Naiomi

What are you passionate about?

Simply put, I’m very passionate about somehow changing or affecting people’s lives for the better!

So you want a good change? Has anyone inspired you?

My dad’s attitude of always helping everybody got me interested because he was somehow way too satisfied for any typical person to be.

People aren’t always open to others about their stories, it’s a fickle thing, to share utmost and personal memories. What do you think would make people open up about their stories?

I think the most important factor about sharing personal stories is faith, trust, and compassion, and understanding others as individuals.

How did your passion manifest itself in the real world? Do you see yourself doing what you’re doing now in the next couple of years?

In order to achieve that, I started volunteering as much as I could. In the next few years, I see myself using the knowledge I acquired from my education in order to continue my quest on helping people through any means possible.

Self-expression can be a struggle, some struggle with the idea of expressing themselves a certain way. How have you expressed yourself?

In order to express myself, I ignore the world around me because human tendency is to judge people from what they see. So, if I ignore the typical views of those around me, neither I nore them will make a mistake of stereotyping.

Society likes to fiddle. Through ideals and manifestations from people, society sets these values on people. It likes to see people a certain way.  How different does society see you versus who you really are?

Society, family included, sees me as weak because I don’t hesitate to show my emotions. In reality, I’m actually a very strong person. I’m not afraid to show what’s in my heart and I’m not afraid to cope with all the problems thrown at me.

How do people’s assumptions affect you and your actions? Or has their assumptions, blatant stigmas or certain stereotypes, of you changed you as a person?

Initially, I used to cry and block myself from everybody. The stares and the laughs made me unsure of who I was. It came to a point where I began to change my personality to fit into the people’s perspectives of me. Currently, it inspires me to start true to myself because I’m actually viewed by people as different, something that bothers me.   

And finally, there are others that are in the same position as you. They are going through the same struggles, facing the same stigmas and going through the hurdles society has given them. Any advice to them?

I would ask them one question: “what would you do if people ask you to destroy someone’s lie by harassing them through any means just because they look different? You probably wouldn’t do it, then why are you willing to destroy your own life because people tell you that you look different?”