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Michelle Yang, Writer & Activist for Mental Health Wellness
Michelle Yang is an advocate whose writings on the intersection of Asian American identity, body image, and mental health have been featured in NBC News, CNN, InStyle, Shondaland, and more. When not writing, she loves exploring new areas with her family and smoking up the kitchen with spicy recipes. Other projects: To learn more of my story, please see my writing here or see press features here. Please see here to listen to my story at upcoming conferences, classes, nonprofits and podcasts. For writing inquiries, podcast interviews, or other collaboration opportunities, please contact: michellehyang@gmail.com
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Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash I drove by a homeless man today sitting in front of a drug store entrance with a cardboard sign. When two people walked out, he smiled brightly and greeted them. They in return averted their eyes, pretended not to see him, and shuffled quickly away. What would it be like to have your presence invalidated all the time? For people to not see you? I live in a city where many complain of a “homeless problem.” “Some people just don’t want to be helped,” they say. I have heard kindhearted people dehumanize the homeless. Making jokes, even taking photos of them while they’re sleeping, without consent, and…
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Parenthood saved me. Maybe not in the way you think. I was such a good Chinese daughter. I was “drinking the kool-aid” as my brother called it until I was about 30 years old. All growing up, my parents would scold me and say, “You will understand when you become a parent yourself.” The irony is, when I was finally ready to become a parent, that’s when I stopped drinking the kool-aid. Stopped being a “good daughter.” I finally drew the boundaries I needed to stop the patterns of abuse. Preparing for parenthood made me reflect deeply on the type of parent I wanted to be and it was…
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My nickname in high school was not cute. It’s not something I can laugh about even today, nearly 20 years later. It was a name that stung, what people called me when my back was turned. PSYCHO I would show up to school crying non-stop, having gone weeks without sleep. I was a top student in the class, yet I’d doodled on my final exams instead of answering any questions. I screamed at my best friend during class with a bunch of nonsense. It hurts because the nickname was accurate. I hadn’t slept in weeks. I was having a psychotic episode. I had not been diagnosed with anything. My family…
