JoySauce
Verified
Online/Digital
My name is Jonathan Sposato and I’m the founder of Joy Sauce, a new entertainment platform for American Asians showcasing newly developed dramatic shows, reality TV, great written editorial, podcasts, and curated third party content. I’m half-Chinese, half-Korean, and yes, confusingly have an Italian last name (more on that later).
Growing up in this country, whenever I flipped on the TV, I never saw anyone who looked like me who wasn’t the servant, the enemy, the bad guy, or the butt of the joke. So I wanted to help change that. Other Asian Americans are doing this in their respective ways, and together we are stronger. I also believe there is much joy in our community, and Joy Sauce’s approach is to create a space where our joy and power are radically celebrated. I believe that strong and powerful AAPI imagery has the potential to reframe the status quo. Source
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Media Outlet details
| Scope | National, Asian |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Country | United States of America |
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Recent Articles
Search ArticlesStir Fried: How Marc Heu brought French patisserie to the Twin Cities
To reach the stars Heu dreamed first of being an astronaut, channeling his early scientific aptitude and razor-sharp memory to win a national school rocket-drawing contest run by the Guiana Space Centre, the European Space Agency’s primary launch site. With no high schools in the area, his parents sent him to boarding school in Limoges, France.
Finding my Moroccan American identity away from Morocco
For a long time, saying I was Moroccan American came with an awkward ritual. I would introduce myself, mention Morocco, and wait for the inevitable questions: Where is that? or Is it really in Africa? Then Morocco made its run at the World Cup. Suddenly, everyone knew where it was. We had become recognizable through soccer, tourism, and the occasional person planning an aggressively expensive vacation to Marrakesh.
Na Hong-Jin’s ‘Hope’ is action packed, but barely scratches the surface
Hope, which hits theaters Wednesday, starts off promising, though. Hope Harbor police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min, The Wailing) is taken by his cousin Sung-ki (Zo In-sun, soon to appear in Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love) to examine the corpse of a bull with a rather large gash in it. The chief arrogantly believes it’s a tiger but is quickly dissuaded from that rather quickly when he’s called back to the town and discovers a disaster zone, with most of the human population dead.
R.F. Kuang deflates the diaspora fantasy in ‘Taipei Story’
There are many words to describe R.F. Kuang: New York Times bestselling author. Teacher. Learner. But “invisible” might not come to mind. Yet when Kuang was younger, that’s what she wanted to be—until her high school debate coach gave her the confidence to believe that she had something valuable to say. This coach taught her how to project, despite a speech impediment making her hesitant to speak out loud, and helped draw the now-lauded author out from her own shadow.
‘Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing’ is gorgeous, but whitewashes the sport
Premiering at the Venice Film Festival, the ESPN-produced documentary Sumo: Spirit Weights Nothing is an eye-catching 101 on the ancient sport, whose sense of ritual the film retains. It’s sensuous in a way sumo rarely is, especially when presented in the American zeitgeist—where it’s made carnivalesque, like professional wrestling—but Japanese American director Erik Shira approaches it with an artistic reverence, for better and for worse.
Daniella Means on rugby, Hong Kong, and becoming an ‘American Gladiator’
Daniella Means is big. On our Google Meet call, when she raises her arms and flashes her bicep muscles, it’s hard to not be in awe. “I remember going to Thailand for the first time. I wanted to buy a pair of shorts, and I was like, ‘I don't know what size I am.’ And they're like, ‘Oh, you triple XL?’” she recalls. The Hong Kong-born, LA-based 36-year-old bodybuilder and coach was once self-conscious about her body.
‘Bake Sum’ cookbook reminds us that we have to look back to move forward
In the Asian American diaspora, food is rarely just food. It’s how we connect, say “I love you,” and remember where we’ve been and where we’re going. This rings true for Joyce Tang, whose culinary art of choice is baking. She’s the founder, owner, and chief baking officer of Bake Sum, an Asian American bakery serving baked goods from its two locations in Oakland and Alameda in California.
Amita Rao continues to be wacky and empowered in ‘Adults’
And with season two being released last week, we follow a returning main cast of Malik Elassal (Samir), Lucy Freyer (Billie), Owen Thiele (Anton), Amita Rao (Issa), and Jack Innanen (Paul Baker). While the series only has a run of eight episodes, each scene is filled with antics—from acid trips to jury duty—and there’s a lot to be enjoyed within these 20-something minutes.
Director Alexander Ullom wants you to sit with the horror in ‘It Ends’
What’s more, he’s remarkably self-assured and intuitive, making excellent use of a small budget to craft a tense yet philosophical thriller that taps into generational anxieties without pandering. Ahead of its nationwide release last week, I spoke to Ullom about his journey to the big screen, his influences, and the tribulations of independent filmmaking. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
DJ Nene H is finding freedom in herself
When Nene H joins our Zoom, she’s a couple of weeks removed from performing at a rooftop celebration hosted by Chippy Nonstop in New York. Before being known as Chippy the DJ and producer, she had a rapping career in the Bay Area, and Nene H—who has met the other woman a few times and calls her “lovely”—had no idea that her acquaintance was making hyper-twerk music out of Oakland. “I didn’t know this. She would actually mend (DJing and rapping) together,” Nene H says.