Create, create, create.

It’s something I’ve been telling myself since I first started honing in on the creative parts of my character. Whether that be creating pictures through photography and design or creating communities in spaces I find myself in, creating is at my core.

I remember taking my first photography class my freshman year of high school and immediately falling in love with the concept of using visuals as a language. The rest of my high school career I continued taking design classes and finished my fourth year taking business and entrepreneurship.

While discovering my academic passions, I had my athletic ones. I was a competitive swimmer, practicing twice a day for six times a week. I was dedicated to the sport in hopes of swimming Division 1 in college. But at what point does dedication become detrimental?

Throughout the course of my swimming career my mental health took a turn for the worse and my self-confidence was at an all time low. I couldn’t improve my times and I always questioned what was wrong with me. After speaking with a sports psychologist and therapist, I was able to combat my mental health challenges and overcome one of the biggest setbacks I’ve faced.

With my experience I realized I wasn’t alone. There were other people going through similar situations, and I needed to be the person I never had during this process. Through this I started my personal business Searching For Silver Linings that aims at providing affordable and accessible mental health resources for teenagers.

I truly strive to be a bridge builder for multiple communities and an advocate for men’s mental health. I want to break the stigma surrounding mental health to create positive change within each individual. With my time studying at UC Irvine, my goal is to improve the self-confidence of the UCI student body and become a source of comfortability that people can seek when feeling distressed.