Claire Lee is a Fellow, like the host, Mike Sullivan, in the prestigious English Language Program, sponsored by the US Department of State. She is working with the US Embassy in Tokyo, Japan .. they talk a bit about her Fellowship in the podcast. She is a former Fulbright ETA Scholar, graduate of the #1 all girls school in the US, Wellesley College, and has her Masters of Education at Harvard University. They talk about that as well--Being Korean American at a university embroiled in the affirmative action debate around their discrimination against Asian applicants. In part 1 of 2, they start off talking about Mike’s Midyear conference in Georgia (the country!) and his language imperialism slide in his presentation (2:20) and (4:40) toilet culture, OF COURSE!! With some more small talk about work weeks (7:20), they then get into Claire’s background as a Korean American, and Mike of course asks the ridiculous question (12:35). 'Have you embraced BTS at all (14:45)?' Mike asks about her almater, Harvard and their case in the Supreme Court regarding implicit bias against Asian Americans (16:25). She speaks of one encounter at grad school with a former admissions staff member said volumes about the issue (19:00). They dive into the cultural elements of perfection in Korean and Japanese societies (21:00). Claire independently confirms one of Mike’s biggest pet peeves about the term ‘Asian-American’. They pivot into all the amazing work Claire is doing on behalf of their Fellowship with the US Department of State (24:45), with some insider sightseeing advice with it. She talks about the challenges and rewards that have come with it (27:35). They both agree that they have received so much from the professionals around them in their respective countries (32:00).

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