1. Because I need money. Who wouldn't? 2. My academic motto is "C gets degree" and my career goal is your job. 3. I once jumped over a fence and sprained my ankle. Does that count?

"You're overreacting." "It's all in your head!" "Stop being so dramatic." "Why are you depressed when you're with me?" And many more scathing words that have etched into my memory, ever since I learnt that I would from now live with Depression and General Anxiety Disorder. I grew up in a developing country, where people with mental illness were cruelly looked down upon. “Crazy” is the only word that society used to describe them, leaving many struggling and wondering why they turned out this way. I was no exception. High school years were the darkest time of my life. I was bullied and mocked for some words spoken in anger and frustration, for I could not understand why the blame was on me. They told the school administration that I did some stuffs which I had no recollection of doing. I was infuriated and confused. For a long time, “death” was the only word I thought I deserved. I moved away from that environment at 17 to a developed country this time. I thought things would become better, until those yellow teeth and red rashes on my skin told the world that I had Bulimia. Other people were so skinny and beautiful – why was my 3-hour daily workout not giving me the body I wanted? Yet again, I received little to no support. My host family could not deal with a teenage girl suffering from mental disorders once they learnt about my case, so they asked the school to remove me from their home and transfer me elsewhere. I was all alone in a country thousands of miles away from home. “Anger” was the only emotion that occupied my mind. Once more, “death” was the only word I thought I deserved. I did not ask to be this way, but I must tell myself: enough is enough. Just like the statistics linked on the Ethel Hayes Destigmatization of Mental Health Scholarship says: suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, and the second leading cause of death for college-age youth. I have been suffering from mental disorders and suicide ideations, but I have never wanted to become another number in the statistics. I am more than that. I am a bright woman with great ambitions and openness to explore the world; that my desire to live triumphs the malicious whispers of letting my diagnosis define me no matter how difficult it is every day. I enrolled into university with a dream to become a neuroscientist and an engineer, for I saw the boundless potential of technology in the battle against mental disorders. “Accessible” and “innovative” are the words I use to describe my work. I have been conducting research in novel neurotechnology with a goal to develop brain implants and prosthesis that could fight against mental illness for anyone who is in need. Fueled by the aforementioned passion, I have successfully published two research papers and am currently conducting a study in robotic consciousness, which can be helpful in creating medicinal AI. I hope that my research will contribute to the eradication of mental illness that has been plaguing our society, and to become a neuro-engineer whose work only benefits the greater good. I am a minority woman with mental disorders. But the pain of the past now becomes my fuel for the future that has been condensed in my research in neurotechnology. I learnt to be gentle to my past self and others who have been suffering from mental disorders around me. “Destigmatizing” is now the word I use to describe my goal in the battle against mental illness.