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I myself am mixed race - my mother is Korean, and my father is an American Jew - so I've always felt other.

I have always felt more at home in a culture that has nothing to do with the one I was born and brought up in.

Living in different cultures helped me work out who I was going to be, separate from where I came from.

I have a multicultural background, so I tend to have an open mind about things, and I find other cultures interesting.

The experience of being a mixed person is all over the place - one of my best friends is Chinese and Italian; my other best friend is Lebanese and Trinidadian. The mix of heritage, culture or identity is something that our country is built on.

I always identified with that feeling of being an underdog. So I always was looking to connect with and meet people from other cultures, to experience people living a different life that I am.

I really hold on to my culture because it is what made me.

Throughout most of my life, I've tried to downplay my Chinese heritage because I wanted so much to be an American. I was the only Asian kid in my elementary school, and I longed to be like everyone else. I insisted on American food; I was embarrassed by my mother's poor English.

There are lots of stories about my culture that I think bring a whole other perspective to who we are and where we have been and how we got here that I think need to be done.

I got exposed to so many different cultures and people.