Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn: Hi, my name is Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn. That is my legal first name. It is Sarah-SoonLing. It has three capital letters and a hyphen, which is a lot, but as I've gotten older, I've come to really appreciate having a name that has all of those different pieces. I weirdly really relate to the hyphen in the middle of my first name because I have so much both and in who I am. I grew up both in the United States and in various parts of Asia.

I am White and Asian American. I have all these multiracial, multicultural, multi-ethnic parts of who I am. So having that hyphen lets me remember and realize that it is okay to have both. That having that nuance and complexity in your name and identity is something to be really proud of that I can celebrate. So even though I used to think it was such a mouthful to have all of that in my name, now I'm really grateful that my parents made sure to give me a name that let me celebrate and remember all of who I am. The SoonLing is a Teochew name that comes from my grandmother. My grandparents gave that to me and our generation. Then Sarah coming from my dad's side of the family as well.