Doing the best I can everyday...

Over the course of my life so far I’ve addressed some very complex challenges facing community, and I have found that one of my most important support systems has been the bonds that I’ve formed with women. These women are not always related to me, but they’ve become sisters to me. 

This sisterhood is so important because they are trusted advisors, brilliant supporters, and they never doubt my ability. They are not afraid to tell me the truth, but they don’t get in the way. Instead they ask, “How can I help you accomplish that?” I love that!

As a Hmong person, I’ve been greatly influenced by the giving traditions of my community. The idea that we must help all in our family (immediate and extended) as best as we can so that no one is suffering has been engrained in me. That giving culture led me to create a giving circle. 

Creating a giving circle is simple - bring people together to pool your financial resources so that you can be intentional about what and who you give to. It is a philanthropic tool and it’s powerful, because it enables us, the donors, to be actively involved in the process - we learn together, we give together, and we decide together. 

My giving circle is called Building More Philanthropy with Purpose, and we are family-based. That means we involve our whole families. This allows my husband and young daughter to be a part of it. I feel confident that we are passing on this giving culture to the next generation; just in a new way.

While American philanthropy may be a new concept for our community, the giving culture is not. I have truly enjoyed being a part of this assets-based approach to fueling the kinds of change we want to see in the world. 

Nothing I have done to date is as important as giving birth to my beautiful daughter Emi Zoosiab. She is pure joy. I love her with all my being. Everyday I think about what I want her to learn, see, and become. I love being her mother and I want her to grow up in a better world than I did. 

That's why I love my work. As a working mom, I spend much of my time doing really important work - addressing some of the toughest issues facing humanity (working to end domestic violence, building gender equity, ending poverty, transforming culture etc.) I love what I do and I often spend a lot of time doing it. This often leads me to the tightrope act of balancing work and life. I am the first to admit that I have a lot of parenting fails, and the best I can do is try to be kind to myself.

I justify working late and on weekends to my aspirations and hopes of creating the kind of world that I hope my daughter can grow up in. The kind that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talks about - where she won’t be judged because of the color of her skin, her gender, her history etc. It’s not easy when this kind of change comes in decades, not days or even years, but I believe I must be a small part of the work to get there.