Melissa Segura

Melissa Segura is a rising fourth-year sociology student at the University of California, Davis. She is a sansei Japanese American and is very active in the Japanese American community in Northern California. She is a member of the Japanese American Student Society at UC Davis as well as the Asian and Pacific Islander Community Coordinator at the Cross Cultural Center. When she is not working, you can find her figure skating or spending time with her friends and family (and cats)!

Updated June 2024

Stories from This Author

Nikkei Chronicles #13—Nikkei Names 2: Grace, Graça, Graciela, Megumi?

Who Am I? Reclaiming My Japanese Identity

July 29, 2024 • Melissa Segura

My full name is Melissa Monique Segura. My father is half Japanese, half Mexican while my mother is full Mexican. My dad’s mom, Tomie, and her sister, Midori, were born and raised in Japan and eventually moved to the United States after World War II. I remember very little of my grandmother and her sister. The only memories I have of her stem from stories that my parents would tell me. I remember that she used to go back to …