Danielle recalled a meet-up at a Chinese festival in Arizona where one of the booths was holding a chopstick-using competition that tested the ability to pick up things like goldfish, beans, and rice.
Danielle Brister was adopted from Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province at 10 months. Danielle grew up in Arizona where she currently resides with her mother and younger sister, who was also adopted from China. Danielle’s mother adopted and raised her and her sister all by herself. Danielle considers her mother to be her role model and speaks admirably of her: “She dedicated her whole life to us and held balancing a full-time job at the same time to support our small family,” and describes her as “not only the best person but the greatest mother she could be.”
Growing up, Danielle’s mother thought it was important to expose her and her sister to Chinese culture and signed both up for Chinese school on the weekends. Danielle continued her interest in Chinese all the way through high school and up to the college level. She found fun ways to study like watching Chinese dramas in her free time and enjoyed learning the language. While she was familiar with some parts of her Chinese heritage, Danielle didn’t grow up with many other Chinese adoptee friends, which sparked her interest in starting the CCI Phoenix Local Meet-Ups chapter. Through the local meet-ups, Danielle has met so many unique people all with their own stories. One of the things that Danielle appreciates most is the diversity the group has and that they all share adoption as a part of their beginnings. While the chapter is fairly new, Danielle recalled a meet-up at a Chinese festival in Arizona where one of the booths was holding a chopstick-using competition that tested the ability to pick up things like goldfish, beans, and rice. The meet-up group had a face-off against a group of younger kids that was quite intense and even garnered a large crowd and a few cameras. In the end, the younger kids won, but it was such a fun experience. Danielle looks forward to the growth of the meet-ups and maybe even a chopstick-using rematch.
Humans of CCI profiled on Facebook in 2020.