Welsh | Filipino
I am from Epsom, which some people consider to be Greater London, but I definitely don’t. My parents are nurses, and I grew up in a loving home with an awesome twin sister. I’m a musician and a photographer and I work in education for a local authority. I’ve lived in London for the last 15 years or so. My Dad was an only child but my Mum has 3 brothers and 3 sisters, most of whom also live in the UK now. So despite growing up in the UK exclusively, I've always felt very close to the Filipino side of my family. My Mum is from Batangas in the Philippines, a few hours south of the capital Manilla. My Dad is from Carmarthenshire in West Wales. My Mum moved to the UK in the 1970s when the NHS were recruiting foreign nurses to make up the shortfall in front line staff at the time. She chose to go to St David’s in Wales, because she’s Catholic and thought going somewhere named after a saint would bode well for her. They met working at a hospital near there.
To some extent, it feels like it is more ‘hip’ to be mixed-race now. While I dislike the way that it has been fetishized, I’m glad that something that was almost a taboo when I was younger, is now considered aspirational by some people. I can't help but think that some people see me as some sort of manic pixie dream person sometimes though, but I guess that's better than being derided. The experience of mixed-race people must vary quite widely depending on where they live, but the anonymity that living in (arguably) the most cosmopolitan city in the world is something that I enjoy. My personal experience is that attitudes have improved towards people with mixed racial heritage in recent years, which is obviously great. And projects like yours, which celebrate and highlight diversity, are so powerful and healthy, and I'm super excited to be involved.
If I had the opportunity to be reincarnated I would want to come back with the same Welsh Filipino mix, I love my weird and diverse family. However if you’d asked me that before my 18th birthday I probably would have said that I wish I’d been born White.
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