When I was in eighth grade, someone asked the classic question: What do you want to be when you grow up? I answered “pediatrician” without thinking twice. I loved little kids, and it felt like a purposeful path. By ninth grade, I doubled down by choosing Latin instead of Spanish or French, convinced it would give me an academic edge.

I was born in the Philippines and came to the U.S. at the age of 5. My father, an artist in fine art, comics, fashion illustration, and architecture, has consistently drawn inspiration for his work from our homeland. Now, at 87, the central theme of all his paintings remains his mother country.