When I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do for a living. I struggled to find anything that I felt I was passionate enough to do for the rest of my life. At the end of my senior year, my whole graduating class had to take a career test to see what might be a good fit for us. My top results varied-ranging from musician to butcher-but the one that caught my eye was exhibit design. I began getting excited about the idea of putting together exhibits for museums, parks, galleries, etc. and I thought that I had finally found something I could be passionate about. After high school graduation, I enrolled in a graphic design program because it would provide the closest education to what I needed for exhibit design. Soon enough, I fell in love with graphic design itself. It is such a diverse field with many facets, all able to bring beauty into the ordinary things of life. Midway through my first year at community college, COVID-19 struck and all my classes moved to a whirlwind of remote, from-home learning, self-leadership, and Zoom calls. I found it difficult to practice art being confined to my home and without access to the technology provided on-campus. I made it through, however, and am proud of the works I was able to create with my limited resources. I hope to someday use my design skills and experience to serve action-based non-profit companies in creating an identity for themselves that will help get their name out there and reach more people. The power that visuals have over people’s perception of brands and organizations is much greater than many realize. I am passionate about effective communication, and visuals and graphics play a huge role in its success. I would also love to start a small art business from home to share my little bits of joy with the world some day. My boyfriend and I are both creatives, him pursuing a career in video and media. Our dream is to be able to do what we love based from our home- for our home to be a place where we can truly live and rest in and enjoy, not just plop on the couch after a long 9-5 day. Starting our own businesses from home would allow this to be a possibility. Working from home would mean we would have much more room for creativity in our own space that we develop, thus making us more productive and able to involve much more passion in our work.

When I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do for a living. I struggled to find anything that I felt I was passionate enough to do for the rest of my life. At the end of my senior year, my whole graduating class had to take a career test to see what might be a good fit for us. My top results varied-ranging from musician to butcher-but the one that caught my eye was exhibit design. I began getting excited about the idea of putting together exhibits for museums, parks, galleries, etc. and I thought that I had finally found something I could be passionate about. After high school graduation, I enrolled in a graphic design program because it would provide the closest education to what I needed for exhibit design. Soon enough, I fell in love with graphic design itself. It is such a diverse field with many facets, all able to bring beauty into the ordinary things of life. Midway through my first year at community college, COVID-19 struck and all my classes moved to a whirlwind of remote, from-home learning, self-leadership, and Zoom calls. I found it difficult to practice art being confined to my home and without access to the technology provided on-campus. I made it through, however, and am proud of the works I was able to create with my limited resources. I hope to someday use my design skills and experience to serve action-based non-profit companies in creating an identity for themselves that will help get their name out there and reach more people. The power that visuals have over people’s perception of brands and organizations is much greater than many realize. I am passionate about effective communication, and visuals and graphics play a huge role in its success. I would also love to start a small art business from home to share my little bits of joy with the world some day. My boyfriend and I are both creatives, him pursuing a career in video and media. Our dream is to be able to do what we love based from our home- for our home to be a place where we can truly live and rest in and enjoy, not just plop on the couch after a long 9-5 day. Starting our own businesses from home would allow this to be a possibility. Working from home would mean we would have much more room for creativity in our own space that we develop, thus making us more productive and able to involve much more passion in our work.

As a student currently finishing my last semester at Bible college and taking online classes through Grand Canyon University, I am highly occupied with my studies and am unable to work a regular job. This means that I must steward my money well in order to pay for the cost of living and for tuition, which I am paying out of pocket. The money I currently have is the money I have, and I must budget accordingly, otherwise I will need to take a pause in my education to be able to afford it. As a student of graphic design, I love creating beautiful things, especially in the digital world. This passion and the skills I am gaining through my education have opened the door for me to kickstart an Etsy shop. This is one way that I will be able to have passive income as I focus on my schooling. I have high hopes that it will be successful and help me pay my way through the rest of my time at college. It is also an exciting opportunity to be able to refine my business and advertising skills, build my portfolio, and gain experience in the real world as I prepare to enter the field after college. It is a special thing when someone you do not know likes your work enough to spend money on it. Aside from this, I work hard to budget my expenses and keep track of the money I have. I am frugal with my shopping, avoiding things that I do not need, especially because I am moving back home to Washington from California soon and I would like to pack as light as possible. The credit union that I am a member of offers an ‘easy saver’ program where every purchase rounds up to the nearest dollar, and the remainder is set aside in a separate account. This is harmless in the moment, but can add up quick and has been helpful to me in a pinch at times. Another important financial decision I made from the moment I opened a bank account was that I decided to avoid debt at any cost. I have been committed to only buying things if I have the money to afford them. I have been blessed in the past with paying for school, as at my community college my financial aid covered more than my tuition, and I have been able to pay for Bible college out of pocket. Now, as I am beginning my journey with GCU to finish my bachelor’s degree, it is much more costly and my savings cannot be sustained throughout the entire course. I am looking forward to being able to work again when I go home to supplement this and be able to have a solid education as a foundation without the weight of debt so that I can live out my dreams from the get go.

“Emmy, straight your back!” said Lola Josie every Sunday as I sat on her couch while my parents served in the second service at church. I have never had good posture, and Lola always made sure that I knew it. I would always sit up, embarrassed that she had to tell me again, but that was about the hardest pressure that my sweet Lola ever put on me. She was never a stickler to me about success, but rather she wanted me to be happy. “It’s ‘pree’ to dream, Emmy” she always said, especially when buying her lottery tickets. She never told me that I had to be a certain person to be successful; to have a certain job or carry a certain title. I know that this is a unique perspective in the Asian-American ideal, but her life was always a reflection of this gentle approach to a valuable life. Because I was never told I had to be a nurse or a lawyer or anything of the sort, I really was free to dream. Lola fell in love with an American soldier in the Vietnam war and made a new life in the Pacific Northwest. She then fell in love with being a mother and in her humility and love did everything she could to provide for her family, even after divorcing her first husband. She was not concerned with her title or her reputation as an immigrant, but joyfully cared for her daughters no matter what it took. She held tight to her freedom to dream and put in the work to exercise it, living out her passion to lift others up. One of her daughters became my mother and she also has raised me with this value instilled in me: success in life is marked by hope and love, not money or position. The dreams that Lola dreams ‘preely’ in her mind all revolve around blessing those around her. Her hopes of winning the lottery are motivated by a desire to put her grandchildren through college and into their own homes someday. As she fights pancreatic cancer in her final days, she still buys a lotto ticket every week and makes sure that we have full bellies when we visit. In a time when she is dependent on others to take care of her, she still takes care of them back. I can never thank her enough for her kindness to me and for her perspective of love, charity, and honor, filling me with great purpose no matter what I do in life. She encourages me to actively live in my freedom rather than settling for less. My family is extremely supportive of my creative dreams to become a graphic designer and make communication a thing of beauty. Design is all about communicating a message and carrying information visually. Making information accessible as well as beautiful is how I dream of keeping the freedom to dream alive in the world around me.

My favorite Disney character has always been Ariel from The Little Mermaid. One of my earliest memories involves stealing a red crayon from my best friend so that I could give Ariel the perfect shade of hair in my coloring book. I think that if I am being honest, I liked Ariel growing up because she was a mermaid and she loved to sing. There were two things I wanted to be when I was little: a mermaid and a singer. As I got older, I recognized that mermaidhood was not an option, but my love for singing brought me into my high school’s theatre departments. The very first show that I was part of was The Little Mermaid. I got the privilege of playing Ariel’s sister Alana during my freshman year, and found a role model in the senior girl who had played Ariel. She showed me how to work hard in the production and how to sing theatrically. As much as I still love to sing, that dream has also faded. Although I find her less relatable as I used to, I still love Ariel and her curiosity for the world, her kindness to the little guys in her life, her willingness to try new things, and of course, her beautiful voice. Ariel may no longer be a role model for me, but I think that it is healthy to outgrow old role models or goals in life as one matures and begins to understand the world better, especially in their own context. I do not see the world the same way that I did when I was little, and my desires reflect that. I am thankful to have had such a fun character to inspire me in my childhood, and now I can look back on those memories very fondly, knowing that they sustained me for a time and grew me into who I am today.

I dream to make the world a more beautiful place in a practical way. Through graphic design, I love helping groups express their identity in a creative, beautiful, and edifying way. My goal in life is to bring beauty relationally through my actions and visually through my design work.

“Emmy, straight your back!” said Lola Josie every Sunday as I sat on her couch while my parents served in the second service at church. I have never had good posture, and Lola always made sure that I knew it. I would always sit up, embarrassed that she had to tell me again, but that was about the hardest pressure that my sweet Lola ever put on me. She was never a stickler to me about success, but rather she wanted me to be happy. “It’s ‘pree’ to dream, Emmy” she always said, especially when buying her lottery tickets. She never told me that I had to be a certain person to be successful; to have a certain job or carry a certain title. I know that this is a unique perspective in the Asian-American ideal, but her life was always a reflection of this gentle approach to a valuable life. She fell in love with an American soldier in the Vietnam war and made a new life in the Pacific Northwest. She then fell in love with being a mother and in her humility and love did everything she could to provide for her family, even after divorcing her first husband. She was not concerned with her title or her reputation as an immigrant, but joyfully cared for her daughters no matter what it took. One of her daughters became my mother and she also has raised me with this value instilled in me: success in life is marked by hope and love, not money or position. The dreams that Lola dreams ‘preely’ in her sweet mind all revolve around blessing those around her. Her hopes of winning the lottery are motivated by a desire to put her grandchildren through college and into their own homes someday. As she fights pancreatic cancer in her final days, she still buys a lotto ticket every week and makes sure that we have full bellies when we visit. In a time when she is dependent on others to take care of her, she still takes care of them back. I can never thank her enough for her kindness to me and for her perspective of love, charity, and honor, filling me with great purpose no matter what I do in life.