About

Hi, I'm Sandi — Miami-based creative, self-taught cook, passionate traveler, and the person behind Sandalicious.

I was born in Taiwan, adopted at two, and raised in Chicago by parents who were warm, traditional, and — yes — very strict. (Asian parents. You know how it is. 😅) I lost my mom when I was 12, my grandmother at 16, and my dad at 30. Whew... that was a lot. I've been navigating life largely on my own terms ever since, figuring things out as I go, making plenty of mistakes, and slowly, quietly, learning to survive, grow, and heal.

I've built a career being a creative across many spectrums — retail, events, hospitality, years behind bars and in dining rooms (the fun kind) where I learned how people really are when they let their guard down. I hold degrees in Interior Architecture and Visual Communications Design. For a long time I climbed the corporate ladder, pouring everything into work — until one day I hit a wall, burnt out and honest with myself. So I did what made sense: I bet on myself and started SE Creatives Group, focusing on design, creativity, and project management. And somewhere in that shift, I finally asked the question I should've asked sooner: what actually makes me come alive?

Three things kept showing up: life, food, and travel. Not as categories — as the way I actually live. I love to eat, so I taught myself to cook. I live to travel — to explore, to learn, to see what's out there beyond my own little corner of the world. I make the effort to make it a huge part of my life, and it has never let me down. And I have a lot of thoughts, a lot of stories, and a lot of hard-won lessons I've been meaning to write down for a long time. Sandalicious is where all of that finally lands.

Our lives should be defined by how we live them — not by what we do for work, or what our title is. That realization hit me around my 40th birthday, and honestly, I was grateful it came when it did and not twenty years later. So much of that hustle mentality gets drilled into us — by our parents, by society — and before you know it you've spent years chasing something that was never really yours to begin with. I know, because I lived it. The moments, the people, the experiences, the courage to step outside our little bubbles and see what's out there. There is so much magic in this world, so many people who think like you and feel like you — and I want this to be the place where we find each other. A real community. Somewhere you read something and think me too. Somewhere you feel seen, heard, and a little less alone.

A few things I live by: tomorrow isn't promised, so live your life now. Trust your journey. Everything happens for a reason. We are all on our own paths — but we can meet the right people and do the things that make that journey more memorable, more special, and a little bit easier.

Live in the moment. Breathe. Laugh at yourself — a lot. Love hard. Let's get after it.

Welcome to Sandalicious. I'm really glad you're here.