Full Circle at One Circle Foundation 

I’ve come full circle with One Circle Foundation. When I look back on my family heritage and upbringing, I marvel at the events, large and small, that have led me to be where I am today: at the helm of such an incredible organization. I am the proud granddaughter of Asian American ancestry. A tragic yet beautiful love story, my paternal grandparents met and fell in love in the Japanese internment camps. They adopted my father from Japan from a low-income single mother who couldn’t afford to keep all three of her children. My mother came from Korea as an exchange student and used to sell handmade jewelry at the flea market. My parents met and first flirted at a donut shop where my mother worked, which may be responsible for my life-long love affair with donuts. I grew up seeing my parents work double shifts, night shifts, and overtime to raise me and my two siblings. I’m proud and forever grateful for my parents for all they sacrificed and invested in us. I was honored to be able to see their journey from recent immigrants to professionals as a pharmacist and nurse by the time I was older. 

 I was born and raised in Fairfield, California. From when I was five years old until I was seventeen, I trained and traveled with some of the top ballet companies across the country. As my high school years ended, I decided to pursue a college education at the University of California, Berkeley. On paper, one could say that I was a model minority for a typical Asian American household. However, all the hours of studying and intense ballet training did not nourish me with joy and connection. I felt a deep longing for the sense of connection that was lacking throughout my journey. 

After graduating from UC Berkeley, I predominantly worked in youth development programs at schools, grass roots drop-in centers, racial justice campaigns, shelters for women and children, and human trafficking programs. I’ve been fortunate to work with almost every age group from preschool, elementary, middle school, high school, university level and beyond. It’s been a true privilege to be able to serve such diverse communities. I joined the One Circle Foundation team in November of 2020 and I can honestly say that it has been the best opportunity of my life. I don’t have many life regrets, but I do wish that I could turn back time and attend a Girls Circle as a youth; or that I could have been trained as a facilitator in my twenties when I was deep in youth service, because professional development or cross-organizational training wasn’t a significant part of my earlier career opportunities. 

While I don’t come from a religious background, I do believe that everything happens for a reason. Recently, I saw a press release that a Girls Circle was starting up in my hometown in Fairfield, CA. I reached out to see if I could meet the facilitator and see their space. I was welcomed on their first day with a big smile and an old-school poster board with big black bold letters that said Girls Circle with an arrow pointing towards the alley for the entrance.

As I walked down the alley, so many childhood memories surfaced. Feelings of wanting to be able to connect and understand myself and others, identify my strengths, and communicate my vulnerabilities. I yearned for a sense of belonging and community. I felt the younger Jana reminding me of her internal struggles that no one saw since I was a quiet star student and ballet extraordinaire and had all my basic necessities met. I wasn’t flagged in the school system as “at-risk”. 

When I walked into the space, I asked the facilitator why she had chosen that space. She said it was because it had air conditioning and bathrooms. Humble, simple, and practical. The room had the stereotypical inner city broken windows with bars on them. However, the aesthetic shortcomings of the location didn’t phase me. What did deeply impact me was the authentic warmth, openness, and love of the facilitator. She set up a circle of vibrantly hand-painted folding chairs, snacks, and a creative welcome activity to build a wall of tie-dye flowers to represent the girls. She immediately offered to let me make the first flower to start the flower mural. It was a simple activity with markers, coffee filters, a water spray bottle, tin foil, and some spray starch. It’s been years since I’ve done an arts and crafts activity, and I loved every second of it. 

I’ve heard our team at One Circle Foundation say this many times - it just takes one caring adult to change the lives of so many young people. It took that moment in a humble space in my home town for that statement to shine true in my heart. You don’t need a fancy building or expensive art materials; just one caring adult. The simplicity and warmth that I felt in that room was remarkable. The room felt like love.

I wish for every youth to be able to experience a circle or council with One Circle Foundation. I have always said that if I had one super power, it would be the ability to make someone feel loved. Research has shown that if people weren’t in so much pain, there would be less violence, fewer school shootings, and less sexual assault. In my heart, I feel like I have a clear vision and purpose in this world through One Circle Foundation to create spaces for youth of all backgrounds to feel connected, safe, and loved through our remarkable circle programs. One Circle Foundation’s core values, mission, trainings, curricula, team, board, trainers, and stakeholders have all contributed to the healing of younger Jana so that she no longer feels that profound loss of connection. This is the deepest connection I have ever felt and I’m ready for the world to feel this too. Onward we go. We are all connected.