Today we’d like to introduce you to Randy Tran.
Hi Randy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Connecticut & I grew up moving back and forth from California & Illinois. After what seemed like constant movement and instability in the early years of my life, I’ve solidified my main network of connections in the Chicagoland area & parts of the US by attending University of IL. A huge part of who I am is my interest in people and my decision to study psychology & anthropology. Specifically, I am interested in the human experience & people’s upbringing – the uniqueness in the combination of the who, what, where, when, how, and why in individuals’ adolescent & formative experiences that make up their self concept & social identity. With this in mind, I think that it’s the compassion and will to understand the why behind people’s thoughts, tendencies, outlook, and goals.
The question is how did I get to where I am today. I think it was my gravitation towards people and willingness to understand with intent to learn as much as I could about the world and myself. Throughout my life, this has been my goal and it’s given me the ability to absorb and accept diverse personalities and energies.
After graduating with my Bachelors in Psychology and Masters in HR, I had the opportunity to move to KC, explore new communities, and build strong relationships – especially within the skateboarding community. I am blessed to be able to experience instability, consideration of life long friends, discomfort in finding myself again, and appreciation in experiencing people in what used to be unfamiliar grounds…
Aside from my general approach on life and people, I started taking interest in skating, film production & and videography early before high school. Since then, I’ve been building on my skills over the years with the hope that my work would inspire people around me and bring me closer to folks with similar goals and interests.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would say that I am the type of person with a time scarcity + biting off more than I can chew with a dash of glass half full mindset. This has made it difficult throughout my life to strike a balance between living the life I want to live and getting actual rest from all the chaos that I create for myself. My upbringing involved lots of confusion as I was navigating my parent’s divorce, moving from state to state, and figuring out who I was – all while grieving early friendships & having mental battles about societal standards of what we think is a ‘normal/acceptable’ family home. As far as my move to KC, it was hard to put myself out there and connect with people initially. I found it difficult to find my footing in KC’s social sphere and establish myself as a member of the community. After several reflective journaling sessions and near shutdowns, my optimism and manifest mindset gave me confidence and affirmations about my identity. With that, I had the courage to overcome this feeling and build strong connections with creatives around KC.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I work full time as an HR manager – this profession has allowed me to travel and explore Kansas City. It also allowed me to learn more deeply about people’s work life balance along with the struggles of systemic oppression that derive from our capitalistic society. It gave me real world application into what it’s like truly being an advocate for both the employee and the business. My job has given me a layer of perspective defined by life-altering decisions both positive and negative. Another piece to this is that… I truly believe that there is not a single HR person out there that is an Asian American skater with a background of having instability and the support of immigrant parents – which honestly frightens me to think about the massive lack of representation for underserved communities.
Other than the life revelations above, I’m most known for my skateboarding, photography & videography. I’m most proud of my social networking skills and ability to connect with people from various backgrounds – I take pride in my relationship building skills.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
The motto I’ve always leaned on and express to others:
You create the life you want to live. This expression mainly derives from the connection between strong desire and manifestation through action.
Give yourself and others grace – you never know what others are going and been through – AND you truly don’t know what you are going through unless you put deliberation behind understanding yourself through introspection, through silence, through people, through choosing to go for a walk, through paper and pen…
I also once read the following and it really stuck with me: It’s okay to let go; it’s okay to fail; it’s okay to accept sadness; it’s okay to accept kindness in moments of despair; it’s okay to keep trying; it’s okay to move on and be in boredom; it’s okay to do whatever you need to do to feel right with yourself; it’s okay to not live up to your expectations; it’s okay to not live up to someone else’s expectations; it’s okay to be yourself, to express yourself; it’s okay.
Other pieces of advice would be to eliminate your fear of asking for help. This advice comes from the way that I consider myself a people-oriented person. As a community, I believe in uplifting one another and contributing your thought/trade for each other’s perspectives/skills – ultimately, resulting in growth. It also comes from experience. I used to be afraid of burdening others by asking for help but came to find that reciprocal relationships are profoundly impactful.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: randyntrn, digitrn
