STATUS: in development

I am in the process of collecting data and getting a hold of possible interview subjects for a sizzle reel to send to production companies and networks. If you're interested in sharing your story, fill out this survey. (It'll only take about 10 minutes, I promise!)

OVERVIEW

The goal of the docu-series is to explore the heritages of multicultural Americans.

As of 2013, 40 million Americans were first generation, and most of our families can tell you exactly who immigrated here and from where.

However, there is still a stigma and lack of acceptance that many Americans face, especially if they have accents or are not white. Many of them are faced with the question of "Where are you from?" and when they answer Charleston, SC or Boise, ID they are then asked "I mean, where are you from originally?".

I find, however, that many Americans are proud to have upheld cultural traditions from their country of origin. I have also found that some people don't really care to maintain traditions from a culture in which they no longer live. Sometimes being from two different heritages is an identity struggle that is only made worse by the invisible biases that other American people, those who don't have family or have themselves recently immigrated to the United States, maintain about dual citizens or multi-cultural Americans.

WHY ME? WHY THIS STORY?

I'm Filipino, Italian, German and Irish in blood heritage, but only identify as American. I've always felt a little left out that I didn't have a stronger connection to my Filipino roots, seeing as my grandmother immigrated here from the Philippines and speaks Tagalog as well as English. So my own experience in learning about my heritage makes me fascinated by people who are American... but are also something else.

In addition, my fiance Vladislav is Belarusian. He was born and raised there, immigrating to the US when he was 7. That impacted his life, and while he could only tell me how things affected him, I never understood some aspects of him until I went to Belarus in 2018. It was... an eye-opening experience. I felt that because I had seen this place in person that I understood what he was talking about and how the experiences he had shaped him as a person. Simply put, our bond grew deeper because I saw what he saw with my own eyes.

I'm passionate about this topic. I love traveling, and I believe that the greatest adventure in life is exploring another person's heart. And that's exactly what I want to show to audiences: multicultural Americans' hearts. Perhaps if single-culture Americans saw what they saw, there would be more acceptance of one another.