CuriosityBased

Have you ever said "I'd have people over, but my place isn't nice enough"?

Growing up, CuriosityBased founder Julie Pham absorbed that message — and ran with it. She was buying clearance martini glasses in high school to furnish her someday-perfect home. 🍸
It wasn't until her 20s, moving internationally and leaving most of her belongings behind, that she finally let go of that idea of "enough." Now her hosting philosophy is simple: great conversations over nice table settings.

The stories we tell ourselves about having enough — they shape so much more than our homes.

Julie got into all of this on Melanie Vargas's beautiful podcast What's in Your Neighborhood? Give it a listen 👇
🎙️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-neighborhood-of-enough-with-julie-pham-phd/id1837935787?i=1000760334829

What did "enough" mean in your house growing up?

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Listen to Julie read the newsletter on YouTube: YouTube link: https://youtube.com/shorts/nxduHg5YmnE?feature=share

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Image caption: As a teenager, Julie loved window shopping at stores like Crate and Barrel to get ideas of what she needed to host a dinner.

Athleisure every day — with a few intentional exceptions. 👟

CuriosityBased founder Julie Pham is the first to admit her default uniform is joggers and sneakers. But a conversation with image consultant got her thinking about the deeper connection between what we wear and how we show up for others.
Lazaruk's "3C" framework — Character, Congruence, and Choice — reframes getting dressed not as conforming, but as a form of self-expression and, sometimes, respect.

Because sometimes what we wear says "I see you" before we ever say a word.

Do you ever think about what you wear as a way of showing respect? Or is comfort always king? 👇

☑️Read the full CuriosityBased newsletter: https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?e=[UNIQID]&u=fb7e29d6fb07e1a34280d97c5&id=38fbb42acf

☑️Listen to Julie read the full newsletter on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xlnb_c2F9Uo

☑️Subscribe to our newsletter https://curiositybased.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=fb7e29d6fb07e1a34280d97c5&id=f577a21238



Image caption: Julie was invited to try Armoire, a clothing rental company, and got clothing suggestions from a personal stylist. This was the closest she came to exploring non athletic gear in years

This AANHPI Heritage Month, we've been reflecting on a simple but powerful question: What shaped you before you even knew it was shaping you?

That's the heart of Hyderabad Days by — a memoir about growing up in a close-knit Hyderabad neighborhood in the 1980s and 90s. Not a story of hardship overcome, but of community, simplicity, and belonging that quietly became a lifelong compass.

He writes: "We didn't have frameworks. We had festivals. We didn't have awareness campaigns. We had invitations."
It stopped us in our tracks.

CuriosityBased put together a full list of leadership books by AANHPI authors — because these stories deserve to be read, shared, and celebrated.

📚 Explore the list → https://curiositybased.com/2026-aanhpi-authored-leadership-books/

You can check out our other leadership book lists by Black authors, those who identify as having disabilities, Hispanic/Latino/Latinx, LGBTQ, Native American, and women at https://curiositybased.com/category/books/.

Know a book that should be on here? Drop it in the comments! 👇

☑️Read the full CuriosityBased newsletter: https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?e=[UNIQID]&u=fb7e29d6fb07e1a34280d97c5&id=d787ed82b7

☑️Listen to Julie Pham read the full newsletter on YouTube: https://youtu.be/C1X0EA8squQ

☑️Subscribe to our newsletter https://curiositybased.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=fb7e29d6fb07e1a34280d97c5&id=f577a21238

2026 AANHPI Authored Leadership Books - CuriosityBased In honor of AANHPI Heritage Month, CuriosityBased curated this 2026 AANHPI Authored Leadership Book List...