For the second part of Asians in Excellence, we are featuring Ava Anhdao Do. She immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam, went to UCLA and is now working in the magic community. She connects this with science and even shows us a trick.

Love is all and the love of a family is what is most important in this world. Every time I’ve fallen down, my parents and two sisters have rushed to push me back up. Today is Valentine’s Day. It’s a commercialized holiday that capitalizes on love. I leave you with these two quotes that I especially find relevant today: “Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.” – Lao Tzu “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” -Japanese Proverb

I have always had an aversion to snakes and the number 13 growing up. Now that I am 33 years old, I realize how snakes have actually been my friends and that the number 13 has always been around to guide me. 2012 was a tough year for me and I don’t think I am alone. It seems that a lot of people struggled last year what with mass shootings, a poor economy and a contentious election. Personally, I went through a breakup, leaving a lucrative job and serious health setbacks. Through it all, I have emerged much stronger and I know that 2013 will be my year to shine. I was in a 3-year relationship...

I took my first trip to Washington, DC during the 9/11 weekend. I was one of the first group of people to fly out of Washington Dulles Airport the morning of September 11, 2012. It was such an emotional journey for me. I couldn’t help but let the tears fall as we flew across the country in the comforts of a Virgin America airplane. After all this time, I realized I was on the wrong path. All my life, I have been picked on because I am small and I am a woman. It gets me so angry when people think they can bully me around because of these two factors. I spent the last 33 years constantly fighting...

I am very thankful for this Election Day for many reasons. First, I am so glad I no longer work in TV news to have to deal with all of this election and Hurricane Sandy madness. Secondly, I am grateful to all the people who have paved the way for a minority woman like myself to be able to cast a ballot. It is truly a privilege too many of us take for granted. Regardless of who you want to choose, make your voice heard. Otherwise, you have no right to complain. Be proud to be an American. Get out and vote if you have not already.

Over the weekend, I took BART into San Francisco for the NAAAP Gateway to Leadership Convention. I thought about driving my car to the convention but after getting two parking tickets and nearly hitting a bicyclist in the span of a week a couple of months ago, I’ve been reluctant to drive my car into the city. I was suppose to meet with a former colleague in Daly City and carpool to the event together. As I was texting him my location, a young black man snatched my brand new iPhone 5 from my hands and ran off. I yelled and jumped up from my seat but the doors to the train had closed before I was...

When I was 16, I lived with my grandparents for a year. During that time, I developed a very deep bond with them. Every night at dinner, my grandpa would have a glass of red wine and some olives. Back then, we had a lot of discussions about the Vietnam War as I was studying the event in high school at the time. Grandpapa would share with me a very different perspective of the war, one that I did not read about in American history books. He told me how he wanted to be a priest when he was a young boy and how he even ran away from home to the monastery. But since he was the only boy in the family, he...

I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 1 when I was a teenager after a traumatic experience. I have lived with this disease for nearly 15 years now. When doctors first labeled me with Bipolar Disorder, I was devastated as I thought my world was over. I came to find that Bipolar Disorder is an illness that affects about 10 million Americans every year so I was definitely not alone in my struggle. Initially, I was very scared of medication because the doctors at Stanford Hospital put me on a cocktail of various prescriptions in search of the “right” one for me, some of which included...

Asians In Excellence is a project I have been working on for 5 years now, where I feature role models in the Asian American community. It started at Dragonfruit Media where I interviewed Ava Do, a Vietnamese American entertainer who specializes in magic. Here on AngryAsianLady.com, I interview Christopher Do who has an inspiring rags-to-riches story....

To celebrate the 1-year anniversary of this blog’s launch, my friend Tina Kim at Rogen Studios designed a T-shirt for Angry Asian Lady and in the process helped craft the new logo for the blog. The yellow dragon is now replaced with a more feminine gray one. The blog will be relaunched next week with a completely new look, one that I am quite proud of. It will be more open and inviting, less dark and menacing. There is an About section, where I address how I came up with the handle Angry Asian Lady and what the blog is really about. Last but certainly not least, it has a new video section called...