This is an occasional column focused on everyday people who live in Forest Park. Maybe you’ve met her? This interview with Jennifer Luong took place at U3 Coffee. It was edited for clarity.

How long have you lived in Forest Park?

I actually just moved here a year ago. I used to live in Oak Park, so not too far.

What brought you to Forest Park?

My aunt lives here. It’s going great. We kind of help each other emotionally and physically and stuff. I also really like the community here and everything is close. Like U3 Coffee is right here, Kribi Coffee, and I’m a big coffee fan so I always come over here. I live where everything is close. And the train is right here, I take the train to school all the time. I love how close everything is.

You said you were in school, what are you studying?

I’m in business administration right now. I go to National Louis University. I like it a lot. 

What’s the oddest job you’ve ever had?

I would say, out of all my jobs, probably Dunkin’ Donuts. I used to play a lot of cooking games growing up, and just kind of felt like a real-life version of that. Especially now that I’m a pharmacy technician, so it’s so different. And that was my previous job before this one, so definitely a different environment.

What’s a job you are proud of?

Pharmacy technician. I’ve been there for two years. Definitely proud of it. I’m studying to be certified soon. I like my work environment. All of my co-workers are really nice. I actually hang out with my co-workers outside of work. We’re all kind of the same age. We’re all going to school. I mean, we’re in different schools. We kind of relate a lot. I feel like we make a good team, too. We make sure we get stuff done.

What does a pharmacy tech involve?

It involves a lot, actually! Of course, it’s the simple things like bringing out prescriptions for patients, but we also have to fill prescriptions, pull them, and deal with out-of-stocks, insurances, third-party authorizations. Yeah, basically the middle-ground between patients, insurance companies and getting their prescriptions.

What kind of business do you want to go into?

I want to go into HR – human resources. I want to work with insurance companies because of my background with pharmacies. With human resources, since I am Asian-American, I feel like I definitely understand what it’s like to be a minority and I like the idea of just being a middle ground between people in the work field and big companies. I feel like a lot of people feel like they can’t reach out to them, so I hope that I can be that person.

Do you have any pet-peeves?

The first thing that comes to mind, probably because I’m in a coffee shop, I guess people are eating with their mouth open, or really loud gum-smacking. That’s pretty much it.

What gives you hope?

My future. I’m so young. I’m excited to get my degree, and I’m hopefully getting an internship soon so that will definitely open doors for me.

If you were going to give advice to someone, what would that be?

That would be to focus on yourself. For sure. Plain and simple as that. Even if you’re in a relationship or even with family, at the end of the day, just focus on yourself. At the end of the day, you just have yourself.

Amy Binns-Calvey is an author and occasional contributor to the Forest Park Review.