I was born and raised in Lethbridge, Alberta, to Chinese-Vietnamese refugee parents (Chinese descent, but born and raised in Vietnam). I believe the melding of Chinese and Vietnamese culture at home combined with growing up in Western Canada has given me a fairly open-minded and unique perspective on life. I am eternally grateful to my parents, who fled Vietnam in the 1980s with their respective families and settled in Canada. They happened to end up in Lethbridge, where they met and started our family. Both worked very hard much of their lives in factories to afford my siblings and me all the opportunities we took for granted growing up here in Canada. Whenever I feel as if my own struggles are too difficult, I reflect on my parents’ life struggles to put things into perspective.
Staying close to home, I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Lethbridge graduating with a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences with both honours and great distinction before heading off to the University of Waterloo for Optometry school. One of the most memorable experiences of Optometry school was my internship in Toronto at a retinal ophthalmology clinic in my 4th year, where I was exposed to so many rare and complicated internal eye conditions. It fueled my desire to provide full-scope eye care services. I had always planned on returning to Alberta after graduating from Waterloo in 2020, and when the opportunity arose to come to Grande Prairie to practice, I jumped on it. I look forward to serving Grande Prairie and its surrounding communities. This community has been very welcoming.
In my spare time, I enjoy casually playing basketball and tennis. I also enjoy still-life and portrait drawing in my free time.
