Hello from Colorado! My name is Sara Chao and I am the human resources support at the Broomfield office. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to be raised as a third culture kid. Growing up, besides the difficulties of learning English and Spanish simultaneously when we first moved, the transition to Latin America was not too difficult as Asian culture also focuses a lot on food, family and food with family. Now grown and living in the U.S., I celebrate and honor my cultural roots through cooking the food I grew up with.
There are many dishes that symbolize my heritage – both of my grandmothers were amazing cooks, first thing I thought of were the homemade dumplings and other various Northern Chinese dishes from my nainai (paternal grandma). My laolao’s (maternal grandma) specialty was her soy-braised fish as she grew up in the coastal city of Qingdao (or Tsingtao, like the beer). Everything my mom makes, especially anything Taiwanese. Moving away from Taiwan as a family really forced and prepared my mom to be a great cook. She taught me everything I need to know with cooking basics when I moved away for college. I love the food I grew up with so much, if I miss it and could not get it, I will attempt to make it myself. I reminisce food from my youth by cooking up arroz con pollo or sancocho from Panama, or Hawaiian plate lunches from college days – I love SPAM!
Other than food, I think one of the biggest perks of growing up in tight knit communities is being able to accept influences and challenges from my network of supporters, not just my family. I am grateful to have support from a network of strong people, mostly women, who provide guidance, who check in on me, who keep me in check, who give me the side eye when I am not at my best, who raise me up, who listen and support, encourage and challenge me to be my best. I also have mentors (not my parents in this case) who constantly encourage me to grow my education, formally and informally.
For me, I am grateful that I get to celebrate my heritage year-round through cooking and shopping at my local AAPI-owned businesses, not just in May. I hope you get to do the same as well.
Deckers Careers 