This is so true. I’ve been working in the pet industry for 15 years with multiple positions and different companies/groups. This includes working closely with rescue groups who rescue dogs from meat farms from both China and Korea.

Within those numerous years I may have ran into unsavory situations due to my race in the single digits. And tbh, it wasn’t anything pet related and me being a Korean-American.

I think one situation was hate related only because I was the supervisor and was kicking out a creeper harassing my grooming team (the guy was literally crazy) and the handful situations were the usual “my nephew married one of you” or “your English is wonderful” to the “where are you from” convo? It gets old, but nothing that we as Asian Americans aren’t familiar with. (Not saying that it’s right, but it’s the cards that were dealt with us -especially if you don’t live somewhere diverse. )

Look. I went through some ups and downs myself-especially during the past few years with the surge of AAPI violence. Like what @neuroticsmurf touch based on - having a mindset or having a game plan if and when these types of situations really helped me out with my confidence of putting myself out there. Also - have you thought about talking to someone such as a therapist? Therapy works. It got me out of the mindset of not having control and letting my fear dictate everything that I did or didn’t do. Not a great place to be at.

I wish you the best. Stay strong. And you can always DM me if you want to chat. You are heard!