Miss NTD Pageant Winner Cynthia Sun on Beauty, Tradition, and Fighting Tyranny

On Wednesday, the Falun Dafa Association of Atlanta received this email. And bomb threat emails. A Chinese company as the source doing that to an American company. Policed outside the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after what is described as a threat by email. In 2023, I believe it was over 135 incidents of violent threats, death threats, bomb threats, rape threats, including kidnapping threats of our faith community. The CCP wants to control what audiences see. They want to control what Americans get to learn about China and the narrative surrounding China. So it's rather dangerous and it's still going on today. Our Bay Area innovator today is Cynthia Sun, Ms. NTD, and a senior researcher at the Falun Dafa Information Center. From the international stage of a beauty pageant focused on inner strength to documenting over 200 cases of harassment and threats against Falun Gong practitioners in the United States, Cynthia bridges diplomacy with human rights and personal conviction. What it's like confronting transnational oppression and why resilience begins from within. This is Bay Area Innovators and I'm your host, Steve Esparza. Cynthia, welcome to our program. Thank you so much for having me, Steve. Well, glad we have you here. You have been a senior researcher for Falun Infonet, which is your day job. We'll talk about that in a minute. But first, you're also the current Ms. NTD, which is a unique pageantry that's being held by our sister media, actually, NTD Television. And it's unique. It looks at the inner beauty of Chinese women and the pureness and the tradition. Can you please tell me about your experience with the pageantry and what did you learn from it? Sure. Yeah. So first, right out of college, I started doing work in human rights and foreign policy at the Falun Dafa Information Center. And I never really thought that I would join a pageant. When I was growing up in Texas, there were a lot of pageants. And I happened to be 5'10", without shoes, without heels. So a lot of people, as I was growing up, told me to join pageants, told me to get college scholarships from pageants. But I really wasn't interested in it. When I saw this pageant online, I was actually intrigued because the first thing you see is actually inner beauty. And I wondered how they would score that. I watched beauty pageants growing up. I've seen, you know, the Victoria's Secret show. I've seen other competitions. It was just really interesting how they made a twist on your classic reality TV show. So when I apply, the application was actually more about your family environment growing up, your top three models, role models, also the top three traits you would want to become in the future as a woman, rather than your height, your weight, your clothing size. And I thought that was really interesting. And this theme really carried on throughout the pageant. So for the seven days that I was there, I was really able to reflect on my own values as a woman, the responsibilities I have towards society, the responsibilities I hold towards my family and towards, you know, the future version of myself. Yeah, our network is about tradition in many ways. Can you give us some example of some traditional values that have been highlighted during the pageantry and that you embraced? This Bay Area Innovators episode is sponsored by Peter Cassara Clothiers, an Italian menswear store that brings timeless European style with a modern edge to Sunnyvale and the Bay Area for over 50 years. From top Italian suits and shoes, the exclusive Tami Bahama line, they've got your look covered. Check out their website at petercassaraclothiers.com to find out more. And now back to our interview. One of the interviews that we had during the pageant was a three versus one panel interview. So you had three judges in this soundproof room. Contestants would walk into the room one by one and close the door behind them. And it was six minutes. You had to stand there and answer all of these questions that weren't prepared ahead of time. And they were recording the whole thing as well. And so one of the questions they asked was, in history, in traditional history, in these, whether it's fables or whether it's recorded history, what is a woman that embodies some values, some virtues that you admire? And I answered the mother of Mencius. Mencius was one of the top philosophers in Chinese history. And his mother really valued education. She was a single mother. And when he was growing up, the first few years of his life, they actually lived next to a graveyard. So imagine, you know, that environment, waking up and seeing graves. There's a lot of spiritual taboos to it, cultural taboos to it. And so she moved, I don't know how many times, but she moved multiple times, basically every single year while he was growing up to try to find better and better education for him. And it really formed his mind in a way that uplifted him to be able to have the opportunities that he had to become one of the greatest philosophers of all time. So I think the sacrifice that she had, you know, we don't know what the job structure was like back then. But if you can imagine moving every single year, I don't even know that I would be able to do that for, you know, my younger brother, for example, or, you know, my husband. If that was the case, you know, the self-sacrifice, being able to completely relocate everything as a single parent, I think is incredible in itself, but also speaks of the passion and the goals, the larger goals in life that she had for the son. Yeah, I watched the pageantry the other day. And what struck me was that the fact it's a global competition and you have competitors from Germany, UK, Canada, Singapore, from all over the world. And many times the questions were in two languages to make sure that they can answer. How did it feel when you won? You know, you got a bit emotional, which is normal. What was the feeling at that time? I didn't walk into the pageant thinking that I would win. And I think that applies to every single contestant there. It was a really competitive situation. You know, they had hundreds of people apply and only 30 some people were able to get accepted to the preliminary round. 32. Only, yeah, 32. And I know there were others that couldn't make it because of visa issues. Basically, the entire process was really a challenge for ourselves. It was really me versus myself. How well do I know myself? How well do I know my future goals? How well can I plan to get there? And how well can I convey that to the judges and to the audience? So it was really a challenge in itself. And so when I won, it was an incredible emotion that I can't really describe. And not all that positive, actually, which is why I was crying. Because when they announced from 32, they announced to 16 and then to 8. Every single time, I had in my list the people that I thought performed the best. And I was never on that list. I'm very self-critical. I'm a perfectionist. And so I know the standard I hold myself to. And I just didn't believe I made that standard. But they kept announcing my name. I had a lot of points from the private interviews with the judges that I was talking to you about with Menchiz's mother. So I think that helped me a lot. And so when I was standing up there, top two, it was an unbelievable feeling. I kind of felt like I was dreaming. Like I was just floating there, like half awake, half asleep, holding the hands of my roommate. Because they randomly assigned contestants to hotel rooms for seven days. And I was standing there with my roommate, who I've gotten to know very, very well during that week. The first runner-up was actually your roommate? The first runner-up was my roommate. Yeah, they paired us up. I don't know if they did it by last name or they did it by some age or something. But they paired us up randomly in hotel rooms. And I happened to be with the runner-up of Miss NTD. And when I talked about the motion, they announce your number, right? And I'm number 11. When I was standing up there with the runner-up, we were using our eyes to communicate. We were standing up there for maybe like five minutes, just waiting for the results to be announced by the judges, because they were voting and tallying their scores in the crowd. I kept telling her with my eyes, like, they're going to announce your name. They're going to announce your number. And then she kept telling me, like, no, they're going to announce your name. And so it was really interesting. And it was really funny. We were just like trying not to laugh the entire time. When they announced my name, I felt a lot of regret that I didn't push myself as hard as I could have. And I didn't meet the standard that I personally wanted. I did feel a lot of growth in terms of public speaking, in terms of posture, in terms of the way I dress, and the way I introduce myself to people, and the entire atmosphere of, I think there was like a learning culture there. Like, you start from zero, not knowing, you know, where your roots are, and perhaps not even knowing what your heritage truly is. But then through the entire process, you maybe grow to 60%, 70% to know yourself. And I really appreciated that learning culture that we built. And so it was a lot of regret, which is why I ended up crying, because I felt like, you know, when are you going to have these people here ever again? When are you going to have the opportunity to just do something like this again? And I was just grateful. But there was a lot of regret mixed into those tears. Now, clearly, in such a competition, you're getting to make friends. You're all close together. But then at the end of the day, there's one winner. Did you feel, even if not you, obviously, because you won, but did you feel any sense of jealousy or that sense from the other competitors? So I've gotten that question a lot. And pageants differ. I know some pageants, you know, aren't as lucky as us. But for me, I really felt like everyone there, there's a term called girls girls, which they're the type of woman who uplift other women up. And that's what I felt like the environment was the entire time I was there. You know, there's always mishaps backstage that the audience doesn't get to see. For example, one of the contestants, her dress had come loose because the zipper or something had an issue. And there was another contestant in a completely different room that heard this and came running with her sewing kit. And she personally sewed the parts back together on the dress. And this was, you know, a few hours before we stood on stage for the final time for that grand finale. And there was also another girl from Australia who had never had her ears pierced before, especially got her ears pierced for this pageant a few weeks prior. And when she, you know, put on the pageant earrings, they're very heavy. Some of them are a few pounds. Her ear ripped and started bleeding. It was it was incredibly painful for her. She was in a different country. So we didn't know if she had health care that would cover that. And so everyone really banded together. And we were supporting each other through all of these difficulties that were going on backstage, which I think created the atmosphere of support, created the atmosphere of community. So I didn't personally see any jealousy. And I think it really speaks to the level of improvement, self-improvement, that we wanted going in. I think everyone was on the same page, which, you know, I'm very lucky for that. Well, clearly the whole theme of the pageantry, the tradition, the values, the traditional values contributed to that. I would like to change gears and talk about your day job. So you've been a senior researcher at the Falun InfoNet, the Falun Dafa Information Center for a while. Please tell us, you have recently had some findings about the different operations that happened against the Falun Gong practitioners. And just take a step back. I think 2022, China's President Xi Jinping had a directive of continuing and redirecting the attacks or the disinformation towards the Falun Gong meditation practice. What is it that you found out lately? What are the results? Yeah, so for context, you know, the Falun Dafa Information Center has been researching persecution trends inside China for a long time, mostly persecution of Falun Gong. But we also study family separation. We also study political trends. We also study socioeconomic trends and see how that affects religious persecution. And so more recently, since 2022, like you said, we've received a lot of internal government documents from China. And we have a lot of contacts within the security apparatus that have been providing us with information. And one of the things that were brought up in this 2022 meeting headed by Xi Jinping was that the persecution against Falun Gong, and especially the misinformation, the repression of Falun Gong worldwide, especially in America, has not been creative enough. That was their translated, obviously, language. And we really see over the past three years how that's catapulted into this larger disinformation and legal war between the Chinese Communist Party and dissidents here in America, mainly Falun Gong practitioners. And you see this through media, you see this through legal, you see this through government threats, disinformation, and you also see this on social media. There are countless points, and these are loopholes, to be honest, in our democratic institutions that the Chinese Communist Party is not afraid to take advantage of. Soft power is the CCP's strength, and we've known this for years and years and years. And they've used our free democratic institutions to insert their own narrative. And unfortunately, it's been very successful from what we've seen. Can you give us some examples of some of the findings you had, some specifics that are more disturbing? So for the past year now, I've been tracking more recently death threats, including bomb threats, including rape threats, including kidnapping threats of our faith community, including even other violent threats targeted towards events that we put on to advocate for an end to religious persecution. And for example, last August, myself and my other colleagues and my boss, we received an email saying that, you know, they would kill us. And there was a photo of a gun barrel with it cocked, and you could see the inside of the gun barrel. And the subject heading of the email was, you will meet God, which when we received it at first, obviously, we did report it to authorities. But when we thought about it and marinated on that subject line a bit more, it was really ironic and kind of hilarious, because a lot of people might know this, but the Chinese regime doesn't believe in God. The Chinese regime is afraid of God. The Chinese regime is so afraid that it basically bans, ostensibly bans, religion in China. And so for them to have a death threat that admits that God exists, that the creator is out there, was an admission of guilt, in a sense. And it was quite hilarious. Now that it's over. No, he also did some research into the threats and the various ways that the Chinese Communist Party interfered with the Shen Yun Performing Arts. On Wednesday, the Falun Dafa Association of Atlanta received this email. It shows photos of slashed tires on Shen Yun buses and bomb threat emails, he says, they've received from the Chinese Communist Party. Police outside the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after what is described as a threat by email. It claimed a bomb had been placed in the theater and would be detonated should the Shen Yun Performing Arts Company be allowed to perform. They're threatening to bomb a theater and kill innocent people. And here you have a Chinese company as the source doing that to an American company in Taiwan, in America and in Europe. Any examples that you have about the findings on that? Yeah, unfortunately, we've been tracking that since around 2022, 2023. And Shen Yun Performing Arts, as you know, and your audience might know, is a performing arts group based in America. It was founded on American values and the artists, some of which fled China because of religious persecution and others who were born in Europe and America, who are really using this platform of art to revive Chinese traditional culture and to present the beautiful Chinese stories and history that occurred before communism, which is, you know, there were 5,000 years before communism ever existed in China. And so it's really hopeful. And to the CCP, it's actually, that's a platform that they fear. In 2023, I believe it was over 135 incidents of violent threats, bomb threats targeting theaters. So people who are just running performing arts theaters by their day to day, and they suddenly receive an email saying that there are bombs planted all over the Kennedy Center, for example, or the San Jose Performing Arts Center, for example. You know, they contact authorities. Authorities have to come. They potentially have to pay money for a search of bombs, of explosives. And it's a horrible thing to happen. But what we've learned from this is that the CCP wants to control what audiences see. They want to control what Americans want to get to see in entertainment. They also want to get to see, they want to control what Americans get to learn about China and the narrative surrounding China. So it's rather dangerous the way that they've conducted these threats. And it's still going on today. I mean, in April, I believe we received over 17. We've documented over 17 death threats. And then at its peak, there were like 30 or 40 per month when Shen Yun was touring. Please tell us about the background or what kind of indications do you have that these threats and these various persecution events happen are coming from people involved with the CCP? What kind of evidence do you have? Yeah, so we've reported it to federal and local authorities. And recently, Taiwan actually launched an agency investigation. I think it was the Cybercrime Agency or something like that when you translate it. And they found that these threats actually, partially, the ones that they investigated could be traced back to an IP address tied to the Huawei Institute in China. And I believe that's in Wuhan, but it's a research institute under Huawei. So it's not Huawei headquarters. It's under Huawei. And what we know about that is all companies, mid to large size, are state-run companies in China. Even though they say they're private, they're required by law in China to have Chinese Communist Party officials inside the bureaucracy of the corporation. It's not hard to imagine that they were paid, individuals inside the Huawei Institute or affiliated with the CCP were paid to send these threatening messages. And by chance, a lot of these messages are in Chinese. And when you track their IP address just from your Gmail server or your mail server, they go through multiple IP changes. So they are using a VPN. They are trying to hide their tracks. It aligns with other instances in other groups where the Chinese Communist Party has targeted Tibetans, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers, Uyghurs, other groups that have spoken out against the CCP. They've received similar bomb threats, violent threats. And so it's just not hard to imagine that everything is tied together. That's indeed extremely disturbing to have the CCP doing these operations in the United States. And we can see on a daily basis, I say this on almost every show, that almost every single day there's academic espionage. There's some kind of Chinese spy being caught or other aspects of this. You were involved with the report, with the academic report on these threats. Please tell us about that. So I got the opportunity with the center to do a survey, a nationwide survey on universities with Falun Gong clubs. So there are over 40, I believe there's 50 now registered Falun Gong clubs across the different universities, public and private. And we really wanted to see if transnational oppression or some form of surveillance or harassment was happening on the campus level, because this obviously is the heart of a lot of cities. College campuses are our future. And so it's really important to capture this data point and this community. Of people. And so we've surveyed faculty and students who practice Falun Gong and who have a Falun Gong club on campus, who do monthly events like film screenings, documentary screenings. They also do traditional arts events like calligraphy, brush painting, traditional Chinese dance, dumpling making. There's a lot of different avenues, different events that they host. But out of this survey, we found and we published really disturbing results in California. I know there was a student who told us that after she had registered a club and after she had hosted some events on campus, she got a call from her family members. And I can read you her quote here. She said family members in China were called regarding my whereabouts, the students whereabouts, my phone number and where I was studying or working. And a lot of these students, unfortunately, have security concerns because they do have family in China. And the public security agent assigned to their family's location will often come interrogate them, ask them for tea time, which is just another way of saying interrogation, and try to bribe them into getting information about the student and try to silence the student here in America. So it's really cross-national, the way that the Chinese Communist Party uses family members in China to hold the string over the students here in America is really disturbing. And we condemn that behavior entirely because universities are supposed to be a safe haven. They're supposed to be a place where you can really focus on studying, you can really focus on building your future. But these students aren't able to because, you know, every film documentary that they that they tried to host, every petition they tried to get signatures on to stop religious persecution, they know potentially there's surveillance happening. And Chinese students will stop by the booths, take photos of them, ask them for their name. In the University of Pennsylvania, there was even a group, like a group chat that was started by Chinese students. And they were essentially bullying this Falun Gong practitioner on campus because she was putting a documentary about Confucius Institutes. And Chinese students didn't like that. And what we know about the University of Pennsylvania is that their CSSA on their LinkedIn, it states boldly that they're funded by the consulate. Wow. There's been reports on a very horrifying practice, which is organ harvesting from live prisoners of conscience. In many cases, probably most cases, Falun Gong practitioners in China. And there's been various reports. I think you testified towards getting this information to Congress. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been very supportive in looking into this and trying to stop this practice. Please tell us any of the latest updates that you know about this, this unbelievable crime that happens. I've probably sat in over 100 congressional meetings for the past 10 years on forced organ harvesting and religious persecution more broadly. Most people might have heard of organ harvesting through Squid Game. I've had a lot of people start asking me about the issue because of the Squid Game series on Netflix, which actually has scenes of forced organ harvesting. And so I think it's really interesting how pop culture really leads into advocacy. The latest update on this that I can give you right now is last summer, there was a man called Chung, and he's the first known survivor of forced organ harvesting to have come out of China. And for the past, you know, before that, you know, I think it was pre-COVID. He was helped by multiple State Department representatives and also U.S. House representatives to get out of China because he essentially fleed after parts of his lung and his liver were taken from him while he was put under. This was back in the early 2000s when it actually happened. But as we know, this phenomenon is still taking place today because China is the number one market for organs right now. It is a black market, but it's the number one market. And if you check the transplantation numbers, it doesn't make sense because their organ transplantation numbers are higher than America's. And for a country that doesn't have a culture of organ donation, because most Asian people think that if you once you die, you go to the afterlife without that organ. It's just a very, very strange pattern. And what we believe, you know, looking through all of these documents and what the China Tribunal, an investigative tribunal, has stated is that Falun Gong practitioners are the main source of this organ thing. So the Chinese Communist Party essentially is killing two birds with one stone. They have millions, tens upon tens of millions of religious adherents who refuse to give up their faith, refuse to say that there is no creator because it goes against the essence of their soul. And they're able to sell the bodies of these religious believers to tourists and patients who may really need an organ but don't know where the source is coming from. And the Chinese Communist Party is effectively earning over a billion dollars, I think the latest estimates were, per year on these innocent people. And these are by no means death row inmates. These are by no means criminals. The only crime that they've committed is believing that there is a creator. Cynthia, you've been an amazing ambassador to bring light to these very serious issues and very important issues. Can you give us a bit of sense, like how did you get started? What is your motivation? What is your drive coming from to do the work you're doing with human rights and other things? I get asked this a lot and I think my answer changes every time because I get really emotional doing this work sometimes and the small wins really give me the drive to go forward. But if I were to pinpoint the beginning of this, it would probably be my family. Because most people know Tiananmen Square in 89 was when most of my generation's parents actually attended the democracy appeals, the democracy protests in China from then. And then also when my parents immigrated to the States, they also learned Falun Gong. And then they also went to the Chinese consulate every single weekend to appeal and to meditate in front of the consulate to try to get someone to sign a letter, sign a petition. My mom actually has this photo of her floating online covered in eggs actually, because there was a car that came out of the consulate one night and they rolled down the window and pelted her with eggs. And she sat in this really peaceful meditation pose and it's incredibly eerie. I guess that's the best way you can put it because it's like very late at night, she's in this meditation pose along with other people. And then the crudeness of egging her while she's meditating really speaks to the fear. Yeah, it really speaks to the fear of these consulate officials and to the disgusting behavior, I believe, the etiquette they have or lack thereof. So I was really fueled by these visits to the consulate and in college, I wanted to find out why is the persecution still happening? Like, simply put, I was a child when it started. I was born the same month in the same year that the persecution began. And it's been nearly 26 years now. So when I was in elementary school, I used to think that in high school, by the time I got to high school, I graduated, that the persecution would be over. But then I got to high school, I graduated and the persecution was still ongoing. And then rinse and repeat. I go to college and think, oh, well, the persecution is going to end soon, but it doesn't. And in college, I got the opportunity to go to Geneva to study abroad. And I was at the United Nations for quite some time. And there was a peace summit being held in late September in Geneva. And when you walk into the headquarters, there's this huge hall in the Palais des Nations. And the first thing that we saw going into this peace summit was actually this white board that was maybe like the size of a football field. It was like incredibly big. It was like this huge standalone white board. And it said celebrating 70 years of China human rights. And there were multiple languages printed on it up and down. But I could only see that one line in English. They were translated in Arabic and translated in other languages. And I just remember just laughing. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to react because I know from personal experience going to China, being chased and being harassed by police officers myself, that's the complete opposite. Like, there's no way to say it. There's an absence of human rights in China. And for them to say that it's celebrating and for some intern to print it out and some manager to approve it at the United Nations was, for me, felt like such a joke. And at that point, I kind of changed my mindset to, well, if I can't change the world, then I can change someone's world. And that's really what I've been trying to do is to give voice to the voiceless through the Falun Dafa Information Center. And we have successfully rescued multiple families in the past few years out of China who were detained, who were sentenced, but through advocacy with the State Department and advocacy with the U.S. citizen's representative or senator here in the states, we were able to get a few parents and a few family members out. And those small wins really make my day because some of these families, you know, if you talk about the parents, some of them are elderly. They're in their 70s. They're in their 80s. They're being detained and sentenced for who knows how long. Sometimes it's like 19 years. So it's a death sentence. And to be able to get them out and for their families to see them for one last time or for a few years at least is just such a blessing and for them such a relief. That's amazing. Now, you know, unfortunately, probably most people know about this Falun Gong practice through the persecution and through the efforts of the CCP to harass and persecute the practitioners. Can you give us a bit of sense of what it's like to practice? Like what do practitioners actually do other than raising awareness of the persecution, of course? You know, I grew up practicing Falun Gong and I have studied other faiths. In college, I was required to study Asian religion because my focus in international relations was Asia, the region. I really find that Falun Gong is different and I know everyone says that about their own faith. But essentially, you have this lifestyle that prioritizes three virtues, truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. To be able to really root myself in virtue, in honesty, in kindness has been a blessing. When I was growing up, since I always had these three virtues grounding me in a sense, it was really easy to see what was right and what was wrong. In high school, for example, a lot of my friends started drinking early. A lot of them tried drugs and that's just, I think, the average, unfortunately, the average American high school experience. And in Falun Gong, you're not supposed to drink, do drugs, or smoke. And this is common among other Buddhist religions as well. I actually never had an interest in it, but it was really eye-opening to see how these substances could damage a young person's mentality, damage their mind, crumble them down until they don't have any aspiration left. And it was very, very jolting. And it was also very realistic, I think, because I'm lucky enough to have a faith that guides me in the right direction. And I can only recommend that they also stay sober because I've had high school classmates that actually, when they got to college, they quit because they were failing so hard. They got into vaping. They got addicted to gaming. They got into harder and harder substances. To see it on the sidelines and not be able to do anything, I think, is a very helpless feeling, even though I did reach out. I would go out to lunch with them, try to persuade them. It's really a different being. These drugs, these substances, it's really something otherworldly that seems to control them. And so to be able to clearly see through my faith the right path and stay away from substances like those and really focus on what I need to do and what I want to achieve for myself, I think, was really a blessing. And so my whole journey has been really mental, I think, like building the mental fortitude and then going through life trying to make the best decisions I can. Now, I know you also meditate, right? And meditation is part of many beliefs, many faiths, even for yoga. You know, there's a lot of different practices that do meditation. Just share with us a little bit. What is life when you meditate and what are you thinking of, what are you trying to think of when you meditate? Yeah, so actually, I have a really irregular schedule when it comes to meditation. This morning, I meditated before breakfast, but sometimes I meditate super late at night. Like, for example, last year in D.C., last summer, I was stationed there for work, for congressional advocacy work. And sometimes I would come home at 1 a.m., 2 a.m., do like 30 minutes, an hour of meditation, and then go to bed. So my schedule is quite irregular. And I know a lot of people around me have a more regular schedule. They have like a 6 to 8 or 12 to 2 p.m. type of schedule. But my work schedule and my lifestyle just really doesn't fit that. So going into meditation, I think, is one thing. My mindset is always like, you know, when I'm tired, when I just need to take a break, a mental break, and when I just don't have the mental clarity for something. Whenever I'm tired, I always find a lot of clarity in meditation. I always find rest in meditation. And the ultimate goal is really to either sit there or do the standing meditation. There's five sets. So if you're either standing, you're trying not to think of anything. And when you're sitting, you're also trying not to think of anything. But basically, you're just trying to find that stillness, whether it's within your heart, within your soul, or within your mind. Well, I understand you're very busy with your work. And how do you balance this with your hobbies? And what are your hobbies that you do outside of work when you have time? I mentioned earlier, but my lifestyle is really different day to day. I don't have a regular nine to five job. And it really depends on the day. Sometimes I'll be traveling at like 4am to DC. And so I really try to have a block schedule. And so, you know, when I have time, I like to cook. I like to bake. I like to host a lot of gatherings with friends, like dinner parties. And it's just really good to have that creative part of me, like fulfilled while I'm doing, you know, left and right brain have to be equal in my mind. I also like CrossFit. I've gotten into CrossFit this year. And I find it extremely fun and rewarding in terms of learning new things like deadlifting, air bikes, rowing, which I never got into before. And just like being able to find these little sparks of inspiration and happiness and in different things that I do, I think is really great. But I don't think there's a single sport or a single type of music that I don't enjoy. So it's kind of hard to say at the top of my head. But more recently, CrossFit. And from college on, I really started doing the block scheduling. So I would sometimes plan out my week or even plan out the next few months as I know it. And I'll just have like an hour block for this and prioritize it. Like I can't do anything else that hour. Even if it's, you know, something that comes up last minute, like I have to be able to prioritize like each block of time so that I can actually fit in the life outside of work, which is a lot of time. So I try to stick with that. What is the biggest challenge that you run into into your day to day work? So for me, it's really about end goal. And I mentioned this earlier, but we have these family rescue campaigns that we start. And, you know, once we find a family that needs help rescuing someone out of China, we do a lot of congressional advocacy. We do roundtables, panels, hearings. We suggest bills. We suggest action items, social media posts. Sometimes we even draft press releases for congressional offices. A lot of that happens in a short amount of time. You don't have a lot of time to waste when, you know, the family member has reports of torture, for example. Or they're on a hunger strike because they feel like this is so unfair and they need to peacefully and nonviolently appeal for their civil rights. And we had a case back in 2022 where a few days before the Beijing Olympics, the Winter Olympics, we heard that a mother of this architect in New York City was detained out of nowhere. Like three days before the Beijing Olympics started. She lived in Inner Mongolia. And it's not that far off from Beijing. If you check the map, it's like north of the Beijing area. And we immediately jumped in, helped her son in New York gain opportunities to speak at panels in D.C. and to really advocate for his mother's release because this was a very tight timeline we were working on. And one month later, we heard that she had died. So that was a really devastating blow in terms of getting to know this architect, getting to know his family. His wife was pregnant at the time. And I believe their child was born the same day as his mother's death. Or around the same week. And to be able to have sorrow but also joy being so intermixed was so emotionally difficult because I got to know her story. Obviously, none of the family were able to visit her while she was in detention because they don't have any rights. Falun Gong practitioners aren't treated like people or citizens even in these situations. Basically, they had tortured her so bad that within 11 days of detention, she fell into a coma. And when she was in a coma, they sent her to the hospital and they had police guarding her room at all times. And she was shackled. Even in a coma, she was shackled. Her hands and feet were shackled to the bed. And then they had cremated her after she died without family consent. And there were nearly 50 police officers outside her crematorium because they refused to let the family in. So it's just such a heartbreaking situation. And you know you did the best you could. But since the end goal wasn't reached, she wasn't saved. Her life wasn't saved. You can't undo that. There's no grade like there is in college or high school or you don't get an A-plus for trying your best. And that's just the reality. So those cases are probably the most difficult emotionally. But then you have simultaneously 10 other family rescue cases. So even though that was so difficult, you still have to take that as motivation to work harder and get the other family cases out. My final question is for young people such as yourself, what is your advice to them? They may be struggling with their schedule, with meaning in life, with knowing what to do, or just simply being overwhelmed by video games. What would you tell them? Every action has consequences. So do whatever you want. Try whatever you want. But like my high school classmates who, you know, some of them were even disowned by their families because they weren't able to finish college or they fell into different states of drug dependency and addiction. You can do whatever you want, but actions will either help you or harm you. So as long as you know that every action of yours has a consequence, you know, the world is your oyster, really. And even if you're in your 20s, your 30s, or even your 40s, I don't think it's too late to try new things. If you're not satisfied with where you are right now, a lot of people claim that financial stability is why they're working a job that doesn't fulfill them. But, you know, my mom was in her 40s when she had my younger brother and she completely changed careers. She went back to school in her 40s. She completely enjoys what she's doing right now. And I can see a spark and she seems younger than she was before. She made that change. I truly believe that, you know, you're never too old to start something. You're never too old to learn and just go for it. Go for it. Nothing is holding you back. Truly nothing is holding you back but yourself. Cynthia, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate your insights. Appreciate the work you're doing and how you're combining beauty and knowledge and the work for human rights that's so important these days. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for having me, Steve. Thank you for watching another episode of Bay Area Innovators. If you enjoyed this episode and you know someone who should be on our show, please send us an email at sfbay.epochtimes.com. We would love to hear from you. Thank you and see you next week.