You deserve the world. Demand it. What’s your name? Yes, yours.I used to cut out the part of my name containing the Chinese pinyin (latin letter-spelling of Chinese characters) which was incorporated in my Western name

Growing up, I wanted to pursue acting. To many people, this dream seemed feasible; but to an Asian girl like me, born and bred in Singapore, it seemed like a bizarre dream to have, a dream too far-fetched.

According to research done in 2016, one in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives and around 450 million people currently suffer from these conditions, placing mental disorders amongst the leading causes of ill health and disability worldwide.

Born and raised in Canada, I was able to experience and appreciate the value of freedom and human rights. Growing up, I have always had my parents and grandparents tell me the stories of their motherland, and ultimately, why they left.

“Why do you smell like curry?” Are you going to have to get an arranged marriage?” Don’t you like worship cows or something?” Fielding ignorant questions like these was just an average day in the life of growing up in South Georgia.

As we grow older and have more confidence to think for ourselves, the damage of toxic parenting and dysfunctional families is not easy to forget. Often our trauma is internalised within us and creeps back every now and then.