Storytelling
I'm Not Your Model Minority
I'm Not Your Model Minority was a written and produced as a final project in my Women and Gender Studies course during my last year in undergraduate school. The purpose behind this publication was to educate and provide insight on the harmful effects of the model minority myth through storytelling, specifically sharing it from the perspective of young people.
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Eager and excited, I wanted to share stories that captured authenticity and diversity. My 11 stories come from 11 individuals between the ages 17-23, with a dominant Asian narrative and a few narratives from non-Asian BIPOC youth. It was an intentional choice to not only have Asian voices in this publication. In order to talk about the model minority myth, it's important to discuss its impact; beyond the Asian narratives of invisibility and uniformity. I wanted to shed light on systemic racism, the Asian diaspora, and the change youth want to see happening with and beyond the model minority myth.
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There were many challenges that came with this publication. The biggest being how to create and produce these stories during the peak of a global pandemic. Remote work was a new concept at this point, and the challenge of taking photos presented itself very quickly. Working with my photography mentor, Erica Riley, helped me find creative ways to document the 11 identities who are tied to their personal narratives.
Our discussion quickly led to the idea of doing a FaceTime photoshoot with each individual, which helped captured their personalities and individuality. The two photos that were chosen represent the impacts of the model minority myth (seen with the story) and to showcase what youth empowerment can look like—joyful (seen on the right hand page of each story).
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The skills and tools used to create this publication include: researching, interviewing, writing, storytelling, photography, document design, Canva, Adobe Photoshop, and Microsoft Word. This publication is a thank you letter to my friends who shared their stories to educate the predominantly white and majority, even when it's not our responsibility to do so.
The Definition of Being a Hmong Woman
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The Definition of Being a Hmong Woman was written for my Feature Writing course during my third year in undergraduate school. The prompt was to write something that you relate to and are passionate about. Naturally, I wanted to write about my identity and the people who share these identities with me.
I wrote about the narratives of Hmong women in my life to show that we are more than mothers, sisters, aunts, wives, and caregivers. I wanted to showcase the reality of balancing our traditions and modern, American life. I interviewed four Hmong women, two of my peers on campus, my aunt, and my mother. As a storyteller who shares similar identities, I wanted to include my own narrative without overshadowing the four main stories that were written about. You see my commentary throughout the article, which sets the premise of the kinds of conversations that were struck with these four Hmong women who were happy to share their own thoughts and perspectives.
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When it came to whose story I wanted to share, I had the idea of sharing two separate perspectives from two generations. The *1.5 generation and 2nd generation. What makes this distinction so special and important to me is having a conversation with my own mother about her experience and how she would define herself as a Hmong woman who is a part of the 1.5 generation.
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The skills and tools used to create this article include: research, interviewing, writing, storytelling, and Microsoft Word.
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Having written this paper in May 2019, I took the opportunity to submit it to be published in Harness Magazine. After I sumbitting the article in August, it was approved and published in September 2019. My story was also featured on Harness Magazine's landing page (on website).
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Harness Magazine is women-run magazine that allows female-identifying individuals write and submit their work (from poetry to articles). They believe freedom of expression is female empowerment.
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*The term "1.5 generation" is used to describe the immigrant experience of coming to the United States as a child or adolescent.