Ailsa Chang is NPR’s first-ever Asian American woman host who also understands what it’s like to grow up in the Asian diaspora, from navigating immigrant parents expectations to discovering what she loves to do. Cold Tea Collective had a chance to speak to Chang about how her cultural experiences growing up in the diaspora shaped her journey to finding a career she’s passionate about.
Expectations from growing up in the Asian diaspora
Chang’s parents immigrated from Taiwan to the US with limited resources, family, and friends. They viewed work as a means to achieve stability, raise a family, and own a house. Inspired by her love of public speaking, Chang joined speech and debate clubs in high school. She recalls, “My Taiwanese immigrant parents said, ‘If you like words so much, of course, you’re going to be a lawyer.’ I adopted that idea because I pictured myself in a courtroom and loved law school.”
Although she enjoyed her time at Stanford Law School and clerking on the Ninth Circuit, traditional law firm practice was unsatisfying experience. There wasn’t a single moment when Chang decided to transition from law to journalism, she says, “I was pretty unhappy as a lawyer and didn’t know what to do because I had always followed a set path.”
Like many children of immigrant parents, quitting wasn’t an option either. Earning their approval meant following a path to becoming an accomplished professional, as they had moved to a new country to provide better opportunities. Chang felt this deeply. “Giving up on their vision of success was very difficult for me,” she remembers. “My parents were so angry. They said I was throwing away my law degree. I told my mom, ‘If I love what I do, I plan to work well into my 70s. Do you want me to stick with a career that bores me and makes me unhappy? That’s unreasonable, right?’”
Chang also highlights the implicit agreement between children of…
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