African-American, Hmong, and born in Atlanta, Georgia, I, Arthur Doua Xiong, am a lover of animation. As a kid, my dad would show me and my sister the old G1 Transformers show and Speed Racer. We loved them. The stories they told were engaging and it was a great opportunity to spend time with Dad. Several years later and a slew of Pixar films and YouTube videos, I learned it could be done as a career.

 

I was watching a bunch of stick figure animations when I happened upon Alan Becker. Like me, he was homeschooled, and through his YouTube channel I learned animation could be a fun career. That was when I knew it was the field for me.