Growing up a child of immigrant parents who escaped a war-torn country, my mom and dad instilled in my sister and I perseverance and resilience. They taught me to work hard, study hard and do everything with excellence…which made me a great student and obedient daughter…until the thing I wanted to do excellently, was not in their life plan for me.
For so many years I felt so lost, so broken and so angry. It was a decision between my passion or my parents – and I chose my passion. It broke our relationship and to this day, remains the thing I still cry about every time I think about it, talk about it, or write about it. Like literally right now. Ugh.
As I get older, as my parents get older, and as the past becomes more of a scar than a fresh wound, I find myself trying to heal by trying to understand them. They wanted my sister and I to be safe. To be financially secure. To not suffer. To have stability. Things that were robbed from from them. Telling my parents I was going to pursue fashion design was none of those things. But the more they told me NO the more it lit my fire.
I’m extremely grateful to my parents because had they not done what they did, I would not have fought as hard as I did to get where I am today.
I want to thank you for supporting me all of these years, whether it was by doing a Blogilates video on YouTube or by purchasing something from POPFLEX (or recently Blogilates!). Know that you have the power to change the trajectory of someone’s life, as you did mine, by the choices you make. I say this because as a consumer, our loudest “vote” comes in the form of a dollar. Corporations, at the end of the day, make decisions heavily influenced, if not totally influenced, by numbers. Now more than ever, if you have the means to support minority owned brands that make products you love, let your dollar do the speaking. Know that your collective choices are POWERFUL and that THIS is how they listen.
Also WOW how has this January been 847 days long!?!?
Chuc Mung Nan Moi (Vietnamese)
Gung Hay Fat Choy (Chinese)
Happy Lunar New Year 🧧🐍
