OakMonster's Den

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.  (Thank GOD for a wonderful nanny!)  She attended Jurairat Kindergarten and proceeded to Mater Dei Institute (back then was Mater Dei School) for excellent education.

At 12, Oh was selected as a part of a delegation of 2 boys, 2 girls and one 21-year-old chaperon to represent Thailand at Children International Summer Village (CISV) Hands Around the World in Melbourne, Australia.  For one glorious month, she learned about peace and friendship with children from all over the world.  That was a beginning of the rest of her life as a “cultural representative” wherever she goes.

When Oh’s parents considered her “old enough” to venture out on her own at the age of 14, she was sent to one English-speaking country each summer break (March-April for Thai students) for a language immersion program.  First was a month in New Zealand with a group of Thai students.  Then it was 7 weeks in Bournemouth, England, with her cousin and one of the friends of the family.  And finally in 1993, she landed in Whittier, California for a 2-month stay with a host family with only her “aunties” watching from the distance from Pasadena and Garden Grove. It was here in America where the tomboyish Oh was bestowed an American name of Oakley and discovered where she truly belongs.

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 westernized for your own good. Time for you to go over there and really shine.”

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 new waters, but she eventually grew into her quirky self in her senior year.

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 hand bell choir she had been in.

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, rocked out with a 3-man acoustic band, performed her original songs for her grades at the songwriting showcase, 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.

As fate would have it, 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 got down on his knee to ask her to marry him outside where HSX office used to be.  Oakley thought he was tying his shoe so she kept walking for a few steps before she realized what just happened.  She did came back, full of giggles, and said yes.

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: running around in the Twitterverse, 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, and are looking forward to raise some kittens one day.