I was interviewed lately and asked: what do you believe needs to be done so that more Chinese Americans feel empowered to follow and achieve their dreams?
I want to be honest about a tension in this question. The standard answer is "follow your dreams," but dreams don't form in a vacuum. They're shaped by what you see people like you doing, and by what your family rewards you for. When the visible script is narrow, doctor, lawyer, engineer, finance, a lot of kids don't dream outside it. They're capable of more, but nothing in their environment told them those other lives were real options.
So the first thing we need to do is widen the script. Not by giving pep talks, but by making unconventional paths visible and legitimate.