This mural was unveiled on San Francisco State’s campus in 2003, and honors Asian American historical figures and the 1968 Third World Liberation Front strikers that paved the way for the first and only College of Ethnic Studies in the U.S.

My name is So-Young. I’m American.

#AsiansAreVisible #StandWithAsians #StopAsianHate

Yes, my real name is So-Young. I was born in Washington, DC, raised in Brooklyn and was educated in the US. My name? Yes, I’m of Korean descent. And I’m an American. I have never been any other nationality.

As an Asian-American with a Korean name, I list ‘US Citizen’ on my resume as most Asian-Americans use a more ‘Western’ name to fit in. Why do I have to do this? Because in the US, Asians have been expected to fit in and not stand out — with our names, our opinions and our voices. We are often pushed aside for promotions because we don’t speak up for ourselves and self-advocate. When I was at McKinsey, I did some research on the percentage of East Asians who started as Associates and ended up as Directors and the fallout rate was staggering and statistically significant. There are many reasons for this from systemic issues to cultural norms to unconscious bias (even among Asians) so it’s not an easy challenge to solve.

I grew up in Brooklyn where my closest friends were Lisala, Tanisha, Anita, Peter, Vincent, Wayne — Black, Hungarian, Jewish, Hispanic, Gay, Straight and some Asians too. We were the mini-UN and we had no idea and didn’t care. We were friends. We went to each others’ homes, ate each others’ food and met each others’ families. We laughed together and cried together…