
And We're Live!
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So, what do you do? This casual icebreaker is deceptively weighty. Google it and you will find about 25 billion opinions on how best to answer the question. The inquiry can feel loaded because it has come to imply more than what you do for a living. It is a way to identify who you are. What comes next is fairly predictable - do you like it? Somewhere, in between what you say aloud and what you think to yourself afterwards, there is a deeper search - are you happy?
If you have faced this line of questioning with frequency, you are likely familiar with the split-second sizing up of the situation to decide on a reply that befits the context. How much time do I have? How much do I share with this person? What words will serve best? In a room full of people, my answer can change depending on who I am talking to and how I am feeling at that moment. (I’m great at parties.)
At any given time in my adult life, you would be correct to guess that I was working on a startup idea. I am totally that kid with the lemonade stand. To varying degrees, I have entertained business ideas that run the gamut from utilitarian and easy to replicate, to conceptual and hard to describe. A common thread in all of these, though, has been a desire to do some kind of good for others.
In 2021, amidst the endless turmoil surrounding Covid, George Floyd, and the rise in hate crimes against Asians and Asian Americans, I reached an inflection point. A moment of clarity came to me that March, when a gunman targeted and killed six women who looked like me in my hometown of Atlanta. This event came to be known as the Atlanta spa shootings. I channeled my energy into writing an essay about the uniquely human freedom to change your mind. The article was printed in my alma mater’s alumni magazine, which was my first time getting published. The experience of writing the article and generating deeper conversations with others surrounding what I had written was altering. I look back at that time as when I found my voice.
Since then, I have had more courage to call myself a writer. I am an English major, after all. What would this journey have looked like had I been braver to embrace my passion for writing earlier? Starting a business venture and pursuing writing seemed like such disparate endeavors that I had not previously thought to combine them. However, a long-awaited discovery of a box containing my childhood letters sparked the idea for Dearist, and a greater purpose dawned on me - that I could help others discover the potential of their own writing.
The mission of Dearist is twofold: (1) helping young people find their voices and (2) fostering meaningful connection through writing letters. I like this pairing, as the first looks inward and the second reaches outward.
For years I have said that I wanted to start a business, and it finally occurred to me that I did! Dearist captures so much of who I am and the type of person I hope to be. Join us on the journey. You never know where a letter will take you.