Lisa Ling on Conquering Self Doubt

Lisa Ling started working as a professional journalist when she was only a teenager. Her job flew her across the world as she covered the drug wars in South America to democracy movements in China. She’s grown to be a pro at telling other people’s stories. But she says: advocating for herself is the hardest thing she’s ever done. 

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On Rethinking her Boundaries for a Story

Lisa: I have two young kids. So I think even longer and harder about the assignments that I take on and the places I go. Because look, my life is not my own anymore and I have a responsibility to do everything that I can to ensure that I am available and that I'm there for my kids. They need me and I need them. So hat has changed. But having said that, what I always think about – and what I always thought about when I would go to places that might be considered contentious – I'm going to these places for maybe a week, or two weeks max. And the people who have to live under these conditions have to do so every day of their lives. So if I can go and communicate some sense of what their lives are like to a bigger audience like that, that is my objective.

On the Importance of Advocating for Women at Work

Lisa: People might look at my career from the outside looking in and go, “Wow. She's been on TV for over 30-something years. She's even had multiple shows with her name attached to the show. This is Life with Lisa Ling, Our America with Lisa Ling.” But can you think of any other Asian women who've had their names attached to a show? , in the, in the past 20 years? Increasingly there are more and more now. Padma Lakshmi has a show. Alex Wagner is anchoring a show on MSNBC. But prior to the last few years, I've been the exception. And the great actor, Riz Ahmed, recently said something that really resonated with me. It's not enough to be the exception. If you're the exception, it means you're complicit with the status quo. And so it's important for me and it's vital for me to try and raise awareness about this. And to try to encourage my fellow Asian American women to advocate for themselves, for each other, and other women as well.