‘Being Mixed Race and Multilingual Are My Superpowers’: Volleyball Player Uses Talent In Sport To Raise Profile of Malaysian Heritage

Tasha Mae, 23, was born and raised in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, to a Chinese mother and an Indian father.

She often celebrated Chinese New Year with her grandmother and varied cultures were honoured.

“I was born in a mixed-race family,” Ms Mae said.

“It’s normal in Malaysia because we have so many different races; the three major races are Malay people, Chinese people and Indian people and of course we have many native and indigenous tribes as well.

“You grow up seeing a lot of Chinese Indian kids or Malay-Chinese or Indian-Malay. But now being out of Malaysia, you don’t really [come across] these types of mixes.

tashmae__

8,291 followers

View more on Instagram

“I don’t have that many cousins because my parents’ siblings didn’t have kids until late and they’re much younger than me. I’m closer to my mum’s side just because we lived closer and we grew up there.

“When I was young, I didn’t understand anything.

“You would hear all these stories from different relatives; my parents told me stories, and you couldn’t seem to connect the dots. Who’s related to who, what did they do, where did they go?

“But now that I’m older I can string the dots together and it’s really cool to see what my family have achieved.

“On my dad’s side, my grandparents were teachers, and my grandfather was an author who wrote books in Tamil, and I didn’t even know that until recently.

“On my mum’s side, my grandfather was a train engineer, and my grandma is an amazing cook; she used to bake a lot for the temples.”

Every Chinese New Year when Tasha was a child, her grandmother would bake 10 to 20 cookies, put them in jars and they would devour them in one sitting.

Since Tasha moved to Los Angeles, California, in 2021 to pursue her dream of playing volleyball professionally, she often missed her grandmother’s cooking.

“At every Chinese New Year, the whole family would [gather],” she said.

“We used to go back to my grandma’s house to celebrate in the past. She used to cook so well; I miss her food the most, being here in the US.

“We have this tradition where people who are married will give money packets to unmarried people, like the kids.

“I remember whenever we had Chinese New Year, we would just get so many money packets, we call it ‘ampao’ which means ‘red packet’ because Chinese love red as it symbolises prosperity. It’s a time to reconnect with family members, eat and watch fireworks.”

Tasha attended a Chinese school near her family home where she learned the three languages of Mandarin, Malay and English.

She considers her multilingual skills a ‘superpower’ whilst living in the US.

“In Malaysia it’s so normal for people to be able to speak three or four languages,” Ms Mae said.

“But then coming to the US, where most people just speak one language, it’s like a superpower being able to speak so many languages, especially when I speak Chinese-Mandarin.

“There are a lot of Chinese people around here and they are [so] shocked because I don’t look like someone who can speak Chinese.”

Tasha shared all the Malaysian, Indian Malaysian and Chinese dishes she has been exposed to growing up.

“Malaysian food is a blend of a lot of different spices; it’s a lot of rice, a lot of coconut, different types of curries,” Ms Mae said.

“Our national dish is Nasi Lemak; Nasi is rice and Lamak is fat, but it’s actually rice cooked in coconut milk.

“It’s usually served on top of a banana leaf and there’s fried anchovies, peanuts, cucumber for cooling, boiled egg, Sambal which is Malaysian chilli paste.

“That’s one of my favourite dishes, I crave that every time I go back.

“Indian Malaysian food is a lot of Roti Canai, a flat bread but they weave and toss it, it’s so buttery and usually served with daal or curry.

“Chinese food is [made up of] different types of noodles, fried rice, there are so many different Malaysian dishes. We’re known for our food.

“When I went back home last summer, all I did [was eat] with my friends because I was catching up with them and we have so many cafes popping up; people queue to get into cafes and food places.”

Tasha experimented with a variety of sports as a child including tennis, badminton, taekwondo and skating.

She was only seven years old when she discovered indoor volleyball.

“I started training with the school team and even my mum got [very] involved, I instantly fell in love,” she said.

“I was bigger and taller than most kids so that was kind of an advantage. I think even from a very young age I knew I wanted to go far in this sport.

“The next stage after representing your school, was representing your district and after that was representing your state. I just wanted to go as far as I could go to see where it took me.

“I was also very lucky because a year after playing when I was a kid, our school hired a former national player to be our coach.

“When I was 14, I got the chance to go to a sport school. I didn’t know at the time that this lifestyle had prepared me for the life I live now.”

Tasha described the cultural differences between Malaysia and the US and how she embraces her roots.

“What’s cool about Malaysia is that we have so many different races,” she said.

“In schools we would have celebrations of each other’s cultures; sometimes we would dress in each other’s traditional clothing, try [different] traditional food that people would bring in.

“I always grew up immersed in different cultures and that’s what I really enjoy about Malaysia.

“The US is so big and virtually every culture in the world could be found in the US, so you can’t take the time to celebrate every person’s culture.

“I don’t know if people celebrate it for its true purpose or is it just an excuse to party and drink, whereas in Malaysia, people have celebrations in their house, they will invite their friends, you eat the food and mix with the people.

“The way I embrace [my roots] is by sharing about it or when I’m at home, I try to visit both sides of my family. I grew up a little closer to my Chinese side, so I visit my grandma a lot.

“I want to understand my Indian side better and get closer to it. I think one really good way would be for me to learn how to cook the cuisines especially now that I’m away from home.

“When I’m in the US, I try to explain [my heritage] to my friends if they’re interested; I remember the past Chinese New Year, there was this tea house in LA, I invited some of my friends to go and they enjoyed it.

“There’s also this one Malaysian restaurant in LA that I’ve brought a few friends to try Malaysian food.”

Over the years, Tasha has represented Malaysia on a national level and in 2019, she competed in the Southeast Asian beach volleyball games in the Philippines.

She has since used her passion in the sport to push it on an international scale.

“I feel such a strong urge and desire to represent my country in the sport and to take it to a higher level,” Ms Mae said.

“Over the past 20 years we’ve never had any major achievements in volleyball compared to our other Southeast Asian teams.

“Thailand is doing really well, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, China, Japan, they’re all international level in volleyball.

“Malaysia can’t seem to break through to the next level, that has been a source of frustration for me and many other Malaysian players for a very long time.

“I feel like it has been my calling to help represent my country, bring it to the next level on the international [stage]. I see it happening.

“I hope that by sharing more of this, continue telling the story, spreading the vision, it can inspire other people who can also take action because you can’t do it alone.”

Whilst living in the US, Tasha has been exposed to new terms she had never heard of before.

“I’d never heard of [cultural appropriation] before until I came to the US because in Malaysia everyone celebrates each other’s cultures and there’s nothing wrong with it,” she said.

“At first, I didn’t understand it but now I know it’s because of the long history of colonialism, certain cultures dominating, making money off minority cultures, it’s so deep.

“There’s so much to it that I wasn’t even aware of and being here, slowly, I learned about all these things.

“A huge thing was having a curious mindset because I asked my American friends so many questions about culture, history and that’s how I gained my understanding of it.

“In the US it’s almost too sensitive to talk about these things; coming from another country allowed my American friends to talk to me about it because I have no context.

“Growing up mixed raced helped a lot. My parents are also very open-minded; they exposed us to a lot of different cultures.

“We travelled so much when I was younger. That nurtured my curious mindset, to blend in and ask a lot of questions.”

While Tasha didn’t grow up religious, she has reconnected with her spiritual side in recent years which has been a source of comfort during difficult times.

One thing she would tell her younger self if she had the chance is: “Try to find a connection with something bigger than yourself because right now I feel like I’m on that path of my spiritual journey.

“The hard times are just not as hard anymore because you see the bigger picture.

“In the past few years, I strayed from that path and life was very difficult; I didn’t understand why I was having so much anxiety, worrying about the future and not loving myself.

“So much of our adulthood is reconnecting with our inner child and being in awe of things, being curious, seeing the beauty in everything; to me that makes life a lot easier and fun to live.”