(and that’s avery, she’s waiting for me on the rainbow bridge now)
here's a little about me
why
People have told me I have a way in making things work no matter how difficult or bleak the situation gets, and I possess a natural ability to connect to those around me. Hearing my family, friends, or even strangers resound sentiments like these, warms my heart. When my actions of kindness are reciprocated and people feel empowered, I am motivated to continue down a path where feeling centered and giving back are core to who I am.
Because I want the best for the people in my life, I wanted to find a way to give back to not only the people in my close circle, but for anyone and everyone who needs it. To do so, I’m blending my problem-solving skills from engineering with the lesson’s I learned from my personal relationships, and my ever-evolving love for creativty to create this platform. I want to positively influence your life and make you feel supported whether it’s through my creations, a short exchange of communication, or becoming part of a community that celebrates who you are.
education
I got my B.S in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. I’m going to be 100% transparent with you, in that if you asked me then and even now, I quickly discovered that I didn’t even want to be a mechanical engineer.
I remember as a child, watching a show on Cartoon Network called “Ed Edd and Eddy”, and without getting too much into detail, there was this episode where they had a toy vending machine that just kept spitting out toys nonstop. I was obsessed. I grabbed paper, tape, and my imagination, and tried to make one myself. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.
Fast-forward to senior year of high school, I decided to choose mechanical engineering as a major because I was inspired by a video of a mechanical engineer creating Beats by Dre headphones. Now what really spoke to me was that something I could create could provide some joy and touch onto so many people’s lives.
However, by the time I entered my second semester of college, I came to the realization that the curriculum that was taught would not fulfill my desires to find that meaningful thing in my life.
So I explored. I went on with life and had over 10 different jobs (for real though, you can see some of the chaos on my LinkedIn), and through those experiences, one of the lessons I’ve learned about myself is: the life that I want to keep living is one where I can be authentic and present. Free to create things that make people feel something.
I am not “Arvanh the mechanical engineer”, or “Arvanh the product designer”, or even “Arvanh the business owner”. I’m more than a title.
Now, if you ask me who I want to be?
I just want to be me.
I’m just Arvanh, just a person who’s going through life, who likes to pick up things along the way, and with those things that I pick up and the lessons that I have learned, I love to create and give back to the people I love.
So yeah. Thank you for being here. Let’s do cool things and make great memories together.
-Arvanh
culture
If you asked me back then, what does it mean to be “Lao-American”, I don’t think I would’ve had a super sexy answer for you.
Perhaps I’d say something along the lines of “The food is spicy and we love to party”.
Now don’t get me wrong, all of those things are still true. These days, I’ve learn to embrace and love how deeply my culture has shaped the person I am today. I understand there’s so much more: layers of identity, resilience, family, and love.
Growing up in the U.S., I noticed a lot of my classmates had big, blood-related extended families. I didn’t. I always felt envious, and also sad that my family didn’t have something like that. So when my nuclear-family-of-4 would attend “family” parties. Though not blood-related, as a child I felt a sense of sadness that we weren’t truly part of their family growing up. Everyone else was “Aunt” or “Uncle” or “Cousin”. There was always this tiny ache of not belonging.
One day, I finally voiced that insecurity to one of my “cousins”. Without any hesitation, she looked at me and said “You are family.” And just like that, all of my worries of rejection dissipated and without knowing at a time, began understanding what it means to have a chosen family.
Now, I had the privilege to be raised by my stay-at-home mother. I called her “Mommy” growing up. Now Mommy did her best with what she knew. Our relationship was not perfect. When she passed away when I was 13, my older sibling stopped coming home, and my dad emotionally shut down.
The house became quiet.
I had to grow up fast.
(And don’t worry there’s been a lot of healing since. I love my dad and sibling deeply today.)
Where there was emptiness, I filled the hole with treating people in my life in the best possible way I could. I felt honored having people in my life. So I poured into them, the same way my cousins poured into me. And the more I did, the more I realized: this is what family feels like.
What I didn’t understand then, but see clearly now is that this way of loving others came from my culture. I grew up in a society that celebrated individualism whilst operating in spaces where collectivism was the norm. Although both can be fundamentally different, I’ve learned to find a balance and embrace that both sides have form the person I am today.
Now if you ask me what does it mean to be “Lao-American”?
It means providing a space to belong.
It means creating community.
It means accepting yourself fully,
and giving others the space to do the same.
creativity
Not going to lie, I never really considered myself a “creative person growing up.” In fact, for the longest time, I felt so removed from people who were invested in art, and now, ironically, those same people are the ones who inspire me today.
Perhaps I had felt removed because growing up I was actually envious of my older sibling who harnessed their skills creating on a canvas. Whether it was painting, drawing, color pencil, digital art, you-name-it, they did it. As they received praise from everyone around us, I felt pressure to find something I could be good at too. My answer became academics. I doubled down on school, pushed towards a “practical career,” and eventually stepped into the workforce as another corporate cog.
But when I reflect back, none of the technical achievements were the true source of joy. What lit me up were the moments when I felt free to create.
In high school, that freedom came from sculpting. I learned to be okay with the mistakes along the way, and seeing the process through till I reached the end was a liberating feeling. I wasn’t being judged on how perfectly I regurgitated information, or how I applied my textbook learned knowledge. Instead, I was guided in a way to trust the process, and be okay with whatever the outcome was.
As I continued moving through life, the fulfillment I found myself experiencing time and time again derived from: dance, holding positions where I was positively influencing the world, and taking part in communities with altruistic values.
In all of those spaces, although challenges and obstacles would appear, it didn’t cause nearly the same type of grief that I experienced when I did something because “I had to” or because “I needed to make a living”.
What I’ve come to realize about myself, is that I’m not meant to follow a one-track-goal, or meant to climb up the corporate ladder. Instead, I’ve come to understand that my values are vital to the essence of my being. So as I align them to the skills I’ve developed, I can grow myself into what those values command.
Creativity brought me back to myself. I’m learning that creativity isn’t a skill you earn, it’s a part of who you are. And when I embrace that part of myself, everything feels a little more possible.