About Diana: Diana Chu is a Marriage and Family Therapist and a Registered Drama Therapist in San Francisco. She has experience working at a Living Arts Counseling Center, Community Youth Center, Counseling Enriched Educational Program (CEEP), School-Based Counseling, Family Engagement Program and Autistic Spectrum Disorder Clinic. She is currently working at Asian Family Institute as a therapist for children, families and individuals. She also provides consultation and supervision on Drama Therapy. She also hosts a podcast called Waves of Change, which focuses on Modern Perspectives on Asian American Psychology. When not working, she loves spending time with her Husky, Ella.

→ dianachutherapy.com → 🎧
https://waves-of-change-modern-perspectives-in-asian-ameri.pinecast.co/

Workshop Description: Only recently has there been real opportunity for the Asian-Pacific Islander community to influence politics, media, and American culture. In just the last ten years, AAPI political grassroots organizations have grown significantly in scale and sophistication. Political campaigns in the last few election cycles have standardized the practice of hiring AAPI Outreach Directors. Media and publications like Huffington Post and NBC News have launched Asian Voices/Asian American reporting verticals. And now, the need to stand in solidarity and condemn anti-Asian violence has become mainstream and expected in most industries.

About Linh: Linh has extensive political campaign experience, specializing in outreach strategies to young voters and communities of color, while working for a number of candidates across the country. 

She spent the 2020 presidential year with Sen. Cory Booker as his Director of Coalitions and was the Political Director for #TheNew campaign: a creative collaboration between RUN AAPI and Meena Harris’s Phenomenal Woman. She later joined the Democratic Party of Georgia as their AAPI Coalition Director, overseeing engagement with the Asian-Pacific communities during the Georgia runoff elections. Linh rounded out the election cycle with the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s Office of Public Engagement to welcome in the Biden-Harris administration. She consulted in creative programming and partnerships.

Currently, Linh consults on API engagement in disaster relief and public health emergencies with Gov. Newsom’s Office of Emergency Services, and is the Brand Management + Creative Partnerships Director for a new social gaming impact firm, Thirty Two West.

About Quyen: Quyen Ngo is an organizer, facilitator, and actor based in Los Angeles, CA. She designs and facilitates participant-centered programs that promote experiential learning. Over the past 15 years, she has worked with groups around the world to build capacity, strategize, and improve communication. Her acting work focuses on increasing nuance in a world deprived of it. Catch her voice as the narrator of Audie-nominated The Mountains Sing, the debut English-language novel of Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai.

About Jason: Jason R. Nguyen is a dual-doctoral candidate at Indiana University in Folklore & Ethnomusicology and Communication & Culture. He researches Vietnamese identity discourses and the networks through which they circulate, with special emphasis on niche media industries, Vietnamese American youth organizations, and Vietnamese social activism. He is also a multi-instrumentalist specializing in Vietnamese traditional instruments, particularly the one-string “đàn bầu.”

Workshop Description: How many of our parents’ stories have been untold? After my dad survived a heart attack, I started recording conversations with him to ask about his life as a soldier, refugee, father, etc. That decision transformed our relationship. He told me stories I had never heard—stories that connected me to our family history and cultural heritage—stories that I can pass on to future generations.

If you’ve ever wanted to piece together your parents’ stories, then this workshop will give you the structure to have these meaningful conversations. You’ll hear a recorded story, have 1-on-1 discussions, and receive a story kit with 62 conversation-starters to discover/document your family’s stories.

About Jimmy: Jimmy Patel-Nguyen is the founder of REFUGENE, a father, and a child of Vietnamese refugees. 

After graduating from NC State University, Jimmy started a 10-year marketing career working for brands like Under Armour, Travelocity, and Crocs. During that time, his father suffered a heart attack which motivated Jimmy to relocate closer to his parents and to record meaningful conversations about their lives.

In 2018, Jimmy established REFUGENE—a storytelling platform and cultural apparel brand—with the belief that storytelling will connect future generations to their heritage. Most recently, REFUGENE partnered with UNAVSA to publish a book of stories told by overseas Vietnamese.