Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dorothy Chow. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Dorothy, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Death in Cambodia, Life in America is a passion project where I interview my father on his horrific first-hand experience surviving the Khmer Rouge aka the Cambodian Genocide of the 1970’s. I launched the very first episode on Fathers Day 2021.

I always knew I wanted to help my father tell his story in some way however I never knew what medium would work best. We had a local autobiographer piece together a sample of my father’s story, but after review we decided his writing was very dry and unportraying of my father’s experience. The hardest part of telling this kind of story is actually having a parent willing to be vulnerable and dig into the depths of his past – and since I already had that, I felt this pull to make sure the story got out. I researched how to piece together a podcast, stayed late nights watching YouTube videos, taught myself how to edit episodes, hired a sound editor and on Father’s Day 2021 launched my first episode. I remember recording the first episode by shoving my father in front of a mic, and simply asking questions I have always wanted to ask, starting from his childhood. Once I realized how willing he was to be open, I knew we had something very special.

Since launching on Father’s Day 2021, we have had over 25,000 downloads, gone viral 5x, have international listeners from Europe, to Asia, to Australia, #1 podcast in history category in Cambodia, and been featured nationally on CBS and KQED. The story has been so well received, especially by other Cambodians who for the first time they feel they are being represented correctly, and by their own people.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

The Death in Cambodia, Life in America podcast seeks to use the power of storytelling to heal as many khmer rouge survivors as possible, and stop generational trauma.

What started out as small project to allow my father to tell his story, has turned into something so much greater than I could have ever imagined. I have found a sense of duty and purpose to make sure that our history Is preserved. The most rewarding feeling is getting messages from all over the world of people telling me I have inspired them to ask their parents and grandparents of their own stories, or people who after listening to my podcast are starting to forgive their parents for not being “the best”, or people who thank me for preserving their history and making them feel seen and heard. Representation and validity of pain matters. I realized I wasn’t only giving a voice to my father’s story, I was giving a voice to every single Khmer Rouge refugee out there – both living and gone. And that is powerful.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I started this podcast by simply watching youtube videos and didnt focus on buying the fanciest equipment. I had bought some cheap mics off amazon, and a plastic table and chairs from home depot! Imposter syndrome hit me but I kept telling myself that I could do anything I set my mind to. I still remember the 2ams researching how to edit, what programs to use, finding sound editors. Something inside me just knew that this project needed to be finished. There came a point where I was crying because I was so burnt out. I was doing all the social media, recording, editing, producing, EVERYTHING all by myself. There were so many times I wanted to outsource parts of the project, but I was also very picky because at the end of the day I wanted full creativity and control over how my father’s story is told. I pushed through, continued to work, until next thing you knew the end of the story came and it was over. I am able to look back at the podcast catologe and feel PROUD that everything from the pauses my father made, to the music, was all curated by me. and the story is in the purest form of my father’s voice.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media was a struggle for me! I felt like since this is such a deep and vulnerable topic, that it would be very hard to gain followers. Its alot easier to build off of a fun topic, but building a platform on generational trauma felt like an uphill battle. It took a long time to first find out my branding style, and secondly, feel comfortable in my own voice. It wasn’t until I stopped caring about numbers, trends, followers and instead just focused on the powerful message, the impact, and posting consistency that my following grew. I used to be so analytical about my posts and honestly it got to my head and I ended up not posting at all. The several times I went viral, I totally didn’t expect the posts to do well! You never know, so just post.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.deathincambodiapodcast.com
• Instagram: @deathincambodia
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@deathincambodiapodcast7295

Image Credits
Sherri LaRocque Photography Maddison Rose Photography