When I first came to SCCLA, I had a different mind set. I was a young attorney wanting to get out in the legal world and make my mark. That meant knowing and being known in the legal community. SCCLA to me was going to be one of the means by which I was going to accomplish that goal. I joined SCCLA to network, make connections, and in all honesty, to see how those connections could further my career somehow.

Then something changed. Along my journey to being the attorney that I am today, I discovered something that has opened my eyes to a much more fulfilling legal career and a much more fulfilling life career as a human being. I can’t say if this was a gradual discovery or a sudden epiphany. Nonetheless, somewhere along the way, I realized that there is so much more satisfaction in helping others.

What!? A lawyer with a conscious you say? Well, I think I am one. This understanding might have coincided with becoming a mother. Upon motherhood, I suddenly had to become 100%, unequivocally, unselfish. My time was not my own. My money was not for myself. My food was not even mine anymore. For example, if my child wanted the bagel I was about to eat, of course, I would give it to my child. Moreover, my personal endeavors necessarily had to be set aside if I wanted to be the kind of mother I wanted to be. Overwhelming change of life? Yes. Did I resent it? No. To the contrary, it was liberating and so much more fulfilling to care for another person before myself.

There are even studies on the psychological benefits of helping others. Your brain actually experiences a type of high or euphoria. When I expanded my altruistic ways beyond my children to helping others around me or even applying those principles in my work, the studies I had heard about rang true. There indeed is so much satisfaction in knowing that someone or something is in a better place because of something I did.

Okay, so what does this have to do with SCCLA. This has everything to do with SCCLA because that is what SCCLA is all about: helping others and serving others, namely, the Asian legal community. SCCLA helps further this community that otherwise has been historically underrepresented or biased against. There is a need for this community to be bolstered in its endeavors and celebrated for its accomplishments. SCCLA is that voice.

As incoming SCCLA president, I believe my heart is in the right place to steward this organization in the direction its founders envisioned. I hope everyone can and will join me as I lead SCCLA in this mission.