During Week 5 of CAUSE we took our Capital Summit trip and this year we went to Sacramento! I have never been to Sacramento before so it was quite exciting to be in California's political capital. As soon as we landed, we hit the ground running (at least after we received our long awaited cars from the car rental place). The cohort had the pleasure of receiving a tour of the capital from a previous CLA alumni, Erika Ngo, who is now a Legislative Director for an Assembly Member in Sacramento.
We also had a panel of other CLA alums who are working under an Assembly Member either as a Legislative Director or as a part of a fellowship in Sacramento. It was actually my first time hearing about this specific job/career so it was incredibly interesting to learn about some of the things they do in their roles. One of the alums also shared that Legislative Directors are able to make a six-figure salary and working in the government means that you also receive great benefits and a pension after working for 5 years. Personally as a Filipino, I grew up with the idea that I only had two career options, become a nurse or become a doctor, so it was refreshing and reassuring to be informed that you can in fact receive a livable wage working in a government position.
The next day we had the pleasure to hear Bill Wong give a talk about “Building the API Leadership Pipeline.” Every single person who we have talked to the cohort through CAUSE has provided us with a biography beforehand and shared their current job position and their path to that position, yet Bill Wong did neither of these things. He defined power as “the ability to walk in the room and change things even when [the people in the room] don’t know who you are,” and according to his definition, he indeed holds power. Even though I had absolutely no idea who he was or what he had done, I listened to every word he said. The way he carried and presented himself is really what stood out to me. There is a stereotype about the AAPI community that we are expected to be passive people and stay under the radar, yet Bill Wong was the complete opposite of that.
He emphasized that “[we] have to be who [we] are and stand for what [we] are,” and that is something that I will carry on with me.