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Some of my journey...my interview with boldjourney.com

Writer's picture: Lisa HwangLisa Hwang

Updated: Jan 19, 2024



Photo by IG@jamestaitken



Hi Lisa, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?MYSELF. Throughout my life, I was thrown a lot of lemons, but I made lemonade out of it. I am an immigrant from Taiwan, I was not born into a privileged life, I worked hard for everything and always pushed myself to come out on the other side. Sometimes, it would take weeks, months or years as I would cycle through bouts of depression, therapy, anxiety and suicidal tendencies. But, I would always get myself to the end of the rainbow.

I became resilient when I was 16 years old. My parents were struggling financially. My dad had lost his job in the aerospace engineering industry, and he was gambling weekly in Atlantic City, New Jersey to try to make money to support his family of 4 children (I was the 2nd daughter). I worked as a cashier and bank teller in high school (I had 2 jobs). Everything I wanted or needed, I had to pay for it myself including my college education. During college I worked 40 hours with an on-campus job between classes and waited tables 3 nights a week while being a fulltime student studying accounting (although I wanted to study ART - all the girls on my dorimitory floor were studying art and my favorite class in college was Art History) in Philadelphia, PA. After graduating college in December 1993, I worked for a couple years before I became unexpectedly pregnant in 1995 at the age of 24. I had a son and pushed through motherhood, working full time and going to graduate school at night working on my MBA in Finance graduating in December 1998. I was a single mother and divorced by age 29. It was important to me that my son had both his parents in his life. I put myself aside for his needs until he went to college in 2014. In June 2016, at the age of 45, I sold my house in the Philadelphia, PA area, got rid of everything, packed up my SUV and drove west to California to start the next chapter of my life.


Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?Joshua Tree, California became my homebase the end of 2018. After traveling and living up and down the west coast and SE Asia working remotely for a fortune 100 company from 2016-18, I decided that I wanted to live here. I had came out to the desert December 2017 – April 2018 living in Wonder Valley to heal from the accidental drowning death of my mother in Japan (October 2016) and the death of my father from stage 4 colon cancer in August 2017. That period was very hard for me from cremating my mother in Japan, watching the Japanese Bone Ceremony and bringing her ashes back to the states, spreading her ashes at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, to cleaning her house out in New Jersey and finding out my dad had stage 4 colon cancer till his death and cleaning out his apartment in New Jersey and spreading his ashes in Atlantic City, NJ, his favorite place.

When I moved to Joshua Tree, CA, housing was affordable. I thought I wanted to be rent free but really having a tax deduction is better. It is centrally located to Los Angeles and San Diego and a quick flight from Palm Springs to San Francisco where most of my family including my son lived. Previously, I had lived in the Philadelphia, PA area and Brooklyn, NY. I was done with city life. I wanted wide open spaces, nature, outdoorsy lifestyle, outdoor rock climbing, freedom and a place for creativity and spirituality.

I have always dabbled in being creative since college. I would take classes in the evenings in drawing, painting, fashion design, ceramics and film photography in Philadelphia, PA and NYC. In 2009, I started a small mosaic and jewelry business called Light Mosaics and Functional Finds which expanded to include vintage/functional finds. I would do craft markets every weekend in Philadelphia, PA, sold my art in shops around Philadelphia and sold my items on Etsy.com. I was one of the first RAW: natural born artists (rawartists.com) in Philadelphia, PA in 2011 in the Accessories category. I put everything on hold that year to shift my focus on my son’s aspiration to play college Division 1 golf. He was recruited to play at University of San Francisco from 2014-2018.

I established my creative brand OMe Haus Studio in 2021. I did not want it to be just about me therefore, I did not name it with my name. I wanted it to encompass many creative avenues and passions. I was always drawn to creative people in my relationships. I started painting again using painting as art therapy from a heartbreak. In May 2022, I started sharing my paintings in local galleries, and was selected for my first solo art show at the 29 Palms art gallery 29palmsartgallery.com in December. Also in May that year, I volunteered to start curating art shows for the Joshua Tree Distilling Company www.joshuatreedistillingco.com. I would bring in local artists and throw opening receptions every 6-8 weeks. 100% of sales went to the artist. I did this for the artists in the community because I was passionate about supporting them.

My Desertscape JOSHua series started taking off and has become a popular artwork with the tourists and locals. They encompass 25 tiny 1.25"x1.25" desert paintings on 6″x6″ grid paper from caseformmaking.com. It became a meditative process for me to paint and draw these imaginary imagines. I reproduced them into cards for tourists and sell them at various locations around the area such as hidesertdaydream.com in 29 Palms. I have collectors from around the world.

In September 2023, I opened up a small shop called OMe Haus Studio in Joshua Tree,CA. My shop and brand is about supporting local businesses and artists. I currently carry clothing/jewelry from Phaedra @leharvest, vintage clothing Aydra @aydrajswan, ceramics John @ministry_of_mud and Lulu @claythdral, jewelry Dan @AlucikDesign, photography prints from Kate @_moonchild_ @kathryn_shearer_, Yasmeen @joshuatreeprints and Tatjiana @tatjana.kudla, jewelry by Linda18K Atelier, some wholesale items and of course my artwork. I will be bringing in more local businesses and artists.

I am passionate about helping people I feel a connection with to succeed.


Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?Be Perservant

Even when the universe and people disappoint you, you need to find the strength in yourself to pick yourself backup. I have found strength through talk therapy, yoga, meditation, exercise and medication when I really need it. In the end, all you have is yourself, your mind and your strength. I have been in dark places and sometimes it takes a few days, weeks or months to come out of it. I have learned to be patient and gentle with myself and my process of coming back into the light.

Be Empathic

To have compassion for others and their situation/story is a beautiful quality to find in people. In this technological world, people have become very narcissistic. Social media has changed the way people are. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I grew up seeing all the changes technology has done to our society. I attended Drexel University in Philadelphia PA in 1989, and we had to have the Apple Macintosh SE computer that cost $2,500 to purchase. Drexel was one of the first universities to require students to have computers. I remember when the internet went live worldwide in 1994 with Netscape. I remember when the first Apple iphone came out in 2007. My boyfriend then actually slept in line overnight outside the Apple store in Manhattan, NYC. I jumped in line with him the next morning when they opened as we single line filed in down the stairs cheering. But I refused to get an iphone for myself. We purchased them and sold them to other people. I did not want to be on my phone all the time. I caved in 2010 and got the iphone 4. I only started getting into Instagram in 2016.

Be Humble

Humility allows you to create genuine and authentic relationships. Do things out of the kindness of your heart, without the expectation of anything in return. Be modest and unpretentious about yourself. Humble people possess a quiet confidence that comes within. I admit that I have behaved badly in some situations throughout my life, and I have not been always humble. Sometimes it would take me time to rectify the situation in myself and mind. But when I know that I have been in the wrong and when the timing is right, then I will eventually apologize.


All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?In February 2022, after a colonoscopy, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 GIST (GI stromal tumor) cancer. GIST is a rare tissue cancer in your GI tract. My tumor is in the lower colon which is also rare. I had never heard of this type of cancer. I was put through multiple MRI, CT scans and biopsies. In June 2022, I started taking oral chemotherapy called Imatinib/Gleevac which is a pill that you take every night. Prior to 2000, IV chemotherapy/radiation did not work on this type of cancer and it was a death sentence. Through clinical trials, it was discovered that this medication used for leukemia had a 95% 5 year survival rate for Stage 1 GIST. I moved my case to the University of California San Diego under the guru of sarcoma cancer, Dr. Jason Sicklick. The goal was to shrink the tumor and then do surgery. But the surgery could put me at risk to be on an osteotomy bag. I was devastated. I did not want to live like that. Being on oral chemotherapy changed my body, my diet, my mind, I was constantly feeling fatigued. The medication was shrinking the tumor.

I had surgery May 2023 to remove it and they were able to remove the cancer cells without puncturing my colon, so I was not put on an osteotomy bag. I was put back on oral chemotherapy and have to stay on this medication to prevent cancer cells from mutating. The type of mutation I have likely comes back. This has been an adjustment to my life knowing that I have to be on this medication for an unknown period. My recent MRI showed dark areas and the doctors are not sure if it is tissue scar or cancer cells. So, I am scheduled for another biopsy in February 2024. I am not sure what is going to happen in 2024.


I am trying to stay positive by living life to the fullest on a daily basis.

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