Sometimes seeing the world from your partner’s lens can unlock a new perspective on life.
Growing up as a white person in America I had a standard upbringing being exposed to all the traditional cultural norms and values you’d expect of a white family. My entire family is Christian; we celebrate holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas in the most standard of ways with all the types of foods and traditions you would expect from a white household like sugar cookies, ugly Christmas sweaters, and building gingerbread houses. On top of this, most of my family, friends, and people I grew up around were white so for all I knew ground beef tacos and orange chicken were authentic foods from Mexican and Chinese cuisine in my mind.
However, as I grew older, I soon began to realize that a lot of the ways that I grew up were completely different to others and that the many beliefs I had about other people were indeed not true. For example: I used to believe that hard shell tacos were the traditional style of tortilla used in Mexican cuisine but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The cultures and lives of people from different parts of the world may be similar in certain aspects but, for the most part, people from countries all over the world bring something completely different to the table.
What helped me truly understand this was when I first met and started dating my partner Elizabeth in May of this year. Elizabeth is mixed being part Latina as her father is from Nicaragua, and part Asian as her mother is from Vietnam. Because of this she grew up in a vastly different environment compared to me with her mother being Buddhist and her father being a Catholic, Elizabeth was exposed to two very different cultures and belief systems at the same time.
You would think given how different our cultural backgrounds are that finding a common connection between the both of us would be very difficult but…. Life has a very funny way of taking two completely different people and bringing them together. We connected with each other through Hinge and the small connection that kicked off our conversations was our love of desserts.
Me and Elizabeth both love ice cream more than anything and that one common connection would be the spark that kicked off our relationship. As we continued to talk and go on dates together, she would tell me more about the incredible story of herself and how her parents met.
Her Mother, originally born in Cambodia, fled to Vietnam to escape Pol Pot’s rule before eventually moving to America. Her father’s story was a bit simpler with him moving to America as an adult to find better opportunities for himself. Soon, they would both meet working together at a hotel and the rest is history.
The story of Elizabeth’s family is truly remarkable, and her family is the perfect example of the American dream and what this country at its core stands for. Two people from opposite sides of the world both moved here to start anew and started a family together, a true melting pot of culture.
Because of this Elizabeth has introduced me to so many different foods that I would’ve never tried without her like: Bahn Mi, Pho, or Boba just to name a few. Being with Elizabeth has taught me so much about Asian and Latino culture as the cultural dynamics for her family are very different compared to my family.
Latino and Asian cultures are very collectivist compared to the more individualistic style of culture found in America or Europe and it’s something I’ve noticed a lot as our relationship has continued to grow as well as working here at Camino.
Camino is not just a non-profit, it’s a melting pot of so many different parts of the Latino community all coming together under the goal of helping people in their community. Much like me and Elizabeth connecting and learning more about each other and sharing our vastly different cultures with each other, Camino brings together many different types of people and uses their cultural beliefs and values to bring the Latino community together and make it stronger.
If this wasn’t inspiring enough, the one fact about Camino that made me choose this company over any other to begin my professional journey was the story of CEO Rusty Price. Rusty is a white man just like me, but despite this he went out of this way to build a non-profit to help Latinos around the community or ones that just immigrated to America.
Camino in a sense, is the America dream. It is a beacon of hope for this country and the Latino community that brings together so many different types of people under one goal of helping others. Camino inspires me because the story of Camino reminds me of my relationship with Elizabeth: we came from vastly different backgrounds, but we have come together to share our different cultures and unite as one.
