Ms. Erika is a Language and Literature teacher at Seisen International School in Tokyo, Japan. Born and raised in California to a white American father and a Japanese immigrant mother, she never felt comfortable in her own freckled, olive skin. She has long walked the fragile line of trying to embrace two cultures, but not feeling truly accepted by either side. Her talk continues the conversation on identity by highlighting how a linguistic approach not only helped her navigate that difficult space, but it also opened her eyes to the world around her. Written as a retrospective letter to her teenage self, it is aimed at those budding adults who are on their own journey of self-discovery and may also feel that they are caught between two or more worlds.