Korean Empress Warrior

I don't look like this right now. 😂 I'm in sweats and am next level exhausted....like, I feel like my eyes are burning out of their sockets exhausted. To turn out that CNN piece in a matter of hours on Wednesday, while juggling other work demands and a lot of feelings is one thing, and I realized yesterday that there's also the work of holding other people's feelings around -- and reactions to -- my words (there have been a lot), which I seem to do pretty intensely by default.

But bottom line, I'm really grateful. In the past 24 hours I have felt a wave of allyship that I have never felt before for the AAPI community. I have met new (to me) incredibly smart, creative AAPI people. This is fodder for a separate essay, but for a long time, because of the racial aggressions I experienced as a kid, I was deeply uncomfortable being around other Asian people because it literally did not feel safe...how fucked up is that?! So it's a gift to relish in those connections now as a grown adult who knows how to stand up and use her voice.

So the reason this photo (taken by Karen Walrond ) was top of mind for me today is because I feel like no matter how ragged and exhausted and pissed off and sad and enraged members of the AAPI community feel/look today, I think we're also channeling our inner warriors. I am seeing so much bravery and community it makes me weep. When Karen first shared this photo with me I joked that it was my Korean Empress photo but now I'm thinking of it as my Korean Empress *Warrior* photo. Meaning, even when I'm a physical and emotional train wreck, there will always be a calm, steady, strong Korean Empress Warrior inside who knows never to give up. 👊