“Em” means lil sister in Vietnamese, and as you can see from this video-I’m thrilled to have a ton of em.

I just got back from San Jose, CA, my fave place to visit for good Viet food, family, and the Sister to Sister Leadership Conference. For the past 3 years I’ve supported this AARS by hosting this annual Sister to Sister event, and every year I walk out more blessed than when I walked in. This year was no exception. The event is for Asian American young women between ages of 11-18 and they’re all invited from middle and high schools in the Bay Area.  The theme this year was “Make Your Mark”, which means every speaker and performance was all to “em”power these young minds to begin dreaming about what they yearn to do to make their own mark in this world. You guys, I cannot even tell you how ADORABLE, just absolutely heart squishing, it is to stand on a stage and look out onto a room of hope-filled, ambitious little girls. I met aspiring dancers, chefs, pro-skateboarders,  veterinarians, you name it. I was so inspired when Judge Jacqueline Duong, the first Vietnamese American woman ever appointed to bench in Northern, CA, shared her encouraging journey on the memories of escaping her country in a small fisherman’s boat proved she could overcome anything to get to where she dreams. While I was driving home after the event I was so emotional after seeing so many courageous young hearts who could dream as quick as they could speak, and it just made me pray that nothing could discourage them off their path. I hate how that can happen as we grow older. When we’re young it’s so easy to dream, imagine, and even play “pretend” to be anything we desire, until life happens and we take that as a road block instead of a road turn. My prayer to everyone at the event and anyone reading this blog is that you think about what you have a PASSION for in life, and this can be as simple as something you LOVE TO DO whenever the opportunity. Once you’ve defined this, find a way to make that a service to others.

The theme this year was Make Your Mark and to each of you young ladies reading this blog, I pray you Make Your Mark in the most sparkly smashtastic way until I see you next year. This has actually inspired me to find a way I can make my mark for all the “ems” out there around the country by developing an event like this for all schools across the nation. If you are interested to join me to “em” power young ladies in an event like this, please email me at jmail@iheartjeanniemai.com. Thank you!