About Me
What’s up everybody I hope all is good. I’m Phan and I want to introduce myself and share some of my experiences and background with you.
Like E, I grew up in many different environments, one particular environment was the Bay Area, California. We moved to the Bay when I was around 2 years old from San Antonio Texas (where I was born). My pops had just got a job at United Airlines as a mechanic in Oakland California, where he worked for a little over a decade.
Unfortunately, even in the 1990s, the housing market was still quite expensive. We moved around a bit, always chasing cheaper rent. This led us to move many times throughout my youth. To give you perspective on how many times I moved, I went to 6 different public schools in the span of 6 years. Made me the new guy every time, something you just never get used to.
To make things more interesting, I was this skinny little asian/hispanic kid no one ever saw before. It happened over and over again, always having to explain the same story (my dad Vietnamese and my mama Mexican).
Attending so many schools takes a toll on a kid, and in the Bay Area, many of these environments are rough, your usual drugs, gangs, violence and poverty. For those who grew up in the Bay, they know what I’m talking about.
After my 8th grade, my parents decided to move to El Paso, Texas (culture shock), a city where the majority are hispanic.
Again, I was the new guy, explaining the same story. It was a tough adjustment at first, I was used to diversity, in the bay I grew up with everyone, black, white, hispanic, asian, pacific islander, Indian, middle eastern, etc. Going from such diversity to straight Mexicans was definitely a culture shock, but luckily I met some great people.
By my Junior year I began to get more comfortable and fortunately, El Paso turned out to be a great experience. I had many life lessons in that city and It was there where I decided to join the Marines. Part of my decision was a result of me getting laid off from my position at Chevrolet as a mechanic. The reason of my layoff was simple, the 2009 recession.
I joined the Marine Corps in 2009, that yellow foot print shit is no joke.
I served as an aviation maintenance administrator for F-18 squadron. “You seen that movie Independence Day with Will Smith? I served in that unit, VMFA-314, located in sunny San Diego California.”- Phan
The Marine Corps experience wasn’t smooth, it wasn’t perfect, there were many ups and downs. Most Marines will tell you, you experience the worst, and you experience the best when you serve in the corps, at least for me. No regrets, I would do it again and I am excited to share some of those lessons I learned with you. It was here where I met some of the greatest people I’ve encountered and I keep in touch with them till this day. It’s a loyalty that’s forever.
After my Marine Corps career I did what every other veteran does, enrolled in school.
I started out at Grossmont /Cuyamaca community college where I learned the basics. I credit this school for getting my writing and math skills up to par not to mention some political science and history courses that helped push me to the Global Studies program at Arizona State University.
This degree helped me understand how the world works from a political, social, and economic perspective focused on globalization. I had zero experience prior to my education following politics or any social issues closely, so the experiences I learned here, to me, really taught me how to look at the world through multiple perspectives rather then one to have a more holistic understanding of a given situation.
I gained valuable experiences via internships, I’ve worked with children from pre-k to middle schoolers, I worked at the Pat Tillman Veteran Center, I also interned at a Non Government Organization called the International Rescue Committee to help victims of human trafficking get back on their feet. My appreciation for education definitely grew as I progressed through my bachelors degree.
I graduated in 2016 with my Bachelors in Global Studies, and immediately enrolled at Thunderbird School of Global Management. I met E here, a like minded individual who was truly himself and lived by his own set of values.
At Thunderbird we got to meet great faculty and work with people from all over the world. This is where we had the opportunity to work with the NFL and the Oakland Raiders as they transition to Las Vegas. Thunderbird helped me understand fundamental business concepts from a global perspective, I graduated with my Masters of global management in 2017.
These many different experience and the lessons that come with them have helped shaped who I am today.
At Black Sheep Heritage, we are here to share our experiences through our content, to hopefully inspire you to become better. I hope that my story will help you in some way, as we hope to cover as many topics as we can ranging from history, personal/professional development, fitness, finance, health and nutrition, social, economics, politics, and much more.
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