Oveachiever Magazine: The STEM Issue

With articles on...

Discrimintation in STEM Business Analysis in STEM Geography And interviews with...

Creator and Small Business Owner, Alyssa Lau Diversity Activist and Entrepreneur, Sailaja Joshi Found and CEO of Rise, Vivia Chen

Editor’s Note Dear OM readers, I’ve always had a fraught relationship with STEM, beginning with flunking eighth-grade biology, and continuing with people assuming I either excelled at STEM or would work in the field, simply because I was Asian. I gave the field a wide berth when deciding what to major in when beginning college, or when thinking about what career I’d pursue, simply because I was afraid of going into a stereotype (of course, this also has something to do with my aversion to math and science - I’m much more of a poli sci than physical sci girl!). On the other hand, when Asian women *do* go into STEM, their accomplishments and competence are taken for granted. We cannot let stereotypes deter us - one way or another. This starts with not letting them affect our career choices - and continues with supporting other Asian women in STEM. In this issue, we are grateful we were able to do just that.

Yours, Rehana Paul Editor-In-Chief and Founder, Overachiever magazine

Alyssa Lau is a photographer, creator, small business owner armed with a rarely used BSc from the University of Alberta based in Edmonton, Alberta.

Since launching her personal style blog at the age of 19 with her cousin back in 2011, Alyssa has had the chance to work with fashion companies like Chanel, Gucci, Calvin Klein, and Holt Renfrew, and has also been featured in several noteworthy print and online publications such as Elle Canada, Fashion Magazine, Refinery 29, Who What Wear, and FLARE Magazine to name a few. In 2013, after graduating from the University of Alberta and being accepted into a Biochemistry postgraduate program, Alyssa decided to instead pursue a fashion career. Just a year later in 2014, Alyssa and her now-husband, Eric, launched New Classics Studios—a sustainably driven eCommerce site dedicated to bettering the world through fashion by ameliorating the standards of the design industry and educating and encouraging others to

join the Slow Fashion movement. Over the past two six years, New Classics has quickly gained traction amongst the local and international community. We are proud to stand behind the creators and designers who are initiating the way for sustainable fashion in innovative and unique ways. Find Alyssa on Instagram at @imalyssalau, on her rarely used blog imalyssalau.ca, on New Classics newclassics.ca, or Omma’s Kimchi ommaskimchi.ca.

An Interview with Alyssa Lau

By Jean Sumbilla

Introduce yourself!

Hello! My name is Alyssa Lau, and I’m a photographer and small business owner with a rarely touched BSc based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

You are the owner of the slow fashion e-retailer New Classics Studios—what inspired you to create New Classics?

I founded New Classics in 2014 when I was at a crossroads in my life. I had recently graduated from university (majored in Chemistry, minored in Anthropology) and was working part-time as a research assistant in a Biochemistry lab and part-time as a retail associate at a local womenswear boutique. After a year or so of working these two seemingly polar jobs, I was offered the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree in Biochemistry when I had an “ah-ha” moment and realized that research wasn’t the right choice for me.

So instead, my now-husband, Eric, suggested that I open an online store. Since I had been learning more about the slow fashion movement and subsequently noticed how sustainability in the fashion industry was a rarely discussed topic, I did what most Asian parents don’t want their kids to do and started my first small business in 2014, which was New Classics.

How did you come up with the name New Classics?

After days and days of brainstorming, New Classics kind of just came together. As per slow fashion principles, one of New Classics’ purposes was to offer high quality and timeless clothing that could be worn for years to come, but also offer pieces that were special and unique (both in their stories and designs). So when we put two and two together, New Classics just clicked.

What made your decision to make New Classics a sustainably-driven store that combines social responsibility and environmental awareness by selecting slow fashion brands?

My cousin gifted me a book called Naked Fashion: The New Sustainable Fashion Revolution, which truly revolutionized my outlook on the fashion industry. Through this book, I was introduced to the concept of slow fashion and learned about the human rights and environmental violations that happen pervasively throughout the fashion industry, especially the fast fashion industry. Finishing this book prompted me to do my own thorough research and lead me to the realization that not many people even knew what fast fashion was, let alone slow fashion. So in part, I launched New Classics to support and benefit the designers who are paving the way for the slow fashion movement, as well as to provide a platform for education for those who may not yet understand the importance of asking questions like “Who Made My Clothes” every time you go shopping.

You were a science major in university, and you graduated with a Chemistry degree. Why did you choose to work outside the science field?

I entered university with the idea that I wanted to be a doctor, as did 95 percent of my fellow science students at the time. But as I worked through my degree and simultaneously ran an amateur fashion blog on the side, I realized that the sciences had little to offer me and that my interests were heavily swaying towards fashion. After I graduated, I decided to not go straight into pursuing my masters in Biochemistry and instead take a gap year where I worked at two very different jobs. This dichotomy allowed me to learn a lot about myself, where I wanted to take my life and eventually, gifted me the experience to launch New Classics when I decided that research wasn’t for me.

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Do you have any advice for Asian women in college/university that are at a crossroads between their creative and STEM sides?

The best advice I could offer is to try anything and everything you possibly can. If you are interested in fashion like I was, try working at a local small boutique that will give you a variety of useful experiences. If you’re not sure where to start, ask questions! It’s hard to understand the plethora of opportunities that await you if you don’t have a foot in the door.

You are also a cofounder and director of Omma’s Kimchi, an artisanal handmade kimchi business made a few months ago. How has running this company alongside New Classics been?

It’s been very interesting trying to find balance between running Omma’s Kimchi and New Classics (I haven’t yet found it, but I’m almost there). But if there’s one thing I’m grateful for, it’s how Omma’s Kimchi has reminded me how humbling and exhausting starting a new business is.

What would you say are your biggest accomplishments—personal and professional?

Personally, true harmony in my relationships (therapy has been a great help with that). Professionally, New Classics’ six-year mark. I’ve been so lucky to be able to do a lot of fun and exciting things throughout these past few years, but witnessing New Classics turn 6 was the most gratifying and humbling experience yet.

What do you think are the biggest issues that Asian women face right now?

Sexism, racism, fetishization, mental health, toxic families, the model minority myth - where to start? Personally, I think one of the biggest issues that Asians in general (and Asian women especially) face is lack of access to mental health support, which could be due to a myriad of reasons like the cost barrier, associated cultural shame, physical inaccessibility, or lack of representation within the field. I’ve always acknowledged the importance of therapy but going to therapy starting this year really changed its significance for me (I’m now that person who tells everyone around me to try it out). Therapy has greatly affected and changed some of the ways in which I choose to live my life for the greater and helped me explore the holes in my own understanding of myself.

What is next for you? Any new exciting projects?

We do have one exciting project we’re working on personally, and I wish I could share more, but we’re keeping it hush hush for a few more months!

Where can people find you?

On Instagram: @imalyssalau, on my rarely-used blog: imalyssalau.ca, on New Classics: newclassics.ca or Omma’s Kimchi: ommaskimchi.ca!

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“My Name is Xixuan, or X.H. Collins (pen name).

I was born in Hechuan, Sichuan Province, China, and grew up in Kangding, on the East Tibet Plateau. I earned an M.S. in cell biology from Sichuan University before coming to the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition. I then worked as a postdoctoral researcher in biochemistry and taught biology at a community college in the past fifteen years. I’m also a writer and have just published my debut novel Flowing Water, Falling Flowers (MWC Press, Rock Island, Illinois). When I’m not teaching or writing, I’m an avid ballroom and Latin dancer. I love reading and enjoy cooking for my family. I live in Iowa with my husband, son, and our dog. To learn more about me and my work, visit my website at https://xhcollins.com/, and follow me on Twitter @xixuan_c, Facebook @xhcollins, and Instagram xixuan_c.”

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“My name is Meesha, I go by she/her, I reside on Serrano territory, and I am a first generation queer Desi (Punjabi and Kashmiri).”

Find Meesha’s virtual yoga studio’s on IG: @ alchemystic_studio

Christina Lu, PsyD Dr. Lu is the clinical director of Hawaii Counseling and Wellness Center. As a clinical psychologist she specializes in work with BIPOC individuals, couples, and families. A main focus of her work is with children of immigrants and refugees.

Dr. Lu is a dedicated educator and an adjunct faculty at the Hawai’i School of Professional Psychology, with 20 years of teaching experience.

There is magic in 5 pm. When things stop, laptops go to sleep. My brother, Alan, rushes out of his room and knocks on my sister, Ivy’s, door in a weird rhythm from a cartoon. We gently go downstairs. Grandpa, sitting at the table on the right, beckons us over. We each get our bowls of rice. I sit at my seat, marveling at the cauliflower and eggplant. I take a bite of their juices and realize that this is when my world goes a little bit slower.

Lately, I’ve been trying to become more aware of my own workaholic tendencies. When I was younger, I had a phase where I needed to fill every second of the day with things to do. Namely, productive things to do. Things that were “productive” included schoolwork, reading, more schoolwork, working, writing, and even more schoolwork. At one point I did all the problems in my advanced Calculus textbook. Ahead of class schedule. I am, in some ways, still the same.

My days look like this right now: work out, schoolwork, write, take care of errands, classes, lunch, workout,

the opposite experience of a lot of other people.

Here’s my list of obligations at the moment: Classes Part-time internship Part-time physical job Part-time virtual job Part-time paid research project Occasional family errands

Here’s my list of hobbies: Drawing Writing Reading Dancing Playing guitar

Juggling all of them is hard, but I’ve found joy in all of them. It’s a sort of happy, productive zone.

Now, I don’t think everyone has found that zone yet. I had to intentionally choose and decide on the projects that I found most fulfilling, interest-

Magical 5 pm

By Karen Zheng

classes, meetings, and then the magical 5 pm. I’m busy, is what I’m trying to say. I’ve stopped trying to make myself busier though, and I’ve learned over the years to reframe what productive means.

I watched a John Green video the other day (I’ve been obsessed with the vlogbrothers channel ever since my friend introduced me), and he, and I’m sure many others out there, posits that all things are productive. One can doodle, and that is productive. One can sleep, and that is productive. One can eat, and that is also productive. Productivity exists in many forms.

Not all things have to contribute to work. Work, work, work, hustle, hustle, hustle is a toxic mentality that eventually will lead to burnout. Of course, there are superhumans out there who love their jobs so much; they just can’t stop. Which, I think I might be one of them.

Ever since quarantine, I’ve picked up some old hobbies that I dropped and learned new hobbies. I’ve also gotten exponentially busier, which seems like

ing, rewarding, and fun to embark on, and I had to intentionally say no to other projects that I found would just suck the energy out of me. It’s important to figure out which things actually fuel YOU instead of which things that require you to fuel them.

Artist: Laura Kerneis IG: @laura.kerneis Medium: Ink on paper Piece: “Perilously Here�

Photo Credit: joinrise.covv

An Interview with

Vivian Chen Written By Kate Anderson-Song

Introduce yourself!

Hey! My name is Vivian. I’m the founder and CEO of Rise. We are a next-gen career acceleration platform for women. Prior to starting Rise, I had a career in beauty marketing, then B2B SaaS before launching my own consultancy advising Fortune 500 companies, high-growth startups, as well as leading VCs, PE firms, and global institutions. I have worked with companies such as L’Oreal, Ralph Lauren, Greenhouse Software, Glamsquad, Klarna, Bain Capital, the AARP, and more.

Introduce Rise—what is your mission, and what do you do?

Rise is a next-gen career acceleration platform for women. Our mission is to empower more women to rise up and go further, faster, on her own terms.

What brought you to this point—what did you do before starting Rise? How did you begin this company?

I actually stumbled upon this path completely by accident. So much of what I am doing today has been about connecting the dots and making sense of a not-so-straightforward path. My first job out of college was in brand management at L’Oréal. I was really good at my job and was tapped for some of the biggest and most visible projects at the company. Around that same time, a lot of my peers were moving to Silicon Valley, working for exciting tech companies with grand big ideas to change the world. Like a typical millennial, I had FOMO. So I left the world of luxury perfumes and shampoos and into the world of B2B software and HR technology. The transition definitely had a lot of people scratching their heads.

But it was not until I started Rise that it all clicked. Thanks to L’Oréal, I knew how to build products and experiences for female millennial audiences, and my experience at Greenhouse gave me a front-row seat into recruiting and talent. Rise is the perfect culmination of both of those worlds.

How have you all adapted to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? How is life at home? How has running your company changed during this time?

COVID-19 has definitely brought us its fair share of ups and downs. Prior to the shutdowns, we had a vibrant lineup of in-person events and programming that unfortunately had to shutter because of the pandemic. During this time, we also saw unprecedented levels of unemployment and underemployment for women. We have erased much of the progress of female advancement we’ve gained in recent decades, and it wasn’t that great to start with. The share of women in the workforce is down to levels not seen since 1988, or the year that I was born.

I am the biggest fan of Mathilde Collin, the Cofounder and CEO of Front. I actually didn’t know of her until recently and could not believe that I did not know of such an incredible founder. Mathilde is all about heads-down hard work, and focus. You won’t find her splashed across magazines with an army of publicists lauding her accomplishments because she doesn’t need to. Her focus is on metrics that drive growth, not vanity. If you want to know what kind of founder she is, follow her writing on Medium and check out her fundraising deck.

She is legendary. Whenever I have a difficult challenge, I often ask myself, “What could Mathilde do?”

COVID has also challenged me as a leader. During tough times, transparency is more important than ever. Over the last few months, I’ve been working on communicating more authentically, candidly, and from the heart to normalize emotions at work. On the plus side, we have seen a huge surge in traffic and new users as more women embrace working with a company like Rise to accelerate their careers. We are at a critical juncture in history; what we do in the next few years will set the tone for gender equality for decades to come. I am more energized than ever to take the challenge head-on.

The most important city question: what is your go-to coffee shop order?

What would you say is your biggest accomplishment? Personally and work-wise?

I think of myself as truly bicultural. I speak Chinese fluently and love the beauty of my culture and heritage. Growing up in an immigrant family has taught me the importance of financial prudence. I find it abhorrent when so many tech companies pilfer investor’s money irresponsibly.

I still feel like my biggest accomplishment was something I did when I was 15—did I peak early? I started a nonprofit organization to support disadvantaged women and children—I even cold snail-mailed then-President Bill Clinton. To my surprise, he actually responded and taught me an important lesson to never be afraid to put yourself out there.

Personally, my biggest accomplishment has been leaving the comforts of a well-paying job to give myself the chance to do something I can be proud of.

Who inspires you? Do you have any role models in your lives?

Plain drip coffee! Can’t help it; it’s the cheap Asian in me! I find it to be much more economical to make coffee at home than to spend $6+ on a cup out. I love my Nespresso and honestly think it tastes better than most coffee shops.

How does your cultural identity and heritage influence you and your business?

What do you think are the biggest issues Asian American women face today?

I think Asian American Women are still typecast in American society. Oftentimes, we are seen as meek, shy, and obliging. I find it funny when people tell me I’m a loud and opinionated Asian when I grew up in a family filled with loud and opinionated Asians! This stereotype is reinforced when

Artist: Areeba Hamid Piece: “Lost in a Fairy Tale” (September 2018) Media: Sculpture - paper, book, ink, feather, wire, glue Dimensions: 13.5” * 9.1” * 8.25”

“This piece was inspired by the artist Su Blackwell’s sculptural art style. I spent a lot of my high school time in the school library. It was a safe space for me and it always evokes certain emotions when I think about it. It is a location that I have an attachment to and where I go to relax. I want to show how that special place makes me feel. I created a very mystical sculpture to showcase the different textures, colors, and feelings of the library that I see, touch, and smell everyday. Fairy tales have always been my most favorite genre, so I was inspired by their mystical elements while creating this piece. I used pages from classic fairy tales and created this sculpture as if when you opened the book, the comfort of the stories and the library pours out of it.”

Artist: Areeba Hamid Piece: “Lost in a Fairy Tale” (September 2018) Media: Sculpture - paper, book, ink, feather, wire, glue Dimensions: 13.5” * 9.1” * 8.25”

An immigrant’s child

by Michaela Brannigan Overseas and different lands. A story split in many strands. Weaved together and dressed on my back.

I wear it proudly all that I am.

Boogieman As a child I feared they were under my bed. As an adult I found they prowled in my sheets instead.

Baby’s breath An empty garden.

A seed that would not bloom. A spring this heavy always stays with you.

Artist: Areeba Hamid Piece: “Lost in a Fairy Tale” (September 2018) Media: Sculpture - paper, book, ink, feather, wire, glue Dimensions: 13.5” * 9.1” * 8.25”

An Interview with

Sailaja Joshi Written By Kate Anderson-Song

Introduce yourself!

My name is Sailaja Joshi, and I am the CEO and Founder of Mango & Marigold Press.

Introduce Mango and Marigold Press—what is your mission, and how did it begin?

Mango & Marigold Press is an award-winning independent publishing house that shares the sweet and savory stories of the South Asian experience.

What is your background? How did you get into publishing?

With the impending birth of my first child, I was searching for books about my Indian culture. Upon reading the few stories that existed, I realized that many of them were inappropriate, or worse, insensitive.

Knowing the power of representation, I decided that

I would not raise my daughter in a world where she wouldn’t see herself on the cover of a book as the hero. So with my sister and a close friend, we set out to change home libraries. The first book we released was Hanuman and the Orange Sun. And WOW, did we see some magic with kids seeing themselves firsthand.

Since we were founded in 2015, the state of diverse books has improved, but there’s still a long way to go to close this diversity gap. In 2018, 50% of books depicted white kids, and 27% featured animals or others, leaving the remaining 23% to be divided between characters of diverse backgrounds. We are a company dedicated to closing this diversity gap, and we won’t stop!

How have you adapted to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? How has your work changed during this time?

Ha, life has totally changed for me. I work full time in addition to running Mango and Marigold Press.

That in itself is a lot, however adding in managing two kids during a pandemic, their school, keeping a house running, and all that is...really overwhelming. I still work as much as I can but am often interrupted by two small ones.

What would you say is your biggest accomplishment? Personally and work-wise?

Oooh! What a question. For me, helping to challenge and change the face of publishing has been a huge accomplishment. And personally, I think raising wonderful kids.

What do you look for in the stories you publish? In the illustrators you hire?

We typically work with own-voice authors and acquire our scripts year-round. In our books, we look for strong, South Asian protagonists and stories that highlight the South Asian experience.

Who inspires you? Do you have any role models in your life?

This is a tough question—I don’t really have one person in mind. I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I am so inspired and encouraged by other entrepreneurs who see something that needs to change and create a solution for that problem. I love reading about others who are doing their part to change the world for the better!

If I was pressed, I feel really grateful to have wonderful role models in my own family. From my mother, my father, and my sister, I deeply indebted to them for modeling what it means to be compassionate, kind, and driven by equality. For my husband, who has a power with the written word and always models by putting others before himself.

What do you think are the biggest challenges South Asian women face today?

That’s an incredible question. I think for many of us, it is healing generational traumas, unlearning the colonial mindset that we’ve lived in, and then creating our own path.

What is your favorite comfort food/treat?

Ha! It can change. But honestly, it’s probably a butter dosa, made extra crispy, by my mom—eaten after doing some hard work.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

To save my money. To write more. And to believe in myself.

What is next for you and Mango and Marigold Press?

We’ve had an...eventful year, you could say this past year. We not only changed our name but launched our first middle-grade book, our first an-

thology series in partnership with Brown Girl Magazine, our first young adult book with Gayatri Sethi, and many, many picture books.

OH, MAN! SO MANY INCREDIBLE THINGS!!! I still cannot believe that this year we will be celebrating the sixth anniversary of Mango and Marigold Press. Stay tuned as we have a lot of wonderful scripts coming out, and I’m so honored to be a part of that wonderful, exciting process. I also love how so many amazing new Desi mompreneurs have come onto the scene, and it makes my heart so so happy to see us paving such a wonderful path forward for our children.

I would like to see my team change the world. No, that’s too proud and broad. Or actually, on second thought, not too proud. I truly believe that there is so much power in literature to create meaningful conversations about diversity at all ages, and this will change the world!

Sailaja N. Joshi is a design thinker, intersectional feminist, mother to two, a bibliophile, an entrepreneur, lover of bold, modern design, diversity activist, and an aspiring dog owner.

A Massachusetts native, Sailaja grew up a voracious reader.

From Leo the Lop to Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Amelia Bedelia, she loved every book she read. If you were to ask her today what her favorite book is, she’d likely say either the Harry Potter series OR The Tao of Pooh. It really depends on the day.

She has always been interested in exploring multicultural generations and loves using those skills in new and exciting ways as the CEO and founder of Mango and Marigold Press. Mango and Marigold Press is an award-winning independent publishing house that shares the sweet and savory stories of the South Asian experience. Founded in 2014, the company has produced fourteen books across four different product categories and been featured on the Today Show, Us Weekly, People Magazine, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and so much more.

In 2019, the company unveiled its #1001DiverseBooks initiative.

With this program, Sailaja has committed to raising the funds to donate 1001 new, diverse books to literacy nonprofits bridging the accessibility gap within Children’s Literature. Community members can sponsor books for just $10 and, through this program, ensure that every child has access to high-quality, diverse kid’s lit. The company launched the initiative with its 14th book Finding Om and reached their goal of raising funds for 1001 books in just five short days. The company’s mission has expanded to not only bridge the diversity gap in children’s

literature but also improve the accessibility of diverse children’s lit in underserved communities.

Her ambition is to have Mango and Marigold Press be an active participant in the field of multicultural children’s literature, moving forward with the belief that we need diverse kids lit for all kids in a diverse world. When she’s not working to change the face of children’s publishing, she can be found hanging with her two adorable children at the park or at circus class (really, that’s a thing).

Website: mangoandmarigoldpress.com IG: @mangoandmarigoldpress Twitter: @MMPress_ Facebook: www.facebook.com/ mangoandmarigoldpress

Artist: Nikiya Crisostomo IG:@paintandpalate.nkbc Piece: “inhenyera�

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

The Role of a Business Analyst in Why STEM into STEM?

Written By Ruchi Acharya

Did You Choose to Go

The volatile nature of today’s global economy is that professions in fields of engineering, science, technology, mathematics, and business management are very important to our current societies’ ways of life.

STEM acts as pillars of society that help to develop solutions to complex problems occurring in the fields of medical science, communications, transport industry, constructions, microfabrication, and artificial intelligence, among others.

My name is Ruchi Acharya, and I am a Business Analyst by profession.

There are a plethora of reasons why I chose to pursue my career as a Business Analyst, and I would like to share it in this article. Before I can share my viewpoints, let me cover how Business Analysis is related to STEM-based on my research and knowledge.

Demystifying Business Analysis as a STEM career To begin with, we must address how a business analyst plays an important contribution (directly or indirectly) within the STEM industry. This can be further explained in the following figure: To Make an Impact in Society One of the main reasons that I chose to be a Business Analyst is because I wanted to contribute towards the greater good.

I want to bring positive change to peoples’ lives. Every day as a community, we face many problems, whether it is waiting in a long queue at the Out-Patients-Department (OPD) in a hospital, difficulty in selling your products or services to customers against big multinational corporations (MNCs), introducing new policies or employment schemes in a Council, or prioritizing global funding to reduce the burden of disease in countries. All of these jobs can be performed by a professional analyst who can develop better business models, better decision-making processes, enforce product improvement techniques, perform risk assessments, ameliorate business management operations, or analyze big data, etc. Impact, impact, and impact. That’s what I want to bring to society, and I am proud to take my first steps to make this world a better place.

Power of Huddle My profession as a Business Analyst captures the true essence of teamwork as I work with people who come from a multitude of different professions and backgrounds. It is an amazing experience to collaborate with people from different areas of expertise. For example, in one of my projects, I was continuously working with testers, software developers, policy strategists, economic analysts, and a marketing manager. The thing I find most rewarding in my role as a business ana-

lyst is that every business is diverse in nature and has its own unique challenges and risks associated with it. As a group of technical people, we inspire each other to resolve business problems efficiently and to have courage to challenge business issues on all levels. The process of learning is never-ending. By sitting around a table, sharing our perspectives and approaches respectively, business analysts build key strategies and implement effective planning for our clients.

So far, I have worked in India, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom. Believe me; it was a wonderful experience to meet new people, study the datasets together, and work towards the continuous improvement and evaluation of products and services. The profession of a business analyst not only advances my technical skillset but also helps me grow as a person. Over the past few years, this profession has developed both my interpersonal and intrapersonal skills to a great extent.

Client’s Happiness Nothing is more rewarding than a happy and satisfied client. At the end of the day, it feels great to earn the respect of your clients. In general, STEM helps us propel forward and find answers to societies’ problems. With the help of technology, life is much easier than it was in the past. The application of STEM has resulted in innovations and discoveries that have vastly improved and advanced our way of life.

Let’s rewind back 5 years to a conversation I had.

‘Oh, you do Geography? So what do you do? Colour in maps?’

I had this same (one-sided) conversation with countless people over and over again for 3 years.

The joke very quickly wears off when reality sets in that people have this preconceived notion of what is a ‘good’ subject and what isn’t. And clearly, based on this same 10 second conversation, Geography was not. The study areas most associated with ‘STEM’ are those like Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths, and not Geography. After scouring through lists online of STEM subjects, Geography (and specialised areas within Geography) were listed on about half. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and maths, and focuses on both analytical and creative skills, and problem solving - all of which are encompassed within Geography.

So what’s up with this dismissive response?

Studying a degree with 200 students, I could count the People of Colour (including myself) on one hand. For 3 years during and even now 2 years post graduation, I still hear that response every so often. The same demeaning tone and close-mindedness that influences the way people see certain studies, and potentially the same reason that there isn’t enough representation. Environmental organisations and leaders have for a long time been White males, making decisions and directing initiatives with little experience or perspective on what they were deciding. This is especially evident in the fight against climate change, where women, especially Women of Colour are not given precedence or a place where decisions are being made that affect them. Is it because I don’t study law, medicine or engineering that what I do is insignificant and not classed as a STEM subject? And yet, the majority of my degree was statistics, analysis and data mapping, economics and research. All of which are the very same foundations that makeup the study of maths, physics or engineering.

‘You know about economic theory?’.

Photo Credits: Unsplash

Yes. I studied urban economics, my dissertation was base sessing the impacts of international migration on regiona was a friend who was studying accounting and finance, w incomprehensible that I was well versed on something he ‘But what you do is easier’.

Actually, no. This was what I heard countless times as a re and research results. Both my cross-national research pro city research I conducted used regression analysis as a c work. A challenging statistical method which is used wide Maths and Engineering. Geography is multi-disciplined, a and understanding of systems, practices and methods ac no it isn’t easier. If I was actually colouring in maps all da fair enough, but I wasn’t.

There’s no arguing that doctors, lawyers and engineers developing society we are in, but so are geographers. Eve environment changing - the ecological destruction, the clim exponential growth of cities and populations, the tonnes pollution. Who is needed for that? Geographers. We are th global issues that affect the environment, development a ones who monitor the landscapes, processes and environ earth, the ones who map changes and find connections be places.

Geography crucially addresses the links between and acro areas, how they relate and how they can be used togeth cial, political, economic, cultural and technological sides to problem solve, create innovative solutions and drive gro ography but incorporated skills from Maths, Economics, Languages, Politics and International Development (just to

Geography is all around you, the cities, the landscapes, th ments and the people. That is why I wanted to study it and just because it is not Medicine or Law does not mean th of research, high quality work, understanding or importa all other study areas that are overlooked and not represe because of the negative stigma that it is not a STEM area them STEM subjects, acknowledge their importance in so and encourage people that want to study them.

‘So what do you do?’.

We plan, innovate, design, create solutions, adapt, build preserve and integrate disciplines. That will be my answer see what kind of response that gets.

ed primarily on asal economies. This who found it almost e studied.

ebuttal to my exam oject and the local central part of the ely across Physics, and entails the use cross the board, so ay for 3 years then

are crucial to the eryone can see the mate changes, the s of plastic and air he ones who study and resources, the nments across the etween people and

oss different study her. It looks at sos of different areas owth. I studied GeStatistics, Biology, o name a few).

he diverse environd why I continue to, here is an absence ance. This goes for ented well enough, attached to it. Call ociety and support

resilience, protect, r from now on, let’s

“You do Geography?

So what do you do?”

Written by Maryam Arshad

“Bachans” (L) and “Emotions” (R) by Lauren T. Hashima IG: @anxiouslittlearies Medium: Procreate

Breaking Through the System

By Alisha Ebrahim

The system was not built for us. Sometimes, for those that will stop at nothing to reach their dreams, this can feel like a cop-out, but that is not the case. The North American medical system was not built for South Asian womxn, and now we have to work twice as hard to succeed because we have twice as many barriers in our way.

In schools, medicine is scrubbed clean of Eastern contributions, making South Asians feel as though we are a new, outof-place addition to the field. Students are not taught about Ibn Sina, the Persian father of early modern medicine. Instead, we are taught about Avicenna, the man whose contributions were only valid in translation. History is Latinized so that Western tongues can pronounce it easier, because it is the Western mindset that is given priority regardless of how much its changes actually corrupt. Yes, these changes are corruption because it is not just Ibn Sina whose name was changed, and this is not just a historical phenomenon. It is a change that has far-reaching and permeating effects. Students walking into medical schools are met with raised brows and confused tones as their names are butchered, diminishing their worth before they can even begin. As they walk through a hospital, all they see are white faces—faces that do not look like

theirs—passing by, and the deans they look up to, the heads of their institutions, are almost always white males, another brittle fact that adds battling discouragement to the overbearing workload the students already have. And as they progress through school, medical students are taught how diseases appear on white skin, and how they present in white males. They are told through these lessons that they are here to treat white people, and stumble upon remedies for the rest. They are told to forget their ancestors, and to leave behind their communities because their people are too difficult for a white system to start caring about. They are told to give in to a system of division.

But it is not just names and lessons that create a system of us and them, it is microaggressions amongst peers and mentors that make South Asian womxn feel as though they don’t belong. Our religions are laughed at, or must be defended through comparisons to Christianity; our voices are not heard unless they speak loud enough to overpower the sounds of white male dominance, and every mark wrong on a test feels like ten, because nothing but a perfect score can prove a womxn’s worth. It is not just the aunties that expect perfection anymore, but rather it is the system that will not listen unless every number is aligned, every score is a hundred, every hair is in place, every outfit is perfect, and every step is carried with confidence. Clearly it’s not just knowledge that gets a womxn a seat at the table. We are judged to the highest standard inside and out, but just as we think they’ve reached the standard, the bar is suddenly raised.

Through all of these simple, yet permeating acts, medical institutions teach students that they must Westernize their mindsets to excel or they will be left behind. In South Asian

culture, children are taught to be the best in their fields, but they are also taught the importance of their roots. As one can imagine, entering medical school and being told to leave one of those values at the door is conflicting and discouraging. Therefore, for a South Asian to be in the medical field and keep true to their cultural beliefs is an act of defiance. It should not be, but it is. How can students expect to break into a career where all of their role models look nothing like them and can’t even begin to understand them? They can’t. Instead, they have to work to defy the expectations of their peers and professors who see them as lesser in every way and prove that their contributions are just as valuable as anyone else’s. As South Asian womxn we have to lift each other up because the system won’t do it for us. We have to push each other to be the best in our medical professions, but we also have to celebrate each other and encourage each other. Through competition we will not break through the barriers, because showing the medical field that we are good enough will not happen by tearing each other down. Building each other up will be the only way that we can reach the summit. We have to collectively love ourselves and our histories so loud that the voices telling us we can’t succeed are drowned out until they are silenced.

Nothing will change unless we put in the work. We cannot be complicit no matter how difficult it is. We have to tell them that his name was Ibn Sina, we have to petition for art that includes faces like ours, we have to support researchers that study our rich skin tones and female bodies, and we have to push back against everyone who wishes to leave us out. These are acts that we need to undertake together, because when we support each other, we can change a system that was not built for us.

“These are acts that we need to undertake together, because when we support each other, we can change a system that was not built for us.”

M

Manic Pixie Asians: My Mother’s Guidelines

By Tesia Lin

There are several rules to being the perfect Asian in the United States, many of which I have adopted from my—and other—immigrant Taiwanese mothers. In adherence to one of her many lessons, I will keep these rules as brief as possible and present the condensed outline version instead.

1. Brains cannot coexist with beauty.

There exists the classic nerd whose pile of books is always being knocked over by a bully in the hallways. That nerd was me: Asian with round glasses, braces, plastered with acne, and always dressed in my cousin’s hand-me-downs. At my best, I had a group of five friends and was always placed in “gifted and talented” programs. Like the majority of millennials, I successfully transformed after puberty and blossomed into someone with body issues—not as confident as I wanted to be, but not as ugly as I felt at the age of thirteen. I experimented with beauty products and became skilled enough that I recently had the honor of doing a friend’s hair and makeup for her wedding day. Most days, I felt extremely proud of my progress regarding my relationship with my body until: “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re too girly to be a scientist/outdoor enthusiast.” I bat my fake eyelashes twice in confusion. My stomach was an anchor ripping through the foundation I had built myself in hopes of embracing my appearance. As the customer I was helping walked away to seek the advice of someone wearing zip-off cargo pants, I scolded myself for my vanity. So what if wearing makeup makes me happy? Even though my workplace had no dress code, how dare I choose to dress in a way that insinuated that I was anything other than a wildlife biologist? Was it worth people disregarding my opinion because pretty girls simply could not be smart or resourceful? My mother’s snarling voice followed me as I went into the break

room.

2. Don’t be too loud. Men will not like your boldness.

If I make a reference to Mulan, I think most people would understand it. The entire number titled “Honor to Us All” is based on the Chinese traditions which uphold patriarchy. Matriarchal figureheads are seldom found, and somewhere in my early twenties, I had found the matriarchy I was looking for! I landed an incredible opportunity to work with the bear management team at a famous national park, and what a whirlwind of a time. Our days were often about managing people rather than bears, so it meant that sometimes our encounters with park visitors looked like this: “The majority of the wildlife management team is women? Must be why all the animals are wreaking havoc.” The man getting into his red pickup truck (laughing at his retort) could not bear the thought of an entire team of women chasing bears, sometimes handling non-lethal weapons, and patrolling the valley in a lifted F-350. He sought to disparage the idea that women should ever be so confidently efficient in a male-dominant field. I walked back to our team truck and questioned my place as a minority woman of small stature; would a man be better suited to run after animals? Aren’t men genetically disposed to being stronger, faster, and smarter? After all, the team could use some gender diversity—my mother always told me it was best not to threaten a man’s position of power anyway.

3. Befriend and idolize white people in this country.

The Golden State was always golden—strangely, the Golden Gate Bridge was not. Regardless of the nomenclature, San Francisco was bustling with (segregated) diversity and a surprising amount of unique flora and fauna which existed within the Golden

Gate Park. Some of my favorite days were when we worked with volunteers to restore native landscapes. One day, when the technicians were being introduced, my name was left out. I confronted the speaker, and she simply stated it was because I was not fit to answer anyone’s questions yet. This sounded like an agreeable concern, so I conceded.

“For an Asian girl, you’re pretty stupid.” This couldn’t be racism, could it? Not when she was questioning my Buddhist beliefs. Not when she was yelling at me in the car for touching the radio. Not when she was scrutinizing the mundane things I did. Not when she was vehemently insisting that her acupuncturist, skilled in Chinese herbal medicine, did not need to credit Chinese acupuncture as a part of Chinese culture. Definitely not when she asked if my Chinese name was “Won-Ton” or “Pork Fry Rice.” The microaggressions she spewed were becoming so frequent that I had normalized them.

Maybe I should have tried harder; maybe I should not have stood up for myself; maybe I should have been less sensitive. My mother would have encouraged endurance and silence, so I did. Eight months into enduring the abuse and using my mental health days to cry, still unsure of whether or not I could call the treatment racism, I was sobbing at the lobby asking for directions to the HR office.

4. There is no way you can achieve all of that - limit yourself.

One of the best parts of living in Hawai’i was not the beaches or the beautiful weather. It definitely was not the self-righteous tourists. It was the comfort in knowing that, for the first time in my life, I was not a minority. I was seeing people who looked like me in positions of power and influence—despite all of my superiors in conservation being non-BIPOC. This was one of the best years of my life; many of my closest friends were made during this time period. I was telling one of my friends about work I had done in Peru, and she stopped me: “Are you sure you’re not lying about your resume?

This seems like too much.” Have you ever been unsure about whether a friend was truly a friend?

Uncertain if she was teasing me, complimenting me, or putting me down, I let out a nervous chuckle. Growing up, I was on a sports team, played violin, learned three different languages (pro tip: be first-generation and you will automatically be bilingual), sang in church choir, and eventually ob-

tained two Bachelor’s degrees. I thought that a fellow Asian-American would relate to being an overachiever.

I had worked so hard to prove my place in the sciences—yet my own brethren were going to deny my experiences. I was going to discover that she was privy to upper-class white tendencies because her parents were well off. She was able to get her experiences in conservation without going to college for the subject—she simply had to pay her way in.

Meanwhile, she found my experiences unrelatable. How could I have achieved all of that yet have been so poor growing up that scraping mold off of bread became a habit well maintained into adulthood? My mother worked hard to crowd my schedule so that she could attest to my obedience. Instead, she created the kind of monster who would compulsively work in hopes that my best efforts would propel me forward in life, simultaneously dismissing the accompanying exhaustion and depression.

“So, what do you do?”

I used to tell people I was lucky to have gotten so far in my field and felt bliss in admitting so. The reality that I am embracing now is that I have worked hard to succeed as a Taiwanese woman working with wildlife. There is not a single experience listed on my science-oriented resumé, which was not met with racial, classist, or sexist barriers that I had to overcome. When I progressed to someone I could be proud of, it was not only too dramatic for my Asian mother, but it was too much for everyone else because the entirety of my being did not validate their stereotypes of Asians.

In recent years, Harvard Business Review published an article titled “Asian Americans are the Least Likely Group in the U.S. to Be Promoted to Management.” Being Asian Americans, we are prone to enthusiastically facing our peers as they eagerly commend hard work in lieu of a promotion. It is suppressing the resentments we feel when we bravely overcome our anxieties to share innovative ideas only to have our peers take credit for them. It even manifests as me brainstorming these stories for an entire week, afraid to share it on a public platform lest it be perceived as “too critical, too hostile,” or “too opinionated.”

The reality is we are the manic pixie minority. We exist solely as side characters with no purpose outside of assisting others’ growths. We lend a hand to our supe-

riors, begrudgingly complacent in our positions as silent, hard workers. We do this so much that our group identity has been erased, allowing non-Asians to dismiss the discrimination we face.

During the exile, we withstood together in the midst of the horribly mislabeled “China virus,” I hope that we can see that this system was not made for us either. I hope we begin to recognize that while Asians hold a large percentage of positions in STEM, many of these positions are stagnant. I hope we break our parents’ toxic cycles of appealing to their white counterparts. I hope that for someone reading this, you feel a sense of companionship because this is relatable.

I hope that you voice your opinions and take ownership of your ideas. I hope for someone; it means that you will pursue that leadership position you have been too anxious to apply for; you are as qualified for it as your non-Asian competitors.

And finally, Asian American STEMinists are not your manic pixie dream girls.

Unicorns by Michaela Brannigan We were magic to lovers.

A wish dripping from their lips, but we were always more then a toy to fuck with.

Balance My halo sits above my perfectly h o r n s.

If God were a woman They both were damned.

Lost their salvation due to a man.

What paradise could have been had if Lilith and Eve found love in each other instead.

Dirty No matter how much soap No matter how much water No matter how hard I scrubbed I still felt you on my skin long after.

Orbit We were never two halves, but planets.

All these galaxies to get to us, we never once took this love for granted.

Having you by my side I feel my heart has truly landed .

Blue like the Aegean

by Iris Orpi It was the purest thing that ever belonged to me that even now there feels to be no sin in remembering it.

A touch born out of ether, the desire to align almost elysian: you sought a world of perfection, of perfect beauty through mathematics and armed rebellion; you are like Thor over BifrĂśst.

That purity, oceanlike.

Somebody should tell the moth there might be something more worth its time than the flame, that one could be mesmerized without fearing for her life, that we could be old and still be talking about elliptic curves and the ouster of fascists and never have come close to burning but transcending like a straight-shot arrow skin to soul to dream to the effervescent universe and the flesh is nothing but a philosophical construct when the pleasure is in discovering not how deep you can go but how deep you are, there is no drowning only getting lost, but the kind of lost you’d love to be, in a place where every third left turn leads to the sea

Photo Credits: Unsplash

My Experience With STEM’s Unspoken Issue: Discrimination

By Abonti Nur Ahmed

I’ve always known deep down I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare. To fuel my aspiration, I began immersing myself in biology and mathematics, becoming acquainted with brilliant classmates. Yet I began to notice the racial slurs and offensive stereotypes my classmates proudly projected to the class.

The garbage they spouted was insensitive to basically everyone besides themselves.

Yes, people deserve chances, they deserve to be given the opportunity to recognize and grow from these types of things. More than anything I wanted to believe they didn’t know any better, I needed that.

The hope I held had been stepped on with little remorse. I remember the few times I cooly explained what had been saying was offensive and was written off as “too sensitive” or “lacking humour”. You may be reading this and saying this is everywhere, not just in STEM. I absolutely agree (my university English class consists of students laughing at one too many insensitive cultural jokes).

The point of concern is that 75% of my graduating high school classmates in STEM are hoping to pursue medicine. They are dreaming of helping people but they do not see everyone as equal.

Now I could believe that my classmates deserve to burn in a pit of hell, that they are solely to blame for their actions. But would that be entirely true?

Where were my teachers when my fellow South Asian classmates said “There’s a reason there are no blacks in this class”? Where had my biology teacher been when my biology classmates compared transgender people to straight up demons? All my teachers either opted to stay silent, or added on to my peers thoughts. I remember one of my science teachers saying how relieved they were that we hadn’t been affected by the “sensitive people”. I distinctly remember once we had a substitute teacher, he would come once a semester for three weeks to teach us biology. I had been so excited, ready to shine

my knowledge in biology. From that entire ordeal I remember trying to process my caucasian teacher telling my entirely immigrant class that the majority of us are here because our parents forced us. I felt like I heard wrong, because I didn’t want to be the sensitive child. So with a heavy heart I decided to let it go, later learning these words would be echoed to me by many who resembled him and did not know me.

The last straw was when he spent the class using derogatory terms against Indigineous peoples in Canada. As I was considering how to refute him, I realized maybe he did not know any better. We are all humans that naturally make lapses of judgement about each other. I instead decided to be civil- I truly wanted him to understand rather than endure conflict. So I waited until class had ended and the room was empty, quietly notifying the teacher that the terms he had used were derogatory, and that there were a multitude of respectful ways to address Indigenous peoples. He smiled and promised he would definitely do so. As I walked out I felt hopeful for the first time, watching the next set of students enter his class.

At lunch, I overheard my classmate’s laughter, talking about how our biology teacher told them they had a snowflake in his morning class,that he can’t say anything now without being corrected. As the words spread people came up to me and asked if I was the student he was talking about. At school, I was labelled as the “social justice sellout”, it was a label I forgot to consider when speaking up. I felt so overwhelmed and embarrassed that I denied the claim. I pretended to have no idea what they were talking about, I felt like I had to. Why would I want to be

My Experience With STEM’s Unspoken Issue: Discrimination

By Abonti Nur Ahmed

the snowflake who upset the teacher? Looking back, I realized a grown adult had put me, a 15-year-old, in a position where I felt ashamed of privately addressing him in what should’ve been a safe space. This happened when I was at the age of 15, when my classmates and I were first learning about how we should approach the world, how to approach conflict. The academic STEM community has strengthened and nurtured these ignorant thoughts. Being educated in such a toxic community begins affecting the way the new generations approach situations,we have effectively become worse as the previous generation before us.

I don’t think I am the first to point this out, and most certainly not the most affected by the biases these situations create, but I often find students in STEM (especially women of colour) who want to break the rigid walls are met with uncertainty. I remember when I would go to protests, and sometimes plan ones within school, classmates would say someone “like me” wouldn’t fit into what STEM entails. When I would question what they mean by that they’d ask if I am sure of what I had been doing. Trying to put a nail in my coffin by asking me if I was aware that talking about “controversial topics” could hinder my chance at graduate school. Truth be told I had been nervous about these things. I am not awarded the same privilege as some of my peers, I do not have immense loads of wealth or family connections to land me a position in my field. It’s something all people of colour are forced to think about.

So how do we progress? Honestly, I am not quite sure. What I do I know is that I hold some privileges, and I exhaust those as best as I can. Ultimately it’s all we can do.

For every angry teacher there are thousands of people that share your beliefs. You may not always be able to win the war, but small battles count. Look out for your classmates.

When you see someone suffering, reach out.

Let them know they can lean on you.

I share the experiences I faced today be-

cause I want others in STEM to know they aren’t suffering alone. I was there for years, sometimes I still find myself there. One of the best ways to slowly break the rigid wall is by talking about the situations that allowed them to be built. When we acknowledge what happened to us wasn’t right, proper consequences or not, we can educate those around us. The more it’s said the more we normalize speaking up. The first few times nothing will come of it, it’ll hurt.

But when they all add up it’ll become undeniable. Future generations in positions of power will hear our stories and use them to change the way they were taught for the better. I have watched STEM tear me down, but I have also let it positively impact my life. I know that it’s a flawed community, but every community needs the right discussion to begin the change. I chose STEM because I know that it needs, or even better yet, has people who do want to change the community for the better.

Art

Installation, Steel and Natural Light by Iris Orpi (on a car over Golden Gate Bridge) With my side pressed against the painfully blissful soft gold of its sunrise, I hum.

A sinuous tone in lithe pursuit of messages left for my soul to find on corners of these Bay Area streets by generations of California dreamers.

They knew someone like me would come along. I become a sieve for moments, for the letters summer writes for the sea, for the music made by headlights splintering into vectors and vices as they pierce the rolling fog.

The city stood silhouetted against the blank canvas of my open invitation to love.

Before I set foot on it, it was only an imaginary place in my mind, its name a hallowed shrine to an aesthetic, a shape-shifting ideal that paralleled the evolution of my desires.

It turned out to be nothing like my doll house Instagram visions.

This is a performance piece, asymmetrical, hungry and gloriously incomplete, reverberating to a pounding heartbeat reminiscent of the day when I felt longing for the first time, or when that same longing let loose all my words on the day it decided for me that holding my peace would never be enough

OM