English | Malaysian Chinese - Enrichment Student @ The Alan Turing Institute
As a third culture kid, I never felt I fully belonged in any single place. One could say I overcame this ‘incompleteness’ by becoming a researcher. I love learning about the world, especially from people. Because of this, I question everything to learn as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Then I can share my own unique perspective with those around me with more grounded reasoning. Now I have mostly accepted this aspect of myself as it seeps into almost everything I do. I even chose the same environment for my career: blending cyber security and machine learning.
Maybe it is simply because I train models/algorithms/computer programs to process, interpret, and make insights about data that I give them. I consider its ‘learning’ process in much of the same feedback loop. I take some action in the world and the world sends back some signals from my action, from which I learn how to strengthen certain behaviours or change particular actions in the future. I have had negative experiences due to my background. Many times, the person causing the discrimination had no malicious intent. They frequently do not realise they had caused offence until I told them how it made me feel. If we do not continue to provide feedback to those around us, it will be difficult to discourage offensive or discriminatory actions taken by others.
I have MANY role models: family, mentors, supervisors, the (now) professors that introduced me to research in undergrad, friends, colleagues from both industry and academia. Their intelligence, kindness, and seemingly infinite patience always inspires me. The one amazing, multiracial woman is Vanessa Mae, one of the first mixed-race celebrities I found. I had started playing violin and my Mum found an album of hers in the local shop. With her stunning looks and ability to take the classical violin into the electric world of rock and roll, she literally rocked my world! If I had not heard her music, I would have likely given up violin many years ago instead of continuing today. She taught me to enjoy what I want to do and to celebrate my diversity.
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