I was born in the United States, and was raised back and forth between Taiwan and Texas. Although I see that growing up in two cultures has added richness and diversity to my personality, as a child I struggled with my identity. Because I am biracial, I had a hard time fitting in and struggled to conform to the societal standards of both American and Chinese culture. I was raised by a single, Chinese mother who expressed her hopes and dreams for me, to have a better life than she did. Because of this, I felt an inherent pressure to succeed and take advantage of opportunities given to me.
In college, I studied both graphic design and computer science. What drew me to computer science was that communicating with a computer was much easier than with another human. This is because code is a universal language that is not influenced by culture, emotions, or feelings. I learned through studying graphic design was that humans have traits that computers did not possess such as creativity and imagination. By studying both disciplines, I began to see the benefits of humans and computers collaborating to achieve a greater product. While in college, I also learned that culture plays a crucial role in the design process. Seeing the importance of the user’s role in the design process motivated me to learn more about user experience.
I reached out to recruiters and designers over LinkedIn hoping to get mentorship and experience. A recruiter from Advent Health System noticed me and submitted a proposal to have me join the team as an intern. You might be thinking that I will now discuss the knowledge I acquired from a user experience internship in the healthcare industry. I could go into detail about the integration of patient-centered design principles or designing with compliance in a complex healthcare system. But rather, I would like to focus on a lesson I learned while maintaining that internship. The internship was approved without housing and transportation, so I had a few weeks before heading to Florida to figure out how to maintain this internship. An asset from my upbringing was learning how to maximize resources with little income.
Growing up, my mother knew how to network and make connections, often finding us a place to stay in exchange for cooking and cleaning and only spending money on necessary items. I applied this quality to my internship by finding connections that I could stay with through my church and creating a strict budget during my time in Florida.
Both my family and my internship experience taught me that a lack of finances will not get in the way of my goals or visions. As a result, I have gained my undergraduate degree with little financial assistance from my family. Although, my life was not privileged, it provided me opportunities to open myself up to gain stronger intercultural communication skills. I am driven to succeed because I represented not only myself but also the hopes and dreams of my mother.
