biOAKraphy
Back in 1976, a baby girl named Oh was born into the family of somewhat famous architect/respected professor and his wife.
That spunky little thing managed to grow up unharmed despite running around with two older brothers. She attended Jurairat Kindergarten and proceeded to Mater Dei Institute (back then was Mater Dei School) for excellent education.
When her parents considered her “old enough” to venture out on her own at the age of 14, Oh was sent to an English-speaking country each summer break (March-April for Thai students) to master the English language. First, it was a month in New Zealand with a group of Thai students. Then it was 7 weeks in Bournemouth, England, with one of the friends of the family. And finally in 1993, she landed in Whittier, California for a 2-month stay. It was in the U.S. of A where the tomboyish Oh was bestowed an American name of Oakley after the great Annie Oakley.
Upon her return to Thailand, Oakley decided to follow her older brothers’ footsteps and make the giant leap across the Pacific for higher education. It was about damn time she left for the U.S., her principal told her. “You’ve always been too ‘Western’ and you constantly hit the cultural ceiling here. It’s about time you go out there and be yourself.”
Oakley entered 11th grade at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, Orange County, California. She was the only international student there at the time, and the first ever to have graduated from the school. Still considered “shy” in her first year as she tread the new waters, but she eventually grew into her quirky self. Oakley took the stage with minor roles in “The Curious Savages” and “The Great Ghost Chase” and mimed her way through “Snoopy! the Musical” as Woodstock, took up the cultural attache role with her performance of Thai classical dance at Talent Show and setting up a Loy Kratong festival demonstration, and joined the intermediate choir in her senior year in addition to handbell choir.
Oakley then entered University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications in 1995, and picked up a minor in Cinema-Television. Throughout her undergraduate years, she ran around campus with Trojan Pride during football season, helped out with (and eventually led) Thai Student Association, worked hard for Annenberg Center, and promoted movies for Warner Bros. Studios. Besides the passion for film, thanks to Frenchy, Oakley also discovered her inner geek, and later on learned to express herself through writing.
Oakley graduated with honors in 1998, one semester early. Still undecided about what to do next and with the support of her parents, she took one year off to work full-time in Los Angeles in order to figure out the beginning of the rest of her life. Oakley landed a receptionist job at HSX - Hollywood Stock Exchange, where she worked everyday with both of her true passions, movies and the internet. She remained there as their intern, interacting with “traders” and doing research after she decided to return to USC Annenberg School Communications Management graduate program in January 2000.
Somewhere between graduate school and work at HSX, Oakley found time to ask out the company’s systems administrator, Brandon. Well, Oakley asked him out when he was sleep deprived and couldn’t quite say no. A year and half later, Brandon asked Oakley to marry him when she thought he was tying his shoelaces in front of the old HSX building.
In January 2002, soon after Oakley’s completion of graduate school, they got married in a hybrid of Thai and American traditions.
After a 2-year stint at a political public relations firm in Long Beach, Oakley began a long commute to a greener pasture for a nonprofit organization in Downtown Los Angeles. She is now getting paid to do what she loves: creating content, designing marketing materials, fixing up websites, organizing events, raising money for the company, and throwing staff parties.
Oakley and Brandon reside in Los Alamitos, California. No kids, just a bunch of friends to feed. They are looking to raising some kittens down the road.
