Susan Jhun: The immigrant story is a powerful one and
one that's not often told.
But a new bookstore in Chinatown hopes
to change that.
Nestled in a cozy spot on Mulberry Street in New
York City's Chinatown, Yu & Me Books is a newcomer
to the neighborhood.
Lucy Yu is the first female to own an Asian
American bookstore in the city, a distinction
she doesn't take lightly.
Lucy Yu: How could it be that I'm the first?
So I think there's, there's a lot of excitement,
but also a lot of work that needs to be done.
Susan Jhun: Yu is carrying out that work by offering
diverse voices in literature with an emphasis on
the immigrant story.
A child of immigrants, Yu says growing up she
couldn't find herself reflected in any books.
Lucy Yu: I think that that beauty of that story was
something that was really missing from books that
I was reading growing up.
So I wanted to have kids come in here, see kids books in
which they are represented and have adults come in here
and be like, oh, finally.
I see a story in which this is my mother.
This is my grandmother as the protagonist.
Susan Jhun: A desire that inspired Yu to open the
bookstore cafe with carefully curated works by not only
Asian American authors, but also immigrant writers
from all over the world.
Lucy Yu: I think a lot of people come in, they're like,
I haven't even heard of 80% of the books here and that's
what gets me really excited.
How do we bring light to these voices that
have always been there?
Susan Jhun: Yu chose the name of her store as a
playful pun, but also as a tribute to her mother.
Lucy Yu: Y and M are my mother's initials so a lot of
what she had to sacrifice and a lot of her story is embedded
in mine and, you know, my journey going forward as well.
Susan Jhun: An unusual journey for the chemical
engineer who moved to supply chain management, where she
still works a full-time job.
Early in the morning and late at nights all while running
the bookstore during the day.
Lucy Yu: I poured my life savings into this.
I poured everything, you know, into trying to build something
that meant a lot to me.
Susan Jhun: A risk her mother at first couldn't understand.
Lucy Yu: She grew up in Communist China, during
the cultural revolution.
She had to, she couldn't finish high school because
she was sent to the farmlands to basically work for the
government without a choice.
And so she escaped that, came to the US to try to
find stability, to try to find a life in which
was better for her and, you know, me, her kid.
And I think there was a lot of fear in doing something
super risky, but when she came here and she sat at the
bar with me at the bookstore every single day for three
weeks she completely 180'd and was like, you can't
close this place down.
You gotta keep it open for the community.
Susan Jhun: Something Yu is passionate about, building a
community space where Asian Americans can connect and
support each other during these difficult times.
Yu has partnered with The Cosmos, an Asian female led
mental health organization to hold events and the
Asian American owned a bean roasterie Favor Coffee,
which created a Yu & Me roast called A Novel Blend.
Only open a couple of months now, Yu is in awe of the
support she's received, especially from female
Asian American authors.
Lucy Yu: Their stories are what brought me here.
So for me to put their stories on the wall and
them to come and find more stories, I think that's
something just so beautiful.
Susan Jhun: With a lot of buzz the future of
Yu & Me seems bright.
But even so, Yu's goals are modest and meaningful.
Lucy Yu: I hope, I hope everyone finds a home here.
I think a lot of business owners have five-year plans,
you know, long term plans. I think about it day by day.
We never know what's going to happen and that's the way that
I stay adaptable, but I want someone to feel at home today
and my long term goals have someone feel at home tomorrow.
Susan Jhun: For Asian American Life, I'm Susan Jhun.