Don - Breaking Barriers and Building Inclusive Spaces
How do you create the change that you want to see, in your own neighborhood? Don Ly can teach us a lot about showing up in spaces that we want to improve, inspire, and expand. As the child of Vietnamese refugees, Don’s parents paved the way for their family’s reinvention. As former farmers in their 20s, Don’s parents came to the states seeking a new beginning, without speaking any English. Don and his cousins were raised by his grandma, while his parents worked multiple full time jobs. Don recounted the struggles of his family being unable to afford new clothes, while he was in elementary and junior high. Knowing that he wanted more for himself, Don was determined, “I'm going to work hard and get out of this.”
Inspired by his parents to “embrace education and break barriers”, today Don is a 3rd grade teacher, a student at The University of Utah, a board member on the Ballpark Action Team, a chair member for the Midtown Business District, and the founder/owner of Space Tea, a local, family owned, boba and dessert cafe.
In all of Don’s roles, there is a clear set of motivating factors behind his determination, to show up for his communities. He is working with the Ballpack Action Team to activate spaces that aren’t being utilized. He is working with the Midtown Business District to support local businesses and help them thrive, believing that “local businesses are the heart of the community.” He’s helped to facilitate a fall carnival and a multicultural night at the school he teaches at, because he believes that, “Building a sense of community, helps you become successful. [When] you feel like you belong somewhere, you really feel like you have a drive to keep on going.”
Don pours his passion into all of his endeavors by: serving low income communities, supporting families, giving back to local communities, and creating inclusive spaces. “I think it's really nice to shift gears into making Salt Lake more of an inclusive space, for the residents that live here. I feel like there are a lot of residents that aren't as involved in the community. We're trying to reach out to those businesses and residents to make them more involved and feel at home.”
Don has experienced the growth of Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas, firsthand. Growing up in a time where he was picked on for being Asian, he notices that there has been an influx of diversity, but there’s still progress to be made. Don almost quit teaching in his first year, due to racist and homophobic remarks. Thankfully, he found a safe space teaching in the Salt Lake School District. “[I feel] like everyone's welcoming for the queer community and they support and embrace diversity, and culture, which I really love and enjoy.”
In an effort to provide an inclusive space where Don and his friends could “hang out on a late night”, Don mobilized to open Space Tea. “I really wanted to create a space that was inclusive; that people knew if [they] went to shop there, that this business isn't going to use the money and the profits for bad things. It's going to be going back to the community in some way.” It took a “huge chunk” of Don’s personal savings and three years of convincing his parents to loan him the rest (which he paid back one year later), to make Space Tea a reality.
Don attributes Space Tea’s success to the community. “We donate drinks to elementary schools and we also do a lot of local vendor [markets], as well.
It's fun to [host the] markets in our store, but the community piece,
that's what keeps the business fun.”
Don has big dreams on the horizon which includes expanding Space Tea into a larger space (still in the Ballpark neighborhood, of course), where they can host community events and continue to serve as the cool, late-night, LGBTQ+ owned and friendly gathering place. Don also hopes to move into the Ballpark area, to get his feet on the ground, in the neighborhood that he’s so passionate about. He’s also getting his master's degree in Instructional Leadership, with the hopes of becoming an elementary principal. “I work at a low income school, because I grew up low income, and I want to be a role model for these students, like, ‘Hey, you can work hard and you can get out of the generational poverty cycle.’”
Don is an outstanding example of the change that is possible, in our communities, when we show up and put in the work. Things that might otherwise feel overwhelming or impossible become a lot easier when you “surround yourself with people that want to help you grow.”