I'm an artist, and like most artists, I've got a story.

The story of a Vietnamese-immigrant and a sun blonde southern belle. How they fell in love and had me and my sister and my brother and my sister and my sister. 

I'm a mixed kid with big dreams, big plans, big expectations.

I'm an artist, it's my practice, my profession, my romance, my addiction

Everyday I practice. I work as hard I can to improve my skills, with the hope that someday I'll be able to utilize those skills as a professional illustrator.

But all anybody else hears is that I'm wasting my time.

Imagine being told from such a young age the standards you're meant to uphold.
Imagine meeting those standards, and when worst comes to worse.

You wanna be an artist, not a nurse.

Now let's take a step back to who I am. What my DNA says, white and Viet-Am

Vietnamese American

That's what I say

when the forms ask for race it's easier this way

but thats not who i am you asked for one race

but clearly by my straight hair small eyes and freckled face i'm at least two of those, if not three or more and

can you see where im going here?

See, growing up I never saw people like this,

I'm mixed, not "vanilla" or "exotic" or "lite"

With my art I want to bring representation of this

for my brothers and sisters and cousins and

anybody else who feels forgotten like this

I didn't see another mixed asian american on tv until 2017.

And that show got canceled.

People like me need representation like me

they need to feel seen and heard

when white people stare my family down in target because they're not used to seeing a white woman with a dark asian man, don't you think we need a change?

I want to be that person, the one I didn't get to see when i was a kid. and if not me, who else? it starts with me

I'm an artist, and I'll keep being an artist until the day my pen in my hand stops moving for the last time. I refuse to be dissuaded from my passion. I’m aiming high, shooting my shot, making a name for myself. Already I’ve been building my portfolio of paintings, drawings, music, songs, poems, all in the hope that someday I’ll achieve my dreams.

I want to go to art school. I want to work with my fellow artists to bring representation into comics and games and cartoons and television. I want to exceed everyone's expectations and carve my OWN path. 

I'm a mixed kid, and I have big dreams, big plans, and big expectations for my future.