One year ago, UCSB grad Vicki Wang was living in the Silicon Valley, working as an account manager for a digital marketing company. It was a good job that made use of her BA in business and marketing, but it wasn’t her passion. What little free time she had she devoted to dancing. She took ballet and classical Chinese dance classes and even began performing with a Chinese dance troupe. When the first wave of job layoffs hit the region, Vicki was spared. Then came another wave, and another. Finally, in November 2010, the cuts reached her.
“There was initial shock and sadness,” Wang remembered, “but now I can say it’s actually been a good thing.”
Three months after opening her very own dance and martial arts studio in Old Town Goleta, Wang is feeling optimistic about all the changes of the past year. She spoke to me over coffee at Spudnuts, which occupies the street front at 5718 Hollister Avenue, where Sino West Performing Arts is based.