Tya Amelia → Bold Scandinavia (OSL) chatting with Amelie Dinh
The Forever Explorer: Journeying Towards Self-Acceptance
Tya is a force within the Oslo design scene. She leads projects and teams with what seems like the greatest of ease, creates thoughtful and thought-provoking work, and has a pun for every occasion. Now a design director, Tya moved to Norway as a student, and has had a journey littered with accomplishments along the way. She and I talked about bucking expectations, getting to a place of self-acceptance, and using her intersecting identities to power her design work.
— Amelie
you’re from Indonesia, right?
Yes! I was born and raised in Jakarta. I moved out and started my journey when I was 22-23? hihi.
is your family still there?
Yes, my whole family is there ❤️ I am the wild card, hihi.
yeah, me too!
I’m like Dora the Explorer 🦄
haha why do you say that?
Maybe because I have a different approach to living my life. In the culture I grew up in, it’s not easy to “break” the rules or follow my own path, especially as a girl.
So I have a lot to prove, both to my family and other people - that I can actually be my own person, that I can be out there, exploring, doing my own thing... and that I can make it 🐣
oh yeah, I can completely relate to“breaking” the rules and then being in this position where you have to show your family it can work out..
especially when your journey starts to take you further and further away from home - and then there are all sorts of questions, not just in your family but from the people around you.
Yes. As an immigrant, the challenge is always having an answer to “why are you here?”
For some people, the decision to move away and start anew life, without any family or some kind of Norwegian romance story, can be seen as a wild decision. For me, I wanted to explore the creative industries in Europe, and that journey brought me to Oslo. Hihi 😬
how was it entering the European design context?
Well it was a completely new design landscape. It was a challenge to get into the scene, to feel comfortable with myself and my identity in that space, to accept myself and feel accepted.
I think this struggle is important to talk about. I’d rather talk about this than talk about specific moments of confrontation because of my identity.
yeah, i can understand that.
sharing specific experiences can be really helpful, but if we think about all the ways our identities intersect with our work, it stretches far beyond those single moments.
Exactly 🥺
Thinking about my identity and my work, it’s more about how to place myself in a different culture, and the struggle of doing that. About being different in the creative industry. I feel like I always have something to prove to get noticed, be taken seriously, and be seen as an equal.
It can be a challenge to always be confident. I feel like I have to tick a lot of boxes to feel accepted.
Say around 10 years ago, the Graphic Design scene in general felt really cliquey - like you had to know certain groups to get in, and have a specific understanding of the culture.
It was hard to get hired without a certain kind of profile - without having gone to the “right” schools, or knowing the “right” people, or having the “right” kind of experiences….
yeah, there can be this “club” vibe
Yeah, exactly. And here I am, a Southeast Asian woman who didn’t grow up in Western Europe.. who happens to look young, and I’m also tiny(hihi).
Adding another layer, I also come from a Muslim background. People made comments about that - like they were curious and surprised that people from this background could have the same drive in the design world.I often faced this “what do you know about Western culture?” question.
So being in this design context meant I had to be constantly proving something... proving that I am as strong as other designers, that I can contribute in this cultural context.
right, yeah. do you feel like you really have to demonstrate that you understand or “get it”?
like, “oh yes i know this cultural reference, i know what you’re talking about”?
Yeah, of course. And I worked hard to build that knowledge up 🤓❤️
But I do think things are changing. Maybe ten years ago, people had less desire to hire Asian designers.
The world is opening up more now, though of course we can keep doing better 😤
yeah. things are evolving, but i think people are sometimes still perceived as less interesting, or less creative, or less intelligent, because they have a different understanding of culture, or come from outside of the Euro / North American bubble.
Yes. It took me awhile to get to a place where I felt I was equal to other designers, where I could stop thinking that I was something less because I came from a different background.
One thing I learned throughout this process is to accept yourself first. I needed to be comfortable with my own identity in order to really place myself in a different culture. Being vulnerable to myself, within my own identity, and accepting who I was - that's how I coped with all of this.
do you feel like you’ve reached a good place with it now?
It's an ongoing process 😎 Hehe. Of course, I often question myself. Am I good enough? Am I a good designer? Am I a good leader?
But, I always try to be positive, deliver my best, and look back again at my purpose. I am here to explore, to be constantly learning.
By showing an authentic version of myself, I hope the design culture will see the value of having a different perspective.
And at a certain point, I got to a place where I realised that being different is actually my strength. That it can give me a broader perspective on the world, that it can help power my design work.
Once I started to embrace my identity in the creative world, and focus less on the other voices in my head and more on my work, I got to a better place ❤️
yeah, I appreciate this more introspective look at things.
i think that lately, there’s a growing focus on what needs to happen institutionally to address diversity in the workplace. and those conversations are important - but for those of us navigating some of these things, it’s also important to talk about the personal processes too..
how we deal with these things ourselves, the internal battles and thought processes..
Yes. For other designers who are in a similar position, I think its important to embrace your identity and what you bring to the table, and focus on using this multi-cultured perspective in your work.
And then, if we as a design industry can continue to do the work to embrace that and make space for that, then we’ll all be in a better place 💙
so going back to your family, how was it with them when you decided to pursue a career in the design industry?
Luckily, I have a very supportive family. They trusted my path, and they've seen how hard I've worked to get into this position. I was lucky to be able to follow my desire to be a designer and explore the world.
But I also had to prove a lot, and do a lot of it on my own.
When I was choosing this path, my father said: if you want to make it, you have to make it yourself 💪🏻
same here. being part of this field and being in this position meant in some way also saying: no, I’m not going to follow this other set of rules and expectations.
Yeah. At some point, I decided - OK, this IS my journey. I'm not going to follow the culture's rules. Go to school, settle down - all the things that Asian parents expect.
I’m going to show them my version of happiness ❤️
I just had the drive to do it my way. I made my decisions, and I feel blessed for it. And now, I just want to encourage and support other people who are having similar challenges 😇
My difference, my identity is part of my learning, part of exploring things. I am honest and open - this is who I am. I'm offering you a different perspective, and I think it’s valuable.
I don't see it as a threat to my career. I see it as a strength. If I can do it, you can do it ❤️💙
❤️ 💪🏻