English/Irish | Iranian
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My Dad is mixed-British and Iranian (although he prefers to be called Persian) and was born in Tehran, Iran. My Mother is British and was born in England to English and Irish parents. In all honesty, I find it difficult to identify as mixed-race because I was born and raised in England and have little affiliation to my Persian ancestry. The only challenge for me personally has been an internal one. It is what we allow ourselves to believe that shape our thoughts and opinions. I think being of mixed-ethnicity may have had an effect on my self-esteem growing up, but that would only be because I attributed a certain importance to the opinions of others. Being of mixed-ethnicity (or of foreign origin generally) definitely makes you thick-skinned because you will have dealt with some sort of persecution around your ethnicity. However, I think society is changing for the better as we are now living in one of the most culturally diverse populations in the world. I am proud of my mixed heritage because it has taught me many things; most importantly to be accepting and open to others regardless of their race, ethnicity or skin colour. I think being of mixed ethnicity has resulted in an openness to trying new things and experiencing different cultures. When I visit a place for the first time, I want to see what the locals are doing, not what the tourist hotspots have to offer. Moreover, I feel embarrassed when having to resort to English in a foreign country without first attempting to communicate in the local tongue. With regard to physical attributes such as choice of hairstyle, I was blessed with curly, somewhat untameable hair, which I used to have real difficulty with. Now I keep it short and life is much simpler. It is hard to say whether being mixed-race has affected my experiences in the workplace, but it is very possible that having a foreign surname could affect the screening process with job applications. I have a cousin that has legally changed his name because of that possibility. However, I think that the possibility is lower in the public sector.
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