The Long Story

Candidly, I haven't figured out how to answer that question efficiently. Or in a way that doesn't leave the inquirer with a lot more questions. So instead, I'm going to tell the long story. In parts.

Any story about me begins with this lady here: my mom

My mother is a woman of firsts. She was the first child born in Taiwan after my family fled China in 1949. She was the first to go to college. The first to come to America. She did so despite family protest, not knowing anyone in the US, and not actually being able to speak English.

My parents met in an engineering doctoral program at Ohio State. Naturally, my mother always encouraged me to one day become an engineer too. Growing up, she would say, "Choose a profession that is still needed if the world falls apart. That's why you should become an engineer. The world will always need someone to rebuild it."

It's advice that's extremely dark. My mom's childhood years were shaped by the trauma and upheaval experienced by my family following decades of war. My mom still keeps an eye out for the end of the world. When I went to graduate school in the United Kingdom, she handed me a bag of gold to sell off "just in case."

At the same time, my mother's advice is also profoundly optimistic. She taught me that no matter what happens, you stand up again and shape what comes next. A quick glance at my Linkedin profile will tell you that I didn't become an engineer. In fact, I hold the distinction of being the black sheep of an engineering family. Even my six-year-old nephew self-identifies as an engineer.

But that instinct to create, to build... and when necessary, to rebuild... sets the foundation for my story.