I enjoy being me

I’m Filipino and nobody would suspect that from me and I have red hair and a lot of freckles. I was bullied for having red hair. I didn’t really have many friends being who I was. I actually wasn’t from here. When I was seven I moved out here and even from that I was different. Everybody looked at me, like, who is this girl, where did she come from?

Being bullied affected me in a more positive way because that kind of made me realize that they have nothing else better to do than treat somebody else bad, you know. It’s more of their insecurities that they’re worried about just how to make themselves feel better. I think it’s insecurities and jealousy.

After I graduated high school, school just wasn’t it for me. And after that, now, I found the group of people that I really enjoy being around. My friends make me feel comfortable about myself. They’ve told me how awesome of a person I am. That helps my confidence. It boost my confidence. It makes me happy. I’m pretty tan for being a ginger I guess. I like being ginger it really brings out my personality, I think. I enjoy being me. Having people around you that inspire you to be who you are can be helpful to somebody who’s really not able to come out being themselves.

I got it when I was very little. Me and my grandma, grandpa and my sister went to the San Diego Zoo and we went to the lion exhibit. I put my hand right near the big old lion. I put my hand right on the glass and he put his paw right there. I went, oh my gosh, this is my favorite animal. So we went to the little store and I got the little lion. I named it Lamby. I took him everywhere I went. He made me feel a lot more comfortable, safe.