Today we’d like to introduce you to Ihan Anita Ip.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in San Diego but moved to Germany as an infant. My father is an astrophysicist and was hired as a researcher in an institute that was at the edge of a tiny village in Germany. We arrived in February when the whole place was covered by snow. It must have been quite a culture shock to my parents who grew up in Hongkong and Taiwan respectively and had spent their graduate school careers in sunny San Diego. I did not know this, but I was growing up as an intercultural, intersectional child. My parents kept Mandarin Chinese and Chinese culture going at home while the community outside was completely German. I now like to say that I learned many languages in my eighteen years in Germany: Mandarin, German, and Music. Music and the arts are more strongly culturally grounded in Germany. The arts are seen as a national heritage that has to be fostered, supported, and passed on. I soon knew how to play violin as a part of an orchestra and how to sing in a choir. This gave me so much joy and continues to be a theme in my life.
I continued pursuing my love for music when I moved “back” to San Diego over twenty-five years ago. I entered Mesa College as a voice major and later transferred to UC Irvine to earn my B.M. in vocal performance. My husband, whom I met at Mesa College, is a jazz guitarist and music teacher at a local private school. I later earned an M.A. in musicology from UC Santa Barbara and also got certified to be an early childhood educator. When the recession hit there were few jobs in the music sector. I am an educator and a life-long learner, so my dream would have been to teach in a college setting. With that not being possible, I switched careers and became an early childhood educator and music specialist.
There are few things that can give you such joy as a child can. Having lectured in university settings prior, making the shift to teaching 0-5 seemed abrupt but then turned out to be utter bliss. The curiosity that these amazing little humans bring with them is as refreshing as it is humbling. I spent twelve years as an early childhood educator. I started as a music specialist, then became a lead 2-3s teacher, and finally was promoted into an administrative position within the early childhood center I worked at where I did everything that was needed. This included substitute teaching, training, and bringing music to the children and their parents. The shadow side of early childhood education was that it is a hard field to be in. It is hard to live in San Diego and be an early childhood educator on the income that is still at a low standard. This does cause quite a bit of stress. I became curious to see why that was and what could be done.
My curiosity led me to my current endeavor: pursuing a Ph.D. in leadership studies from the University of San Diego, which is perched on top of a hill overlooking Linda Vista and Mission Bay. Little did I know that the program would invite questions I did not know I had. USD offers master’s and Ph.D. programs in leadership studies. What attracted my to the field was that it was interdisciplinary. The students come from all areas of life, business, military, for-profit, not-for-profit, education, the arts. Having access to all these different, highly diverse perspectives is such a privilege. After two years in the program and working full-time at the early childhood center, I decided that it was time to focus on my studies. I currently am a co-coordinator for the leadership minor, a lecturer, and a doctoral student there. I use music prominently in my studies of leadership and intercultural communication.
Earlier this year a fire in our condo complex destroyed the entire roof. We lost most of our possessions in the ensuing flood and asbestos contamination. We will be forever grateful to the firemen and the firewoman who saved what could be saved that day. As of this writing, we are awaiting insurance decisions and the rebuilding of our home. The fire happened the day before my older daughter’s 12th birthday. We took our survival as a collective birthday. Still, the trauma has been done, and we are now renting until we can go home and hoping for the best in regards to our financial survival and recovery. This event has certainly affected my entire family and put the fragility of life into stark relief. There is no time to waste to make this world a better place for all of us in it. My goal is to do my bit to save the world, which may (and is) a long shot. But with my two daughters growing up in a multicultural world to multicultural parents, I want to do my bit to create better conditions for them to engage in life deeply and with joy.
For the future, I look forward to a career as an educator and a leadership development coach and consultant. I want to work with as many individuals and groups as possible to help continue on my mission to do good.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think my life is a series of smooth and not so smooth roads. There are things that I understand in a different way now that I am an adult. For example, I felt different as a child and young adult because my family was the only Asian family in the town that I grew up in. My sister was the only other Asian in my high school. I had no words to describe it then. Now that I am studying issues and frameworks around DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging) I am realizing that I was not feeling like I belonged completely. My childhood was happy, and we were welcomed, but there was an internal question asking “who am I.” This is the question that I am still working on answering. Really, it’s being on this journey of wondering and of being curious that is fascinating. I do not expect to find a specific answer ever since we are constantly changing as people.
The latest challenge was the fire that destroyed our home about a year ago. The fire started in a wall at our neighbor’s house and shot up to the roof where it engulfed the attic. We were very, very lucky in that the fire started just as we were waking up to go to school that morning. There was a smell in the air, but it was not clear where it came from. When I came around the outside corner of the house to check on our neighbor’s house, I saw billowing smoke coming from their balcony and got everyone out. I evacuated our elderly neighbor and our children and drove them to a safe distance outside of the sightline of the fire. My husband let us know when we could come back. We had a total of seven fire trucks and two news crew show up. The Red Cross also came to help with the initial needs. It was a complete shock and it put us into an emotional spin. The help that came from our community was enormous. Still, I knew that our trauma was deeply felt and would take its toll on all of us. As a parent I am watching over my family closely. We are still in process of recovery and do not have a sense when we will be made whole again.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I approach life with a creative lens. I teach creatively, I think creatively, I live creatively. Especially music plays a dominant role in the way that I see the world and how humans interact with each other. There are so many things that we assume of each other, some of these are stereotypes that are not so positive. These become unspoken things that we base our judgement and behavior towards one another on. If humans were a musical piece written out like a musical score, you would see that there are parts that are dominant and others that remain silent. I wonder how we can become more aware of each other so that we can give each other space to co-exist equitably? Music provides a lens that we can view our dynamics in. So, you’ll see me walking around the Department of Leadership with my guitar or incorporating listening and musical activities into the workshops I facilitate. This is the work that I do.
In order to bring my academic work out into practice, I am in progress of becoming a certified leadership coach. I work with people who are wanting to find their own meaning in life and who have a drive to help others. I help them find themselves so that they can make other people’s lives better. The work of saving the world takes all of us, and I am hoping that my wonderful clients are feeling empowered to do their part. At the end of the day, we are all unique. The biggest job we have is to know who we are at the core and do the best that we can do to be ourselves.
Another way that I apply myself is through being in the classroom. I am currently a lecturer and co-coordinator in the leadership studies minor, which is an undergraduate program in the leadership studies department at USD. I love do this work because I get to learn from am facilitate learning for the next generation. The students I am meeting are so impressive. I love being in the classroom.
I am also involved with the SDAEYC (San Diego Association of Educators of Young Children) where I am bringing my learning to the early childhood community to give back for all I have learned.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Life is a journey. In fact, life is a hard journey, and it needs to be hard sometimes. Crisis can generate growth, but we need a strong support system to take advantage of what a crisis has to offer. We have to stay open and curious. We have to find friends to lift us up.Together we become stronger and wiser, and maybe we will leave the world in a better place than we found her in. It is critical to approach life with an open mind and an open heart. This is difficult to do but trying to have an open mind and open heart is a great start.
Image Credits
Christina Schaffer Photography
