Linsanity: Seeking My Own TCK Hero
Asian Americans have a new face, a new role model, a new idol to call their own. I am not one of these Asian Americans.
Asian Americans have a new face, a new role model, a new idol to call their own. I am not one of these Asian Americans.
Brian Linton, 24, was recently named to Bloomberg Businessweek’s list of “America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs.” A lifelong lover of water, Linton decided that creating a business was the best way to have a real impact on cleaning the oceans in a globalized way.
The typical Third Culture Kid has moved at least once by their 5th birthday, and will move at least four times in their life. They speak at least two languages and have a 4-year college-degree. Data based on an informal online survey of 200 Third Culture Kids.
As diplomat kids, missionary kids, corporate kids or whatever else living abroad, we were expected to represent the United States on our teenage shoulders with everything that we did. To others, we were America. To us, we were American by passport, having grown up abroad.
As TCKs, we’ve been blessed with a lifetime of unique cultural experiences. If we use that same awareness that we’ve developed and keep an open mind, it can go a long way towards making the transition easier – and maybe even fun.
You’re a freshman now — no obligations, no history — you have a blank slate in a new place. That is an incredible opportunity.
“Lovepats” are people who become expats for love, usually moving to their partner’s home country. When you fall in love and decide to follow someone to the ends of the earth, there isn’t always a lot of logic involved.
Using a person’s birthplace to define citizenship, or a person’s place in society, is frustratingly archaic. It reinforces a flawed notion that people can be placed within pre-defined boxes, and that one’s patriotism can be determined by one’s birthplace.
Ben Huh, 33, is the CEO of the Cheezburger Network, the Internet company that owns “I Can Has Cheezburger?” Huh, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, grew up between South Korea, Hong Kong and California.
Entrepreneurs and TCKs have some strikingly common characteristics: adaptable, open to risk, and remarkably resilient. “I’ve seen all kinds of entrepreneurs,” John Scull says. “I think, at end of day, the most important characteristic is that you can deal with ambiguity.”