Building Community in the Midwest ft. Kelly Mosa: What ABCs Actually Need to Know | Real You Mandarin Podcast EP11

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When Kelly Mosa and I sat down to record this episode, I realized pretty quickly that her experience is one most of us never hear about. We talk a lot about the Asian-American experience in the US, but almost always from the perspective of someone in California or New York. Kelly is a Taiwanese person who moved to Minnesota, and her story is completely different from what most of us know. It made me rethink a lot of assumptions I didn't even know I had.

What "True America" Looks Like Through Taiwanese Eyes

Kelly is from Taiwan and now lives in Minnesota with her American husband Nicholas. Together they run a social media platform called K. Mosa, where they share cross-cultural stories, language mishaps, and the reality of being a Taiwanese + American couple in the Midwest. Kelly switches between Mandarin, English, and Taiwanese in her content, which is honestly really fun to watch even if, like me, you can't understand the Taiwanese parts.

One thing that struck me in this conversation is how different the Asian-American experience is depending on where you live. I grew up in Southern California, where there are entire cities with bilingual street signs in Chinese and English. You could theoretically live in places like the San Gabriel Valley and never need to speak English. But Kelly moved to the 中西部 / zhōng xī bù / the Midwest, where the number of Mandarin speakers is roughly 40 times fewer than in California. That's a completely different reality. And it's one that a lot of American-Born Chinese (ABCs) and American-Born Taiwanese (ABTs) in those areas rarely see represented.

Kelly talked about how moving to Minnesota was a huge 轉變 / 转变 / zhuǎn biàn / transformation in her life. It was her first time living overseas, and the cultural adjustment was enormous. But what surprised me was how she described the beauty of it all. She lit up talking about the four distinct seasons in Minnesota, the lakes, and the wildflowers in spring and summer. She genuinely loves it there, and that came through clearly.

We also got into the harder side. Kelly talked about how many first-generation immigrants in the Midwest stay within their own bubble, only interacting with other Chinese speakers. She understands why, but she also sees how it can keep people from adapting to the broader community around them. Her platform is partly about bridging that gap. She wants people like her to know they're not alone, and she wants to show what Minnesota looks like through the eyes of a Taiwanese person, because nobody else is really telling that story.

What I found most valuable about this conversation is how Kelly talked about finding 共鳴 / 共鸣 / gòng míng / resonance with her audience. She's not trying to tell anyone how to live. She's just sharing what she sees and feels, and letting other people in similar situations feel seen too. That's community building in the truest sense.

Key Vocab From This Episode

中西部 | zhōng xī bù (the Midwest (of the US))

轉變 / 转变 | zhuǎn biàn (transformation / change)

跨文化 | kuà wén huà (cross-cultural)

建立連結 / 建立连结 | jiàn lì lián jié (to build a connection)

不適應 / 不适应 | bú shì yìng (to not adapt / unable to adjust)

共鳴 / 共鸣 | gòng míng (resonance / to resonate)

主流社會 / 主流社会 | zhǔ liú shè huì (mainstream society)

步調 / 步调 | bù diào (pace / tempo)

These are all words from the actual episode, not textbook vocabulary, but the kind of words that come up when you're talking about real life in Mandarin.

Shoutout to Kelly Mosa, follow her and Nicholas at K. Mosa for cross-cultural content between Taiwan and the American Midwest.

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