

The Spark Two women—one Chinese and one American—navigating life, love, and work between cultures, stopping in the middle to talk about it.

The new Odyssey movie came out last month. Our latest episode was recorded the day it hit theaters, exploring the “Odyss...
14/08/2026

The new Odyssey movie came out last month. Our latest episode was recorded the day it hit theaters, exploring the “Odyssey Years” as a term that’s been circulating Chinese social media.

Life and work have picked up for the both of us as we near the end of summer, but we’ll be back very soon with a new and very fun conversation in the next episode.

Stay tuned 🎧

In the meantime, if you haven’t already, listen to Ep. 62: The Odyssey Years | 奥德赛岁月 wherever you get your podcasts. ✨

400 applications. 3 responses. 1 job. 🎉Amy Tianyi got it — and this week’s episode is the honest debrief of everything i...
18/06/2026

400 applications. 3 responses. 1 job. 🎉

Amy Tianyi got it — and this week’s episode is the honest debrief of everything it actually took to get there.

The daily habits that kept her sane. The 400 resumes she tailored individually. The moment a senior colleague told her to stop framing her layoff as a loss and start telling a different story. The role AI played — helpful, humbling, and a reminder that when everyone has the same tools, what sets you apart is still *you.*

Meg is navigating her own transition — early motherhood meets building a business — and together they land somewhere real: the hardest seasons have a way of clarifying exactly what you want. And the only way to the other side is deciding you’ll get there, and then doing the work.

This one is for everyone still in the middle of it. 🎙️

Ep. 61: She Got the Job | 她得到了那份工作 is out now wherever you get your podcasts. ✨

It started with a jacket. A Chinese-inspired Adidas frog button jacket, released around Lunar New Year, sold out almost ...
01/05/2026

It started with a jacket.

A Chinese-inspired Adidas frog button jacket, released around Lunar New Year, sold out almost immediately.

Meg’s husband thought of it as an entry point into Chinese culture. They went to a store in China. It was gone.

And somehow that jacket opened a conversation we couldn’t stop pulling on — about cultural appropriation, social media aesthetics, who gets to wear a culture’s symbols, and what it actually means to understand a culture versus just admiring its surface.

Amy spent years as a Chinese journalist being limited to China-specific stories — seen as a symbol before she was seen as a person. Meg reflects on what it means to love a culture deeply and still know some things aren’t hers to claim.

We go from an Adidas store to King Louis XIV to Mulan to the “very Chinese time” trend — and land on the harder question underneath all of it.

Ep. 59: The Jacket | 那件夹克 is out now wherever you get your podcasts ✨

This week’s episode is different. Meg was in China. And instead of waiting until she got back to talk about it—she recor...
17/04/2026

This week’s episode is different.

Meg was in China. And instead of waiting until she got back to talk about it—she recorded it as it happened. Voice notes from the ground. At a funeral. In a village in Hunan. Watching her daughter encounter a country that is also hers.

Amy wasn’t physically there. But she was there, listening and responding from the other side of the world—adding her own voice to Meg’s dispatches from the field.

We’ve never made an episode like this before. The audio isn’t perfect. The moments aren’t scripted. Some of it was captured mid-sentence, mid-feeling, mid-life.

Ep. 57: Hello From China | 来自中国的“你好” is out now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts ✨

By the time you hear this episode, Meg will be in China. 🇨🇳She’s on her fifth trip—this time to bury her husband’s grand...
09/04/2026

By the time you hear this episode, Meg will be in China. 🇨🇳
She’s on her fifth trip—this time to bury her husband’s grandfather in his home village in Hunan. She’s bringing her daughter back to the origin place of one half of her roots, and she’s thinking about what it means to walk into someone else’s ancestry and call it family.
This week, we follow death across three continents. A Japanese immigrant cemetery in Hawaii. A grandfather born in China in 1931 and wanted to be a pilot. A Finnish great-grandmother who came to America alone at the age of 19.
And in the middle of all of it—this question: What do we want our children to know about where they came from?
This episode is releasing during 清明节—China’s Qingming Festival, when families gather to sweep graves and honor the people who came before. We didn’t plan it this way, but this conversation couldn’t be more perfect to honor that.
Ep. 56: The Ones Who Came Before | 我们的先辈们 is out now wherever you get your podcasts, or at the link in our bio 💫

#清明节

What do you call the person you’re becoming?In today’s episode we talk about “matrescence”—the profound psychological an...
26/03/2026

What do you call the person you’re becoming?

In today’s episode we talk about “matrescence”—the profound psychological and emotional transformation of becoming a mother. It’s been fighting to get into the dictionary. Because when you name something, you can finally begin to understand it.

That got us thinking about every transition that doesn’t have a word yet. Career changes. Identity shifts. The in-between spaces where you’re no longer who you were—but not yet who you’re becoming.

Meg is navigating early motherhood. Amy is navigating a career transition. Different seasons, same feeling. And this week, we talk about all of it — honestly.

Ep. 54: Becoming Someone New | 蜕变成另一个自己 is out now. 💫

Is there a transition in your life right now that you don’t have words for yet? Tell us below. 👇🏻

(thanks for fighting the good fight 💪🏻)

Your former boss is leaving. He’s the one who unexpectedly let you go after eight years. You got the invite anyway. Do y...
19/03/2026

Your former boss is leaving. He’s the one who unexpectedly let you go after eight years. You got the invite anyway. Do you go? 👀

That’s where today’s conversation starts—but it doesn’t stay there.

Because the truth is, professional face and relationships matter everywhere. Nobody wants to look bitter. Nobody wants to burn a bridge. But how you protect your dignity when a professional relationship ends?

That’s where it gets interesting.

In some cultures, showing up is the graceful move—you’re above it, unbothered, untouchable. In others, your absence says everything a room full of words never could.

Same values. Different scripts.

We dig into what happens when a professional relationship ends—the emotional weight we don’t talk about, the cultural scripts we don’t realize we’re following, and what it really means to move on.

The Party Amy Didn’t Go To | 那场Amy选择缺席的派对 is out now.🎙️

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.🎧

Have you ever had a professional relationship end badly? Did you show up — or did you protect your peace? Tell us below.👇🏻

As the Western New Year and the Chinese New Year pass, we take a moment to look back on the moments from 2025 that we’re...
12/03/2026

As the Western New Year and the Chinese New Year pass, we take a moment to look back on the moments from 2025 that we’re proud of. 🌱

随着元旦与春节相继而过,我们回望2025年中那些让自己感到自豪的时刻。

This is a conversation about defining success on your own terms, navigating life in seasons, and the quiet power of knowing yourself.

这是一场关于用自己的方式定义成功、感受生命四季更迭、以及认识自我内在力量的对话。✨

Listen to Ep. 52: The Next Best Thing | 眼前最好的一步 wherever you get your podcasts 🎧

After returning from Beijing following her wedding, Amy closed an eight-year chapter in her first long-term, formal role...
16/01/2026

After returning from Beijing following her wedding, Amy closed an eight-year chapter in her first long-term, formal role—one she entered in her early twenties and grew within, advancing across levels as her skills and responsibilities expanded.

Having to leave on immediate notice forced an unplanned pause. For the first time, Amy took a clear-eyed look at her professional journey—what she built, what she learned, and what she postponed in exchange for continuity.

And that’s what we dive into head-first in our latest episode, “Amy’s Eight-Year Career Reset.”

Tune in now wherever you get your podcasts 🎧

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