British/Swiss | Japanese

I feel that to a certain extent we're a bit invisible, both within my organisation and in society as a whole. It's not always obvious what someone's heritage is and these days there are less occasions to meet people in person, where you might have the opportunity to find out. While some official LSHTM EDI statistics do show a separate category for 'mixed' I'm not aware of anything within the School that has ever looked to understand or recognise us as a community. This is why I proposed a small project to try and reach out to and bring together people like myself within the organisation, to find out what's important to us as a community and how we can help and support each other. Bringing in the collaboration with MRC has been brilliant and for me the response from our community is already validation for doing this project.

I've only really started to explore my identity as a mixed-race person in the last decade and I've found that platforms like Mixedracefaces have been so helpful and inspiring. I enjoyed reading others’ experiences, seeing such amazing diversity, unique experiences and life stories, and yet in each one I've also found something that just resonates with me, sometimes on deep levels I never even acknowledged or realised.

To the next generation I'd say don't ever be ashamed or feel like you have to be anything other than yourself, in whatever way you wish to identify, and however much that changes over time. I'd say don't ever feel bad if you find it easier or more natural to associate yourself to one of your cultures, this isn't denying or being disrespectful to the others, you can hold all of those elements of yourself in a balance within you, but it doesn't mean they'll always have equal weight. And that's fine. Of your cultures, embrace what you feel comfortable with, know that your heritage is a legitimate part of you and what makes you unique. I'd also say reach out to others who share similar experiences, it's incredible how much is common and how connections with others who just 'get it' can really empower us.

Sign up to Patreon or Subscribe to our website to read more stories