Colleagues Across the Ministry: Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)

How has your heritage shaped the person you are today and why is that important?

My adolescent unpacking of self-discovery was painted with streaks of multi-culturalism, transracial adoption, adoption identity, familial dynamics, and multi-racial identification. I was adopted as an infant from South Korea. My journey has not been one of “fitting in” or “affirming cultural norms”; however, this has not been a discouragement. Exploring my heritage has deepened my understanding that our main commonality as humans is simply that we are human. My career, my scholastic studies on multi-racial identity, AAPI professional advancement, restrictions, the Asian-American identity, transracial adoption, and my desire to help people can be attributed back to this quote by Simone de Beauvoir: “The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one another.”




What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to you?

AAPI Heritage Month is a reminder to be proud. It’s a reminder that the Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander community is large, expansive, and diverse in and of itself. Every year, I am challenged to understand the cultural experience of the 50+ ethnic groups represented in the AAPI community. I wish for my sons and other AAPI youth to dream of who they could be. But to do so, they must first begin to understand both who they are and who their communities are. This month makes me excited for the future of the beautifully diverse and dynamic AAPI community all while exploring and celebrating our past.