I meet Minnie at Tom Dixon in Central Hong Kong. Tom Dixon is a chic furniture store with a coffee shop on the second floor. Minnie was wearing dark bell bottom jeans and a black tank top. Her hair was down but pulled out of her face. Her black tank top was perfect for Hong Kong’s humid, 95-degree, summer day. Minnie grew up in Hong Kong speaking Chinese with her family, but now attends Northeastern University in the U.S. where she is studying Psychology and Entrepreneurship. Minnie is interested in consumer behavior and applying psychology to entrepreneurial interests. She quickly started telling me about her interests in both Chinese and American culture. She explained in detail what it was like growing up in Hong Kong and attending school in the U.S.
Minnie also told me about her blog Minniemized and how it makes her powerful. She aims to always share the truth on her blog. She doesn’t just write about the perfect days. She aims to empower others by sharing stories from days that are not perfect. She wants college students to know it’s ok to not have everything figured out.
After coffee, Minnie showed me some of her favorite parts of Hong Kong which included shops on Hollywood Road, art in the PMQ, a Vietnamese dinner at BEP, and drinks at SEVVA. If you’re ever in a Hong Kong, make sure to check out the view of Hong Kong from the SEVVA rooftop at night!
Minnie, tell me about your childhood in Hong Kong.
“I went to an American school ever since I was little, which resulted in me going to college in the U.S. A lot of kids in Hong Kong, at international schools, end up going to school in the U.K. or U.S. Until college, I went to school in Hong Kong, but I was in an American bubble. All of my childhood, my TV shows and music were American.”
Did going to an international school make your transition to college in the U.S. easier?
“Yes, but the transition was larger than I expected. When I went to the U.S. I felt like I was stuck in the middle. I thought I was in tune with American culture but I really wasn’t. It feels like you aren’t a part of any culture which is hard because you don’t know how to identify yourself. I was so comfortable in Hong Kong, and when I went to college, I realized there was so much out there that I didn’t know. During the last 4 years of college I changed and learned so much.”
Tell me about your blog!
“I have a blog called Minniemized. I had trouble fitting in when I first moved to the U.S for college, and I started this blog freshman year as a creative outlet. I love putting stuff out there and watch it turn into something bigger. Back then, I looked up to travel bloggers and I wanted to travel and write about my experiences too. Over time I realized I loved the creative part of blogging, but only writing about traveling and food turned into something I dreaded. I stopped writing about travel for a year because it didn’t give me joy anymore. I was still journaling on the side, so I figured I should just post what I really enjoyed writing about. My blog eventually evolved into a scrapbook of my thoughts and struggles as a millenial in today’s world. A lot of what is on social media isn’t real, and I thought it was important to show what was real. I feel we are all really hard on ourselves. I want my blog to be a place for people to realize we are all in the same boat. We all have amazing days and bad days, and we all feel a little lost sometimes. It’s important to talk about it so we don’t feel so alone.”
Minnie, what does it mean to you to be powerful?
“I think it means to be confident in yourself enough to not care about what people think, and to really trust your intuition. It takes constant work and experience to do that. Even as adults, people are still learning to love themselves the way they are authentically. Being powerful is also about bringing people up, and to be confident in yourself to not compare yourself with others, but to celebrate the powerful things they do to. It’s to be ok to be yourself and know everyone has their great experiences and their bad ones.”
