Before, it was very narrow with what Asian-Americans should do, the careers they should get into. It was limited to being a doctor, lawyer or business person. We were really comfortable with that and we found our place with the model minority.

We’re all model citizens and have a 4.0 GPA, 1600 on SATs. Everything is perfect, right? Our lives are perfect. In a lot of ways, we wanted to project that image. We didn’t want people from the outside seeing vulnerabilities. We didn’t need attention.

“You guys are good,” everyone else would assume. “You’re rich, you’re smart. Your kids are great. You’re respectful.”

Because of this, people leave you alone. But when they leave you alone, they don’t think about you. It’s that model minority myth that has impacted us in a negative way. People assume you’re straight. You don’t need any help. With that you don’t need attention. Keep doing what you’re doing. You never say anything, you’re good, right?

As we open up to different fields and genres, hug in public and explore the arts, cry out loud to show you’re human, that attention will come. That will change certainly will generations. To be more vocal and do things we never did before and fields, encouraging our kids to explore the arts and how we explore culture. Explore not only the areas that are good and squeaky clean, but explore the tough shit like fashion. There’s more disruption that before, we were adverse to any disruption that would rock the boat. Now we are getting into areas where we embrace it.