One Year Later

It’s hard to believe that almost a year ago, we presented ourselves to the world as The Mosaic Society for the first time. Rose Barry, Shreyaa, and I were just three friends who were hanging out together when the idea to do a collaborative blog together came up. Months of planning, creating, and ideation led to the first video, Come with us to the ATEEZ concert, to be released on September 16th, 2024. It’s been a labor of love, laughter, challenges, and ultimately, growth. I have always wanted to create something that would allow me to express myself creatively and I’m happy that The Mosaic Society has become that outlet. 

Over this year that we’ve been The Mosaic Society, we have been steadily honing in on who we want to be and the impact we’d like to make on ourselves and the audiences who engage with our content. We’ve termed the phrase, “stay curious, stay true, and stay unapologetically YOU” as our closing statement in our content. It’s a charge that we present to the audience in the hopes that they become the best version of themselves. But an important question that myself and my other Mosaic sisters need to answer is have we been curious, true, and unapologetically ourselves in our first year? Let’s discuss. 

Curiosity? Check. 

One thing about me is that I’ve always been curious. The pursuit of knowledge is something that I’ve had since I was a child. I’ve always been curious, eager to understand, and driven to learn about anything that I set my mind to. I’d go through phases of being hyperfixated on random topics and try my best to learn everything that my young mind could grasp about it. First it was dinosaurs, then sharks, and then interestingly enough, rocks and minerals. I also had a brief period of being interested in zodiac signs (today, the only thing I know is that I’m an Aquarius). Much like the sharks I once studied, which must keep swimming to breathe, I believe we must keep learning to grow and thrive in life.

“But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger. You’ll learn things you never knew, you never knew” – Colors of the Wind

Through The Mosaic Society, there is no shortage of curiosity. We actively engage in discussions that help us learn and understand a multitude of different topics. As The Cultural Mosaic, a lot of my interests lie within literature, television, pop culture, movies, music, and more. Over the course of the year, we’ve done so many podcasts that touch on some of those topics such as Marvel vs. DC, Racial Insensitivity in K-Pop, Analysis of Encanto, and so many more. It’s been an amazing outlet for me to have conversations that I don’t always have the opportunity to have with people I see day to day. On the other hand, Rose Barry and Shreyaa also bring their own interests in spirituality and civics which creates an opportunity for me to expand past myself and do what the Pocahontas song says: “learn things I never knew, I never knew”. Podcasts like Interfaith Dialogue, Our Evolving Relationships with Food, What’s Wrong with the Education System?, and more have truly opened my eyes to so many topics that I hadn’t had nuanced conversations about before. Even in the conversations in the topics I’m more familiar with, I find myself considering new perspectives that I didn’t before because of Rose and Shreyaa’s responses. 

Prior to beginning The Mosaic Society, I always had interest and curiosity in social media management. I didn’t have the opportunity to study it formally in school but I knew that it was something that I wanted to potentially do in my career. In Mosaic, I wear the hat of social media manager and it’s been a journey of trial and error and feedback. Ultimately, I’m deeply grateful—how often do you get the chance to organically build a skill you’ve always wanted to master while working alongside friends? My mission is to stay curious and never lose that part of myself, and I can only imagine the new topics and experiences we’ll explore together in the future.

Am I Truly Unapologetic?… I’m A Work-In-Progress

Overall, I’m very proud of the way that I am able to show up in the content that we release. It’s the way I hope to be viewed by others: Bubbly, positive, kind, and a little goofy. Most people who meet me will often say that I’m nice but quiet. Many people are often surprised after they’ve known me for a while because my personality seems so different from the first impression. I think doing The Mosaic Society with friends has allowed me to immediately express myself authentically without the normal shyness. Of course, talking to a camera is still awkward for me but at least when you have friends with you, it’s a shared awkward experience. 

Through The Mosaic Society, I hope that I continue on this journey of being unapologetic so that I can show the world the true me. I think I’ll have a lot less regrets once I am able to apply the confidence I’ve gained through Mosaic into my everyday life and experiences.

To Shreyaa and Rose Barry, 

Cheers to us! We’ve made it through the first year of The Mosaic Society. It wasn’t perfect and we’re still working towards what we want Mosaic to ultimately be but I still think we should be proud. We’ve made a suggestion from a random day in July 2024 turn into a passion project that produces blogs, podcasts, and social media content. I know it’s not what we initially pictured. At first we planned to do The Mosaic Society in the same geographical location where we could actively create together but life (and the job market) happens and we’ve adjusted to where we operate from three different locations all together. We’ll continue to fine-tune. We’ll continue to grow. We’ll continue to stretch. And ultimately, we will thrive and reach the heights that we see possible for The Mosaic Society. 

Thank you both for your dedication. You know I love to quote things so I’ll quote Rachel Berry from Glee, “Being a part of something special makes you special”. Especially during this time in my life where things aren’t going exactly as I had planned, The Mosaic Society has allowed me to still feel seen, important, and special. Much love to you both. <3