My SGV Podcast

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Christopher Luke Trevilla is a first-generation son of Mexican-American immigrants residing in Whittier, California. For over two decades, he has dedicated his career to social services, education, and safety net provider operations, focusing heavily on developmental disabilities and community inclusion. His extensive professional journey spans roles from classroom teacher and Regional Center service coordinator to corporate compliance leadership and his current work supporting employment resources in Southern California. Beyond human services, he has spent many years serving arts and culture in Los Angeles, leading organizations like the Nuvein Foundation for Literature and the...

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Live from the 626 Night Market at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, this special compilation features interviews with local residents, students, food entrepreneurs, and community members. Featured conversations include local entrepreneur Andrew Lee, founder of Zindrew Chili and Zindrew Wonton Shop, alongside local students, festival attendees, and an educator from the Garvey School District.

The episode explores San Gabriel Valley food culture, highlighting regional dining spots, late-night boba culture, and local food businesses. Guests discuss regional lifestyles, including local pickleball communities, college experiences across California campuses, music festivals, and local traditions...

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Live from the 626 Night Market at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, this special Saturday edition brings you more conversations with local residents. Captured right from the heart of the festival, these interviews highlight the vibrant energy, diverse voices, and unique stories that define the San Gabriel Valley. 

Whether you are a local resident, a regular 626 Night Market attendee, or someone interested in Southern California food markets and Asian American culture, this episode offers an authentic glimpse into our local community. 

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Live from the 626 Night Market at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, we wrap up the weekend with our Sunday compilation of interviews featuring local attendees, food creators, and San Gabriel Valley community members. 

This compilation gives viewers and festivalgoers an inside look at the people, small businesses, and shared experiences that bring the SGV to life.

Subscribe to the MySGV Podcast and share this video to celebrate the food, culture, and stories of the San Gabriel Valley!

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OGK Joshua is a San Gabriel Valley native and independent recording artist raised in Covina, California. He played football at Charter Oak High School and the University of La Verne before serving in the United States Army as an 11 Bravo infantryman stationed at Fort Hood and deployed to Europe. Releasing music as an independent artist under the 626 Syndicate label, his discography includes tracks such as "Big God," "Heavenite," "AGB2G," "P31," and "Go Mode," alongside live performances at venues including the House of Blues in San Diego.

In this episode, OGK...

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Justin Tran is a San Gabriel native and first-generation Chinese Vietnamese American born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley. Raised by his grandmother, mother, and older sister, he attended Gabrielino High School, where he participated in speech and debate, FBLA, and student clubs. He began working in corporate executive assistant roles at age 18 and earned his bachelor's degree in May 2025. In addition to his corporate background, he serves as a moderator for SGV Eats, supporting local mom-and-pop restaurants across the San Gabriel Valley.

In this episode, Justin shares his personal...

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Eric "Manny" Padilla is a film and television location manager born in Monterey Park, California, and raised in the San Gabriel Valley. Growing up in an apartment above a laundromat on New Avenue, he attended local schools including Emerson Elementary, Garvey Intermediate, and Mark Keppel High School. After moving to Burbank to pursue work in the entertainment industry, he built a career on major film and television productions, including the first four Transformers movies and live broadcast logistics for the Super Bowl pregame show at Alcatraz.

In this episode, Manny discusses...

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Dr. Keith L. Marshall, PsyD, M.H.D., is the Founder, CEO, and Clinical Supervisor of Dedicato Treatment Center, a California Department of Health Care Services–certified substance use disorder treatment program specializing in co-occurring mental health conditions. Under his leadership, Dedicato earned The Joint Commission’s highest level of accreditation, placing it among approximately twenty-three percent of treatment centers nationwide recognized for excellence. Dr. Marshall earned a Specialist Certificate in Alcohol and Drug Studies from Glendale College, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in human development from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, a Doctor...

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Albert Wan is a San Gabriel Valley native, raised in Arcadia, and a second-generation business owner leading his family’s enterprise software company. After studying at UC Berkeley and working as a software engineer at Apple Inc., where he contributed to software projects including Chinese keyboards and CarPlay, he returned home in 2018. Today, he focuses on modernizing his family's business, which has provided business and warehousing software technologies to customers across the San Gabriel Valley and beyond for over three decades.

In this episode, Albert shares his journey from attending local sc...

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Sandy Velasco is an LA-based artist born in the Philippines who earned a degree in Mathematics from UCLA and worked as an accountant before entering the entertainment industry. She has called the San Gabriel Valley home for over 15 years and has performed standup comedy on stage and film across California, Las Vegas, and internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. In addition to her work with Los Angeles theatre companies, including East West Players, Coeurage Theatre Company, Artists At Play, Playwrights' Arena, and Company of Angels, she curates and produces clean comedy...

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Willington Liu is an actor featured in the Creation of the Gods trilogy (封神三部曲) and the founder of Creation Talent Academy (CTA), a performing arts institute based in Arcadia, California. Raised in the San Gabriel Valley, he built a background in competitive Latin dance before earning his BFA in acting from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Through CTA, he offers youth instruction across acting, singing, dance, and martial arts to help students develop artistic confidence and industry readiness.

In this episode, Willington shares his path from growing up in the San Gabrie...

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Arturo Barrios is a San Gabriel Valley musician born in Monterey Park and raised between Monterey Park and Rosemead. After discovering grunge and punk rock in junior high, he formed a band with classmates at Rosemead High School that became Audio Karate, performing at backyard shows and local venues in El Monte and Baldwin Park. In 2001, Audio Karate signed with Kung Fu Records, releasing two full-length albums, touring internationally, and performing on Warped Tour and Warped Tour Japan. Arturo joined Sweet and Tender Hooligans in 2015, reunited Audio Karate in 2017, became the lead singer...

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Melanie Sauer serves as the Executive Director of the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena, California, assuming the position in October 2024 after serving as the organization’s Chief Financial Officer since 2021. Her career in financial and operational leadership spans the nonprofit, cultural, and higher education sectors, including senior management roles at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Pacific Oaks College & Children's School, and Southern California Public Media (LAist/89.3 KPCC). A resident of Sierra Madre, she holds degrees from Whitworth University, Azusa Pacific University, and the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management at Cl...

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Joshua Lin represents Titanium Robotics (FIRST Robotics Competition Team 1160), a student-led high school robotics program based at San Marino High School in San Marino, California. Now entering its 23rd year as a team, Titanium Robotics designs, builds, and programs competitive robots to participate in international challenges organized by the FIRST® Robotics Competition. Dedicated to fostering engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the organization combines hands-on engineering experience with regional educational outreach and community engagement initiatives.

In this episode, Joshua discusses the operational structure, team dynamics, and engineering workflows that d...

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Vincent Chan is the founder of Fujiwara Tofu Cafe, a Japanese-themed cafe and community hub located in El Monte, California. Inspired by the iconic anime series Initial D and Japanese automotive culture, he launched the business as a passion project at local night markets in 2018 before establishing a physical storefront. The cafe specializes in house-made tofu pudding, soy milk drinks, and snacks while operating as a gathering place for car enthusiasts and anime fans.

In this episode, Vincent discusses the growth of Fujiwara Tofu Cafe from pop-up food market events to...

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Samuel Lopez is a first-generation Mexican American entrepreneur who was raised in Baldwin Park as part of a family of nine. He currently works for Los Angeles County and is the founder of Ninety-One Good Old Days Clothing, an independent apparel brand centered on resilience, discipline, and self-belief. Grounded in the work ethic and core values taught by his parents, he established his career and business while overcoming the socioeconomic obstacles of his environment.

This episode explores Samuel’s personal journey navigating the pressures of his youth in Baldwin Park and ch...

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Ada Gates was born into New York high society, with a family history in America dating back to the 1700s. In 1978, she became the first woman licensed as a farrier to shoe thoroughbred racehorses in the United States and Canada, launching a career that took her far from her expected path in life.

In this episode, Ada shares the story of how an unexpected trip West led to her groundbreaking career in the thoroughbred racing industry. She discusses her guest appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, What's My Line, To...

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Michelle Shimohara is a San Gabriel Valley native raised in Monterey Park and Montebello, who attended Macy Intermediate and Schurr High School before building a career in real estate that began in 2014. She previously appeared on the MySGV Podcast in a widely viewed episode about her Japanese American identity and upbringing, and returns in this follow-up conversation to share more stories from her life in the SGV.

In this episode, Michelle talks about growing up in the "SJ" (Sansei/San Gabriel Valley Japanese American) social scene of the 1980s, including school...

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Mike Tai was born in Boyle Heights and raised in San Gabriel as an only child to parents from Japan. Growing up, he participated in foundational Japanese American community activities, including attending Japanese school on Saturdays, playing basketball for a Japanese league, and playing baseball for a Monterey Park team. His interest in automotive culture began in his youth, sparked by the mini truck cruising scene of the late 1980s. During his senior year of high school, he acquired a Toyota Tacoma that he continues to own and maintain twenty-eight years later.

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Mel Tillekeratne is the co-founder and executive director of The Shower of Hope, a Los Angeles nonprofit formally known as End Homelessness California. Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Mel moved to Los Angeles in 2003, and a chance wrong turn through Skid Row in 2011 set him on a path from volunteer to full-time advocate. He first founded Monday Night Mission, a grassroots effort that served up to 250 meals a night to people experiencing homelessness on Skid Row, before co-founding The Shower of Hope in 2017 to bring free mobile showers directly to unhoused communities...

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Oliver Wang is a professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach, who specializes in the study of popular culture. He is the author of Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews of the San Francisco Bay Area and Cruising J-Town: Japanese American Car Culture In Los Angeles. In 2025, he served as the project curator for the exhibition Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community, which was produced by the Japanese American National Museum and hosted at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. Additionally, he has co-hosted the...

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Will Co was born in Vietnam in 1981 and immigrated to the United States as a child after his grandparents, who worked with the United States during the Vietnam War, successfully relocated and completed the paperwork to bring the rest of the family over. He grew up on the border of Monterey Park and Montebello, where he attended Schurr High School. Today, Will is the founder of Cokreeate, a 3D printing, scanning, and design studio located within the San Gabriel Valley that specializes in turning digital models and physical concepts into reality.

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Keegan Fong is the founder and owner of Woon, a homestyle Chinese food restaurant and packaged goods line based in Los Angeles. Raised in the Pasadena area, he worked professionally in apparel marketing before transitioning full-time to the culinary industry. Woon initially launched as a pop-up noodle stand in 2014 to share the original recipes of his mother, Julie Chen, also known as Mama Fong. The family-backed venture grew to open its first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Historic Filipinotown in 2019, followed by a second location in Pasadena in 2025, while also expanding its distribution of...

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Ryan Ching is a Hawaii-based entrepreneur, chef, and social media storyteller who co-founded Ry’s Poke Shack on the North Shore of Oahu in 2021 alongside his wife, Khannie. Originally trained as an architect with a doctorate in architecture from the University of Hawaii, he pivoted to the food industry during the pandemic. His restaurant utilizes a customized, made-to-order preparation method inspired by his grandfather's traditional techniques. This approach earned the establishment a spot on Yelp’s Top 100 Local Businesses in the United States and a featured segment on Netflix's Street Food: USA series. The...

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Karen Cheung Lee grew up in the San Gabriel Valley alongside her three sisters, raised in the community where her family built the local restaurant Sam Woo. In her early adulthood, she worked in the events and hospitality industry and helped launch the restaurant's San Gabriel location. She later transitioned into a corporate career for ten years to focus on raising her two daughters. Now, as her father prepares for retirement, Karen has returned to the family business to learn its daily operations and carry the establishment's legacy forward.

This episode...

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Paramveer Bedi is an entrepreneur in the San Gabriel Valley and one of the owners of Bhanu Indian Cuisine & Market. Located in San Gabriel, the business was originally established by his father and aunt with the goal of providing authentic Indian food and culture to the local community. The establishment operates as both a sit-down restaurant and a specialized marketplace, offering a wide range of traditional Indian spices, lentils, and imported goods.

This episode explores the history of Bhanu’s and how Paramveer is continuing the business legacy alongside his cousin. Th...

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Thee Sawadwid is the chef and owner of Fillet Sushi, located in Old Town Monrovia. Raised in Thailand, he transitioned into the culinary world through a deep respect for Japanese discipline and craftsmanship. His path into the profession was defined by hands-on practice and experience in high-level kitchens, including training at Matsuhisa Beverly Hills, rather than formal culinary schooling. Together with his wife and partner, Lin Sawadwid, he has established a dining experience centered on intentional hospitality and technical precision.

This episode explores the journey of launching and operating Fillet Sushi...

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George Dera is the owner of Wahib’s Mediterranean Express, a restaurant located in San Gabriel, California. Born in Zahle, Lebanon, Dera moved to Glendora, California, at the age of 14 and has remained a resident of the city since his arrival. Today, he operates his business while residing in Glendora with his wife, Aileen, and their two children, focusing on traditional hospitality and fresh ingredients.

This episode explores the history and values behind Wahib’s Mediterranean Express, focusing on the transition from Lebanese traditions to the Southern California business landscape. Dera disc...

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Armando De La Torre Jr. is a Los Angeles–born restauranteur, entrepreneur, and artist known for creating and developing Guisados, Georges Burger Stand, and Playita Mariscos. A graduate of Loyola High School and Loyola Marymount University, where he studied Business Law and Marketing, he began his career path toward law before shifting into the restaurant industry. In 2011, he co-founded Guisados in Boyle Heights with his father, building a taqueria centered on homestyle braises and fresh handmade corn tortillas. He later expanded his work by acquiring and revitalizing Georges Burger Stand and opening Playita Ma...

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Aaron (Phu) Luong was born in Hong Kong under British rule and immigrated to the United States at a young age. He grew up in Rosemead and Monterey Park, later attending San Gabriel High School, where he balanced academics, extracurriculars, and Taekwondo, earning his black belt in his sophomore year. He went on to graduate with a double major in Business Management and Supply Chain Management. Today, he owns and operates Aloha Food Factory in Alhambra, a 30-year Hawaiian restaurant originally founded by Auntie Betty.

In this episode, Aaron shares his...

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Marcel Rene Michel is a Southern California native born in Bellflower and raised in Hacienda Heights, with roots in Guadalajara and Colima, Mexico. A first-generation Mexican American, Marcel attended Don Bosco Tech Institute and later built a career in corporate recruiting, working with major companies including ARYZTA, Hasbro, Red Bull, and Disney. His professional journey spans sales, recruiting, and leadership, shaped by early experiences in programs like Profit Techniques and a strong foundation in personal development.

In this episode, Marcel shares his journey from navigating identity growing up in the San...

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Shelly Lin is the co-founder of Coconut & Co., a San Gabriel Valley business built around natural, high-quality drinks and desserts that are inclusive, health-conscious, and made for everyone. Born and raised in Medan, Indonesia, Shelly grew up surrounded by rich culinary traditions and a family that instilled in her a deep sense of discipline, independence, and compassion. She co-founded Coconut & Co. alongside her best friend Carmen, bringing those same values into everything they create and serve.

In this episode, Shelly shares the story behind Coconut & Co., from its roots in Indonesian...

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T.D. Tran, also known as Thuy Dan Tran, is the Yelp Community Director for the San Gabriel Valley, where she helps connect people, spotlight local businesses, and celebrate the depth and diversity of SGV. She has become a recognizable force in the region through community building, local partnerships, and curated experiences that bring residents and business owners together in meaningful ways. Yelp’s own community coverage credits TD with leading SGV focused events and local features, while outside profiles highlight her passion for helping people discover what makes a community feel alive. 

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Sandra Y. Gomez is the co-owner of Moffett's Chicken Pie Shoppe, a beloved San Gabriel Valley restaurant with over 50 years of history in the community. A Baldwin Park native and graduate of Baldwin Park High School, Sandra brings a background in Human Resources from her time at Alhambra Unified School District to her role running the family business. In 2024, she made the decision to step away from her HR career to focus on the restaurant full time alongside her husband and family.

In this episode, Sandra shares the story behind Moffett's...

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Yamato Miura is a Tokyo born entrepreneur and restaurateur whose path to hospitality has been anything but ordinary. Before building one of the most respected Japanese restaurant groups in Southern California, he moved alone to the United States as a teenager, trained in performance and action work, and later competed in kickboxing. That background of discipline, risk, and precision now shows up in the way he builds restaurants, brands, and guest experiences. 

In this conversation, Yamato shares how his early life in Japan, his family’s deep roots in the performing art...

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Anthony Ma is an award winning actor, filmmaker, and voiceover artist from Arcadia, California whose career spans television, film, animation, dubbing, and directing. On screen, he has appeared in series including Scandal, S.W.A.T., This Is Us, Mom, Dear White People, NCIS: LA, The Mentalist, Castle, Shameless, and more. Beyond acting, he has built an impressive voice career across animation, Korean and Japanese dubbing, video games, and audio dramas.

In this conversation, Anthony shares the journey behind his work as a storyteller and creative whose mission goes beyond performance...

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On this episode of the MySGV Podcast, I sit down with a Temple City raised creative who turned a lifelong love of food and travel into a full time career behind the camera and on the page. We talk about how growing up in the San Gabriel Valley shaped his palate, his point of view, and the way he tells stories that feel both personal and cinematic.

He shares the pivot from advertising art direction and digital design into commercial and editorial work centered on food, travel, cocktails, portraiture, interiors, and...

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Deja Fabro brings big energy, sharp observations, and fearless vulnerability to this episode of the MySGV Podcast. She is a stand up comedian and expressive storyteller who uses self deprecating humor to talk about mental health, infertility, everyday struggles, and the weird little moments of modern life that somehow hit all of us at once. If you love comedy that makes you laugh and think, this conversation delivers.

In our long form interview, we get into Deja’s journey back to the spotlight and why stand up finally became the path in...

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In this episode, I sit down with David Marquez, a San Gabriel Valley native who grew up in San Gabriel and built a career around the thing he has always loved most, food. We talk about how the SGV shaped his palate, why Los Angeles is one of the best food cities in the world, and how travel and culture keep pushing his curiosity.

David shares his path from more than 15 years in digital marketing to betting on himself after losing his long time job in 2015. That career shakeup led to...

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In this episode, I sit down with Thomas Liu, an entrepreneur whose story includes the messy parts people usually skip. He talks openly about growing up bouncing between schools, dealing with bullying and identity struggles, and how he made wrong turns that eventually forced him to look in the mirror and decide who he wanted to become.

Thomas walks me through the shift from chaos to clarity and what it looked like to scrape through graduation, put himself through college, and start building something real. Alongside his wife Jasmine, he launched...