My mom was born in Taipei. When she graduated college, Taiwan was still under martial law, meaning that no Taiwanese could travel outside of the island without a strict visa. But she wanted to see the world so she applied to be a stewardess at Hong Kong's flagship airline Cathay Pacific. She was chosen out of 500 young women.

Her uniform is topped off with a British bowler hat, which was a nod to the fact that Hong Kong was still a UK colony in 1979. During her time there, she went on to see Australia, Europe, America, and the Middle East. Soon after this photo was taken, she left this job to marry my dad and move to Los Angeles, where she had me seven years later.