Dear First Gen,

​On July 31, I was invited for a "Meet the Author" event by one of the Assistant Directors of the #JohnsHopkinsUniversity Hop-In Program. In the audience, there were first-generation college students in JHU's class of 2022. Before this day, I was pleased to learn that the program assigned my book, "The Rise of a First Gen" as required reading.

The students asked amazing questions that centered on my mindset while navigating “two worlds”, adjustment to new environments, and strategies for certain transitions as a college student and professional.

Each of the students had a capstone project and one of them chose to create a video. She self-narrated her childhood up to her current life as a first-generation college student at a prestigious university. Watch the video below! #Filipina #Filipino

Tell me:
What resonated with you in her story?
​How would you tell your own story?

Fellow Riser,

​Irnande

Dear First Gen,

Happy New Year! #NewYearNewMe

What worked well for you in 2017? Are you continuing with it in 2018? In the video, I share three character traits I believe helped to elevate me last year and one #weakness I plan to eliminate because it limited my rise.

Tell me: What three characteristics helped you to shine? What characteristic held you back from progress?

Fellow Riser,

​Irnande

​Dear First Gen,

​I told you in my last post about my journey to healing. But some of you may be saying, “Am I allowed to heal? Am I allowed to feel hurt?”

This is something I struggled with for years. And my fellow first gens, I believe you and I have every right to feel hurt, but also every right to seek #healing.

But just as we've battled other #hardships, there will always be others who tell us we have no right to feel hurt.

Some say that if we do not like it here, we should go home. How is that so if we were born here or escaped to #America for refuge? America is our home. We are home!

For more than 30 years I have been living under a veil and recently it was removed from my eyes. My intimate circle is nothing like what I have seen in the news recently. When I hosted a launch party for my blog, the friends who came to support me came from different backgrounds, and I am proud to call them my #circleofinfluence.

When I hear harsh words from people that seek to diminish the value and beauty of multiple races and ethnicities to only leverage their own, it shocks me because when I look at my first gen community, we are so much more than our complexions. What is more alarming is that the hurt and pain we feel from these images and statements are often silenced. We are not given the right to feel hurt, to work through the pain, or to heal. We are told, “If you don't like it, go home.”

Below is a video on my authentic, vulnerable perspective on the topic of #immigrants in America. First gens, this is our home. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. #celebratefirstgen

Dear First Gen,

My whole life, I have not stopped to heal.

What does it mean to heal anyway?

Every choice or decision I have made in my schooling and my career was for a reason beyond my own self-interests. I excelled in school because it was necessary for my family. I put in long hours at work because I had a reputation to uphold. I sacrificed taking several days off work despite many days feeling under the weather or overly committed.

I have been going and going, like a nonstop flight, and I have not taken time to check in with myself. Maybe I need to be making time to heal.

You may be wondering what I need to #heal from.

Well, I never took time to heal from the instruments that I was prohibited from playing. Or the birthday celebrations I didn't have. The vacations I didn't take and the summer camps I didn't attend. The “normal” childhood I missed out on.

Or how about healing from being seen as someone accepted into school or offered a job under #affirmativeaction policies rather than for my own merit? Or the countless hours I spend rewriting emails in fear that I'll come off as “another incoherent person with immigrant parents”?

It can be exhausting having to defend myself if I use an accent when saying certain words, speak to my parents in their native language, or have my credentials questioned even after putting in the work to be seen as a qualified applicant.

Individually, these instances may not leave a lasting mark. But built up over decades, being continually questioned and having to prove myself, it's possible that I need some time to heal.

It is rare for me to share this publicly. I was raised to believe that there were certain things I would not be afforded, so I had to be strategic and intentional when pursuing each and every goal in my life. It was always reinforced that nothing was going to come easy for me. I was not born into any privilege, and I would always have to work for what I wanted.

When I wrote my first blog post, I started to heal from the various #unapologetically first-gen moments I have lived. How? Other people reached out to me to let me know they went through the same things, or would share their own story with me.

After I posted “Hard Knock Life of a First Gen,” my cousin who is in high school told me that his mom took him out of trumpet class to focus on science. We spoke to my aunt about how it made him feel and she said that he can take trumpet lessons when he is older.

It is possible that it's too late for this cycle to be broken, but my cousin did not harbor any ill feelings about his mother's decision. Just like me, he understood the bigger picture that all first gens learned at a very early age.

Our families came to the United States to achieve The American Dream. But often, this constant reminder can be hard to swallow and doesn't give us the time we may need to heal those wounds of what might have been in our childhoods.

As an adult, I have been reminded of the importance of healing. Now, I make it a priority to find space and time to heal because it has helped me to recognize why I may act a certain way when something is withheld from me or when I feel “robbed” of certain moments.

For me, healing was and is necessary. I just wish I'd learned that sooner in life.

Tell me: Have you made time to heal? If so, how do you heal?

Fellow Riser,

​Irnande



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Dear First Gen,

When we were growing up, my brother and I were reminded consistently that we were expected to perform extremely well in class. One of my friends told me a story of her upbringing that may be familiar to you. When she came home from school and showed her parents her good grades, they would ask, "Did another student receive a better grade than you?" If she said yes, the next question would be, "Why are you not at the top of the class?" My friend is brilliant and skillful! But in her parents eyes, being second, third, or fourth in a huge graduating class was just not “good enough.”

Immigrant parents often have very high expectations for their children, and as First Gens, we work overtime to meet or exceed them. But there is more to it than having the desire...there are situations that sometimes derail us. It is commonly unacceptable among foreigners to acknowledge feelings of guilt, insecurity, and doubt; rather it is expected that you will overcome them and never discuss the difficulties you faced. I can attest that there is a positive side to being raised to always find solutions to each "surface" problem, but what about the inner problems?

Tell me: How have you coped with your emotions when feeling depressed or pressured?

Dear First Gen,

Four years ago on this day--on May 20, 2012—I graduated from Hofstra University School of Law. It was the (second) best day of my life, since passing the Maryland Bar as a first-time taker was a huge triumph!

On graduation day, I reflected on a few struggles that seemed very big at the time, but were minor in hindsight. Law school taught me that nothing is guaranteed until the very moment it is to happen. My grandmother—then my last living grandparent—told me she would be attending my graduation. I was in disbelief because she had trouble getting on and off airplanes, and I did not want to put her through the trouble. As grandparents do, she said she would be there and I had no doubt about it. I was so glad I could make her proud!

I recall speaking to some of my classmates and hearing a few of their comments that I may have initially been admitted to the school based on meeting a certain criteria rather than based on my merit as a potential law student. It was disheartening, but it helped to know which students may not be the ones to interact with...ever! I did not pay attention to those comments and persevered through the toughest days and nights of my life. 

Many graduates would say the life of a 1L (first year law school student), 2L (second year law school student) and 3L (third year law school student) are noticeably different, and to learn the differences as quickly as possible. DITTO!