Curtiss Takada Rooks discusses how we can navigate and engage our increasing diversity in society. Curtiss Takada Rooks was born in Japan, but moved around quite a lot during his childhood. He’s lived in many states, including Kansas, Texas, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. He went to Dartmouth College to earn his BA’s in Asian studies and economics, earned an MA in public policy studies at Trinity College, and an MA in comparative culture at the University of California Irvine. He is an educator and has had several coaching and dean positions. His mom is the biggest role model. As a military wife, she was essentially a “single mother”, raising her two sons in her non-native culture. She taught him many values, including courage, persistence and generosity. His students have always served as an inspiration to him, and have created the desire to talk about the topic of being mixed-race. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.