Christmas Day 2009, Leonel and Tasi show off their matching lightsabers.

Growing up my family didn't have much. As a single mom of eight, after rent was paid, bills allocated for, and the weekly grocery shopping from Food-4-Less done, there wasn't much left for anything else. I remember it being especially hard during the holidays, when it seemed everyone else was enjoying winter activities or exchanging gifts. However, despite our unfortunate circumstance, Mom always found a way to turn things around.

When I was five, Mom took Stephanie, Nina, and I to a local community center during Christmas. There we received a hot meal, a meeting with Santa, and a gift of our choosing. I'll never forget the plush reindeer I choose–it smelled of vanilla!

In high school, Mom connected with a local non-profit that paired us with a family for the holidays. That Christmas all ten of us–mom, grandma, my siblings and I–received a gift. The non-profit also dropped off bags and bags of groceries. The act of generosity felt sincere. It wasn’t showy, or over the top, we never even met the family. But the care that went into select an items for each person, was felt. It was nice to know there were people who cared that we could celebrate too.

Now that I am an adult and in a place financially where I have more than enough, I seek out organizations that will help me pay it forward. The past few years I've donated to Compass Family Services. In November this year, through a series of slack and social media messaging, I helped them rally enough votes to receive a grant of $500,000 from Google.org Impact Challenge. Funding that will go to providing on-demand mental health services to homeless and at-risk families in San Francisco.

The last two Christmas, Justin and I have participated in the Adopt-a-Family program, which pairs individuals, families, and groups with Compass families who are homeless or at imminent risk. It is truly a rewarding experience to bring some holiday cheer to a family in need, much like my own growing up.

Bringing our ‘authentic selves’ to work is not always easy, nor does it always feel safe. Which is why I am so grateful to the Box API ERG and my Product Design team who have been some of my biggest allies and avid supporters since I joined in July 2020.

Today, I led an educational and interactive workshop on the history and cultural significance of the Samoan ula, in honor of AAPIHM. Many of my teammates made it a point to attend; as well as leadership from across the org. If that's not community, I don't know what is!

Thank you to Amber Ahmed for encouraging me and giving me a platform. And a special shout out to Varun Parmar, Alan Chappell and Irina Issayeva for always making time.

Go here to view the presentation yourself!

At the beginning of the new year, Laurel–one of my oldest and dearest friends, and the co-founder of our small but grand book club–will be moving to D.C.. Although my heart is heavy with her departure, I couldn't be more excited for this next chapter in her life. With Laurel leaving, and my own personal capacity changing in the new year, we've decided to bring our three year long book club to a close.

Laurel and I created Elevate Women's Voice in the Fall of 2017. We wanted a space were we could learn about, and read books by Black, Indigenous, Women of Color authors. By the end of 2020 we had over three dozen members–although only a handful dedicated lol–and read 19 books together.

‘Hunger’ by Roxane Gay; ‘Heart Berries’ by Terese Marie Mailhot; ‘There, There’ by Tommy Orange; and ‘On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous’ by Ocean Vuong were some of my favorites. Over the years we also collected lots of recommendations which I hope to work through in this new year.

Orange postcard were designed by talented @jenhewett

At the start of the Summer a friend of mine pitched me an idea:

Create an internship for early career Product Managers, Product Designers, and Engineers to replace opportunities lost to the pandemic; prioritizing BIPOC.

During a time where many of us were looking inward, focused on our own safety and security; Jihern reminded me that we had the capacity to move outside ourselves and to support our peers.

Three months after that conversation we launched the first cohort of the Moringa Fellowship. The dedication from our motley crew* was a labor of love like nothing I’ve seen in Tech. Additionally the outpour of monetary and social support from friends and strangers was humbling.

As a token of my gratitude, I hand drew and colored 24 illustrations of a moringa leaf. Thank you again to everyone who showed up for our fellows. Your generosity is a testament to the power of community: together we can accomplish anything.

*Jihern Baek (He/Him), Rahul Doraiswami, Qiqi Xu, Siddharth Ramakrishnan, Cory Weaver, Shoumik Pennathur, Kimiko Goeller, Anthony Michael Abril, Allan Yu, Evan Smith

When I think of my nu’u (village/community), I think of land. I think of the soil Pa built his family on: the acres of talo and koko he planted; the sacred grave he made for Fa’afetai and the place he saved for himself next to his son.

I reminisce on the sugarcanes that grow untamed at Uncle Vili’s house; and miss the big breadfruit tree that used to shade the ‘three corner’ house–the one Dad built after marrying Mom.

This small collection of watercolor paintings are an ode to my nu’u. I donated them to a silent auction raising money for the non-profit Inneract Project, an organization very much dedicated to the community building and fellowship of Black and Brown designers and students.