Born in California to a Singaporean mother and Franco-Chinese father, Mi-Anne Chan was raised on familial values that contributed to the close connection with her family on both parents’ sides. Realizing her international politics major wasn’t for her, Chan entered the journalistic scene via a beauty internship at W Magazine while still in school. Since then, she created her own video column “Beauty with Mi” for Refinery29 and is now Video Director at Condé Nast Entertainment. From social justice issues to sustainability, Chan has no fear in sharing stories and spreading messages about the things that mean most to her. Just in time for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we caught up with Chan about childhood traditions in Singapore and how representation in the media is changing with regards to inclusivity. 

Mi-anne, tell us more about yourself.

I am a Video Director at Condé Nast Entertainment. The way that Condé Nast breaks up its video is kind of interesting. I’m on the development team, so our team essentially develops pilots, produces anything new…new series across all the Condé Nast brands editorially. We’re pitching across everything like Wired and Bon Appétit. 

I’m a director, so we do a lot of the creative development for the series, from pitching concepts to production and development. It also includes interviewing sources, finding talent, and outlining the format and structure of the video. Essentially, we’re building the series and then directing on set and assisting with editing in post-production. I started in October after being at Refinery29 for five years when I had my show. In a nutshell, that show was one of the highlights of my life and career. 

My mom is Singaporean. She was born and raised in Singapore. My dad is Franco-Chinese, but he was actually born and raised in Madagascar. My grandfather immigrated, with nothing, from China to Madagascar when he was very young. He married a Chinese woman there and they had children, so my dad was raised there. His first language is actually French and he does speak Cantonese, but he’s not that good at it. He then moved to Paris for his college years and went to McGill in Canada for University, which is where he met my mom. I was born in Montreal, but only lived there for a couple of years before my family moved to California. I am very Californian, but I spent my summers in Singapore, so I do consider Singapore my second home.

Does your family have any traditions that are especially important to you? 

We always have a big Chinese New Year dinner. To me, our most important tradition, when we go back to Singapore, is going to Chin Chin. They’re very famous for their Hainanese chicken rice, a very popular dish in Singapore. For us, Singaporean traditions are always around food. Whenever we go back, my grandpa will make this soup for me that is super good. And when I go to my dad’s side, we always go to the same Chinese restaurant for dim sum. Growing up, we would always get together with our next-door neighbors for the full moon festival. We’d have moon cakes and get those little popping things that you throw on the ground. It was a very part of the way we grew up, and I think it’s very indicative of the Asian American experience. 

How has your heritage shaped the person you are today? 

It’s interesting because I guess the rhetoric around how a lot of Asians grow up is that your parents want you to become doctors, lawyers, and engineers. I think my parents learned pretty early on that I was never going to be those things because I was horrible at math and really bad at science. I was good at English and I think my parents, for a while, thought maybe I would be a lawyer. When I was in school, I was majoring in international politics and it really wasn’t for me. I ended up getting an internship at W magazine in their beauty department and then I switched to journalism. And because I knew that it was something my parents would be worried about, I think I worked so much harder so I could prove to them that I could do it and that they didn’t have to worry about me. And because of that, I ended up working really hard and then getting my job at Refinery29, a full time job as their editorial assistant, when I was still in school and I think that took a lot of the pressure of. Now, they’re completely fine with it and they’re super proud of me. 

As someone who has had their own beauty series through Refinery29, how have platforms such as YouTube allowed you to express yourself as well as bring attention to the importance of emphasizing diversity in the media? 

I loved doing Beauty With Mi. I still get messages about it all the time and it kind of breaks my heart every time I get them because it’s not going to come back. I don’t think I realized how impactful it would become to a lot of Asian American girls. I get dms all the time about girls being inspired to do makeup on their eye shape and girls that were inspired by the videos to make their own YouTube channels. I believe this across the board, that it’s important to have people of color making your content because they’re going to naturally bring a lens that is so unique to our perspectives, even if it isn’t always about being Asian-American. There was one video that I was really excited about and it was a story about Anna May Wong. I really enjoyed reporting that story because she is such an interesting figure as arguably the only Asian American film star from the 20s and 30s, yet a lot of people regard her as a negative stereotype for the Asian community. I don’t really see it that way because I see her as an Asian American woman who took what she was given and ended up building an extremely successful career for herself 

Click here to watch Mi-Anne Chan recreate Anna May Wong’s signature beauty look!