The Wellness Issue

With articles on...

Self-Care In A Crisis Mind And Body Wellness Self Love

Featuring Interviews with...

Betty Shen Susie Kim

Editor’s Note Dear Overachiever Magazine readers, As an Indian-American, I have a complicated relationship with wellness - on the one hand, my Asian parents, like most, don’t understand the point of wellness. To paraphrase, if I have a warm bed, a roof over my head, and food on my plate, that’s the peak of wellness! On the other hand, wellness practices in the West have been plucked from my culture and whitewashed beyond the point of recognition. Yoga, meditation, and turmeric all originated in South Asia - and have been co-opted by mainly white people. Mispronunciations (it’s pronounced TUR-meric, not TOO-meric!) aside, South Asian spirituality and wellness practices have been commodified. In one of the most disturbing twists, South Asian, mostly female, garment workers stitch yoga tops with “Om” on them for pennies a day. I don’t feel comfortable participating in modern wellness “trends” - I feel complicit in the erasure of my culture when I do. You can see how something as simple as guided meditation would be anything but relaxing for me! And yet, in the extraordinarily stressful time we live in, it’s important to find something anything! - that gets you out of your head, even for a few minutes. I’m still searching for mine, but the articles in this issue have given me some excellent ideas. I’d like to mention a wonderful article by Isabel Moon here, about non-aesthetic self-care ideas. Self-care doesn’t need to be Instagrammable to be effective, a reminder I definitely needed. I hope this issue helps you as much as it did me.

Yours, Rehana Paul Founder and Editor-In-Chief

Polipro: Tackling Misinformation in the Age of COVID-19 By: Francine Cayanan

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that I wish I could get the latest world news without having to sift through dozens of articles attempting to decipher facts from information twisted to fit a political agenda. Being constantly inundated by news stories and headlines can quickly become overwhelming for anyone that has ready access to media. Especially in the age of COVID-19, where information is spread as quickly as it is debunked, it can become difficult to discern what is the truth to what is merely a hyperbole for the sake of click-bait.

Thankfully, there are many services offered on the internet that can help individuals that want to stay informed but may be hesitant to keep up with the news because it may be confusing or seemingly untrustworthy.

One of these services is Polipro, a Google Chrome extension that is dedicated to tackling the spread of fake news on the internet. Led by a team of young and driven Asian women, Polipro aims to create a platform that helps everyday people keep up current events without needing to scour the internet for a reliable news source.

As a result of the global pandemic, needless to say the past few months have been hard on all of us in various ways. Attempting to sift through news stories every day to keep up with current events can quickly become very emotionally taxing and can take a toll on our wellbeing. Polipro’s easy to use Chrome extension has personally helped me in finding unbiased, bipartisan information about the political climate in the face of COVID-19. Admittedly, at times I’ve needed to take a break from the internet and media completely because I’ve become so overwhelmed with constant news headlines preaching misinformed cures for COVID-19 and constantly seeing emotionally heavy stories.

As a result of the global pandemic, needless to say the past few months have been hard on all of us in various ways.

Attempting to sift through news stories every day to keep up with current events can quickly become very emotionally taxing and can take a toll on our wellbeing. Polipro’s easy to use Chrome extension has personally helped me in finding unbiased, bipartisan information about the political climate in the face of COVID-19. Admittedly, at times I’ve needed to take a break from the internet and media completely because I’ve become so overwhelmed with constant news headlines preaching misinformed cures for COVID-19 and constantly seeing emotionally heavy stories.

The ease of Polipro’s user interface personally makes it a lot easier for me to keep up with daily news as I’m not dreading the cumbersome task of going through every news outlet and trying to decipher what is true for myself. Users can efficiently learn about current news events and politics without straying from regular news outlets such as the New York Times and CNN, whilst ensuring that they are getting accurate and unbiased information. Once you download the extension, you can simply head to any news article of your choice, highlight a name or political event, and Polipro will bring up unbiased information regarding the topic.

A feature that I personally find incredibly useful as someone that lives in Canada but wants to keep up with American current events is the political terms and amendments section of the extension. This is where you’ll be able to find definitions for political terms that may pop up in news articles, such as “dark horse” and “GOP”, making it easier for those that want to start following political news but may not be familiar with such terms. Through this, Polipro also makes news articles more accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. Polipro also has a section that outlines each of the 27 Amendments of the United States.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Polipro has also been work-

ing with many schools to implement their software so that students can be introduced to keeping up with current events without worrying about misinformation.

The PoliPro team is constantly working to include more features and options for users, but their current version includes the ability to find information on American political candidates, current events, and international figures.

Francine is Overachiever’s Managing Editor and your friendly neighbourhood Gemini. She is also a lover of books, animals, and uplifting Asian women. She strives to create a space where Asian women of all walks of life feel they have room to grow and flourish. When she’s not working on the magazine, you will find her studying, playing games, or finding different ways to be a loaf.

ask aunty e Dear Aunty E, I need some career advice. I recently graduated from NYU and am hoping to develop a career in fashion merchandising or become a personal stylist. I sent in an application to intern for a well known NY/LA based celebrity stylist who also runs her own media company. Her personal assistant reached out for an interview last Monday but during the interview, she seemed uninterested and distracted, not to mention she forgot which internship program I was applying for. She didn’t even reference my resume at all! Then, she said we would conduct a follow up interview with her boss (the celebrity stylist) on Friday at 10AM. Flash forward to Friday, she pushed the interview back to 2:30 PM because they were both in an “important meeting”. I waited until 2:30 PM only for them to cancel on me completely because something came up that needed their attention ASAP and now they want me to list all of the times I’m available next week. I’m really frustrated because it just seems like they could care less!! Part of me wants to stand up for my self worth and withdraw my application. The other half thinks this is such a great opportunity since she’s a really well known stylist and it would be a resume booster and a great post graduate opportunity. What do you think I should do?

Sincerely, Devil Wears Prada Intern 2.0

Dear Devil Wears Prada Intern 2.0, To say the least, it shouldn’t matter who this “celebrity stylist” is and what she can do to launch your career. I think you’re overlooking the biggest point here, which is that she is absolutely positively NOT acknowledging you as an applicant!!!! The general rule of thumb when it comes to job recruitment is that the company is not only interviewing you but YOU are also interviewing the company. That said, the fact that a PA is interviewing and screening applicants speaks to how disorganized the company is. Any business owner would be smart to have a human resource coordinator to manage recruitment, or if the company is on the smaller side, she would reserve time aside to interview interns herself. Another red flag is their lack of efficiency in communication and time management. Time conflicts are inevitable, but rescheduling your interview three different times is very unprofessional because let’s get real--a follow up interview is likely to take only 15 minutes of someone’s time!! The botched interview by them is a blessing in disguise. Imagine how much of a chaotic trainwreck everything would be behind the scenes if you were to take the job!!! You shouldn’t have to work for this Donut-ella Versace because you deserve better. If they reach out to you again, you can say you found another opportunity and explain to them why you don’t believe the position is a good fit for you. Keep it professional, short, concise and drama-free. I assure you there’s going to be better opportunities out there, so don’t lose hope.

Sincerely, Aunty E

Dear Aunty E, I’d like some relationship advice. My boyfriend and recently fought over communication issues.

Although he tells me that I should open up more (and I have been), whenever I ask him how he feels or what’s on his mind or why he has those thoughts, he says “idk.” I’ve tried to get him to put his thoughts to words so that I may understand him better (and I’ve given him the space to do so), but it’s the same result every time. Sometimes I get frustrated and then he shuts down, getting negative and having regrets for how he hurt me in the past (which I have forgiven him for and have never mentioned because I believe in moving on). I feel like he’s using the past as an excuse to justify what he’s doing to me right now, but I don’t know if that’s the case. And now he says his feelings for me are wavering because our relationship is long-distance, and I think that’s what’s stopping him from opening up. I’ve been putting much more effort into the relationship than he has been, and I’ve been told to just break up with him and move on. But I cannot leave him in such a negative state. Worse off, he doesn’t do anything about it until I give him a pep talk and we’re back to normal (this has happened twice already). In short, he is very passive about his emotions, giving a “it is what it is” attitude, and I’ve tried to encourage him to move on from that mindset. But he doesn’t, due to issues in the past.

I hate passivity with a passion, and I know he has the power to do something for the relationship if he wants to keep it. But I believe he’s not doing anything because he lets his emotions consume him and doesn’t move from that state of negativity. (He never texts me back to clear things up.) It hurts me to see our relationship devolve like this, since I’ve already dedicated quite a bit of my time to it. Thoughts Aunty E? Should I break up with him or stay to try and help him once more?

Sincerely, Overachieving Girlfriend

Dear Overachieving Girlfriend, There’s no such thing as a perfect relationship (or a perfect boyfriend on that note), but communication and honesty is a major key to a successful one.

It seems that your boyfriend is completely shut off on keeping an open line of communication with you which is why it’s preventing both of you from maintaining a healthy relationship. It’s not right that you’re investing so much more time and effort into the relationship, whereas he keeps a ‘it is what it is’ mentality. I also think that you’re constantly trying to fix the broken communication and trying to mend his negativity which is why you’re getting more and more frustrated. Here’s one thing I want you to know: you are NOT responsible for ‘fixing’ someone else, and you are NOT capable of forcing someone to open up to you. I know it’s heartbreaking and gut wrenching to think about leaving him, but trust me--it’s the only thing you can do to keep yourself sane. My advice is to first reach out to him one more time and talk to him about how his behavior is affecting the relationship. Give him an opportunity to say what’s on his mind and try to voice your opinion on how you want him to improve. If he still refuses to open up, it’s time for closure. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself, and don’t feel guilty for leaving him because he’s had more than enough time to mature, put his big boy pants on and act as the man in the relationship. You’ve dealt with his negativity one too many times, and if you continue to leave it as is, it will only progress into a constant cycle!!

Sincerely, Aunty E

Fuck the Bubble Baths

By: Isabel Moon What’s the first thing you think of when you hear “self-care”? My mind goes to Korean sheet masks and skincare products, bubble baths with candles and hanging plants, yoga videos on Youtube, and cooking a healthy Instagram-worthy meal garnished with parsley. And you know what? All of those things are dumb. That’s not self care, that’s a “treat yo’ self” kind of day. Of course, taking care of yourself can involve all these cutesy photogenic moments, but for me, it’s mostly about being alive enough to get out of bed.

As a person with your typical cocktail of depression, anxiety, gifted-kid-burnout, and Asian eldest daughter pressure (you know the type), I’ve had some pretty nasty depressive episodes from both before and after quarantining in my childhood home just after getting my first taste of college freedom. Those little spells of uselessness (for me, anyway), range anywhere from a couple days to over a month. And let me tell you, they’re not hashtag worthy. You can’t slap a filter over my messy bed with me somewhere deeeep under the covers and expect it to look nice.

What I’m really trying to say is f*** your bubble baths. Self care isn’t meant to be put on a website. It is personal and messy and difficult but it is worth it.

I promise that this half-rant half-listicle will be as brutally honest as it will be realistic. Around a couple months ago when we first got sent home from college for coronavirus. It was one of the longest depressive/anxious spells that I’ve had, and one of the most destructive. I was sleeping days away, spending time on the Internet to distract myself, and ignoring what I really needed in favor of a lazy out. So everything I say here is a condensed list of what I did to feel not-bad.

So here it is: my list of things that I do when I have hit rock bottom.

Stand up Yes. This sounds stupid. But I tend to find myself in a horizontal position when I’m not fully functioning. Either in bed or on the couch or the bathroom floor or the bathtub or… you get the idea. And this one is one of the most difficult on this list. Getting started is half the battle. Even though it’s a sh*tty motivational quote, it’s true. Once I’m standing, I can get myself to do one other thing that makes me feel less bad (not better. Less bad). Next, there will be a few options to feel a little less gross.

IF YOU’RE FEELING UP TO IT: Stretch out just a little bit. Chances are your muscles haven’t really moved, so this might get the blood flowing and make you feel less sedentary than you’ve actually been.

Go to the bathroom Chances are, if you’re anything like me, you put off going to pee just because standing up would have been a lot of energy. But now that you’re past that step, get up and pee. Don’t get a UTI from laziness. It’s not worth the extra few minutes lying down or sitting around. It’ll also make you feel like there’s one less distraction. Even if you go back to lying down afterwards, it’s just good for you to not hold it in.

IF YOU’RE FEELING UP TO IT: I don’t have a way to extend this one but like… I really hope I’m not the only person who does this. Like, I’ve taken entire three hour naps because I had to pee but I didn’t want to get up so I fell asleep instead.

Change my clothes Judge me all you want, but I’ve definitely worn my clothes for longer than they should be worn.

The comfort of a sweater you’ve already warmed up with your body heat can seem like it’s a lot better of an alternative to cold fabric that’s been sitting in a drawer. But the goal here is no longer pure hedonistic comfort. It’s to feel less gross. So throw on a new set of sweats or pajamas

or comfy clothes.

IF YOU’RE FEELING UP TO IT: Instead of just pajamas, another great option is to pick a cute and comfy “real” shirt or some non-pajama pants that you still feel comfortable in, like leggings or joggers. Something you would feel totally okay with going out in public in (stay home though and stay safe because COVID is still out there).

Run my hair through my fingers or put it up.

Everyone’s hair texture is different, so do with this tip what you will, but my hair is straight and tangles often. Especially when I’ve been lying down for a whole day. So I run my fingers through my hair to get the major painful tangles out, and then I put it up in a high bun. Personally, my hair looks slightly less greasy when it’s up and I get to have my face clear of distractions. And it feels refreshing to not have those tangles bunch up around my face and neck.

IF YOU”RE FEELING UP TO IT: Dry shampoo works wonders. It won’t make you feel any less crusty, but it makes your hair smell nicer and will make your hair look less greasy.

Wash my hands.

Is a shower going to take too much energy? Believe me, I’ve been there. It’s not everything, but washing your hands will make sure at least some part of you is clean. Especially during COVID times, washing your hands is really important. Of course, you probably wash your hands frequently on a regular basis anyways, but if you’ve been lying in bed and generally not moving, hand washing is forgotten because it’s not like you’re touching anything besides the pillow and blanket for a while. Just wash your hands if showering or From here, not only do you have clean tools to fix up yourself and your space, but you’re taking a protective measure against the coronavirus.

IF YOU”RE FEELING UP TO IT: Scented lotion. Feels good, smells good, also makes hands soft. It’s great as a small extra step that doesn’t require too much effort and I always feel a little better with it.

Take a sip of water.

When was the last time you drank water? Take a few seconds… think about it… lemme guess. It’s been a hot minute. So go to the kitchen and drink some water. Just a sip. I’d bet that you’re more dehydrated than you think you are. So take that glass of water and go feel refreshed.

IF YOU”RE FEELING UP TO IT: Water is good. If you want to, throw in some lemon slices, fruit, mint, and/or cucumber. The only reason I’m suggesting this is because it tastes yummy.

Eat a bite of food.

When was the last time you ate? No. Junk food does not count. Go eat some food that is not candy or chips. Heat up some leftovers. Scramble an egg and eat it with rice, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Eat a fruit or a vegetable. It’ll make you feel better.

IF YOU”RE FEELING UP TO IT: Cook. Make a recipe. It might take some time, but it’ll be really rewarding. Maybe I just like cooking. But eating food that you took the time to make comes with a sense of accomplishment that always makes me feel less bad.

Do what you can. Take the time to feel like a person again. Sending love and support your way. You can do the bubble baths and the face masks too, but I want to stress just how important it is for you to take care of the basics. Maybe the Instagrammable self care stuff will feel doable after getting out of bed. But until then, fuck the bubble baths.

Destigmatize Mental Illnesses Written by Ashley Chen Ashley Chen is the political columnist for Overachiever Magazine. She’s an undergraduate student from New York majoring in Political Science. Her activism is centered upon voter education and civic engagement. Her other areas of interest would include educational equity, reproductive rights, gentrification, climate change and the list goes on. In her free time, she loves to watch films and create collages.

INSTAGRAM: @ash.leyyyy

The conversation of mental health is not evident in Asian American communities. While this may sound like an extreme generalization, there is a level of truth in this statement. For many families, mental health is a discussion topic that ends up brushed under the rug. We cannot blame our family members for the lack of dialogue, but we can attribute this to the stigma surrounding mental illnesses.

The Asian American community makes up about 5.6 percent of the nation’s population. Of the entire Asian American and Pacific Islander population, 15.1% of people aged 18 and older are diagnosed with a mental illness (SAMHSA, 2020, p. 7). The normalization of conversations with regards to mental health seems like a minuscule remedy to such a substantial and pervasive issue. But when researchers report that “Asian-Americans are three times less likely to seek mental health services than whites” (Nishi, 2012, para. 1), it speaks upon the need to have those “uncomfortable” conversations with our loved ones and peers. When people are unaware of the resources available to them, there is no way for them to understand the necessary steps to seek help. But, we also have to question the various factors that prevent Asian American folks from seeking the help they need. These factors include but are not limited to: Pressures of the Model Minority Myth The idea that a mental illness diagnosis is considered to be a weakness is a common stigma, but most prevalent in Asian American communities. As much as the model minority is a myth, there is a level of pressure and expectation that this notion places on the Asian American community. The idea of success and perfection seems to constrict terms within the community as struggles like mental illnesses are

deemed infringements on possible achievements. The expectation to succeed is something that many Asian Americans have encountered as families have instilled those values at a young age. The pressure of being perfect can not only be harmful, but it places individuals in a space where their mental health is not the priority. The stigma surrounding mental illnesses, especially its perception as a weakness, prevents people from seeking the proper resources.

Fear of Placing Burden on Family Members For many immigrant families in the Asian American community, they were raised with collectivist values. Therefore, many first-generation children often prioritize their families when making decisions, especially when dealing with an illness. The hesitation of bringing this particular topic to family members is due to the fear of placing an enormous burden on them. In addition, there is an interesting duality between how we perceive the struggles faced by our ancestors and the struggles that we encounter today. While we can ground ourselves in comparing our struggles with our ancestors, there is a level of dismissal that we place towards our own feelings. Collectivist values are ingrained within our cultural practices, and it’s difficult to break down that barrier. Perhaps it’s the duty of this generation to build spaces that are safe and inclusive within our own households.

Mental Healthcare is Inaccessible While many health insurance companies cover mental health services, we also have to note that not everyone is insured, especially low-income families. But there are several ways one can access affordable mental health care services. This includes services based on a sliding fee scale from Federally Qualified Health Centers, which are community centers funded by the government. Furthermore, other places that offer a sliding fee scale option are university hospitals as these institutions are eager to put their students to work. An additional resource includes the nonprofit organization, Open Path Psychotherapy Collective. The organization matches underprivileged families with proper education and support (Spector, 2018). The resources mentioned previously are beneficial, yet there is still an underlying issue evident. It begs the question: why are low-income families placed in a position where they have to encounter several hurdles to receive a basic human right?

Additional Resources: We should note that even though generations of family members have never sought mental health services, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek treatment ourselves. If you need help, please seek professional help through one of these hotlines: (Please note that this method is not suitable for everyone, take the necessary steps that are appropriate for you.)

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) Crisis Text Line: HELLO to 741741 National Graduate Student Crisis Line: 1-800-472-3457 LGTBTQ+ National Hotline: 1-888-843-4564 Veterans Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255 press 1 References: Nishi, K. (2012). Mental Health Among Asian-Americans. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/ resources/ethnicity-health/asian-american/article-mental-health Spector, N. (2018, June 7). Mental health services: How to get treatment if you can’t afford it. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/mental-health-services-how-get-treatment-if-youcan-t-ncna875176 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Asians/Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI): CBHSQ Data. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/report/2018-nsduh-asiansnative-hawaiians-and-other-pacific

“23� a mixed media piece made with fabric and acrylic paint by Elizabeth Chung

“I can’t breathe.” Despite the man’s cries for help and exclamations

of his inability to breathe, the police officer kept his knee on his neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. This man was murdered. This BLACK man was murdered. His name was George Floyd. Say that name. Remember that name. Continue to carry his name into the revolution that we are currently witnessing.

Over the past week, there has been a lot of discussion surrounding what allyship looks like for non-Black people of color. It’s a layered, beautiful, and powerful source of energy that is needed, especially now. But, allyship goes beyond the present day. It has always been needed and continues to be needed as this country was founded on the brutalization of Black bodies. Within the Asian American community, we must evaluate the ways we are complicit in our racist institutions and recognize the privileges we hold in this country.

Our experiences vastly differ from our Black counterparts and understanding those stark differences is crucial in becoming allies to the Black Lives Matter movement.

In order to be productive allies, we need to understand the origins of the model minority

A Journal Entry T

myth and dispel it. The ideals that surround the Asian American community were created to place a wedge between Whites and Blacks in this country. By identifying Asians as the “model minority,” a racial hierarchy is created to further reinforce white supremacy.

According to an address that law professor Mari J. Matstuda gave to the Asian Law Caucus in 1990, she expresses that “the role of the racial middle is a critical one. It can reinforce white supremacy if the middle deludes itself into thinking it can be just like white if it tries hard enough. Conversely, the middle can dismantle white supremacy if it refuses to be the middle, if it refuses to buy into racial hierarchy, if it refuses to abandon communities of Black and Brown people, choosing instead to form alliances with them” (Matsuda, 1990, p. 150). We choose to be on the side of white supremacy when we stay silent and continue to perpetuate anti-blackness rhetoric in our conversations. It’s important that we reflect upon our past and current actions with regards to allyship towards Black communities.

We should be asking ourselves the following questions: Based on my actions, have I stood on the side of the oppressors? Do I want to continue to be complicit and uphold white supremacist ideals or do I want to help create a space where forms of hatred are eliminated?

Especially within the Asian American community, we need to recognize the normalization of anti-blackness in our households. For many people in the community, the issue lies within silence. One of the police officers present at the scene, Officer Thao who is of Hmong descent stood idly by as Officer Chauvin murdered Floyd in broad daylight. Officer

Thao’s silence in Floyd’s murder is reflective of the anti-blackness within our community and this silence must be converted to meaningful conversations. On social media, many have quickly condemned his actions or lack thereof. But, one of the alarming components within these condemnations is the phrase “we don’t claim him.” The issue with “not claiming him” is that we continue the vicious cycle of racism and microaggressions.

We will claim him. We will claim responsibility for the Asians who are complicit in racism because it’s our duty to educate each other on the need to dismantle our implicit biases.

It is imperative that we educate our peers and family members on the violence inflicted upon Black folx for centuries. We need to remind each other that our rights and privileges in this country exist because of the Black struggle. The government policies that derived from the Civil Rights era greatly benefited many immigrant groups including Asians. For example, the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, backed heavily by Black Civil Rights advocates, allowed for an influx of Asian immigrants which drastically shifted the demographics in the United States. First-generation Asian Americans especially owe our hyphenated identity to the Black community. In addition, Asian Americans were granted

To George Floyd

By: Allison Chow

voting protection rights as Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits the discrimination of race and language capacity when voting (Nakagawa, 2014, para. 8-9). Voting is an integral part of our democracy and our ability to participate derives from the persistence of the Civil Rights Movement.

We have to do better. Beyond claiming that racism is morally wrong and acknowledging our own privileges, we must do the work. It’s not enough to repost and like social media posts. The “activism” is not enough if the information and resources that one provides are not applied and continuously practiced. Frankly, that activism is not needed. That activism is merely performative. Dismantling racist institutions like the police force and the prison system will only come to fruition if we are actively taking productive measures.

Productive action includes signing petitions, donating to organizations fighting for Black liberation, calling elected officials, participating in protests, attending Black-led conferences, and having those “uncomfortable” conversations.

When we talk about allyship, it means continuous support towards Black businesses, artists, activists, and community organizers. We must not speak over them or for them. We must amplify their voices. Most importantly, we must not succumb to be the “racial middle” as we will not be used as tools for white supremacists to further their agenda.

On Taking a B Written By Zoe Ranganathan

The concept of taking a break, or spending time to work on your mental health, is a challenging idea to balance with the high standards that young PoC often places on themselves. We have so many tokenistic ‘wellbeing weeks’ and ‘puppy picnics’ thrown at us by our workplaces and universities, the same people that tell us that our self-worth is intrinsically linked to how high our GPA is and how much we earn.

Learning how to tackle my mental illnesses at university has been a steep learning curve. The hardest part of it, though, has been learning what my limits are and when I ‘deserve’ a break. I’m told daily by friends, “take a break” or “you should say no to doing more” — and my personal favourite — “make sure you take care of yourself.” I’ve never really known what exactly that means.

For young women of colour, taking care of ourselves mentally is often seen as a negative, a synonym for laziness. We fear that if we slow down, we will fall behind, not only past our white competitors but also the other people of colour who are working even harder to compensate for the discrimination we all know we will encounter when applying for jobs and internships.

But let’s say we do take a break. We might turn off our phones for a weekend, indulge in UberEats, pop on a sheet mask that we know is overpriced, and see how much Grey’s Anatomy we can cram into that precious 48 hours. We think this is what taking care of ourselves looks like. It is what our targeted YouTube ads, bus stop billboards, and wellness conglomerates covertly drill into us day in and day out.

We are left with the corporate vision for self-care engrained into us; surely, our anxiety and stress will

be vanquished by the lighting of a $60 lavender scented candle, right?!

The “treat yourself” culture around self-care inadvertently places even more guilt onto the act. If taking care of one’s mental health is a ‘treat’, there is an implication that it is a luxury in which we are able to overindulge. There is, consequently, inherent guilt in taking care of ourselves, where wellness and success are incongruous goals. We fear that if we take a break, it will be met with taunting remarks of “so and so’s daughter graduated early, with honours” or “so and so’s son is doing an MBA now” when we go home for Christmas.

Neo-liberal feminism assumes that women of colour have successfully assimilated and are able to partake in self-care™ in the same way that white women are.

This dangerous veer away from feminism as an intersectional movement allows high-ranking corporate women, like Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, to provide the solution of ‘leaning in’ to male domination of the workplace, while remaining silent on the structural and economic reasons why this occurs in the first place. The very notion of feminism in the 21st Century zeitgeist has been colonised. Neo-liberal feminism is a zero-sum game in which the attention that women CEOs garner for being champions of feminism chastises not only women of colour but poor, disabled, and trans women for not being able to do the same. The white woman’s self-care fantasy that is sold to us is not accessible or realistic for most women. Not only does it assume that we have the time and the money to partake in luxurious acts, but it also fails to address the actual aggravating factors contributing to our very need to take a break.

In some WoC communities, poor mental health is so commonplace that it has almost become a badge of honour, the yardstick against which we can tell if we

Break are working hard enough. Nikki Gerrard’s groundbreaking 1991 paper ‘Racism and Sexism, Together, In Counselling’, was the first academic discussion of how racism and sexism intersect to affect the mental health of women of colour. The paper recounts troubling incidents of how women of colour are largely unable to find help through Western mental health systems, as the racism and sexism that they experience is self-perpetuating when therapists and people who have the power to assist inculcate myths and stereotypes by way of their power to enforce them (Fernandez). The common thread throughout the incidents states that even those who were trained in a professional capacity to assist with mental illness and trauma were dismissive of their experience, limited in the options they provided.

Body language and tone policing reinforced to the participants that they were not important in the therapist’s purview (Gerrad). Our mental health is placed at loggerheads between a culture that expects us to work harder than others. A self-care system predicated on consumerism and a mental health system that we cannot rely on.

We have been subscribed to a pay-to-win version of selfcare and good mental health that we never signed up for.

It may only be through bringing the feminist movement back on track to advocate for all women that we may be freed from the battle between our simultaneous pursuit of accomplishment and a well-deserved break.

Fernandez, J. P. (1981). Racism and Sexism in Corporate Life.

Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, D. D. Heath & Co. Gerrard, N. (1991). Racism and Sexism, Together, in Counselling: Three Women of Colour Tell Their Stories. Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 25(4). Retrieved from

Zoe Ranganathan (she/her) is a 20 year old student at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, living on stolen Ngunnawal & Ngambri land. She is an over-committed undergraduate Political Science & English student, and spends most of the day writing, reading or thinking about unionist & anti-racist politics. She sometimes also finds time to act in wuniversity theatre productions and make earrings out of strange recycled objects.

INSTAGRAM: @zoeranga

Female Gaze Each issue we feature the many beautiful and diverse faces of Asian womxn around the world.

Here are this issue’s Overachievers!

Katie Nguyen

Priyanka Venkataram

a mani

Devika Bahadur “I am a 24 year old strong and passionate woman.

I am from India and my hobbies include; crocheting, doing art in all kinds of mediums, dancing to k-pop (Korean Pop) songs and dressing up & clicking selfies. Being a well-organized person, I tend to prioritize my work which helps me accomplish my tasks and meet deadlines. I meet and get involved with people every day. I enjoy listening and giving input to people I interact with so that they know they can count on me. I am a patient resourceful, diligent, truthful and hardworking designer in the making, with the ability to design from the brink.�

Soo Kyung “My name is Soo Kyung. I was born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S., through adoption, when I was 2 years old. Though I was raised in the U.S. , my people’s spirit of community, love and resilience are forever the soil from which I grow. In these unprecedented times, in this country, my hope is that immigrants and BIPOC will remember the spirit of their people and unite as one.”

Jennifer W

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Pavita Signh Pavita is here to spread light, love, learning, and laughter. Professionally, she is the Acting Executive Director at Girls Health Ed and Director of Content & Communications at Konversai, and she has her own editing business called pavEDITa. Pavita enjoys dancing, drawing, reading, writing, cooking, baking, and traveling. Pavita has been to 38 countries and 24 US states and counting, and she hopes to meet you along the way! She lives in New York City.

Miss Demure

Written and Illustrated

by Natalie Obedos

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STRATEGIES TO HELP YOU FIND COMFORT IN CHAOS

I

f you ask a friend or colleague how they’re feeling right now, chances are you’ll hear words like anxious, worried, scared, or tired. The start of this year brought a string of stressful situations for people all over the world in a very short amount of time. Most of us have now reached the two or three-month month mark of being in lockdown due to COVID-19 and the result is emotional exhaustion.

While some people have tried to use this time as an opportunity to reflect and be productive, it’s not that simple when you’re placed in survival mode and have to manage work, school, finances, family responsibilities, or all of the extra safety precautions in place (I never thought that washing my hands frequently would feel this exhausting).

Everyone experiences stress and anxiety from time to time, but when survival mode becomes your constant way of being, it can lead to patterns such as eating more or less, inability to sleep, loss of motivation, racing thoughts or constant feelings of panic. As a therapist, I’m seeing this on a day-to-day basis.

If you’re currently feeling like this, you are absolutely not alone and there are healthy ways to manage this new reality. Here are three science-based strategies to help you cope better.

It helps to practice becoming more comfortable with uncertainty.

During moments of anxiety or fear, your instinct might be to find a quick way to “get rid of” the negative feeling. Whether that consists of reaching for junk food, obsessively checking the news, or calling a friend because you need an immediate answer, these behaviors prevent us from building up a tolerance for uncertainty. Instead, allow yourself to acknowledge the way you’re feeling and then release the negative emotion in a constructive way (e.g., take deep breaths, go for a walk, meditate, listen to calming music).

Use objective evidence to challenge negative thoughts.

There will be moments when you question your ability to get through difficult periods.

Interestingly enough, people tend to underestimate how resilient they really are. If this happens to you, take a few minutes to reflect on a challenging experience you managed to get through in the past. Focus on the skills you demonstrated and remind yourself that they are always a part of you.

The Social Distancing Issue Written By | Sadaf Siddiqi

Ask for help.

This one is so important. Asking for help when you need is a sign of strength and not weakness.

Next time you feel overwhelmed, write down a list of things you need help with and who could assist you with it. For example, if you’re having a difficult time balancing work projects, reach out to your boss and ask for appropriate adjustments. Remind yourself that it has nothing to do with your capabilities because everyone needs additional support sometimes. Reach out to a trusted family member, close friend, religious or spiritual advisor, or a professional counselor when you need to.

Next time you feel helpless, try using one of these strategies and remind yourself that all difficult times pass. You got this!

Self-Care in a C r Written By Chau Tang

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Chau Tang is a Beauty Columnist for Overachiever Magazine. She graduated from Cleveland State in May 2019 with a Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and a minor in Marketing. She loves to read about beauty, news, and political issues. Other than writing, she enjoys reading, watching Netflix, boxing, hiking, and photography.

She wants to write about beauty, news, arts and entertainment and political issues.

She also enjoys listening to podcasts about various topics like politics and true crime.

A couple of fun facts: She was born and raised in Cleveland, can speak English, Vietnamese and a bit of Mandarin Chinese. She’s an only child and is an avid video gamer.

These past few weeks, I have been feeling lost, sad, depressed, tired, angry, yet understanding.

I graduated in 2019, and it’s hard to see most of ġű ÚĩěěäÁúŖäʼn úäő ĔĩÙ ĩƅäŅʼn͡ ġĩŪĆĢú őĩ ÁĢĩőĂer state, and having fun. All I get are rejection ěäőőäŅʼn͡ ÁĢà ĆőΎʼn àĆƆÚŖěő͠ gù ÚĩŖŅʼnä͡ Ģĩ ĩĢä ěĆėäʼn getting rejected. It makes you feel like you’re not good enough. I’ve been applying like crazy but nothing yet. Some people ghosted me, and others just denied me. I feel like I’m on the Bachelor where I’m the contestant vying for the star. Yes, I’m writing for a couple of publications, and it’s probably the best outlet for me. It’s the only way to express myself these days.

I haven’t been eating much due to stress and trying to be amazing at my social media skills, but I feel like I keep failing. Probably because I’m an Asian American woman and a Virgo, and we are perfectionists. I remember one of my favorite teachers telling me, “If you wait for perfection, you’ll be waiting forever.” She’s right. I’ve been working non-stop for 12 hours every day for a month or so. I do have set hours when I work, but I always seem to exceed it. So, I stopped, evaluated my schedule, and see what I can do to take care of myself.

I was on a binge of doing meditation, yoga, listening to podcasts every single day. I stopped for a while because I slept at midnight, and it sucked all the energy out of me the next morning. I alūÁűʼn őĩěà ġűʼnäěù őĂÁő Áʼn ěĩĢú Áʼn HΎŪä ƈĢĆʼnĂäà ĩĢä major thing a day, that’s my accomplishment.

But I need to do better, especially since my creative juices have not been working.

There’s a lot of personal projects I was working on but forgot about for a while. I had a video in the making, and I attempted to write chapters for a short story. I haven’t taken care of myself for a while, and I need to stop and breathe. Here’s how I take care of myself.

Make Drinks You Actually Enjoy

Don’t try making your Youtuber’s favorite drink if you don’t actually like it. Drink something that you absolutely love and look forward to having. I used to wake up at 6 a.m, but since I’ve been sleeping in, the best I can do is wake up at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. A lot ĩù łäĩłěä ÁàĩŅä ġÁėĆĢú Úĩƅää ĆĢ őĂä ġĩŅĢĆĢú ĔŖʼnő to get them energized.

H ĂÁŪä Á àĆƅäŅäĢő àŅĆĢė äŪäŅű ġĩŅĢĆĢú͡ ÁĢà H àĩĢΎő like the same thing every day. Instead, I’ll either have hot water and honey, hot chocolate, or matÚĂÁ͠ Ăä ĩĢěű Úĩƅää H ÚÁĢ àŅĆĢė Ćʼn Áùä ŖÁ #Á͡ ūĂĆÚĂ Ćʼn ĆÚäà ¨ĆäőĢÁġäʼnä Úĩƅää͠ H őäĢà őĩ Ŗʼnä Á ĂäÁŪĆäŅ ĂÁĢà ĩĢ őĂä ÚĩĢàäĢʼnäà ġĆěė őĂÁĢ Úĩƅääͣ that way, I won’t have a major headache! Plus, it’s so much more rich and creamy that way.

Your Skin Is Thirsty

Skincare is a big deal to me. It represents being kind and loving my skin, so I do it every day. If you don’t want to buy a whole bunch of products, that’s totally understandable. If you only have time for one product, I recommend a face mist. It’s soothing, moisturizing, and it’ll wake you up for the day!

I enjoy listening to Before Breakfast too. They’re only approximately six or seven minutes long.

They have topics such as setting goals within a range and create more and less clickbait. It’s very encouraging and inspiring. I listen to it ūĂäĢ H ƈŅʼnő ūÁėä Ŗł ʼnĩ H ÚÁĢ úäő ŅäÁàű ùĩŅ őĂä day and have a great mindset.

Books, Books, Books!

Reading more is on my to-do list. I have a lot of self-help books, but I am branching out and ŅäÁàĆĢú ʼnőĩŅĆäʼn ÁĢà ÚĩġĆÚʼnͥ H ĔŖʼnő ƈĢĆʼnĂäà ĆġĩĢ Ūʼn͠ Ăä Dĩġĩ ÁłĆäĢʼn úäĢàÁ͠ HőΎʼn őĂä ʼnĩŖŅÚä ġÁőäŅĆÁě ĩù őĂä ġĩŪĆä͡ ZĩŪä͡ ĆġĩĢ͠ Ăä Ùĩĩė and movie are both emotional. I’ve cried more àŖŅĆĢú őĂä ƈěġ ÙäÚÁŖʼnä HΎġ Á ŪĆʼnŖÁě łäŅʼnĩĢ͠ The book made me angry and moving, and I’ve caught myself smiling so much that my cheeks hurt. Books tend not to have that much of an impact on me, so it’s great to read for self-care.

Reading helps stimulate your mind, and it can help with creativity!

¨ Ăĩūʼn

I’ve been watching 911 on Hulu, and I’ve cried àŖŅĆĢú äŪäŅű ʼnĆĢúěä äłĆʼnĩàä͠ HőΎʼn ÁÙĩŖő ƈŅʼnő ŅäʼnłĩĢàäŅʼn ʼnŖÚĂ Áʼn ƈŅäƈúĂőäŅʼn͡ łĩěĆÚä ĩƆÚäŅʼn͡ and 911 dispatchers hearing people in danger and running towards them to get them to safety.

I can only imagine these situations happening in reality, and it’s scary. It reminds me of why I enjoy helping other people. It’s bittersweet.

Get Out Of The House More

Getting some fresh air is really important. If you’re like me, you’ve been cooped up in the house and haven’t gone outside of your house ġŖÚĂ͠ ĩġä àÁűʼn͡ ĆőΎʼn ŅäÁěěű ÙäÁŖőĆùŖě ĩŖőʼnĆàä͡ ʼnĩ go out and breathe in the fresh air. Every time I’m outside, I smile. The wind or sun hitting my ʼnėĆĢ ÁĢà ÙäĆĢú ÁÙěä őĩ ùääě Ćő Ćʼn ÁġÁŹĆĢú͠ ĩġätimes, I’ll skateboard at the park or in my driveūÁű͠ ő ěäÁʼnő HΎěě Ùä ūĩŅėĆĢú ĩĢ ÙÁěÁĢÚäͥ HőΎʼn Áěʼnĩ Á great workout!

ĢÁÚėʼn

Eat snacks you enjoy! Treat yourself with snacks you love eating! Go easy on the chips, though. If you’re like me, you’ll buy four bags of chips and

ÁĢà ƈĢĆʼnĂ őĂäġ ūĆőĂĆĢ Á ġĩĢőĂ͠ gĢä ÙÁú ĩù chips will do. If you’re not into chips, get your favorite snacks, and share them with someone!

If I’m not getting chips, then I’m getting Pocky! If you don’t know what Pocky is, it’s basically a long ÙĆʼnÚŖĆő ʼnőĆÚė ūĆőĂ àĆƅäŅäĢő ƉÁŪĩŅʼn͡ ÁĢà ĆőΎʼn ùŅĩġ UÁłÁĢ͠ ĩġä ƉÁŪĩŅʼn ĆĢÚěŖàä ÚĂĩÚĩěÁőä͡ ÁěġĩĢà͡ and matcha. My favorite is the matcha so far, so H ÙŖű Ćő ĆĢ ÙŖěė Áő ġű ĢäÁŅäʼnő ʼnĆÁ ĩūĢ͠ H äÁő ĩĢä pack per day just to restrain myself from eating all of it in one day.

Writing Letters

I don’t enjoy talking to people on the phone or FaceTime them when I’m sad or depressed.

HĢʼnőäÁà͡ H ūŅĆőä łĩäġʼn ÁĢà ěäőőäŅʼn͠ ĩġä ĩù ġű poems can be very depressing and suicidal, but I feel much better after it’s been written. I’ve always thought the pages were my best friend.

Only it knows the secrets I keep and will listen to me without judging me. If you don’t want őĩ ūŅĆőä͡ űĩŖ ġĆúĂő ƈĢà Ćő ÙäĢäƈÚĆÁě őĩ őÁěė őĩ űĩŖŅ ùŅĆäĢà͡ ʼnőŖƅäà ÁĢĆġÁě͡ ĩŅ Á ùÁġĆěű ġäġÙäŅͥ ĩġäőĆġäʼn͡ HΎěě őÁěė őĩ őĂä ūĆĢà ěĆėä ʼnĩġäĩĢäΎʼn őĂäŅä ĔŖʼnő őĩ úäő Ćő ĩƅ ġű ÚĂäʼnő͠ HőΎʼn ěĆėä HΎġ Áàdressing it to someone, but I’m not. It also helps me communicate better, so I’m prepared to talk to people.

I could do self-care rituals the way I’ve seen it on Youtube, lighting a candle, and using an essential ĩĆě àĆƅŖʼnäŅ͡ ÙŖő H őäĢà őĩ ùĩŅúäő͠ HΎěě àĩ őĂÁő ĩĢÚä in a while, but personally, it’s not practical for me to do that every day. Do something for yourself that you’ll remember to do. Love it, enjoy it, and work through it. I always think, “I’m never getting through this. I just want to give up.” The hard part is picking yourself back up and getting through it. Life isn’t easy, and it shouldn’t be. Work hard now, and get rewarded later. But ƈŅʼnő͡ ĆĢ ĩŅàäŅ őĩ ūĩŅė ĂÁŅà͡ űĩŖ Ģääà őĩ őÁėä ÚÁŅä ĩù űĩŖŅʼnäěù ÁĢà űĩŖŅ ġĆĢà ÙäùĩŅä űĩŖ ūĩŅė͠ äő hours and stick to them. I need to remember to honor my hours too. We got this!

Review of

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J. Faith Malicdem is a sophomore studying journalism at Emerson College. She is also the creator and curator of the PieFace Column. Aside from writing, Faith has many creative endeavors, including film photography and music-making. She hopes to further media coverage on mental health as well as music and the arts.

INSTAGRAM: @johannafaith THE PIEFACE COLUMN: https:// www.piefacecolumn.com/ In Keana Aguila Labra’s micro-chapbook “Natalie,â€? Labra memorializes her late high school friend, Natalie, with intermittent callbacks to the life Natalie once OLYHG /DEUD H[SHUWO\ FDSWXUHV WKH FRPSOH[LW\ RI ORVV EH\RQG WKH W\SLFDO ĹľYH VWDJes of grief that accompany it. The book follows Labra’s stream of consciousness in a messy fashion, appropriately so. “Natalieâ€? features the dizzying emotion of wondering what one could have done to prevent a loved one’s death, which accompanies the bittersweet feeling of reminiscing times shared while they were alive.

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Although Labra has come to adjust to “time traveling,â€? making way for sweet callbacks to Natalie’s existence, she snaps into a habit of bargaining, contemplating her role in Natalie’s life, or rather, the role she wishes she could have SOD\HG LQ 1DWDOLHĹŒV OLIH +HU GHQLDO SDUDOOHOLQJ WKH ĹľUVW VWDJH RI JULHI LV IROORZHG with questions of ‘how,’ ‘aren’t we,’ and ‘what if,’ and Labra in turn dives deeper into what is known as the third stage of grief: bargaining. Throughout “Natalie,â€?

VKH ĹľQGV KHUVHOI VOLSSLQJ LQWR VDGQHVV DV XQVROLFLWHG PHPRULHV OHDN LQWR KHU FRQscience. “I’m sitting in the backseat of the family car. I sing to appreciate the nostalgia that accompanies music.

Then, I start thinking of you & how old you would have been. But, there will be no tears today.â€? “Natalieâ€? carries weight especially in its portrayal of what resembles the fourth VWDJH RI JULHI GHSUHVVLRQ /DEUD LOOXVWUDWHV WKLV VWDJH DV D ĹśHHWLQJ EXW VWULNLQJ one. The deep sadness notably pulls on the heartstrings of Labra’s audience, as she has successfully put this pain in perspective—an emotional pain that can easily intertwine with lung pains and bone aches.

However, Labra’s exemplary strength lies in her ability to highlight the stage of acceptance amidst the seemingly messy experience that is loss. She commemorates the life Natalie led, and the memory she continues to lead in Labra’s heart—a memory of presence, tranquility, and love in its purest form.

While I myself haven’t dealt with loss directly, Labra’s intentions to maintain vulnerability and transparency throughout “Natalie� is seamless, as if she’s able to effortlessly convey the convoluted process of grief. What it boils down to is just that: vulnerability and transparency. Labra is honest and unafraid in her approach to loss. She approaches it with promise and love for Natalie, which gives potential readers all the more reason to read the beautifully written micro-chapbook that is “Natalie.�

Ways to Keep Your Bo

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“Dear Asian Girl” by Stephanie Hu Dear Asian Girl, Let me tell you a story She was young, at first Young and proud, at first.

Roots nurtured by her ancestors, she would lie on the ground to soak up their wisdom.

Short, stubby branches reached out to touch their souls and she would feel the life that once danced on this sacred land.

She would taste the golden nectar of her language from the seeds her mother planted.

Her pride: the sunlight that fed, her stories: the sweet water that nurtured, her traditions: the soil—a structure of all things beautiful.

But soon, her branches grew, grew into the unknown, And she went into the world in search of greener pastures, But instead she found dying roots.

Savage—they called her Chink, Paki, Dink, Gook, Raghead.

They claimed she stung with her thorns But they didn’t know her thorns were her beauty And they tainted her sunlight, until the fire burned her insides Casted a dry spell until it robbed her of her water Stole her fruit, Snapped her branches, Colonized her soil.

Until her songs became only a faint memory on her lips And her stories, stayed forgotten dreams

But Dear Asian Girl, Do not forget where you came from.

Lie on the ground again and turn back the clock.

Revisit your mother’s kitchen, fill the air with notes of sour and sweet, And feel prickles of spice soothe your throat And Dear Asian Girl, you know you’re home.

Like that of a child, let your people’s lullaby sing you to sleep, Harmonize to a chorus so sweet That you can taste the wonders on your tongue Because Dear Asian Girl, We sing our tunes in different tongues Different swirls and different drums beat the same beat, Our hearts still beat the same beat And together, Asian girl, we create our own harmonyA battle cry so loud, you can hear it in your chest when you breathe and smell the burning fire when you scream Look around you, see how far we’ve come?

Well dear Asian girl, we’ve only just begun.

Devika Bahadur

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Interview SusieKi Interview by E l l e H o n g

Elle Hong is the advice columnist of the newly launched feature “Ask Aunty E”. Born in Seoul, South Korea, she’s a Connecticut native living in Los Angeles and recent graduate of UCLA. Having grown up idolizing ELLE Magazine’s Ask E. Jean, she dreams of becoming an Editor at an internationally acclaimed print media company. When she’s not writing or giving advice, you can find her practicing hot yoga and baking cookies.

Susie Kim is a FinTech entrepreneur and design strategist. Born in Korea and raised in Saudi Arabia, Susie left her home at age 12 after experiencing continuous oppression towards women and other minorities, with a goal of becoming the voice for the voiceless through empowerment and creativity. Today, she’s on a mission to create social impact at scale through empowering and guiding the next generation of youths, and has been serving as the Co-Founder & Chief Experience Officer at Pluto Money, the first mobile banking and financial health platform for Gen Z college students.

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Introduce yourself!

Hi everyone! My name is Susie Kim and I am a strategist, designer and serial entrepreneur with over 8 years of experience designing consumer brands and products. I graduated from UCLA in 2015 and co-founded a FinTech company called Pluto Money and have been serving as its Chief Experience Officer. I’m on a personal mission to create a ripple effect of social impact by guiding the empowering Gen-Z (by far the most impact driven generation).

Go-to Boba order?

Happy Lemon -- Black tea with salted cheese CoCo Boba -- Winter melon tea with winter melon toppings Gongcha -- Cold Earl Grey Milk Tea with pearl, herbal jelly and pudding

How did your childhood and life experiences growing up in a multicultural environment inspire you to create social impact?

I was born in South Korea and raised in Saudi Arabia and I feel that both countries were quite oppressive towards women as well as minorities (for example, those with different skin colors or different religious beliefs). Therefore, I was exposed to the challenges and difficulties that minorities and underprivileged individuals faced at an early age. I was also inspired by my uncle who was a National Geographic photographer who produced internationally broadcasted documentaries about disappearing minority cultures across the globe. So, I grew up with a mission of making social impact for minorities through creativity.

What does a social impact mean to you, and how has this related to personal finance and inspired you to create Pluto Money?

In order to make any impact, whether it’s in your personal life or something larger within your community, you have to start at awareness. You have to first understand what the underlying issues are and where you can come in and make changes. Social impact requires a lot of resources, awareness and motivation. Then, I learned that there was a lot of similarity between personal finance and social impact—they were both at the intersection of awareness and action. I learned that Gen Z was a very impact-driven generation and a lot of them wanted to work on a social cause but were scared to make that commitment in fear of an unstable financial future. I believe personal finance can be a backbone of your personal wellness, so I created Pluto to help empower the generation to tackle the issues they care about without being hindered by their finances.

As a college student at UCLA (the 7th college you attended!!!), what was your experience with financial literacy and money management like?

Yes, UCLA was my 7th college! It really took a long journey getting my degree.

My dad passed away from cancer at the end of high school and my mom (a public school teacher) couldn’t afford my education and I watched as she sold our family house that my dad had built just to cover a year’s tuition at Emory University. So, I left Emory after my freshman year, went back to Korea to work 5 part time jobs to make up for the tuition while taking classes from multiple online community colleges to somehow continue my education and also founded a successful coffee roastery/ceramic studio which generated over $1M in revenue and expanded to 4 branch locations in Seoul. Then, I came back to the U.S. to study Art History and Italian at UCLA and got accepted to my dream study abroad program in Europe. But when presented with the chance, I honestly didn’t know how I could afford it. I didn’t even know the difference between a checking and savings account or how to build a credit score. I just knew I didn’t want to get in debt or get behind in school. So, I sadly had to give up on the study abroad program at the very last second.

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How did these experiences inspire you to start Pluto Money?

During that same summer, I set a personal goal to learn about financial literacy. But, the types of resources I needed as a financial novice college student weren’t readily available. The big name banks wanted me to open new accounts with them but didn’t explain why I needed them. There seemed to be a lot of apps but the budgeting and tracking apps were overwhelmingly confusing and full of charts/terms I couldn’t understand, and the automated savings apps didn’t give me any control or awareness I needed to learn. I quickly realized I wasn’t the only one struggling with financial literacy. So, along with my Co-Founder Tim Yu, I started Pluto to create a solution.

What was your journey with Pluto Money like?

With Pluto Money, we set out to build the go-to mobile banking and personal finance platform powered by behavioral economics and AI. We provided personalized, gamified actionable steps in the form of challenges based on finances (ex: Spend less on Postmates this month to save for a summer trip to Disneyland) along with peer insights, student-specific tips and hacks for better money management. We participated in Startup UCLA Accelerator, QC Fintech Accelerator in Charlotte, NC, Techstars x Barclays Accelerator in NYC, and Fountain City Fintech Accelerator with our partner NBKC Bank in Kansas City to launch a new feature called the “Pluto Safe”.

We officially launched on the App Store in 2017 and garnered over 45,000 users from over 1,500 college campuses. Most recently, we were named Apple’s ‘New Apps We Love’ and ‘App of the Day’ in 2019!

What are, in your opinion, the biggest challenges facing women in FinTech and women who aspire to pursue these careers?

Honestly, it’s extremely rare to see a female executive in FinTech, not to mention an Asian or a first generation immigrant. I didn’t come from an engineering or finance background—my background is in Arts & Humanities—and on top of that I was a first time tech founder. It’s undeniably tough being surrounded by the all white male executives in their 40’s from JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs at every banking industry conference, pitching to these types of investors about who Gen-Z is and why financial literacy is important for our future generation. But I’m very lucky to have been part of communities such as Techstars Women, #HowSheWorks and Seneca Advance, and have resources such as Female Founders Alliance, Elpha and Girlboss.

I really look up to Scarlett Sieber, my rockstar female mentor in fintech, who’s trailblazing the industry for women. I think women should understand their worth and value and what she brings to the team with diverse perspectives and experiences.

What advice would you give to someone who’s starting her money management journey? What are some good resources?

Start with a specific financial goal such as “Saving $1500 for a new laptop by December 1st” or “Get my credit score to 750 before next graduation”. These clear goals will help you get motivated.

- Break down the goal into smaller milestones to make it more achievable.

- Plan a step by step list of actions to achieve the milestones.

- Build triggers to keep reminding yourself of your goal and actions to take.

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Money Managment Resources For Young Professionals:

- Ellevest - CleverGirlFinance - LearnLux blog - “Why We Need To Close The Financial Literacy Gap For Women” (Forbes) - MoneyCounts: A Penn State Financial Literacy Series

For Students: - College Student COVID-19 Relief Guide by Pluto Money - Pluto Money Blog - Napkin Finance Academic Perks by National Student Clearinghouse - Federal Student Aid

What are your future plans?

I see myself continuing to guide, empower and advocate for Gen Z through financial health. I also want to keep supporting Gen-Z’s social impact causes in the best way I can, and to do so while helping inspire/groom more minority women into leadership!

You can follow Susie on Instagram: @SusietheXO

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How I Found Relief in Writing Written by Katilin Cheung

Kaitlin Cheung is currently a student at Rutgers University where she studies chemistry. In her free time she enjoys photography, fencing, and trying her hand at writing. In the future she would like to work in medicine, and travel the world.

Instagram: @kaitlincheung_

There’s no doubt that these are challenging times, but it’s difficult to quantify or describe exactly how the current pandemic affects me, or the billions of people around the world facing the same issue. I am fortunate enough to be able to stay home with the rest of my family, but I had still lost a quarter of my freshman year of college, a time that I looked forward to as a time when I would finally enjoy the weather walking to class. Losing time on campus was difficult for me since it was such an awakening for me. Growing up in a small town I knew so much about the area I called home but knew nothing about towns in other parts of the state, or about people from all around the country and the globe.

And being an Asian in a predominantly white small town, I never found friends who truly experienced the same life as me. In high school, I always felt somewhat closed off since nobody could relate to my experiences, nor could I quite relate to theirs. So when I had gone to college, within weeks, I had met countless new friends that I instantly bonded with, people from other heritages, religions, and general life experiences. I couldn’t imagine going to school with more Asians than I could count on my hands. All of my life, I was the only female Chinese girl in my grade. I never knew anything different, so I was comfortable with where I was, but college really opened my eyes to meeting new people and learning more about myself. And even though my college wasn’t far from my hometown, I didn’t find any need or interest in going home during the semester. This past spring, the first time I went home since moving in was moving out because of the pandemic. Like many, many students, I moved out of my dorm a month earlier than expected. On my last day, I had a night class across campus, so I caught the first bus I could and quickly packed my things. I ran around campus, wishing my friends goodbye, trying our best to stay optimistic about coming back in three weeks. The last thing I did before I left was say goodbye to my roommate, someone I had come to know as a sister.

I came home for a short week of spring break but finished it only to be thrown into a whirlwind of revised syllabi, video call errors, spotty Wi-Fi connections, and malfunctioning online exams. For a few days, I put in a ton of effort to stay focused. I was actually finding it easier to follow along with a slower learning pace and felt more comfortable participating since I could just type my message in a chatbox.

However, these feelings were shortlived, and I found myself oversleeping, with little motivation or energy to take notes, and increasing temptation to check my phone while the lecture continued in the background. Bad habits developed into worse ones as the semester continued, and I became more distracted, especially with my siblings around.

It didn’t help that with four other family members all online at once and in need of some privacy from one another, I found myself bouncing around from sofa to table to the kitchen without a single place to quite call my own. This was problematic for my learning, also because the people around me were always talking or eating. I tried using headphones, but it never worked. Eventually, I became so detached from school that I stopped paying attention almost entirely, which was obvious because my grades started to drop. I spent less time studying than usual.

Jumping to the end of the semester, I felt a wave of stress as I realized how much I’d been slacking since coming home. As a chemistry major, all of the classes I was taking were intense, information-heavy courses such as biology, chemistry, and calculus.

Leading up to finals, I stayed up every night until almost 3 am, which sounded like a good idea at the moment but wreaked havoc on my well-being. I was getting less sleep, became more irritable, was much less talkative, and my mood was generally low. On a long night of studying with my headphones in and nobody around me, many of my thoughts directed inward. And it didn’t help that I was stressed and somewhat sleep-deprived. This formed a vicious cycle that grew especially bad once I’d become aware of it. The more upset I was, the more I realized how upset I was, which just only made me more upset. Somedays, I did nothing but sulk for hours, where the only thing I could feel was negativity.

After finishing my last final, I felt a bit of relief and cleaned up my notebooks, binders, and pens that I had scattered around the house. But with nothing to do and seemingly all the time in the world, I spent hours upon hours watching Netflix, using my iPad, checking my phone, or video chatting. This was fine for a few days before I started getting bad headaches, perhaps from looking at too much blue light, so I took a few days ‘off’ and tried to lower my screen time. My headaches eventually went away, but without keeping myself occupied with electronics, I started thinking to myself a lot more. Still, with more thoughts in my head and more time to do so, the more I thought about other things (which were sometimes related, sometimes not). This internal thinking pattern made me feel more distant from other people, and I felt less talkative and less emotionally present for a bit.

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With all this time on my hands, I needed something to do to pass the time. Video games had lost their appeal, and there was only so much I could talk about with friends if I had done nothing interesting since the last time I’d seen them. I grabbed my computer one night to watch some YouTube videos but found myself returning to an old passion project of mine. Since eighth grade, I had an idea for a short story, one that I have returned to time after time, although I have yet to write it and be satisfied with the product. I have always wanted to become a better writer and perhaps publish it one day, so I occasionally come back to it. As a STEM student, I almost never have time to work on side projects like this, especially when they are so different from what I am learning in class, my main priority in school.

I took a moment to wonder why I’ve never written more than about a page. I came to realize - I was always too preoccupied with writing a ‘good’ story that I never processed my emotions before trying to translate them into fiction. I came to this revelation, so I took a day or so to myself, revised my writing strategy, and tried to write during the day.

Instead, I found myself both interrupted by other people around me and self-conscious of someone else reading my writing. I even tried once or twice to lock myself somewhere and write. It never lasted long since I got yelled at for ‘not being productive’ or ‘always being on the computer.’ Unfortunately, this horrible mix of feeling ashamed of my work, inability to focus, and the seemingly chronic lack of creativity I seemed to suffer from made it difficult for me to formulate my thoughts appropriately.

So one night, after everyone in the

house had gone to sleep, I started typing away at a blank Word document, writing down pages of rambling thoughts. I wrote about high school, college, family, and friends.

I wrote about myself, I and my feelings, everything to the way I texted to the clothes that I wore to my music habits. I articulated all of the little things that bothered me and the details that I’d noticed while at home and school. I’d written down thoughts that I had forgotten about, little ideas that had come to me even as far back as middle school or my freshman year of high school.

I wrote as much as I could without stopping to edit any of it like I usually did with my short stories. It was hard for me to leave it be and not try to change it like some audience was trying to read it. But I had a strange feeling of relief like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Thoughts I had been keeping inside for so long were finally coming out, and it felt like I was sharing a deep heart-to-heart without talking to anyone. For a moment, I felt upset about how I didn’t feel comfortable enough talking to my family or friends. I’m so grateful to have those people in my life, but these were small things that seemed irrelevant to talk to them about, nor were they things that I felt like I quite wanted to share directly. I felt terrible about myself that I wasn’t emotionally strong enough to bring this to them, but I realized it was because I had never been able to describe them to myself.

I remember one time when I talked to my dad about something that was bothering me, what it was I cannot remember, but I remember sobbing in front of him, my breath so shaky that I couldn’t bring

myself to formulate words, much less sentences. I felt a bit of relief as I cried, but without being able to quite articulate what was upsetting me was incredibly difficult and only made me feel worse. All those times, I had cried like that while talking to someone else or by myself had always been like that. I constantly had this pain lingering in my chest and a cloudiness that seemed stuck in my head like a growing storm cloud. But somehow the rain had finally fallen, and my mind was clear. I felt incredible, being able to let out everything I’ve been keeping inside, everything I’ve been afraid to tell people all this time. And to others, it might just be a Word document saved onto my laptop, but to me, those feelings were no longer stuck in my head but now out in the world, released and free but not in anyone else’s mind except my own.

I didn’t have to bottle everything up anymore.

“I took a moment to wonder why I’ve never written more than about a page. I came to realize - I was always too preoccupied with writing a ‘good’ story that I never processed my emotions before trying to translate them into fiction.”

So in these unprecedented times, we are all facing challenges whether they be financial, medical, academic, or personal. Being stuck at home has been quite the challenge on its own, but with it came a time of self-discovery. Some people have been baking bread, others creating TikTok videos. Some might splurge and try a new skincare routine, but for me, I have been able to jump back into an old habit of mine while simultaneously being able to channel my thoughts so that they don’t bottle up inside me but that they remain private. It’s crazy that I had to wait for something so life-changing for me to learn this about myself, but I’m grateful that it has led me to this point and that I can still find some peace in a time when so much in the world is negative. And the most interesting thing, I think, is that in a time where face-toface interaction is prized, an empty Word document was actually the best prize of them all.

"My Grandpa's Rose Bush" Medium: Gouache and colored pencil Since quarantine I have had a lot of time to explore my home.

This painting is an expression of reimaging my surroundings by engaging with wonder and delight. This depicted area is a part of my house where my grandpa had planted a little garden with a beautiful rose bush that blooms every spring. It's a place I have become more familiar with than ever before.

Rachel Y

Portfolio: https://ww IG: @yum

Y. Chung

ww.rachelychung.com miincolor

“Gratitude Tastes Like Citrus” Medium: Gouache If gratitude had a flavor what would it taste like?

For me it would taste like oranges and lemons because gratitude can bring sweetness to the sour things in life. By associating taste with thankfulness it brings to mind a tangible representation of gratitude. Allowing the heart to be rooted in the reality that there are always things to be thankful for. To have a grateful perspective in life leads into hope. A hope to live in the everyday, present moments, that is offered to all of us.

This painting was created as a visual expression of gratitude being offered as a gift.

“M Medium: Gouac

This painting was in that my mother wou It’s a Korean plum tea to soothe stomach a had often struggled w so this tea has often ing some relief. It has honey-like sweetness like a warm lemonad actually tastes super y with wonder

Maesil Tea” che and colored pencil

nspired by a very special tea uld make for me growing up. a called “Maesil” tea. It helps aches and relax the body. I with some stomach pain and n come in handy for brings a citrus taste mixed with a s. I’ve often said that it tastes de which sounds gross but yummy. It’s a delicious drink rful health benefits!

“My Grandma’s Chickens” Medium: Gouache, colored pencil and gold watercolor This painting was inspired by an embroidery piece that my grandma had made when she lived in Korea. I took elements from the painting and made it into my own.

Thoughts by a First-Gen on Self-Care During Pandemonium Written by Maggie Tse

Maggie Tse is a recent social work graduate and aspiring writer/poet.

In her free time, she enjoys bad movies and iced drinks. Like most on the internet, she is also an avid cat lover.

INSTAGRAM: @magswrotethat When I went into quarantine a month and a half ago, I was irrationally excited about the swaths of time now available to focus on creating the ideal at-home lifestyle.

Maybe pick up a few healthier habits, maybe concentrate my creative energies, and miraculously come out of the pandemic with a writing career in the making. Maybe learn how to cook stuff using the wok without fear. Since I’m currently in my last year of undergrad (social work; also, shoutout to the class of 2020! What a mess!), my primary responsibilities included finishing up coursework online and doing some light job-hunting. Mainly I planned to take it easy for a while, which would have been the case whether or not the world was thrown into the COVID-19 pandemic.

To preface, this isn’t my first rodeo of trying to take better care of myself. Self-care has been an active subject in my life since enrolling in a helping profession four years ago, and especially significant since I

started tackling personal issues around two years ago. Helping professions take this stuff seriously; you hear about burnout and compassion fatigue all the time because they’re very real possibilities when your career means stretching your emotional limits. Add that to the slew of other issues one tends to grapple with while coming-ofage, like issues of self-esteem and self-worth, realizing how that thing happened was actually, to put it politely, quite messed up (and sometimes, that’s on trauma). You get a riveting contrast of knowledge on the subject and a sudden realization that you are no exception.

The point is, what they say is true.

Every part of the past is vital to this present moment and is key to what happens next. So, that’s where I’m at. Definitely not an expert as much as a familiar intermediate, with the aim to share what I’ve learned thus far on my own journey.

Okay, back to the matter at hand. For me, the relationship between selfcare and self-harm is strong, most likely because when I realized it was time to take better care of myself, it meant swapping/ adding kinder habits to the ones that currently hurt. Self-harm isn’t always blatantly clear and conscious. Sometimes it’s as mundane as choosing not to get enough sleep. There are so

many passive ways to hurt ourselves, usually to cope with something else going on, which is valid! But bad habits just keep on taking their toll. Meanwhile, when possible, self-care is more sustainable. It fosters energy and keeps us going, and half the battle is deciding we believe it’s deserved.

Part of self-compassion is radical self-acceptance. Radical because emotionally, we may not feel like it’s what we deserve. Yet we move forward anyway because the times we feel we least deserve self-love and respect are likely when we need it the most. Having yourself in your own corner, as the only one who truly understands your own motivations and reasons, is so much more constructive than its opposite.

I’ve noticed a lot more about my own Chinese cultural background in the past year than I have in a while, mainly due to my academic placement in a Chinese program within a community center for seniors. This experience pushed me to take note of little things that I’d simply taken for granted before. For example, being raised with a general sense of collectiveness, taking care of yourself by taking care of others, and letting them take care of you in return (yet not in a selfish way, either. The value of balance is strong here). While the results aren’t always ideal (see: traditions like filial piety, or that one Hasan Minhaj joke about how as kids of immigrants, we are the retirement plan), the underlying goal of togetherness and empathy is there.

A truth I’ve stumbled upon in recent years is that it’s easier to care for others than yourself. There is a wmyriad of branches to this idea.To an individualist, it might sound like a trick to sacrifice yourself for someone else and lose out in the process.

But isn’t it true? Giving compliments is so much easier than accepting them.

Cooking someone a meal feels so much more satisfying than just cooking for yourself. Such is the life of communal beings.

Our behaviours are all based on survival. Whatever we’ve kept as we’ve grown is because of this simple monkey-brain psychological conditioning reason. It’s worked in the past, and maybe it’s not necessarily healthy! Not everything is. Not everything will be.

Ultimately, it comes down to owning whatever is weighing on the mind at the moment. We’re problem-solving creatures; our brains seek conflicts and strive to fix them. Trust that your unconscious brain is working on it and take a break, sometimes, too. I’ve found that doing things where I lose track of time, like cooking or writing, helps the mood more than wallowing in things that can’t be changed. And for the things that can, maybe I’ll make a plan to change them.

Time is like money that you have no choice but to spend; the remaining question is how. Mindfulness is found in how you most enjoy daydreaming/ thinking in the ways you’re comfortable with, which isn’t always a meditation session. Sometimes it’s taking the time to not rush through brushing your teeth or doing the dishes. Incorporating healthier habits into daily life is much easier than trying to add a new one to an already full life.

Some final food for thought: firstly, what do you want? Secondly, what do you need? And in combination, what do you need to do for yourself to get what you want, and what do you want to do for yourself to get what you need?

I’ve learned that overall, the journey of life is simply too short not to ask ourselves what we want out of it.

Where is Time For Self-Care in Crisis?

Written by Crystal Widado

Crystal is a rising sophomore in highschool and a passionate advocate for mental health. She is a volunteer listener for an online emotional hotline for teens and a website community leader in student/career support and self-harm recovery support. In her free time, she enjoys running a Studygram Instagram account and reading.

Find her at: INSTAGRAM: @crystalwidado / @nerdlepuff

“Self-care feels wrong to me,” I remember telling my therapist on a rainy Wednesday evening. “It just feels selfish and wrong to do when I could be doing other things with my already limited time,” I further stated. It isn’t only my Chinese family that makes self-care and taking time for yourself an unnecessary thing. As first-generation Asian Americans, we’re taught from a young age to always study and work hard. To go above and beyond everyone else when we didn’t need to. To always be two steps ahead of the game, even though others were already more than two steps behind.

For most, quarantine has been a much-needed break. It’s only natural for quarantine to be a time of hustle for other first-generation Asians and myself that are taught to relentlessly hustle throughout their lives.

I only recently learned about hustle culture by watching a couple of YouTube videos that were recommended to me by a person I volunteered with. We both are online emotional hotline listeners that help teens with their mental health and lead community projects for the site. I remember avoiding that YouTube video because I didn’t want anything to hinder my productivity. Eventually, I ended up watching the entire video more than twice and taking notes on how I could improve myself. Hustle culture is the never-ending and toxic cycle of overworking yourself to be productive all of the time. In a way, hustle culture is another name for the hardworking values of many first-generation Asian Americans. Online, it’s branded as gaining, achieving, working hard, and getting to the top of the food chain. Isn’t that what I, along with so many of my Asian American friends, were taught from a young age? Very little, if any, part of the hustle culture contains self-care. There’s so much hustling, who has time for it anyway?

I am a product of hustle culture and a representation of all of its toxicity. My friends and peers might look up to my efforts, and I know I sometimes look up to my efforts.

But inside, I know the truth about my productivity habits, and I know how much they hurt me as an individual. The truth is, hustle culture is just as bad as procrastination. It’s a spectrum of work habits with two polarized ends, one of which is hustle culture. We hear this at home all the time. Our Asian values put school on one hand and everything else on the other hand, forcing us to choose between the two. We’re taught that you can’t have a relationship and do well in school. You can only choose one. The same thing goes with selfcare and hard work. Apparently, we can only choose one.

We often just accept these values and move on with our lives, choosing school. We often don’t ask ourselves why we can’t have both. Why can’t I be successful and also have a successful relationship? Why can’t I take time for myself and also take time to achieve my goals? There’s a middle ground between pushing ourselves to exhaustion and dealing with the exhaustion from not being able to make ourselves do anything at all. Although those lying on the opposite (or near the opposite) end might see my end as an ultimate dream and goal, I know this is a dichotomy that is escapable.

Even in quarantine, a time where others have been slowing down and “taking time to take a break” for themselves, Hustle Culture has pushed a lot of my peers and me forward. This pressure of constantly achieving and working has managed to survive the pandemic crisis that we’re living in.

Through video calls with my therapist, I’m often asked, “where is the time for self-care?” It’s still a question I’m struggling to figure out.

Time and time again, we’ve convinced ourselves that the time for self-care doesn’t exist. It’s not hard to. There are endless areas that we could improve. Whether it’s writing or an extracurricular or even some arbitrary skill that we never knew we needed, we’ve all struggled to slow down. I know I struggle to slow myself down even though the world around me has slowed down.

But what happens when we’re forced to slow down? In the middle of these uncertain times, it’s inevitable that unpredictable things happen.

From relationship struggles to family stress, things happen that lead us to burnout. We become forced to slow down, and it’s painful. The unproductivity and the sickening side effects of not being able to be “useful” have hit us all at least once in our lives. When it’s in quarantine and combined with other stressors, along with the constant need to be “productive,” it feels so much heavier than it’s meant to be. Slowly, we start to realize truths about ourselves that we might not want to know. Like how productivity is just a distraction from issues we’ve really been avoiding. Or how we’ve cut off half of our friends while trying to frantically get ahead. Whatever it is that we face when we’re in the middle of this rut or burnout stage, we also being to realize the need for self-care.

We, especially hustlers like me, need the time to step back from our responsibilities and breathe. It’s hard not to want to do everything we can with all the time we have, but I myself have realized the importance of slowing myself down and taking a step back from what I’m doing. I know we’ve all struggled a lot with feeling guilty over practicing self-

“We, especially hustlers like me, need the time to step back our responsiEditor’s from Note bilities and breathe.

Overachiever Magazine readers, It’s hard not to want We all need and deserve Dear the time to ourselves. It was a time when an Indian-American, I have a complicatedto relationship wellness - on do with everything we we’re not Aspracticing “productive the one hand, my Asian parents, like most, don’t understand the point of self-care”, which was what I used to To paraphrase, if I have a warm bed, a roof over my head, can with allandthe time call checkingwellness. my emails and watchfood on my plate, that’s the peak of wellness!

On the other hand, wellness ing productivity YouTube videos. A practices in theand West reward have been plucked from my culture and whitewashed we have, but I myself time where we enjoy point of Yoga, meditation, and turmeric all origiourselves forbeyond all ourthe efforts, forrecognition. god’s nated South Asiaof- and by mainlyrealized white people. Mis-the imhave sake. To enjoy andinbe proud the have ac- been co-opted pronunciations (it’s worked pronounced TUR-meric, not TOO-meric!) aside, South complishments that we’ve Asian spirituality and wellness practices have been commodified. In portance ofone ofslowing so hard for. To be kind to ourselves the most disturbing twists, a bit and binge watch that show onSouth Asian, mostly female, garment workers stitch yogaon tops with “Om” on them for pennies a day. I don’t feel commyself down and takNetflix that has been our “Watch fortable participating in modern wellness “trends” I feel complicit in the Later” list for months. We need time erasure of my culture when I do. You can see how something as simple as ing a step back from for ourselves. guided meditation would be anything but relaxing for me! And yet, in the extraordinarily time we live in, it’swhat important to find something I’m doing.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m stressful not saying care and taking breaks. Self-care, as easy as it sounds, is anything but easy for Asian women. Up against their own standards and expectations, self-care often ceases to exist, and it’s saddening to see how under-prioritized it is. We’re all living in a crisis, yet we’re giving ourselves more crises to deal with our own minds and responsibilities.

anything!

- that gets you outaof your head, even for a few minutes. I’m still “drop all your responsibilities for searching for mine, but the articles in this issue have given me some exmonth and stop trying to do your cellent ideas.

I’d like to mention a wonderful article by Isabel Moon here, important work”.

I recognize and ourselves to tostep back from our about non-aesthetic self-care ideas.

Self-care doesn’t need be Instaunderstand the importance of the work whenI hope we need it and know grammable to be effective, a reminder I definitely needed. this issue work that we all do, and I respect the when we’re ready to jump back in. helps you as much as it did me. effort that we all put into the things we’re passionate about. But at the Both in quarantine and beyond Yours, projects and activities that we’re all quarantine, self-care matters. It’s working on aren’t worth sacrificing not just self-care that matters, we our mental health and wellbeing Rehana Paul matter. We matter and deserve time Founder and Editor-In-Chief over. They’re not. They are simply to ourselves. We Asian Americans, not, and even if they were, none of who work tirelessly to be enough us could put in our best effort when for our peers, friends, and family, we are too stressed and tired. We all owe ourselves a favor to take it easy need to find a balance between the for a while and get rid of the toxicitwo ends of that spectrum of work ty of hustle culture. More than ever, ethic. This goes for everyone, not we deserve to show up for ourselves just hustler Asian American teenagand hustle to care about ourselves ers like myself. Whatever work ethic more. We deserve self-care. you may have (or lack of) and whatever culture you grew up in, we all must find the balance of allowing

#selfcare #selfhelp Written By Cindy Hsieh

Cindy Hsieh is a proponent for minorities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). She has been involved in advocacy and entrepreneurship groups on university campuses, as well as American Mensa Leadership workshops to foster new ideas and growth for equality. Her love for the arts has continued to shine through her volunteer work as a piano performer in hospitals and on a daily basis through her drawing and writing. Cindy is working towards further connecting with her Asian-American identity and sharing her experiences with others.

INSTAGRAM: @_cmxhsi There is an axiomatic emphasis on “self-care” and “wellness” in the US, especially nowadays. Self-care is known to be a practice that reduces anxiety and improves our moods. However, an invisible plague of reducing self-care into chocolate and bubble baths has washed over mainstream media. To me, self-care is not pure indulgence. To me, self-care is a form of mental awareness and healing. I view it as a step towards self-help. According to Merriam-Webster, self-help is defined as the “action or process of bettering oneself or overcoming one’s problems without the aid of others.” Thus, the millennial in me scoured the internet for more insight into this plague. After doing a quick analytical dive into Instagram, it was notable to me that most people have lost track of what self-care truly stands for. There are around 2.6 million posts tagged #selfhelp and a prodigious 28.3 million posts tagged #selfcare. The latter group of posts is idyllic snapshots featuring cups of tea, blankets, and snacks in cozy spots.

While these concepts may have “soothed” people’s minds at the moment, I could not help but think that they merely function as a temporary bandaid over a gashing wound. These images of selfcare in the media’s eyes are so far removed from the self-help type of wellness that sheds light on our denial of the “uglier” part of ourselves.

The raw and unveiled truth about self-care is that it is often a very “unbeautiful” thing. Enforcing a set routine even during quarantine, managing finances responsibly, or working out even when you may feel tired may not be the satisfactory indulgence we want when we think of self-care. More often than not, I find the pull towards distracting myself from finding a solution to the problems that I am running away from. Self-care is about total acceptance of our lives and what our practical limits are. It isn’t about seeking a short reprieve from our overworked lives and being scared to take control of our schedules. As stated by international author Brianna Wiest, self-care is “not salt baths and chocolate cake. It is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.”

The solution to this is to take the reins and do the thing we least

want to do. So much of the anxiety I experience comes from not putting my latent potential into motion. Our minds go into overdrive when we think too much into tasks that do not seem appealing to us. Thus, lately, I have started to implement an easy trick on my mind to soar past the barriers of self-sabotage. I simply tell myself what task I need to accomplish and count down from 5. The lack of time in between my decision to start a task and my actualizing of my potential energy creates a world of a difference. I find that the difficult thing is never that difficult. What is difficult is setting the body in motion and fighting the urge to do something my brain paints as unpleasant. Making this small alteration to your mindset allows you to become the hero of your own life and rewire the unproductive parts of your brain.

There needs to be a middle ground between indulgence and discipline. An aspect of Asian culture that I have always cherished is its mindset to focus on preventative measures instead of treatments to patch up life’s wounds. Alice Lin, the esthetician and owner of Wonderland Organics, shares her experience of self-care in Taiwan. “I previously worked in Taiwan for three years, and I learned a lot about what people there do for self-care. Because people work long hours (from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.), they make sure to take naps during their lunch hours in the office. In fact, offices will turn off the lights at noon for a calming environment to sleep.” In Japan, bathhouses are a notable part of the country, not purely for aesthetic purposes. They are considered to boost both physical and wellness benefits by reducing stress. Another preventative and beneficial self-care practice that is prevalent among East Asians, especially Koreans, is skincare.

Multiple products, from serums to masks and moisturizers, are utilized to boost and pamper the skin. The emphasis on such a routine is more than skin deep. The routine provides a meditative moment to the self and provides for productive practice to improve the body’s wellness. Other popular aspects of East Asian culture, such as meditation and herbal cures, also support this lifestyle dogma.

Self-care is much more than lighting a candle and indulging in sweet treats in bed. It is about being self-sufficient and honest with yourself. It is about choosing a life that truly FEELS good over a life that simply looks good. Don’t escape life, enjoy it! <3

Thank You Written by Crystal Guo

Crystal is a high school student attending Rutgers Preparatory School in Somerset, New Jersey. Eager to represent Asian women in the business society, she started the Asian Business Society. She is interested in studying business management and social psychology.

INSTAGRAM: @crystalguo1

Like many first-generation Asian Americans that did not know much English, my parents started their own family-owned business. Their business was a small, Japanese, all you can eat restaurant. It became their entire life; they made sacrifices for the business to grow and devoted themselves to making their visions come to life. Though that meant leaving my brother and me home alone almost every day as kids, this business had such a big impact on our lives. It became a part of our family.

Like many other children whose parents were so blinded by their jobs, I slowly became jealous of the business. I often overlooked the struggles my parents went through to find success in their business--to me, it was the reason my dad could not attend the first father-daughter dance. It was the reason they could not drive me to my first party. It was the reason for a lot of my own boredom as a child; I often found myself wrapped up in my own thoughts, sitting at the back of the restaurant because there was nothing better to do. It brought me no happiness, no joy. I hated the restaurant.

It took me until I was 10 years old to finally love and enjoy the business--I took to the cash register, helping my parents out by swiping cards.

What started as simple tasks quickly became more intricate, important, and tough. I went from running the cash register to running the restaurant as a manager. I dedicated an entire summer to leading the restaurant so that my parents could spend time with my brother before he left for his freshman year at NYU. Anger often overtook my perception of them for valuing money over spending time with both my brother and me; however, I understood the sacrifices they made and continued pressing on.

The restaurant was going well. I worked there for many hours after school but was somehow able to balance it. My focus on the restaurant remained strong, and I helped my parents in any way I could. As the new decade began, we had high hopes for the future of our business, but something hit unexpectedly--the COVID-19 virus. We had to close down our restaurant when news broke out of a pandemic reaching the United States. The last

thing any of us wanted to do was risk the safety and well-being of the family we built around the restaurant: our staff that had been with us for years, the suppliers that we had called on a first-name basis, and our customers that we had served our entire lives. As things worsened, the restaurant was forced to close. What we thought was a few weeks turned into months. That is when the arguments started. On one side was my mom with her argument of financial responsibility and on the other was my father with his argument of safety and health issues.

Despite the business growing at a substantial rate, we were faced with huge financial responsibilities. My brother goes to NYU, which totals up to 78K a year. I go to a college preparatory high school that is around 43K a year. With only our school tuition, the finances are already stacked pretty high. With this, the decision came to an end and my mother won. She won the argument, but did she really win?

My dad refuses to help her reopen the restaurant. They were always a two people team: my dad did everything you needed English for and my mom did everything else. The relationship between them had gotten so bad that they are not sleeping in the same room anymore. There was constant screaming. Our family was broken, but not defeated.

My mom is moving out soon. She is going to move into an apartment so she alone can work at the restaurant without coming home to us and putting our lives at risk. My mom and my uncles have made this decision and there was no talking her out of it. Although she is not in as much risk as

“Like many other children whose parents were so blinded by their jobs, I slowly became jealous of the business.” doctors and nurses are, it scares me to see her move out and work for some money that might not even make a difference.

All throughout my life, I have never been in this situation. It scares me. I have never had to consider going to public school because we could not afford it. I had never considered getting a summer job just because we needed the money.

I have never understood the sacrifices that my parents made for me until now, until COVID-19. Thank you. Thank you to all the parents that constantly love and support their children. Thank you to the immigrant parents. Especially, thank you, mom and dad. Thank you for supporting my dreams and risking your lives to give me a better one.

So please, support your local small businesses. We are working so hard and sacrificing so much. There is so much behind the scenes that you would never know.

Quarantine Has Turned Me Into a Social Media Stalker Written by Aya Apton

Aya Apton is a Japanese-American writer living in Tokyo. In her free time, she runs Ko Archives, a digital archive documenting Japanese women from all over the world. You can read more of her work on Medium or find her here: INSTAGRAM: @aya.apton I have a confession to make: In the past few months, I have become a fullblown social media stalker.

Along with seemingly every other yuppie on the Internet, I started quarantine with productive hobbies, like cooking Alison Roman recipes and using Nike Run Club. But if quarantine has taught me anything, it’s that all good things must come to an end. Alison Roman has been cancelled by the Internet, and running has been cancelled by me. Now, my hobby is checking in on people that I haven’t talked to in a decade. Not “checking in” in a way that might actually be healthy, of course, like picking up the phone. More of an anonymous check-in, where I speculate the details of someone’s life based on their social media presence. With the passion of an investigative journalist chasing down a story on Absolutely Nothing, I spend hours researching the lives of everyone that I have ever known.

To be fair, even under normal, non-quarantine circumstances, I’m already a fairly skilled and prolific social media stalker; my ability to gather intel from bread crumbs strewn across social media accounts is honestly concerning. Sometimes, I wonder if I could have been a useful member of the CIA in another lifetime (probably not).

But in quarantine, this stalking has become much worse. I start out wondering how a guy I knew in college is doing and end up scrolling through the profile of a girl I talked to at a party once. By the time I come up for air, I realize that I’m on someone’s mom’s Facebook, which is how I know it’s time to sign off for the day. I browse through social media profiles like it’s gossip from People magazine, except instead of Jennifer Garner, it’s a girl from my high school whose name I could hardly remember even when I was still in high school.

As it turns out, I’m not alone in my creepiness. I’m reassured when my friends confirm that they’ve been doing the same thing. Like Tiger King and quarandreams, this might just be another part of life in lockdown. Wasting time on Instagram is nothing new, of course, but while we used to stalk the influencer with the mesmerizing hip-to-waist ratio, now, we’re stalking the childhood friend who recently got engaged. When I ask one friend why he thinks he’s

he’s suddenly looking at the profiles of people from his past, he speculates, “I think quarantine makes me a little nostalgic and starved for connection.”

Indeed, the feelings of nostalgia and the need for social connections are stronger than ever in quarantine. Our Instagram feeds are full of throwback photos and videos from a time when we could freely gather in public spaces. We look back longingly at the days before life felt like an endless loop of doing dishes and trying to troubleshoot your mic on Zoom. Remember how it felt to talk to a real, live person face-to-face, without having to be punished by your coffee breath under your mask? When the present feels like it’s on fire, it’s easy to try to burrow yourself deeper into the past.

To me, stalking people on social media during quarantine feels a lot like eating junk food. When you’re really hungry, you know how a greasy slice of pizza sounds better than a salad? Or how, when you’re dying of thirst, an ice-cold Coke sounds better than water? When you’re starved for connection, stalking someone on social media sounds a whole lot easier than actually picking up the phone and engaging with someone. It’s empty calories, and you’ll be full of nothing, but it’s instantly satisfying.

The reality is that three hours of Instagram stalking is not nearly as nourishing as a fifteen-minute phone conversation with a close friend. And let’s be real, you absolutely do not need a “Where Are They Now?” child star-esque update of your high school’s mean girl. Brianna is probably doing fine, wherever she is.

If you haven’t talked to someone in close to a decade, chances are, it’s because you don’t actually care about them all that much.

For those of you who have already realized this, congratulations on being much better than me. But for those who have found themselves spending too much time going down the rabbit hole that is social media, I’d like to invite you to join me in a challenge. Next time you feel the urge to do some social media stalking, phone a friend instead.

Wellness and Self-Love Written by Su Wen Liew

Su Wen Liew is a History undergraduate who enjoys writing opinion pieces, intending to delve into more journalism accompanied by lifestyle blogging and creative writing. In her spare time, she loves exploring the creative possibilities of makeup and fashion, especially with styling clothes alongside jewelry. Singing is also another pursuit of hers, which she consistently exhibits on Instagram and YouTube. Using this creative medium she aspires to write pieces that resonate with people who share similar feelings and experiences to her own. Her eventual goal is to make those who read or listen to her work more included, heard and feel less alone in their headspace.

INSTAGRAM: @suwensushi YOUTUBE: Su Wen Liew

It seems almost too simplistic of a question to be asked, but when you think about it, does anybody really know why? We say it matters because it just does, as we are told to, but do we step back and understand why we should do it?

In the context of mental health awareness month, I wanted to write a piece that resonated with the people around me and a part of myself that I’m still trying to work on - the issue of self-love. We all speak about it in passing and recognise that we should do it, yet, a lot of the time we are unable to. It is universally known but also underestimated, a phrase we say to others but rarely to ourselves, which is strange when we agree it is a necessity. It is possibly one of the hardest to do, especially when there’s no set formula or correct way to practice it. Not only that, but it’s so difficult to come to terms with and isn’t solved overnight.

We forget that so much of this validation is not taught. We are never reminded that we should value and listen to ourselves, not in a narcissistic way, but in one that doesn’t judge us so harshly for who we are. Especially in the time we live in, we are relentlessly surrounded by comparison and contrast even if we try to escape from it. Everything seems to parallel a competition or a standard to meet, even if it is a lie. Furthermore, so many of the events that happen to us growing up can distort the way we see ourselves and make us assume that we are lacking in some way. As much as we dislike it, so many of our views are shaped by how people treat us, as we are brought up in a society that magnifies the importance of external affirmation. These factors combined together amass to a difficulty for us to accept and be kinder to ourselves when we feel undeserving of it.

Over time, the main method that helped me was gaining awareness and directly asking myself why these doubts existed. It allowed me to monitor the thoughts I was letting linger in my mind for extensive periods. Sometimes simply realising that you’re bombarding yourself with these criticisms, is a surprise as it is easy to forget that we are even contemplating these feelings so vividly in the first place.

Working out why the specific emotions I felt existed whilst tracing them back to different memories made me conscious of the causes of my insecurities. It wasn’t an immediate solution, but it was a step towards acknowledging what I needed to hear when I was down. Now I try to remind myself that despite the days where I am spiralling, there are good moments that have existed before. It was about grasping those small pockets of happiness that were possible and would happen again. A setback doesn’t equate to a complete erasure of one’s progress.

People continue to grow over time and the lessons they have learned up until that point will always remain intact regardless.

For me, it was about knowing that there was temperance in everything, with the good and especially the bad.

Knowing that I had little control over the external circumstances and other people made me more reassured in that sense, as the one thing I did have power over was my own mindset alongside how I reacted. Self-love became important for me when I realised that despite what advice I was being given, I could only really believe it when I did myself, otherwise, it would never assimilate. I spent so many years believing that the people around me were supposed to solve my problems for good.

However, I began to see that they could help but should not be wholly responsible for my self-image, as the attitudes that I held towards myself were more stable, long-term affirmations. Regardless of any criticism or comment that was supposed to hurt me, I could fall back on my own support and rely on my own truth.

“I spent so many years believing that the people around me were supposed to solve my problems for good.”

Being able to differentiate the reality and fiction of the content in my head, allowed me to change my perception gradually. Having that new approach towards my thoughts made me able to manage them as I was the one that had authority. When they become too enmeshed, writing them down or voicing them out allows me to visualise that the negativity is external from my body, meaning I can physically examine what I’m dealing with.

I think the daunting part is challenging something you can’t necessarily see, making it more difficult to understand. Once I removed it from my system and pieced the sources of my judgements together, they became easier to comprehend as I saw that so many of my internal criticisms were not evidenced by anything but mere assumptions.

As straightforward as it sounds, prioritising and looking after yourself allows you to see that you’re worthy of receiving what you want in your life. We often forget that it is central to our perspective, which influences how we view our own happiness. Slowly granting myself the right to gain back control over my thoughts and surroundings gave me newfound freedom towards what made me comfortable in my own skin. This allowed me to adopt healthier habits and gave me better clarity over what alongside who was good for me. Trusting yourself and that process is a lifelong journey, which is intimidating, but it does get easier to navigate once you begin to treat yourself with that deserved respect. Self-love is subject to interpretation and differs between all of us, as we know ourselves the best. In that sense, it’s about finding what works to access the support that we need to hear the most, even when it doesn’t feel that way.

NATURAL BEAUTY

The Social Distancing Issue Written By | Anu Joshi

t was a Tuesday evening, and I was driving home from work. I was on the same route I’ve been taking for the Irain past seven weeks. Everything was completely normal until it started to rain. Of course, driving in the pouring isn’t always the best experience, but this time it was different.

I was about 10 minutes away from my house when I reached this opening on the highway. On each side of the concrete structure, I was driving on was a valley with emerald trees covering every inch of its natural ridges.

The sun was setting at just the right moment, and everything was golden, the light raindrops bouncing and reflecting each ray of sunlight into my peripherals.

In one word, it was simply beautiful.

Looking back at this memory as I write this article on natural beauty, I am reminded of how much nature reflects who we are as people.

Just as nature is beautiful for just being, we are beautiful in the same way. We are beautiful just as we are, hence the term human being.

One of my friends, Sarai Uesato, described natural beauty as “genuine, pure, and real. Not artificial, not faked.

Natural beauty comes with little effort.”

Before I dive further into this topic, I’d like first to define natural beauty. Merriam-Webster defines nature as “the inherent character or basic constitution of a person or thing: ESSENCE,” and beauty as “the quality/ qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit: LOVELINESS.” Thus, natural beauty can be considered basic qualities in a person that brings pleasure.

What is Natural Beauty?

Natural beauty can be taken in a couple of ways. One would be, being completely bare, not wearing any makeup, and can go as far as not shaving or doing anything else that changes your body from its natural state.

Sammi Oh said, “When I think of natural beauty, I think of more like not altering your appearance. Like not using enhancers such as makeup or things that can drastically change a person’s given face and body from its ‘natural’ state.”

Although this is one way to define natural beauty, it can also refer to making small changes to enhance your natural beauty. For example, I would personally consider natural beauty as being able to shave, pluck your eyebrows, and putting on a bit of mascara and chapstick when going out—not caking on layers of makeup just to go to the grocery store. In other words, doing whatever you need to do to feel comfortable.

Why is it important to realize your Natural Beauty?

Growing up in an age of social media, where people can curate perfect lifestyles of looking fit and “natural” at every second of the day, can be toxic. We can’t take these manufactured realities and equate them to normal life.

Although it may look like these people just got out of bed, there may have been an entire production that went on behind the scenes just to create a “simple” and “effortless” picture. You will never know what lights, what filters, what edits, and how many times it took to take that one picture.

Because of this created misconception, at the base of natural beauty, we should not and cannot compare ourselves and try to be like these people we see in our feeds.

Beauty comes in being. Just like nature, we are organic and genuine at our core.

After taking a couple of years to discover what beauty meant to her, Madison Seto said, “I find the most beautiful people are the ones who accept themselves...Someone who believes in themselves and their causes can influence others to do the same, and I think that’s the most beautiful thing people can do for each other in a world that makes us so critical of each other and ourselves.”

Whenever I question my own beauty, I like to think about a time when I didn’t care about my appearance. I think of the days when I was a carefree child, running on the playground with my friends, sweat rolling down my face, hair in a tangled mess, and a huge smile on my face.

To a passerby, they would simply see this as a moment of pure joy and happiness, but as I think of it now, I think it is beautiful.

At the end of the day, natural beauty has no solid definition. Natural beauty is whatever you do or don’t do that makes you feel completely yourself.

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