During the summer of 2015 I entered the OCA National internship program, where I lacked the knowledge and maturity to understand the real meaning of being Asian American or the matter of fact of being Asian. Throughout the 10 weeks of the program, I was able to slowly realized that what I have known about myself for the past 18 years is slowly being changed. I learned that my naive self is not realistic in the real world, and my values are constantly being challenged by the temptation of taking a shortcut to success especially as an Asian American.
During the time I was in DC I was placed at Asian Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (National ACE). Being placed at National ACE was honestly one of my best college experiences. I not only got to work with the president and CEO of the non-profit company as a starting intern, but I also got to work on legislations related to small businesses within the AAPI community. As a business major most of the time I never get to tap into Asian American policy work, especially connecting my business interest and my social justice aspects. Throughout the internship program I got the opportunity to not only learn about how I can combine both my passions towards my future careers, but I was also able to create resources that would help benefit me and my home community in the future.
Ever since my summer in DC as an internship for a national non-profit group, I have done many things to better myself in the journey of learning what it means to be Asian American. One of the major aspects I have taken upon myself is being a more active student ambassador for the Asian American Pacific Islander Affairs department at the University of Florida. I have done countless diversity trainings in regards to different AAPI issues within the southeast region, and have also traveled to different schools to help advocate for more AAPI staff representation on campus. Without the internship program I would not be the individual I am today.
The program helped start my journey towards being an Asian American advocate. Allowing me to work towards learning to share my personal experiences without hiding the valued information that I believe others wouldn’t care for within my identity. The program helped me gain a new set of lifelong friends that have helped me gage more interest for policy work especially living with 12 out of 22 interns. Ultimately, the program helped me gain a professional role model through National ACE, where I was able to learn from Sach Takayasu, and the challenges she had to overcome as a professional women dealing with both the bamboo ceiling and glass ceiling. Overall the program allowed me to be the person I am today.