AANHPI Heritage Month Spotlight: Laura Rasay Siasoco
May 28, 2024
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month
To center diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, we invited OSCPA members to share their experiences on culture and identity while navigating the personal and professional world.
Interview with Laura Rasay Siasoco, Lake Oswego
How do you define your identity and/or cultural background?
Depending on which parent or grandparent is referenced, I am a first, second, or third-generation Filipino American with a touch of Japanese. My maternal great-grandmother was a full-blooded Japanese picture bride, who rejected her assigned groom because he lied about his age and was much older in real life. Disowned by her family, she stayed in the US and found her way on her own. She fell in love and married a full-blooded Filipino, which was not socially accepted during their time. I usually say I’m Filipino with a touch of Japanese to avoid any confusion. Throughout my life, the Japanese component has thrown off many. Still, to me, it’s very relevant and essential to my heritage and worldview, as my great-grandmother and her children were forced into a US-Japanese internment camp when my grandmother was a senior in high school.
Do you have any favorite traditions or ways to celebrate your identity?
Since my maternal great-grandparents married out of the typical cultural model, the idea of being a multicultural family filtered down through their children and families. Generally, our extended family traditions revolved around being together and having a lot of delicious food! My maternal great-grandfather went to culinary school and worked the same in the military, so everyone got the excellent food gene! Sadly, since my grandmother passed in 2018, as well as others, and with people moving away, the extended family gatherings have slowed, and we’ve grown to focus more on our immediate family that is logistically nearby.
How does your identity impact you in the professional world? Are there any aspects of your culture you incorporate in your work?
Professionally, my path has been directed by various reasons and not necessarily by my educational background. I hold chemistry degrees and retired from the preclinical pharmaceutical research laboratory in late 2018. Since then, I’ve been following my interests and values - I’ve worked in grantmaking philanthropy, sales and marketing, and revenue operations. The common thread in these roles was that they used the Salesforce platform to manage the bulk of the operations and data.
As a new student member of OSCPA, I am taking coursework in accounting and finance at Portland Community College (PCC). This will allow me to work on another career pivot that will use my new accounting and finance knowledge and hopefully allow me to be in a more strategic operations role. It is still unclear to me what I’ll be doing ultimately - I hope to explore different paths more during my academic tenure.
In the meantime, I work full-time in my resident school district as an elementary school Special Education Assistant - a role that aligns with my value to make an impact in my community and support the education of the next generation. The school I work at is a dual-language immersion school so it fits my identity of being multicultural. Furthermore, I have really been enjoying spending time with the youngest students in my community. Interestingly, my parents retired from life-long careers in accounting and English as a second language (ESL) education, so I’ve come full circle!
I believe coming from a multicultural extended family has allowed me to fit into many different cultural and racial groups in a variety of social settings with ease because I am relatable and surprisingly seen as an advocate. For this reason, I am able to make significant impact and contributions to businesses and institutions, which I choose to associate with.
Have there been individuals in your community or mentors who have shaped how you express your cultural identity?
I relocated with my family to the Portland area in January 2022 from the San Francisco Bay Area, and I feel I’m still finding my ‘tribe’ here. Due to the pandemic, I am working on my social anxiety with large crowds so I may find my tribe or not. For now, I believe my community extends beyond my local one. Because of my variance in professional experience and interests, my professional network spans the globe. I use LinkedIn to stay in touch with what’s happening in the finance and operations realm, and I follow people who resonate with me and my values. Because of my multicultural family heritage, I can honestly say the LinkedIn connections I’ve made fulfill my need to feel connected to many different cultures and find relevant mentors. However, I do hope my OSCPA membership, other local community groups, and my involvement as a PCC student will open up and build my local connections and network.
What can universities and businesses, especially predominantly White institutions (PWIs), do to better support your community?
Since moving to the area, there’s a different way of doing business here and I’m still trying to understand it. Generally, I believe that institutions and businesses could best support Asian Americans and build impactful businesses by hiring Asian Americans and multicultural employees at all levels, including leadership and board member roles. Not only will it support my community but it will help businesses and leadership become more connected in an evolving business world and increase their reach across social-economic and cultural barriers. If institutions would truly look at the benefits of what Asian, multicultural employees and leaders bring to the table beyond credentials and to embrace these differences, I believe that businesses will evolve to create more impact in their community.
I come from a place of curiosity in how I learn and work; sometimes it feels that some people choose to work with others that look like them. While I can understand that it may be easier to relate and perhaps it’s comforting to work with those who are similar, that mindset didn’t build successful enterprises or other global businesses. At the same time, I’d rather work at a place where I feel truly welcomed and connected, and not only a DEI metric that needs to be met.
Organizations
APANO - Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon
www.apano.org
Articles
PCC - Portland Community College Asian-Pacific Heritage Month Reading List
www.pcc.edu
NPS - Asian American & Pacific Islander Stories from the Oregon National Park Service
www.nps.gov