Being Mixed
Name: Jessica Dene Earley-Cha
Pronouns: she/her
Quick context:
I’m a Developer Relations Engineer on the Google Assistant DevRel team. I’m based in Mountain View, CA.
My two sisters and my, I’m about 8 years old
Could you please tell me a bit about your Mixed identity?
My father was a mixed of Western European backgrounds and was raised with the traditional “American” culture. My mother is Mexican with indigenous, Spanish and African background and she was raised in Mexico. My father passed away when I was five, so I was raised by my mother and her family in a small town on the border of Mexico and California, called Calexico.
What are your favorite things about being Mixed?
I love being able to see the same thing with different layers. Being aware that something can have multiple meanings and ways to interact with it – like corn. Corn can be something as simple as just boiled and topped with butter and salt and it’s also elote which can be grilled and topped with lemon, salt, chili and cheese. It's the same yellow grain, but can have different names and different ways to interact with. Imagine that but for everything!
Abuelitos en mis quince (my grandparents with me at my 15th birthday ceremony)
What have been the most challenging aspects about being Mixed and/or being part of a Mixed family?
Like many people, when I was young I wanted to “belong,” but I was different enough from everyone that I never truly felt that I ever did truly belong to anywhere. It was also hard to explain to others how being mixed affected me and how others treated me. Just explaining that was challenging.
Another part was having to explain being mixed to others. It's a bit strange when people stare trying to figure out your features.
A very common experience I had growing up as mixed in a border town was every time we crossed back into the United States, border patrol would wake me and my sisters up asking us “who is that woman?” and of course we would confirm that “yes, she is our mom, no she did not kidnap us, our dad is white, yes, she is our mom, yes we are American citizens” and then go back to sleep.
My sisters and me
What aspects of your Mixed identity or family have been misunderstood by others?
That just because someone might look one way to you doesn’t mean they are that – I can present as “white” and often people assume that because I don’t have a heavy accent and my last name is Earley-Cha that I’m not Latina. Or when I do share that I am Latina that it must be generations ago that my family was in latin america. If someone says they are “x” , challenging them isn’t necessarily.
What is one thing you’ve learned about being Mixed/being part of a Mixed family that you wish you could tell your younger self?
Being mixed is one of your biggest assets and strengths – it gives you the ability to empathize with others, to see the world in different colors and see multiple ways of solving problems.
Who is the person who best understands what your Mixed identity means to you?
My sisters.
Sign-off
Well, my husband is Korean, and my family is more mixed. We are in the process of adopting, which will only add more love and more mix in.
I’m excited to meet others who are mixed and share fun stories and experiences. Thanks for learning more about me and my mixed heritage. If you want to chat, feel free to set up time on my calendar. Thank you.
