"After graduation, I applied for jobs in New York and got hired as an investment banking analyst. When I asked my boss if I could take one acting class a week, she told me I wasn't committed enough. Another time, as Hurricane Sandy approached and courier services were suspended, she insisted I hand-deliver a contract across the city. The group head ultimately suggested we fax it instead, sparing me the trip through the storm."
"I was born in Beijing and moved to Rhode Island at 8. My twin sister and I didn't speak English and were two of only three Asian kids at school. Even before I understood the words, I could tell people were making fun of me. At first, our parents didn't let us speak Chinese at home so that we'd learn English faster. A year later, when I could barely write my own name, they panicked and had us relearn it."
Yangyang Guo was born in Beijing and moved to Rhode Island at age eight, where she and her twin sister faced language barriers and racial isolation. Her parents initially forbade Chinese at home, later reinstating it when academic concerns arose. At Duke University she majored in economics and minored in theater, discovering a passion for performing. After studying ancient Chinese in China that summer, she returned to New York for an investment banking job but left after workplace disrespect and inflexibility. She joined an acting program, pursued auditions, and later moved to Shanghai to reconnect with her roots and build a financially stable theater career with greater opportunities for non-white actors.
Read at Business Insider
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