I just wanted to give a shout out to my self development sensei, Jeff Yukikazu Sera, since he’s changed my life! He’s a coach that specializes in working with Asian Americans around topics like cultural identity and belonging, self esteem, and family dynamics. He does “shadow work” which basically means that he helps you work on unconscious thoughts and feeling that affect who you are today.
To get a little personal, I grew up in town where there was very little cultural diversity, and I experienced a LOT of racism throughout my school years. I had no idea how much this has conditioned me to be dismissive and embarrassed about my culture. It also affected my confidence and self worth, which has carried over into my life now at 30 years old and spills into my work and personal life.
Jeff really helped me identify this and work through it. For example, I was always embarrassed of having “cute Asian stuff” around the house in fear of being made fun of, and he encouraged me to buy them. Now I have a cute stuffed animal and tape dispenser from Daiso 🙂 He helps me push past the discomfort and raises me up in an empathetic way.
I wouldn’t be able to grow my business to where it’s at today or embrace my cultural identity as much as I have without his help. I wanted to share him on here in case someone can also use his help (which I think most Asian Americans probably can). You can book a consultation with him: https://tidycal.com/jeff-sera/one-on-one?fbclid=IwAR1uL0sKhtj4BWPKudSKmTBl_FKr_lWCVhQjGGHaq8oUXsZkeC0_2S1RR-U