I'm living my immigrant father's dreams.

I went to San Francisco public schools — Argonne, Presidio, and Lowell — as the son of an undocumented Chinese immigrant. My mother volunteered for our church; I've chosen to give my time back to our public schools.

Growing up, I didn't have the language to describe what I now recognize as neurodiversity — it wasn't something many families talked about, especially in the Asian community, and for a long time I just felt different, without knowing why. I also spent years working through a speech impediment, dreading the moment a teacher would call on me. But my teachers never once let me define myself by what I struggled with. They saw past it — they encouraged my curiosity, helped me find my confidence, and believed in me long before I believed in myself. I owe so much of who I am, and so much of my success, to those teachers and these schools. Now that I have the time to give back, I want every student who feels different, who is struggling quietly, to have someone in their corner the way I did.

That foundation carried me to Harvard, then into a career trying to cure cancer as a biotech researcher — work recognized with a Merck research award. I later changed course and became a licensed general contractor, building new market-rate and affordable housing across the city. Now I want to take that same problem-solving, get-it-done mindset and put it to work for SFUSD.