Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage

What it means to be Asian American at Aerospike by Kim Wu

Spending most of my childhood in Palo Alto, CA where the community was primarily Asian American meant that I have never really seen myself as special or a minority. Many had the same circumstances and backgrounds as me, a first-generation Chinese immigrant family coming to the United States looking for bigger and better opportunities in the hopes of finding such success. I was taught at a young age to bear with whatever I was given, to keep quiet and never speak up because that could potentially ruin my image and therefore ruin my chances to have a brighter future. Sit quietly, work diligently, don't ever complain, these were the mantras I etched on my heart in fear that I might doom myself on my path to "success."

If you couldn't tell already, traditional Chinese culture is very results driven. It is very typical for children to be compared and weighed by their performance in academics and extracurriculars. Growing up, much of my value was placed in how well I was able to outcompete my peers. I didn't graduate from a top university or didn't score the highest on exams or even completed the most impressive projects like my classmates. Being an Asian American, it increasingly seemed that I wasn't ever going to live up to the standards that were set before me. Growing up surrounded by this results driven mindset, led me to continue to undervalue myself on a fundamental level. Phrases like you "should just be smarter" or "why can't you be better" have begun to stick and chip away at my identity as an Asian American woman.

Coming to Aerospike, I was surprised to meet people who saw value in me as I couldn't even find one reason to be proud of myself. I have felt heard and feel that I have value as an individual who is an important and necessary part of a larger team. I have begun to relearn my value as an individual who despite being an Asian American is still a human who can afford to make mistakes and will never need to compare myself to the unrealistic standards of perfection that my community is so often shackled by. Aerospike heard my story, and it's thanks to them that I am beginning to see that I do not need to earn my right to embrace my heritage.