Ambassador Spotlight: Lily Pan
Here at Slick Chicks we believe our ambassadors are the forefront of our success. Our ambassadors are chosen based on their impactful missions to help better society and better themselves in the process. Our ambassadors are dedicated to their communities and for that (and more) we are proud to have them as the main representatives of our brand.
Lily is a second generation Taiwanese-American female currently residing in the Big Apple NYC, where she was raised. She is fiercely passionate about women's health/chronic illness/disability advocacy and is the founder of Chronically AAPI.
How do you spiritually prepare yourself for each day? Do you have a mantra or meditation you do if things ever become overwhelming?
My faith is extremely important to me — when I find myself becoming anxious I remind myself of one or two things that have gone right in the past 24 hours. It could be something as simple as having a comfortable bed to lay my head on. A scripture verse that is near and dear to my heart is Deuteronomy 31:8, I have memorized and repeated this verse to myself out loud when going to doctor's appointments, getting MRI scans, etc. Otherwise, I remind myself that "there is no such thing as perfection" and "rest is productive too."
How do you empower yourself?
How do you empower yourself?
I believe the key to self empowerment is to remind yourself of your self worth and to increase your self confidence. I struggled immensely with my physical looks, my self confidence, and my self worth as a kid. Over the past two years through my personal journey of getting diagnosed with endometriosis, long Covid, and post-concussion syndrome I have discovered how beautiful my body is and the work my body puts in to keep me going and breathing. It makes me so grateful to be alive, and being alive/having breath is empowering in and of itself when you have gone through health challenges over a long period of time.
How do you process and deal with any critics you may have?
How do you process and deal with any critics you may have?
My biggest critic has always been myself due to growing up in a Taiwanese family with high expectations and perfectionistic tendencies. Therapy has been a *game changer* for me in the past two years as it has taught me that my self critic voice isn't my natural voice but rather the voices I grew up hearing as a child. I have a playful/lively/free/childlike part of myself that has been brought out through spending more time reconnecting with myself on hobbies that I used to enjoy as a kid, such as reading. I tacked a positive affirmations poster in my bedroom right next to my mirror which causes me to look at it every day. The words we proclaim over ourselves have immense power to shape our lives and future.
Where does your overall determination come from?
Where does your overall determination come from?
My friends say I am a highly determined individual who doesn't give up easily when the going gets tough. I went through a dark time last year where I suffered from a bout of depression shortly after contracting Covid while sustaining a concussion simultaneously. I was in and out of the ER eight times in 2022 and saw close to 20 physicians in 2022. My community reminded me how loved I am, and my faith got me through the lowest of lows. When you are loved and know that you are loved, your willingness to fight for a life worth living is so much clearer.
What is your relationship with social media?
I used to think social media was a complete distraction, but in the past year I've come to see it as a powerful tool that allows vulnerable populations to connect with one another to form solidarity. I have met the most incredible and kind humans through endo/chronic illness/women's health/disability/concussion communities on social network platforms.
Why does representation matter for you?
Why does representation matter for you?
When I started to interact with health-oriented support communities online, I quickly noticed the lack of AAPI representation on social media platforms. This caused me to dream of a place where the stories of those in the AAPI community break generational chains by bravely sharing their personal accounts with chronic illness and/or disability. I recently started this Instagram platform (chronically_aapi@) — a few individual stories have been published so far with many more to come. My long term moonshot dream is to be able to host an in-person conference for the AAPI community with this unique intersectionality, similar to Chronic Con. Since I started the platform, multiple people have reached out to me to tell me how they longed for a platform like this and how excited they are that Chronically AAPI was created. It motivates me to continue working on it. I have been on a sabbatical with the platform recently and I plan to resume story publishing on the platform soon. Feel free to reach out to me there!
What do you love about Slick Chicks?
What do you love about Slick Chicks?
Oh my goodness — what is not to love! I first heard of Slick Chicks through the Chronic Con 2023 conference. My favorite products are the zippered accessible bras and black sweatpants with accessible snap buttons. They're cute and easy to wear. Plus, the Slick Chicks team is the sweetest — I had the pleasure of meeting them at the lifestyle photoshoot I was a part of.
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You can follow along with Lily and her empowering advocacy work on Instagram and through her Chronically AAPI community.
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