I don’t know if I came to Israel to change the world or to somehow connect the world. Growing up in America, I’ve only seen bad news about the Middle East and conflicts in Israel. So when the opportunity presented itself, I decided to find out for myself what it’s really like in this part of the world.

I hope my living here can give people a new perspective of life in Israel and connect with its culture with an open mind.

I find motivation in my mom. She immigrated to America while pregnant with me and was able to make it as a single mom working many jobs and raising two kids. She inspires me to be the fierce Dragon Lady I am today and will continue to inspire me to travel the world, go outside my comfort zone and keep an open mind and heart.

Strangely, feeling like a minority my whole life has given me the strength to thrive in Tel Aviv the last three years. I am comfortable feeling foreign and I hope to spread more inclusion and diversity in communities around the world. I love inspiring young women to go abroad, travel and dance to the beat of their own drum. I’ll definitely be doing more of that — dancing :)

The greatest challenge I’ve had to overcome was accepting who I am and where I come from. Growing up as an Asian in Southern California, I suffered a lot of racism amongst my classmates that scarred me for life. I never had confidence until 2018 when I went through my personal branding project and became the Mother of Social Dragons. That’s when I finally owned who I am and allowed myself to become the person I am today. Fearless.

I’m in the process of getting Israeli citizenship but it takes a long time for foreigners who aren’t Jewish. I am in my fourth year and will finally get an ID number this year and in seven years I’ll have a passport.