I am ethnically Chinese, born in Vietnam. The first five years of my life was spent with my family trying to escape the Vietnamese Communist. There were many failed attempts, before we finally succeeded by escaping on a fishing boat. I was six years-old when we arrived in the U.S.; making me a 1.5 generation Chinese Vietnamese American. It’s a mark of pride to be one of the few Vietnamese bilingual Psychologists helping the large under-served Vietnamese population here in Orange County.

Issues of diversity and being multi-culturally competent are important to me because I did not grow up in the U.S. around people who looked like me. I have intimate knowledge of what it’s like to be the “other”. So, whether your difference is in race, culture, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, gender, or weight, I see you beyond these markers.