AAPI Heritage Month Spotlight – Julie Wann
Meet Julie Wann
Julie Wann is a member of Hoge Fenton’s Corporate, Tax, and Estates & Trusts groups. Julie focuses on individual, partnership, and corporate taxation, and the formation of limited liability companies, partnerships, corporations, and nonprofits. Julie advises individuals in estate planning, wealth transfer, and tax planning, and entities in sales, purchases, and restructurings. She also structures real property transfers that preserve the real property tax basis.
How do you identify with the Asian American or Pacific Island community?
I am a first generation Chinese American, and I immigrated to California from Taiwan when I was in elementary school. My ancestral roots trace back to northeast China. My father was born in Shandong Province, my mother in Liaoning Province, and they both moved to Taiwan before the Cultural Revolution.
How has your heritage shaped the person you are today?
My parents have always imparted in me the importance of maintaining and passing on the beauty of the Chinese tradition and culture. I minored in Asian American Studies to learn China’s history and the plight of Asian Americans in this country. I try to instill the same appreciation in my children by enrolling them in the Cupertino Language Immersion Program in our school district. Not only are my children bilingual, they benefited from attending after school classes to learn Chinese calligraphy, lion dancing, Chinese percussion (or Chinese drums), and Chinese Go game.
Does your family have any traditions that are especially important to you?
For every Chinese holiday, my parents insisted on celebrating on the day of, and we all must be home to celebrate together. Since Chinese holidays are based on the lunar calendar and aren’t observed holidays, we always had to plan ahead to clear our calendars so we can be home early for dinner for those occasions. Most holidays involve a particular type of food, and my parents were wonderful cooks and prepared most of the traditional foods associated with the holidays themselves. No matter how busy we were, I could always count on enjoying a delicious meal with my family every holiday. I have continued the tradition of celebrating the Chinese holidays with my family, on the day of, treasuring the time that we spent together.
