I love how messy people get during the Kamayan Feast. You can just feel very free in the sense of grabbing with your hands,

eating really close to loved ones. But then, the set up and the pack up of it all still happens together as a family.

My parents themselves immigrated to the United States when they were teenagers. And so it was really important for my parents,

especially as they felt somewhat discounted to their parents because of having to figure everything out on their own, that we constantly have

these family gatherings all together. And it was very regular for me to have at least 15, 20 people at my house

every single weekend. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Grandpa. I was born in 19,

forgotten. For me growing up in Brentwood, in a very largely white suburban neighborhood, there wasn't a lot of

cultural touch points for myself in terms of getting to see other people like me within my community. And so I had to look towards

that very closely within my own home. I was one of the only other Asians in the class. I had two completely

different personalities coming home and then going to school. My family's vision for me was always that I was going to be the successful

lawyer or doctor. I was struggling with a lot of identity issues in terms of culture and personality and career.

They kind of had this push back a little bit of, well, everything was kind of already laid out for you right here.

Why was there such a struggle? I realized that the only place that I really felt the happiest and most connected

outside of, you know, my family was being in the educational sphere. So when I came to USF, it made perfect sense to me.

I love the sense of community. And it's just always so diverse. This particular program is unique in the sense

that we are located in the heart of San Francisco. And that we are so closely connected with so many world

renowned museums in this area. SF MOMA, the DeYoung, Cal Academy, Asian Art Museum. One of the things that I love is hosting

a end of year celebration with everyone. I'm your program manager. But, but I'm also like, let me just like hear

what's been kind of going on. It's always felt a little chaotic to me to be at home with my family.

But there is this, also, level of organized chaos within my work family in terms of me switching from being a manager

to a therapist to, just another peer. I've learned to take all multi facets of my personality in my life

In both levels of home family and work family, realizing that there is so many overlaps and parallels to one another.

I do think my parents have changed their mind. They are incredibly proud of what I have accomplished. It's hard for me to see myself

as someone that knocks down barriers. But I didn't even realize it was something that it was doing because it felt like an obligation

to prove myself that I can do these things. There is definitely tunnels and pathways that haven't been followed yet

before in my family. And this is someone that has become a lot more brave and courageous in pursuing something

that I am passionate about.