Cultural Biography of Alyssa Nicole Hanzel
Name
My name is Alyssa Nicole Hanzel. My first name came from the famous actress Alyssa
Milano. When she was a child, she was on a show called Who's the Boss. My parents thought
she was quite adorable and loved her name. My middle name doesn't have a story to it. My
mother just thought Alyssa Nicole had a very nice sound to it. My father was adopted and given
the last name Hanzel. Hanzel is a German surname, but ours came from Czechoslovakia. If my
father had not been adopted, our last name would have been Grace. Grace is a surname that was
first found in England.
Ancestry/Culture
Due to my father being adopted, I took an ancestry DNA test to find out who I really am.
Before the test, I knew very little of who I was. My culture is considered American, but as far as
my ancestry went, I was told I was English, Irish, Swedish, Italian, French, and Dutch. Turns out
my results weren't that far off. My top four results were the following:
• 39% Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales)
• 24% Ireland/Scotland/Wales
• 19% Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Demark)
• 11% Europe West (Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland)
The other results such as Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal were all less than 3%. It has been
very interesting to see the DNA of what makes me who I am. Another perk of testing, I was able
to find my father's biological father. We had already found his biological mother in 1998.
Birth Order
In 1994, I went from being an only child to a big sister. Even as a four year old, I knew
my new role to my baby brother was his protector. I always tried to be the best sister he could
ever have. Sometimes that would get me in trouble with my parents because I would baby him
too much. Trying to protect him definitely came from parts of my type A personality. I believe
I'm a mix of type A and B, but more so A. I struggled with failure as a child. I always set really
high expectations for myself and was way too hard on myself when I didn't meet those
expectations. As an adult, I've learned that not everything can be in my control 24/7. I still enjoy
having most of my life in a certain order.
Religion
Neither of my parents had a set religion as adults. They believed in God, but did not
attend any churches. My brother and I were to be raised that way as well. They wanted us to
have the opportunity as adults to find which religion was best for us, if any were. My
grandmother (father's adopted mother) had other ideas. She was a very religious woman and
once tried to plan a baptism behind my parents back. As you can imagine, things were never seen
eye to eye when it came to religion. To this day, I still do not have a set religion.
Socio-Economic Status
I was born and raised in Orange County, California. My mother worked full time in
financing and my father worked in construction when I was a child. Their average yearly income
was around $60,000 to $80,000. We were and still are middle class. I was very privileged as a
child to not know what it was like to struggle financially. We always went on family vacations
and had big birthday celebrations.
Family Structures
I grew up in a home with my mom, dad, and brother. Until I was 12 years old, my great
grandmother (mother's grandma) lived only about 15 minutes away from us. I would spend every
day at her home until I was old enough to start school. After I started school, she would still pick
me up every day and take me to her home or out for adventures. Some of my best memories are
from being at her house with my great grandfather too. They moved to Las Vegas to live with
my grandparents in 2002. My great grandfather passed away in 2007, but my great grandmother
is still alive and living her best life in her 90s. Her and my grandparents are a big reason as to
why I moved to Las Vegas. I'm happy to be here to help them in their older years, but still close
enough to my family in California.
