This Beauty Queen Uses Her Platform To Ease Mental Health Stigma In Asian American Community

Speaker 1: 00:00 San Francisco is home to the longest running Asian American beauty pageant in the nation and at first glance, this year's winner, Sophia ing has all the hallmarks of a typical pageant queen. She's 27 with beauty, brains and charisma, but she surprised the pageant audience when she revealed onstage that she's battled depression and attempted suicide as a teen. She's a mental health therapist and counsel students at elementary and high schools in San Francisco. As reporters, Sonia Paul tells us so fear became a beauty queen so she could spread her message about removing the stigma that exists around mental health. Speaker 2: 00:39 At five foot nine Cynthia in never used to wear high heels. Now she's a pro. She became Miss Asian America last August since she's entered the pageant world. She regularly dawn's down sash and crown to attend charity and community events like this year's lunar New Year parade. But along with the networking and modeling opportunities, Sofia spends her time doing what inspired her to compete in pageants in the first place. She counsels students at elementary and high schools in San Francisco today. She's at Lowell high, one of the most competitive high schools in the state. In a small office, a student tell Sophia about the painful relationship he has with his mom. Yeah, Speaker 3: 01:25 Eh, sure. On the right, so like same old, same old useless. She said something like you guys are aware a waste of giving birth in China. I'm just like, okay, whatever. Speaker 2: 01:40 Like many of the students she works with, Sofia is also Chinese. She grew up in Hong Kong. She says many students and their parents hesitate to seek out therapy and then it may trace back to their culture. A comment Speaker 4: 01:55 feature of the culture is also that it's a shame, honor based culture. Um, it's also seen in the parenting style where not all Asian Americans parents do this, but that they use shame and guilt to parent their kids Speaker 2: 02:11 because parents also worried that if their kids need help, she says that maybe something's wrong with them or maybe they've done something wrong. His parents, which also goes against the pressure of presenting a good face to the world despite whatever emotion you're experiencing. In fact you shouldn't. Americans are three times less likely to seek out mental health services than white people and they comprise only 4% of the u s psychology workforce, which is mostly white. Not all influences the reaction Sophia gets when students come to her for the first time, Speaker 4: 02:44 I've actually heard before, they're like, oh, I expected you to be like a white person. Speaker 2: 02:48 Cynthia says she was inspired to do this work by a therapist she had as a teenager. She was on her way to becoming a competitive athlete when an accident during a basketball tournament crushed her leg. She was 16 Speaker 4: 03:02 and I hear that basically my knee was completely destroyed Speaker 2: 03:05 and her whole identity at that point was being an athlete. Speaker 4: 03:09 So while I was still like recovering physically, my mind definitely began to sort of spiral downwards. Speaker 2: 03:18 She had a hard time getting out of bed. She didn't want to hang out with friends at her lowest point. Sophia attempted suicide by taking a bunch of sleeping pills. That's when she found herself in a therapist's office. Speaker 4: 03:31 But I think at that time, people in your personal life, they kind of have this need or urge to just sort of like get you out of that mentality asap. So they tell you to be positive. They tell you to, you know, not think like that and just, you know, things will get better. And I think those were not the things I needed to hear at the time because it didn't make me feel listened to Speaker 2: 03:54 the knights of via one then this Asian American title and talked openly about her suicide attempt. A common refrain echoed among the audience. Speaker 4: 04:02 Yes. Whoa. Like you were extremely vulnerable up there. Speaker 2: 04:06 They heard her. They knew what it meant for her to challenge the cultural pressures to keep those struggles quiet. Sure. On a Saturday night, Sofia is once again out as a beauty queen. This time at a banquet sponsored by Bay area Chinese Association. She's joined by two other pageant winners. They're all dolled up for the occasion in long gowns and flawless hair. Okay. And last but not least, Sofia swiftly takes the mic. Some days she introduces herself in both Cantonese and [inaudible]. My passion is removing the snake about that mental health, and I'm currently doing that by taking a lot of speaking engagements. She says her passion is to remove the stigma around mental health, especially for young. Okay. A lot has changed for Sophia in over the last few weeks. She's left her job as a school counselor because she's moving back to Hong Kong. She hopes to someday start her own practice and launch a mental health consulting agency for companies and schools. Sophia's international news fits her new beauty queen title. She was recently crowned Miss Global as part of a worldwide competition. She says she'll continue to spread her message that it's okay not to be okay. Speaker 5: 05:36 [inaudible].