Aika Lau

Name, age and creative occupation.

I don’t even know how to answer that. I feel like I do so many creative things just to make ends meat.

What do you love the most?

I love fixing problems. I love making people's dreams come to reality. But I don’t think I can classify myself as doing one thing. Art department helps make dreams come to reality, shows that I help put on is making someone's dream a reality, and then producing stuff is hiring people and gathering your best resources to make something happen. So I don't have a specific, one job. 

Age 27, name Aika Lau 

What is it about being a person who helps to make the vision happen that makes you want to do it? Why do you care so much? 

I think people are really talented but I think they are caught in so many different ways. So I think we are in each other's lives for a different purpose and a reason — I want to value people’s purpose. If I can be a part of that and help affirm and encourage that, then I want to. 

I think people need to know that they are important and that their work is good or bad (laughs). I think the best advice I got in highschool was we are going to succeed in some things and we are going to fail in other things but whatever our failures are, they would push us to whatever we need to succeed in. I like being a part of the process of things and not the end thing. Being a part of that process means helping people or being helped. I think the process is the coolest part because you get to see all sides of people. 

It’s like manufacturing, you can look at a t-shirt and go, oh that is a sick t-shirt. But what stitching did they choose, what pattern, what material did they choose - who is working on it. You can say the same about movies. 

Where do you get your faith from to keep creating? 

I think my creator - I am a person of faith. I have a concept in my life that to make all things that are ordinary, extraordinary. You can be doing something really ordinary but make it extraordinary if you put in your purpose or see other people's purpose. For me, in order to make something extraordinary I need to see God's purpose in other people or myself. 

What is your process as a creative? 

I think my ADHD to start with. I get really depressed at a nine to five job. I think I just always knew I couldn't do it. Also, I ran a business in the skate industry under a different name for a while when I was 9 - 16 years old. I made more money than I do now. Doing that I had to learn manufacturing stuff, learn e-commerce, and cad design. I would meet with manufacturers online and then get on a skype with them and they would be so confused because I was a little kid talking. But I learned so much from just being in one industry and I realized I just didn't want to focus on just designing skateboards. 

I learn things to a point that I know how to do it but I never master it and then I move on to the next thing. But I love when I go to learn about it and I meet a lot of people who are choosing to master it. So just by going into different forms of work or hobbies you get to meet other people and your networking becomes bigger and bigger and then your world becomes bigger and bigger. That’s why I choose to do so many different things. 

What advice would you tell your younger self? 

To learn everything and to be proud of my race and the culture. Learning piano gave me the ability to understand music. Taking a course in marine biology made me love scuba diving so much more and in awe of creation. Going to China to learn about my culture/heritage and the language has opened doors for me to connect or work with others and understand who I am. It’s too bad that I complained about all of it and didn’t care to learn or just hid who I am because of reasons such as feeling ashamed of being Asian, piano classes are too nerdy, or some other dumb thought. Now I regret not wanting to learn when I had the time and chance to.

What would you tell someone who wants to quit? 

I think it's okay to quit, because I don't think it will ever really last that long. But sometimes I think we have to quit to readjust our thinking. But overall I think we have a purpose. I don't think you are just in this room because you are Mack - there are so many aspects of you that I probably need in my life that I can only get from you and that goes for other people. It’s not that I am wanted here, I am needed here and I would tell people the same thing. 

What do you hope to create that will continue to repeat? 

I hope to create things that are coming from people who don't really have the platform and resources. You look at the schools in LA that we are surrounded by and they don’t have the resources for an art program. Or just the school system in general. Or you look at refugees coming into different countries and not have the resources for a lot of things. For me, it's about providing not just opportunity but good opportunities for those people. I think that starts with my community. 

What are you on the verge of? 

These are some vague questions (laughs). I am on the verge of learning how to feel my own feelings. I think I am really good at understanding other people's feelings, but I don’t understand my own. I think that when I am spending more time figuring out what works and what really brings me joy – I think I am on the verge of learning how to be good to myself, but I am still figuring this out. 

What is one thing you love about yourself and why? 

I love my love for other people and I just think people need to be loved. Because I think we can all have confidence and meaning, but I feel like at the end of each day people question if they are loved. I want to provide a safe space for people to feel loved, which I think in return has given me really incredible friendships and community. But I really love people and I think that is one thing that I am happy about.