Miho Soon

Miho Soon is a researcher, facilitator, designer, community organizer and I’m training as a coach. I’m originally Malaysian-Chinese, and currently live in Berlin. 

Her podcast is Money Trauma.

Describe Money Trauma in 10 words or fewer.
What is money trauma, and how does capitalism create it? 

Fill in the blank: If you like _____, you’ll love Money Trauma.
Any highly produced left leaning audio documentary series! 

What was the spark of inspiration for Money Trauma? What motivated you to start researching?
One definitely does not make a podcast about money trauma without a personal story behind it! I discovered the concept of money trauma when I used to work in the crypto industry. I was uncomfortable from day one - something in me kept thinking about people I knew whose lives were ruined by gambling. I spent a lot of time staying up at night trying to clarify to myself why I had a problem with this, and eventually found the work of Richard Kahler, who’s a financial therapist. Once I discovered the concept of ‘Money Trauma’ I became completely obsessed with it. The crypto company later fired me for talking at conferences about money trauma and I decided to pursue the topic on my own.

I come from a family in Malaysia that broke a generational cycle of poverty and became ‘new money.’ But there was still all this survivalism. In my own life, scarcity showed up through experiences of control and domestic violence in close relationships. I thus always felt like I was ‘bad with money’ and felt like it was evil, and I was obsessed with freedom and agency. My newfound class mobility also took me to the West and held up a mirror to the stories I grew up with - that where I am from, people are not good enough, and that we should romanticize Empire.

This whole journey of making Money Trauma has held up a huge mirror to me to challenge these stories and also question the systems behind it. I’m also hugely into socio-political change and I feel like it’s a massive elephant in the room in that subject. Capitalism isn’t just an external system, it’s also experienced personally by us. 

Who’s your dream interview subject for the show?
The immediate person that came to my mind was Gabor Maté, who’s been a huge inspiration to me! But perhaps more relevantly, I’m making an episode in season 2 to explore how men uniquely interact with money - what the patriarchy has got to do with that, and stereotypes in masculinity of being a breadwinner. I really want to speak to men who’ve been through the pipeline of the Manosphere and come out of it and thought a little about how money plays a part in that. So if you know someone - please reach out!

And what would be your dream podcast to guest on?
On Being with Krista Tippett, I love her questions, and I love whatever mood I’m in when I decide I’m going to listen to an On Being episode. I’m looking to feel expansive and contemplative. I’d love my work to make people feel that way.

If you could make one person in the world listen to the show, who would it be?
Trump or Elon Musk. I reference their childhoods in the episode ‘The Psychology of Wealth Accumulation’ to talk about how trauma and having a lot of money could meld together. Although I think they’ve gone too far into the narcissistic rabbit hole and they will completely reject anything I have to say. It’s still a fun fantasy!

Thanks, Miho