Janet Anne Panen on her love for national parks, Tuck Shop noodles, and her heritage

May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. While our offices may be closed, we still plan to have virtual activities around our inclusive theme, “api& ___ ,” celebrating the vibrancy, diversity, and messiness of our intersecting identities.

The “&” lets us break out of a single definition: at a personal level, it creates space for us to explore our intersecting identities; on a global scale, it invites us to reflect on the larger communities that we’re a part of. We explore this theme by asking some of our Dropboxers about their pastimes, their experiences at Dropbox, and more. Get to know Janet Anne Panen!

I’m Asian and _________ ?

A National Park Explorer.

Left: Mooney Falls at the Havasupai Indian reservation! You backpack 10 miles in and 10 miles out to camp for 1–2 nights. Once camped, you can see 3 different waterfalls. This is the 2nd one.; Right: Me at the Wave in Utah. Technically not a National Park but a National Monument. One of the coolest/most exclusive hikes I’ve ever gotten to do — they only allow for 20 permits a day, and 20 walk-ins, so you have the place entirely to yourself.

Can you tell us how you got interested in national parks and hiking and started exploring this passion?

I actually started with rock climbing, and then got into hiking too. I made it my mission to start finding new, cool, beautiful places to go, and I always try to incorporate a little bit of the outdoors in my day-to-day.

The Grand Tetons! One of the 8 nationals parks I visited in 8 days in 2017.

Left: Rock climbing at Red Rocks in Las Vegas. I’m not a great climber, but this photo makes it look like I am.; Right: Lanikai Pillbox in Hawai’i at sunrise. Worth getting up at 4am for.

Can you tell us about your first day at Dropbox?

I joined HelloSign on April 1, 2019, right after the acquisition — I thought I was not going to get this job (April fools)! Honestly though, I had tried to be a Dropboxer many times, so it actually felt really good to feel like I made it to a company I had been looking forward to working for, for a long time.

My first day at HelloSign at our old office before we moved into the Dropbox office at 333 Brannan!

What team are you on?

I am an API (Application Programming Interface) Support Engineer for HelloSign. Basically I help HelloSign customers with their implementation of the API.

My amazing HelloSign API Support team on our Q1 2020 offsite, pre-quarantine times.

What office do you work in?

At Owens [what we call our SF headquarters] in San Francisco.

What is your favorite part of the Asians@ ERG?

I love that they give us a lot of opportunities to explore Asian contributions to culture. For example, I participated in the “Farewell” screening at the Alamo Drafthouse, and I thought that was a really cool opportunity to support other Asian Americans that are trying to make it in American culture.

What have you learned about yourself from current or past API months?

That all of our stories are very unique, but no matter if you’re Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, etc., there’s some sort of common ground or common experience we all share.

What is your favorite place you’ve visited?

My favorite place that I’ve visited is Glacier National Park in Montana. Whenever I visualize a place where I feel the safest and happiest, that’s always the mental picture that comes to mind — I’m on this mountain going to see a glacier, surrounded by snowcapped mountains and looking down on these turquoise blue lakes.

Left: Hiking on snow on the trail to Grinnell Glacier on July 4, 2017, at Glacier National Park. One of my favorite hikes I’ve ever done, and we weren’t even able to get up to the glaciers because it was still snowed over. WE SAW A BEAR AT THE END — but it was very, very far away. Looked more like a brown dot slowly moving around.; Right: One more shot on the trail to Grinnell Glacier at Glacier National Park in Montana. This is the mental image I see when I think of my happy place.

What is one of your favorite Dropbox moments?

I met Arash’s [co-founder of Dropbox] dad at the Owens opening party. I just randomly happened to sit next to him without knowing who he was and got into a really cool conversation with him. I loved sharing that moment with him and seeing how proud he was of his son.

What Dropbox office would you most like to visit?

Tokyo and Austin. I’ve always wanted to go to Tokyo to see the cherry blossoms. And I really want to go to Austin — with all the support team there, it just seems like such a fun bubbly Texan family!

What is your favorite Tuck Shop [our cafe] station?

Seven, which is the Asian one that has sushi a lot, or the Asian noodle station upstairs. I literally get something from one of those every day!

One of my first Dropbox Tuck Shop meals on the old office’s rooftop: garlic noodles and sushi! (My two favorite Tuck Shop stations.)

What part of the office do you miss most during quarantine?

little-r [the in-office coffee shop]. I definitely miss açaí bowls and little-r coffee.

What is a hobby or skill you’ve been exploring during quarantine?

Knitting! (Also baking.)

Left: My second knitting project: an infinity scarf!; Right: Chocolate chip & matcha white chocolate chip cookies!

You’re the front woman of a band. What type of music do they play?

I’d be a DJ like Tokimonsta or Sosupersam.

You can learn more about the various ERGs that support team members of all different backgrounds at Dropbox here.