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AAPI Heritage Month is an interesting and reflective time for many of us who exist within the community. It’s special to hear the voices and stories of folks who are doing incredible things for the community and culture at large.
It can also be a really interesting time to take a deeper view into the construction of identity.
Lived experiences
Identity is something that took me some time to fully wrap my head around. I’m Sri Lankan (Canadian). And like many first-generation kids, assimilation into the broader Western culture was my starting point.
In the past few years, thanks to a lot of work by a lot of wonderful people, I have been able to feel more comfortable in the multiple parts of my cultural identity. I’m not just a female leader. I’m not just a South Asian person. I’m not just a first-generation kid of incredibly hard-working immigrant parents. I’m not just Muslim. But the aggregation of these things and many many more, make me uniquely who I am.
And that doesn’t fit neatly into the box of expectation. I am by definition a bit messy. As a CEO, I feel even farther away from the truths of what I’ve been taught to expect to see in a CEO: the emotionless strength, poise and formality we’ve been taught to seek in leaders. I’m a strange, a little awkward but fully passionate being who brings myself in all my quirky glory to everything I do.
I believe this is a part of the conversation that’s often missing or misunderstood when it comes to DEI or JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) and how it shows up in our work. It’s too easy to revert to box-checking of the many spectrums of diversity. But without understanding the nuance of real human stories that underlie every intersection, it’s hard to truly feel seen by advertisers and brands. The manifestations of experience that come from crossing some of these lived experiences and identities are what makes incredible storytelling.
Sense of belonging
All to say, living on the outside of things can be a strangely lonely place to be. I’m grateful for my own tribe of weirdos who find themselves in a similar (but different) space. In a way, I love being an outsider because it provides a perspective that I believe is valuable in our business of folks who are insiders; it’s forever a healthy distance.
