I'm a 33 year old queer person of color victimized by predatory private school loans. My monthly loan payments on top of the rent I pay my family are ridiculous and I struggle to break even. With what little I'm able to save, I won't be able to afford my own place for years or without a significant increase in income.

Living at home takes a toll on my mental and creative health. I need to be able to afford to move out of my family's house into my own space. This is really important with multitude of reasons, but especially because I need to have my own space to plan out and streamline my processes in writing and publishing a cookbook on Filipino cuisine. As a Filipino chef, I want to be a part of the conversation in the food world where White voices are predominant.

Ideally, I would like to move out by late 2021. Ten thousand dollars would help me offset my student loans, and five thousand will help kickstart my cookbook process and purchase kitchen equipment, plates and other decorative elements to be used for photography, as well as books for research on Filipino food history. If you would like to see my work, I post recipes I'm developing in my exploration of Filipino cusine at my blog here: www.thewannabeph.blogspot.com

I understand that this might be a weird time to start a campaign like this one as there are other more pressing campaigns. It is okay if you are not able to donate, but sharing would be much appreciated! Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your support, and especially for your time.