May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada and AAPI Heritage Month in the US! Sendwave will be highlighting the contributions of our colleagues of Asian descent for the rest of May.
I-Wen Huang is an Ecuador-based UX/UI designer at Sendwave.
Tell me about yourself. I’m from Taiwan originally. I moved to New York for work and stayed for years before I realized that the 9–5 schedule and commute weren’t working for me and I needed a change. I decided to relocate to South America and I’ve been here ever since!
What prepared you for this role? I come from a mixed design background. I worked in advertising and was focused on consumer insights and research, while also doing photography and design projects on the side. In my spare time, I also learned to code. Luckily for me, I now have a role where I wear many hats. We get technical guidance from our engineers and practical information from our users, and I’m responsible for making the app easy to use and visually stimulating.
Tell us a little bit about your heritage. Taiwan, where I’m from, is a tiny island. My family speaks Mandarin as well as a Taiwanese dialect called Taigi. As a young person, speaking Taigi is pretty rare, and sadly the language is in danger of being lost. Mandarin is seen as a more global language, and Taigi isn’t mandatory in schools. Luckily, because my grandmother was a huge part of my life, I am able to speak it. Taigi is a very unique language and being fluent in it has shaped me a lot — the language made me feel more connected to our roots and traditions. When I lived in Taiwan, I used to enjoy karaoke with friends signing old school Taigi songs.
What does Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month mean to you? I’m not Asian American but I’m happy to celebrate this month! We should recognize our ancestors’ hardships and efforts as the first generation in the US. They were pioneers who came to a foreign place and worked really hard to get us where we are today.
How do you stay connected to your heritage?In my personal life, I keep the customs and wisdom alive. For Chinese New Year, I taught my family here how to write couplets in calligraphy on traditional red paper. We celebrate the Moon Festival, which signifies the end of the autumn harvest, with moon cakes filled with red bean paste and barbecue. My comfort foods when I’m homesick are bubble tea and congee. Honestly, food is a big part of it! When I can create familiar meals, I don’t get too much FOMO when my friends in Taiwan post on Instagram during holidays.
What’s one misconception about your culture? One common thing I hear about Taiwanese people is that we’re extremely nice and accommodating, and we never say no. I’d like people to know that if you can use context clues to get a deeper understanding. We signal our “no” by sounding a bit hesitant or unsure, and if more people understood the nuance we could all communicate a little better.
What part of your culture do you wish more people knew about? I’m proud to be Taiwanese because we are one of the safest countries in our region and have a very international outlook. I love to see how many people in the Taiwanese diaspora are leading great companies. We also strive for democracy and equality, and we were the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage!
Stay tuned throughout May for more stories from the Sendwave team, and learn more about the company at www.sendwave.com/careers and www.linkedin.com/company/wavemoney.
