Staceyann Chin
New York, NY US
"The heaviest thing you will have to carry as you move forward is regret. Make sure you're not carrying too much."
Career Roadmap
Staceyann's work combines: Writing, Politics, and Learning / Being Challenged
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
Her mother abandoned her family when she was born, and she says her relatives were not equipped to raise a mouthy young child.
2.
She would always write through her angst in her journal, and she'd make up stories to take her out of reality.
3.
She'd pretend she was Anne of Green Gables or Oliver Twist; she was inspired by stories of the down and out kids who made it.
4.
After keeping all of her anger inside for years, she finally exploded and blurted out all of her struggles to her college roommates.
5.
She calls that explosion a "valuable accident" because after that, she was free to use her voice, and she was able to come out as gay.
6.
Her blatant outspokenness made her a target on campus, and when she was 22, she was sexually assaulted by a group of male students.
7.
After the assault, she realized she couldn't live as an out lesbian in Jamaica, so she moved to the U.S.
8.
She discovered the New York City poetry scene; getting up on that stage for the first time, she finally found the power behind her "roar."
Defining Moments
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
When I became a lesbian I continued to tell everyone about it in a culture that was violently homophobic. And of course a lot of people didn't respond well. I became a target.