HOW DID YOU CHOOSE A PATHWAY IN PUBLIC SERVICE?

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I got involved in public service while in college through AmeriCorps and their Jumpstart program. I assisted teachers with educating large classes of preschoolers at-risk of not developing nurturing relationships with caring adults. It was a great experience and helped me channel my desire to do good and help the community in a way that made it very real and I could see the results in the eagerness of the children to learn and ask questions. This experience led me to do a legal internship with Greater Boston Legal Services, where I assisted attorneys in the areas of housing, employment, immigration, and domestic violence.

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WHO INSPIRES YOU AND WHY?

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Dreams and passions. They not only worked multiple jobs at a time to provide for us, but were also active in the community. They would give to charity even though we were not well off, and they went out of their way to help people even when we needed help ourselves. Their commitment to service and helping those in need was immensely inspiring and from their example, I knew I wanted a career where I would be helping people, though at the time I did not know where that would lead me. I am incredibly fortunate to have my amazing parents in my life as a model for the kind of leader I can be at the State House, one who cares deeply about the community and will work hard to make it better.

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WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR AAPI GIRLS AND WOMEN WHO WANT TO PURSUE A CAREER IN PUBLIC SERVICE?

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We need you. Our community needs you. We need more voices echoing the needs of our elders who cannot get proper health care, who need translators to get resources they are entitled to, to advocate for our second generation children who are dealing with identity crises, to advocate for mental health services, and everything that currently is being overlooked because we don’t yet have the numbers to shine the spotlight on our community’s problems and solutions. We don’t yet have enough people to serve these populations who are reluctant to go outside of the AAPI community to get help because there is comfort in that familiarity. You might be their only chance of getting that lifesaving service and it makes all the difference in their world.

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