Stephanie C.
Resilience
My parents immigrated to the U.S. as college students in the 1960s. While they were going to school at Berkeley and Cal Poly SLO, they both worked at Nam Yuen restaurant in SF Chinatown. Here’s how my dad describes their “”meet cute””: “”When I met her at Nam Yuen Restaurant I immediately felt that she was my cup of tea. There were nine student workers at the restaurant; she was the best and I was the worst. No one tried to date her successfully except me.”” Their immigration experience was full of challenges, and SF Chinatown was an economic lifeline for my parents and a taste of home.
This is a picture of me at Nam Yuen about 60 years later where I now work down the street for Stop AAPI Hate. It was a full circle moment for me to see that Nam Yuen sign–to connect with where I came from, to see where my parents fell in love, and to now work for the thriving of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the U.S.
