The Person Who Believed In Me

Before Atsuko Okatsuka became an internationally renowned comedian, sold-out performer, and one of the most unique voices in stand-up, she was a quiet eight-year-old girl living in a garage in Los Angeles, undocumented and confused, trying to make sense of why her grandmother had taken her from Japan and why her father never came to get her. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, the trailblazing comic sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the woman who believed in her when no one else could, and how that belief came wrapped in complexity, sacrifice, and what Atsuko calls minor tiny criminal activities.
Atsuko opens up about being born in Taiwan, delivered by an untrained OBGYN uncle because her “family loves a discount,” and growing up in Japan with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. She talks about the speed dating marriage her grandmother arranged in Japan, the moment her mother held a kitchen knife to her own arm at 10 p.m. while Atsuko watched through a sliding paper door, and the night her grandmother put her on a bicycle and rode around Chiba for hours until 2 in the morning to outrun the trauma. She shares what it felt like to be kidnapped the first time when her grandmother rented an apartment five minutes from her dad's house, enrolled her in a school across the street, and her father would stand at the gate watching her play on the playground before quietly going back to work. She reflects on coming to America at eight years old, living undocumented in Uncle Paul's garage, and meeting Uncle JT, a former gang member and Mexican-American outsider at a Taiwanese church who bought her a thrifted guitar she named “Happiness” and taught her to play before Sunday sermons.
There's also a raw reflection on survival, identity, and what it means to love the person who took you. Atsuko talks about inventing a game called Ward Off the Demons to try to snap her mother out of psychosis, why she can make strangers laugh but has never made her mom laugh, and how she's moving her mother into the house next door even though her grandmother has had enough and is going back to Taiwan to separate from her daughter for the rest of her life. She opens up about parasailing in Bali with her dad and crashing into rocks because he was trying to make up for lost time, reconnecting with him as an adult on a seesaw at the park where he used to take her as a kid, and why she painted him as the bad guy for years to protect herself from the truth that he missed her too. She shares why she doesn't want kids, why she answers every one of her mom's 40 daily phone calls even though her mom has never come to a show or her wedding, and why she sees her grandmother as both villain and superhero.
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Chapters ☀️
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro: The Grandmother Who Kidnapped Her Twice
00:04:47 The Speed Dating Marriage: When Grandma Arranged Everything
00:07:22 Born in Taiwan, Delivered by an Untrained Doctor
00:17:06 The First Kidnapping
00:38:46 The Kitchen Knife Incident
00:41:37 Coming to America: Living Undocumented in Uncle Paul's Garage
00:45:57 Uncle JT and the Guitar Named "Happiness"
01:00:33 Warding Off the Demons: Comedy as Childhood Survival
00:59:00 Parasailing in Bali: When Dad Tried to Make Up for Lost Time
01:06:36 The Moana Metaphor: Searching for Mom's True Heart
01:08:52 My Kidnapper Is My Best Friend: The Complex Truth
01:12:02 Grandma Goes Back to Taiwan: The Final Separation

ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Atsuko Okatsuka
Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin McGoldrick
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Social: Kylee Anderson, Maxim Trofimenko, Gracie Pekrul
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital & David & Luana Co.
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Brian Grazer became one of Hollywood's most powerful producers — 43 Academy Award nominations, 320 Emmy nominations, more than $15 billion at the box office — he was a dyslexic kid in the San Fernando Valley getting straight F's, thought of as the boy who couldn't read. Then his grandmother, Sonja Schwartz, told him he was a genius with a gift for gab, and that not knowing an answer didn't make him dumb. It just made him more interested.
In this unguarded conversation, the producer behind A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Splash, 8 Mile, Friday Night Lights, 24, and Empire sits down with David Begnaud to talk about the woman who believed in him first. He describes turning an empty office at Warner Brothers into his own enterprise, cold-calling the twenty biggest filmmakers in the business with a single promise — he'd never ask them for anything — and getting stopped at the door by Lew Wasserman, who handed him a pencil and a legal pad and told him to come back with something of value. He started writing Splash that year.
He also talks about the father who shook off his hand as a child and the father he chose to become instead.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro: The Grandmother Who Said You're a Genius
00:02:01 Straight F's and Deep Shame: The Dyslexic Kid Who Couldn't Read
00:06:28 The Loveless Father: When Dad Shook Off His Touch
00:10:22 Curiosity Conversations: 40 Years of Meeting the Masters
00:18:18 The Warner Brothers Con: Building an Empire from a Law Clerk Job
00:21:42 Grandma Takes Him to the Bosses: Meeting Power at Hollywood Park
00:26:59 The Liar Story: When a Mentor Called Out the Truth Problem
00:37:41 Incorrect: The Coach Who Cut Him and Crushed His Soul
00:54:37 The Teacher Who Hit Him with a Board
00:47:33 The Oscar Moment: Loser, and Jim Lovell's Grip
00:50:39 Deep Throat and Don Rickles: What Grandma Taught Him About Vegas
01:04:50 Riley's Bio: I Am Nice and I Am Caring
01:10:13 What He'd Say to Grandma Sonia: How Much I Love Her

ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Vivian Tu
Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin McGoldrick
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Social: Kylee Anderson, Maxim Trofimenko, Gracie Pekrul
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital & David & Luana Co.
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Vivian Tu became a multimillionaire financial educator with 6.5 million followers, two New York Times bestselling books, and a chart-topping podcast, she was a 22-year-old analyst sitting on a filing cabinet at JP Morgan while senior traders commanded the room. Then Jean Ma, her first manager and the first rich Asian woman she had ever met, told her: You deserve a seat at the table. Don't sit on a filing cabinet like you are some lackey.
In this deeply personal conversation, the creator of Your Rich BFF tells David Begnaud how Jean, who walked into the office in limited-edition Chanel and Gucci stilettos, taught her that life isn't a meritocracy and showed her at a meatpacking-district dive bar that the rules she thought she had to play by weren't the rules everyone else played by.
Vivian also gets real about the manager who reassigned her, told her she was "too girly for finance," and mocked her cardigan as a kimono — and why she's thankful he was such a jerk, because it's exactly what pushed her out of JP Morgan and into the life she has now. She talks about walking away from a $600,000 job at BuzzFeed to bet on herself full time, the $100,000 safety net she built just in case (and never had to touch), and growing up the daughter of Chinese immigrants who sacrificed everything so she could be here. She opens up about buying her parents cars and vacations, why her husband Greg is the reason she can take big career swings without fear, and closes with the story that still gives her chills: a woman at the University of Delaware who used one of Vivian's videos to talk her hospital down $5,000 on a medical bill. And yes, she'll admit it — some of her drive really is just pure spite, knowing the guy who doubted her can't walk past a bookstore today without seeing her face in the window.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro: The Woman Who Gave Her a Seat at the Table
00:01:31 The First Meeting: Designer Bags and Gucci Stilettos
00:08:53 The Brass Monkey Bar: When Time Has Value
00:11:05 The Rules Rich People Play By
00:12:17 The Chaos Demon: Growing Up Outside Baltimore
00:16:16 The Last Strike: When Mom Said We Can't Keep You in America
00:20:37 The American Dream: Running the Race for Those Who Came Before
00:25:42 Raising Rich Kids: The Inheritance They Won't Get
00:29:11 The Kimono Incident: When the Racist Boss Struck
00:32:49 Don't Make Decisions Mad: The Strategic Exit
00:39:58 The Imperfect Mentor: Dogs on Credit Cards
00:42:29 When Your Mom Thanks Your Mentor
00:43:41 The Book Dedication: To Jean and That Man
00:46:21 No Apologies: I Deserve All of My Wins
00:50:07 Not Afraid to Be Embarrassed: The Pattern of Risk
00:54:51 Rich Person or Broke Person: The Rapid Fire Game
00:59:57 The 22-Year-Old Starter Pack: Building Your Financial Foundation
01:13:41 Climbing Cringe Mountain: The Villagers at the Bottom
01:20:53 The Woman Younger Me Wanted to See

ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Vivian Tu
Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin McGoldrick
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Social: Kylee Anderson, Maxim Trofimenko, Gracie Pekrul
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital & David & Luana Co.
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Nirav Tolia became the CEO of Nextdoor, a billion-dollar company connecting neighbors across America, he was a 28-year-old first-time CEO running a struggling startup during the dot-com crash, three weeks away from shutting down. Then Bill Campbell, the legendary Silicon Valley coach who mentored Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and the founders of Google, walked into his office and said the words that changed everything: I don't want fancy quotes. Tell me about the business. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, one of tech's most mission-driven entrepreneurs sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the man who believed in him when he was just beginning to understand what it meant to lead.

Nirav opens up about meeting Bill Campbell at 28, a coach who called him boy, sprinkled profanity into every lesson, and taught him that his title was not CEO but coach. He talks about growing up as one of the only Indian kids in Odessa, Texas, a place where people were genuinely happy because they had each other, and how that shaped his belief in the power of community. He shares what it was like to get to Stanford and realize he wasn't prepared for the rigor, how he found his way into tech through an Ethernet connection in his dorm room and an obsession with the Dallas Cowboys, and why he joined a collegiate acapella group that led him to become a business manager instead of a doctor.

There's also a raw reflection on sacrifice, purpose, and what it means to be a guardian angel. Nirav talks about leaving Nextdoor in 2019 because he felt like a shell of a man, realizing he couldn't be the best CEO and the best father at the same time, and moving his family to Italy for a sabbatical that turned into years. He opens up about being asked to come back to Nextdoor, why he said yes even though he never thought he'd be a CEO again, and how spending time away from the job gave him the space to reflect and become a better human being.

Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com

Chapters ☀️
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro: The Coach Who Believed When the Company Almost Died
00:02:18 The First Meeting: Boy, Tell Me About Your Company
00:10:00 A Stranger in a Strange Land: Finding Community in West Texas
00:14:10 Stanford and the Struggle: When Everyone Is Smarter Than You
00:17:33 Fleet Street Singers: The Acapella Group That Led to Business
00:24:23 999 Failures Leading to One Big Success: The Entrepreneurship Story
00:28:36 Your Title Makes You a Manager, Your People Make You a Leader
00:31:12 Three Weeks of Cash Left: The Christmas That Changed Everything
00:33:46 The Hardest Thing a CEO Ever Has to Do: Laying Off Employees
00:38:15 The Kindness of Strangers: Lost Dogs, Cups of Sugar, and Natural Disasters
00:40:57 Purpose, People, Product: The Three Ps Bill Taught
00:43:00 A Shell of a Man: When Being CEO Meant Not Being a Father
00:48:26 Coming Back to Nextdoor: The Second Chance to Refound a Company
00:54:58 Moving to Dallas: Choosing Family and Community Over Silicon Valley
00:57:21 The Board Meeting in Dallas: Hearing Bill's Voice 20 Years Later
01:03:39 Happy 30th Birthday: The Voicemail That Captures Everything
01:04:59 Find a Bill or Be the Bill: The Legacy of Lifting People Up

ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.

David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.

Host: David Begnaud

Guest: Nirav Tolia

Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin McGoldrick

Booker: Sully Bloch

Director of Photography: Foster Parks

Social: Kylee Anderson, Maxim Trofimenko, Gracie Pekrul

Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)

Theme Music: Slipstream

Post-Production: Longwave Digital & David & Luana Co.

CONNECT WITH US:

The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Adam Lambert became a global superstar, Grammy-nominated artist, and one of the most electrifying voices in music, he was a 13-year-old theater kid from conservative North County San Diego, struggling to fit in at middle school and trying on his mother's makeup after class. Then Lynn Broyles, a voice teacher with fierce energy and impeccable taste, saw something in him that no one else had: a kid who needed a safe space to just be himself. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, the trailblazing artist sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the woman who believed in him when he was just beginning to understand who he was.
Adam opens up about meeting Lynn at 13, a voice teacher who introduced him to Sondheim, cabaret, and the gay cultural lexicon without ever calling it what it was. He talks about growing up with parents who let him wear their makeup and high heels as a toddler, spending Saturdays in a theater company that taught him discipline and teamwork, and the moment he auditioned for American Idol by quitting his job in Wicked with no guarantees. He shares what it felt like to kiss a guy on live television at the 2009 AMAs the night before his first single dropped, getting yanked off Good Morning America because ABC threatened to sue, and why that controversy made him realize his career was about something much bigger than just making music.
There's also a raw reflection on identity, fame, and what it means to finally say what you've always felt. Adam talks about starting to feel shame for being gay once he got famous, encountering homophobia for the first time in mainstream America after living in an LA bubble for 10 years, and why he started having imposter syndrome even though he believed he could win. He opens up about fronting Queen for 10 years, performing for millions at Rock in Rio and on the steps of Buckingham Palace, and why being around Brian May and Roger Taylor taught him the gravity of iconic music through osmosis. He reflects on moving to New York, doing six months on Broadway as the Emcee in Cabaret, and bringing Lynn to see the show as a full circle moment. He shares why he's finally ready to stop people pleasing, why his new self-titled album Adam feels like a return to where he started, and why after 17 years in the industry, he's done being polite about what he wants.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
Chapters

00:00:00 Intro: The Voice Teacher Who Saw the Queen in Him
00:01:23 The Instant Connection: When Humor Became the Language
00:05:22 The Loud, Verbal Kid Who Preferred Adults
00:08:52 Growing Up Different in Conservative San Diego
00:11:40 The Anger Management Lessons and Counting to Ten
00:14:05 Middle School Hell: When the Teachers Liked You Wasn't Cool Anymore
00:15:39 Metropolitan Educational Theater: Learning Discipline Through Performance
00:17:30 Lynn's Gift: Sondheim, Cabaret, and the Gay Cultural Lexicon
00:18:04 The Unspoken Understanding: I Think She Knew I Was Gay
00:26:51 The American Idol Audition: Quitting Wicked for a Shot
00:37:45 The AMA Kiss That Changed Everything
00:45:37 Coming Out on Rolling Stone: The Gay Label and Double Standards
00:35:49 Imposter Syndrome and Finding My Voice
00:53:53 Ten Years with Queen: Pinch Me Moments and Learning from Legends
01:02:29 The Five-Year Relationship: Finding Work-Life Balance
00:50:03 The New Album ADAM: Accepting All of Yourself
01:10:42 Broadway Cabaret: The Full Circle Moment with Lynn
01:14:13 The Evolution of LGBTQ Visibility: Then vs Now
01:16:50 Feel Something Foundation: Giving Back to Queer Youth
01:20:42 Give Me My Flowers: It's My Turn

ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Adam Lambert
Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Social: Maxim Trofimenko, Kylee Anderson, Gracie Pekrul
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital, David & Luana Co.
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast