TED2018
Rebeca Hwang: The power of diversity within yourself
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Rebeca Hwang has spent a lifetime juggling identities -- Korean heritage, Argentinian upbringing, education in the United States -- and for a long time she had difficulty finding a place in the world to call home. Yet along with these challenges came a pivotal realization: that a diverse background is a distinct advantage in today's globalized world. In this personal talk, Hwang reveals the endless benefits of embracing our complex identities -- and shares her hopes for creating a world where identities aren't used to alienate but to bring people together instead.
Rebeca Hwang - Investor
Rebeca Hwang is co-founder and managing director of Rivet Ventures, investing in solutions for women and empowering their choices. Full bio
Rebeca Hwang is co-founder and managing director of Rivet Ventures, investing in solutions for women and empowering their choices. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
We're holding hands,
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staring at the door.
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My siblings and I were waiting
for my mother to come back
for my mother to come back
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from the hospital.
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She was there because my grandmother
had cancer surgery that day.
had cancer surgery that day.
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Finally, the doors opened,
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and she said,
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"She's gone.
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She's gone."
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She started sobbing and immediately said,
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"We must make arrangements.
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Your grandmother's dying wish
was to be buried back home in Korea."
was to be buried back home in Korea."
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I was barely 12 years old,
and when the shock wore off,
and when the shock wore off,
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my mother's words were ringing in my ears.
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My grandmother wanted
to be buried back home.
to be buried back home.
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We had moved from Korea
to Argentina six years prior,
to Argentina six years prior,
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without knowing any Spanish,
or how we were going to make a living.
or how we were going to make a living.
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And upon arrival, we were immigrants
who had lost everything,
who had lost everything,
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so we had to work really hard
to rebuild our lives.
to rebuild our lives.
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So it hadn't occurred to me
that after all these years,
that after all these years,
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back home was still in Korea.
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It made me ponder where I would want
to be buried someday,
to be buried someday,
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where home was for me,
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and the answer was not obvious.
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And this really bothered me.
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So this episode launched
a lifelong quest for my identity.
a lifelong quest for my identity.
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I was born in Korea -- the land of kimchi;
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raised in Argentina,
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where I ate so much steak
that I'm probably 80 percent cow by now;
that I'm probably 80 percent cow by now;
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and I was educated in the US,
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where I became addicted to peanut butter.
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(Laughter)
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During my childhood,
I felt very much Argentinian,
I felt very much Argentinian,
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but my looks betrayed me at times.
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I remember on the first day
of middle school,
of middle school,
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my Spanish literature teacher
came into the room.
came into the room.
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She scanned all of my classmates,
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and she said,
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"You -- you have to get a tutor,
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otherwise, you won't pass this class."
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But by then I was fluent
in Spanish already,
in Spanish already,
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so it felt as though I could be
either Korean or Argentinian,
either Korean or Argentinian,
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but not both.
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It felt like a zero-sum game,
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where I had to give up my old identity
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to be able to gain or earn a new one.
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So when I was 18,
I decided to go to Korea,
I decided to go to Korea,
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hoping that finally I could find
a place to call home.
a place to call home.
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But there people asked me,
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"Why do you speak Korean
with a Spanish accent?"
with a Spanish accent?"
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(Laughter)
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And, "You must be Japanese
because of your big eyes
because of your big eyes
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and your foreign body language."
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03:04
And so it turns out that I was
too Korean to be Argentinian,
too Korean to be Argentinian,
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but too Argentinian to be Korean.
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And this was a pivotal realization to me.
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I had failed to find that place
in the world to call home.
in the world to call home.
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But how many Japanese-looking Koreans
who speak with a Spanish accent --
who speak with a Spanish accent --
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or even more specific,
Argentinian accent --
Argentinian accent --
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do you think are out there?
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Perhaps this could be an advantage.
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It was easy for me to stand out,
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which couldn't hurt in a world
that was rapidly changing,
that was rapidly changing,
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where skills could become
obsolete overnight.
obsolete overnight.
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So I stopped looking
for that 100 percent commonality
for that 100 percent commonality
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with the people that I met.
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Instead, I realized that oftentimes,
I was the only overlap
I was the only overlap
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between groups of people that were
usually in conflict with each other.
usually in conflict with each other.
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So with this realization in mind,
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I decided to embrace all
of the different versions of myself --
of the different versions of myself --
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even allow myself
to reinvent myself at times.
to reinvent myself at times.
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So for example, in high school,
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I have to confess I was a mega-nerd.
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I had no sense of fashion --
thick glasses, simple hairstyle --
thick glasses, simple hairstyle --
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you can get the idea.
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I think, actually, I only had friends
because I shared my homework.
because I shared my homework.
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That's the truth.
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But once at university,
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I was able to find
a new identity for myself,
a new identity for myself,
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and the nerd became a popular girl.
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But it was MIT,
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so I don't know if I can take
too much credit for that.
too much credit for that.
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As they say over there,
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"The odds are good,
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but the goods are odd."
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(Laughter)
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I switched majors so many times
that my advisors joked
that my advisors joked
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that I should get a degree
in "random studies."
in "random studies."
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(Laughter)
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I told this to my kids.
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And then over the years, I have gained
a lot of different identities.
a lot of different identities.
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I started as an inventor,
entrepreneur, social innovator.
entrepreneur, social innovator.
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Then I became an investor,
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a woman in tech,
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a teacher.
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And most recently, I became a mom,
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or as my toddler says repeatedly,
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"Mom!" day and night.
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Even my accent was so confused --
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its origin was so obscure,
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that my friends called it, "Rebecanese."
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(Laughter)
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But reinventing yourself can be very hard.
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You can face a lot of resistance at times.
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When I was nearly done with my PhD,
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I got bitten by that entrepreneurial bug.
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I was in Silicon Valley,
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and so writing a thesis in the basement
didn't seem as interesting
didn't seem as interesting
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as starting my own company.
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So I went to my very
traditional Korean parents,
traditional Korean parents,
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who are here today,
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with the task of letting them know
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that I was going to drop out
from my PhD program.
from my PhD program.
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You see, my siblings and I are the first
generation to go to university,
generation to go to university,
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so for a family of immigrants,
this was kind of a big deal.
this was kind of a big deal.
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You can imagine how
this conversation was going to go.
this conversation was going to go.
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But fortunately, I had
a secret weapon with me,
a secret weapon with me,
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which was a chart that had
the average income of all of the graduates
the average income of all of the graduates
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from Stanford PhD programs,
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and then the average income
of all the dropouts
of all the dropouts
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from Stanford graduate programs.
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(Laughter)
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I must tell you -- this chart
was definitely skewed
was definitely skewed
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by the founders of Google.
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(Laughter)
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But my mom looked at the chart,
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and she said,
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"Oh, for you -- follow your passion."
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(Laughter)
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Hi, Mom.
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Now, today my identity quest
is no longer to find my tribe.
is no longer to find my tribe.
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It's more about allowing myself
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to embrace all of the possible
permutations of myself
permutations of myself
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and cultivating diversity within me
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and not just around me.
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My boys now are three years
and five months old today,
and five months old today,
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and they were already born
with three nationalities
with three nationalities
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and four languages.
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I should mention now that my husband
is actually from Denmark --
is actually from Denmark --
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just in case I don't have enough
culture shocks in my life,
culture shocks in my life,
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I decided to marry a Danish guy.
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In fact, I think my kids
will be the first Vikings
will be the first Vikings
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who will have a hard time
growing a beard when they become older.
growing a beard when they become older.
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(Laughter)
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Yeah, we'll have to work on that.
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But I really hope that they will find
that their multiplicity
that their multiplicity
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is going to open and create a lot of doors
for them in their lives,
for them in their lives,
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and that they can use this as a way
to find commonality
to find commonality
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in a world that's
increasingly global today.
increasingly global today.
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I hope that instead of feeling
anxious and worried
anxious and worried
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that they don't fit in that one box
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or that their identity will become
irrelevant someday,
irrelevant someday,
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that they can feel free to experiment
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and to take control of their personal
narrative and identity.
narrative and identity.
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I also hope that they will use
their unique combination
their unique combination
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of values and languages
and cultures and skills
and cultures and skills
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to help create a world
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where identities are no longer used
to alienate what looks different,
to alienate what looks different,
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but rather, to bring together people.
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And most importantly, I really hope
that they find tremendous joy
that they find tremendous joy
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in going through these
uncharted territories,
uncharted territories,
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because I know I have.
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Now, as for my grandmother,
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her last wish was also
her last lesson to me.
her last lesson to me.
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It turns out that it was never
about going back to Korea
about going back to Korea
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and being buried there.
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It was about resting next to her son,
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who had died long before
she moved to Argentina.
she moved to Argentina.
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What mattered to her was not the ocean
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that divided her past and new world;
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it was about finding common ground.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rebeca Hwang - InvestorRebeca Hwang is co-founder and managing director of Rivet Ventures, investing in solutions for women and empowering their choices.
Why you should listen
Rebeca Hwang is co-founder and managing director of Rivet Ventures, which invests in companies in women-led markets where female usage, decision-making and purchasing are crucial to company growth. Hwang is also co-founder of the San Francisco-based startup YouNoodle, which connects top startups with opportunities for growth. She also co-founded Kalei Ventures, a venture fund focused in Latin American startups.
With a background in chemical and civil and environmental engineering from MIT and Stanford, Hwang's work has garnered three US patents, and she has 17 pending patent applications in her portfolio. She has been recognized as one of MIT Tech Review's "Top 35 Global Innovators under 35" and as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Hwang serves in the Board of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, which annually runs GEW in 170 countries and gathers 10 million participants. As the co-founder of Cleantech Open, she has helped more than 1,000 cleantech startups raise in excess of $1 billion in external funding. In addition, Hwang is a lecturer at Stanford University and teaches technology entrepreneurship.
Rebeca Hwang | Speaker | TED.com