A&PI Heritage Month: How our leaders’ cultural roots have shaped their careers

In the spirit of Asian & Pacific Islander (A&PI) Heritage Month, we passed the virtual mic to five A&PI leaders at 1Password who spoke at a company-wide panel to share how their cultural roots have influenced their professional journeys.

Here are some highlights:

Sylvia Tu, Senior Manager, FP&A

My parents are from Vietnam and immigrated to Canada as refugees to escape a tumultuous life of war and set up a better future for their family. My dad came to Canada from Vietnam by boat with absolutely nothing on him or to his name.

Through sheer strength, grit, and support of his sponsor family, he taught himself English and French, earned his Bachelor of Computer Science degree at École Polytechnique in Montreal, and is now living a comfortable, peaceful life as a software engineer with two kids and a grandson (my shih tzu, Carlton!).

“Anything is possible if you have the work ethic and drive to achieve it."

Seeing where my dad started and where he is today is a reminder to me that anything is possible if you have the work ethic and drive to achieve it. He’s also taught me that it’s necessary to stop and smell the flowers and really appreciate how far you’ve already come and to appreciate what you have around you.

Parvathi Subramanyam, Director, Compensation & Benefits

I grew up in India and moved to Canada for my undergrad degree when I was 18. My parents had very high expectations and instilled in me from a young age the importance of education and academic achievement.

So, it made sense for me to tackle the challenge head-on and move halfway across the world for the benefit of my future. They raised me to be independent and looking back, moving to Canada was the starting point in my journey to get to where I am today. Coming to Canada on a scholarship meant that I had to constantly prove myself at university by having a strong work ethic, which is a value I’ve held in all my jobs out of university and continue to hold to this day.

“All the values I was taught throughout my childhood have led me to where I am today."

I put my head down, worked hard and never took for granted all the opportunities that came my way – I feel like all the values I was taught throughout my childhood have led me to where I am today.

Jeannie De Guzman, Chief Financial Officer

Being the child of immigrant parents, I grew up seeing and thinking that making a modest living for your family required many hours of work. That, which also meant a lot of sacrifice: no days off, no family vacations and no rest. I think this showed me how hard it was to make a dollar and resulted in a pretty intense work ethic, which I attribute as a reason for the career trajectory I was lucky to be put on.

“This showed me how hard it was to make a dollar and resulted in a pretty intense work ethic."

Being in the fortunate position I am today, I find myself grateful that I have the ability to take PTO (paid time off) and to work remotely so I can see glimpses of my kids throughout the day. Mostly, I am happy to be able to spend time with my parents who gave up their time so that I can have mine.

Steve Won, Chief Product Officer

As a second generation Korean-American growing up in a working class family, my family invested a tremendous amount of expectations on me through education, music, and so forth. As a result, I had an aggressive goal-oriented approach ingrained into my being. Whether it was school, or a certain job, or a promotion, I was intrinsically motivated by “what’s next?”

My career has spanned support, design, sales engineering, customer success, and now product. That attitude served me well in startups, where it always feels like there are never enough hands to do the work that needs to be done.

However, I’ve learned more about myself and recognize that a goal-based approach can be exhausting. I’ve learned that it means I’m not particularly mindful and over-calibrated on the future without appreciating the present. So sometimes a strength can become a weakness.

Eric Chang, Director, Product Marketing

When I was growing up, my parents and relatives (who all loved to give me their very direct opinions) really emphasized to me that if you choose to do something, you should put in the effort and do your best. Otherwise why do it and waste time and money? This applied whether it was academics, music, hobbies, sports, etc.

“Going “all-in” really builds a sense of discipline."

Going “all-in” really builds a sense of discipline while helping you understand if you like and/or are good at something. I really feel that this approach was critical in helping me discover what my interests and strengths are as I’ve gone throughout my career.

Embracing our unique paths

Our individual journeys and backgrounds are unique. Learning how others’ career trajectories transpired and how they got to where they are today can help us reflect on our own strengths – as well as recognize those strengths in others.

Throughout A&PI Heritage Month, we’ve proudly spotlighted our team members’ stories through company-wide panel discussions. We look forward to continuing to amplify these A&PI voices and foster an environment where all team members’ strong, unique voices can shine.

Liz Tam & Melissa Ong