I am a Bay Area native and identify as a second-generation Chinese-American. I am a proud first-generation college and Graduate school graduate. Like many second-generation offspring, I have had my fair share of acculturation and assimilation clashes while growing up in an American cultural context with vastly different values than that of my immigrant parents. And like many other Chinese and Asian-Americans, I chose a “practical” major in Economics in my undergraduate studies. However, I never felt a true calling for Economics and there was always a part of me that wanted to figure out who “I” was in a cultural and individual sense, why do I feel and react the way I do towards myself and others, and why at times do I keep repeating issue patterns that I encountered?

This curiosity led me to switch majors to Psychology and spurred me to spend the last 10 years of my life in the process of soul searching, researching, and learning that eventually led to me to find my true passion and degree in Clinical Psychology.

My dissertation research focused upon the interaction between immigrant parents' use of traditional Chinese parenting values and practices and second generation Chinese-American adults’ acculturation and self-esteem adjustment. For many Chinese and Chinese-Americans, balancing school/work responsibilities along with the balancing of traditional Chinese and American perspectives can be a source of significant distress. I have clinical expertise in this area to support you in this process.