2012 NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN EDUCATION ADVOCATES SUMMIT
April 28-29, 2012
Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York City
SPEAKERS
Surjeet Ahluwalia
Director of Operations, Asian American LEAD (Washington, D.C.)
sahluwalia@aalead.org
Surjeet Ahluwalia is Director of Operations for Asian American LEAD (AALEAD). Founded in 1998,
AALEAD is the only youth development organization targeting the needs of low-income and underserved
Asian Americans in the DC area. Surjeet oversees programming and operations for the organization.
Over the last 10 years, Surjeet has worked to build and strengthen several non-profit organizations as
well as a local government agency. She was project manager for the Health Impact Fund, a proposal to
increase innovation and access to life-saving medicines globally, and for AmericaSpeaks, where she
managed several large initiatives to engage citizens more directly in governance, as well as with the
District of Columbia's Child and Family Services Agency. Surjeet was the start-up Director of Operations
for Teach For India, based on the Teach For America model. Surjeet has a Master's in Public Policy
degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Bachelor's degree
in Political Science from the University of Rochester.
Khin Mai Aung
Director, Educational Equity and Youth Rights Project, Asian American Legal Defense and Education
Fund (New York, NY)
kaung@aaldef.org
Khin Mai Aung is the Director of the Educational Equity and Youth Rights Project at the Asian American
Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). Among other things, she works on access to bilingual
education, language access, anti-Asian violence in public schools, school discipline, post 9/11 and gang
profiling, affirmative action, and school integration. Her accomplishments have included collaborating
with the National Asian American Education Advocates (NAAEA) Network to overturn the suspension of
an Iowa student who protested her misclassification as an English Language Learner because she spoke
Lao at home, and winning reinstatement for 3 Cambodian and Latino teachers in Lowell, Massachusetts
due to discriminatory English fluency testing. Before joining AALDEF, she advocated for and with Asian
American youth in the San Francisco Bay Area where she was the Director of Policy and Civic
Engagement at Youth Leadership Institute and a Staff Attorney at Asian Law Caucus. She started her
legal career at the law firm of Morrison & Foerster, and graduated from University of California Berkeley
School of Law and Georgetown University.
Mark Ro Beyersdorf
Program Associate, Educational Equity and Youth Rights Project, Asian American Legal Defense and
Education Fund (New York, NY)
mrobeyersdorf@aaldef.org
Mark Ro Beyersdorf is a queer, second-generation, mixed-race Korean American activist currently living
in Queens, NY. He has worked for grassroots organizations, political campaigns, the federal government,
and national civil rights organizations addressing racial justice, LGBTQ issues, and sexual exploitation
since high school.
Mark is currently on the staff of the Educational Equity and Youth Rights Project at the Asian American
Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). Prior to AALDEF, Mark worked on the staff of the
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) for then-chair Congressman Mike Honda and as
a Field Organizer for the Obama Campaign in rural Ohio.
In New York City, he is active in the local AAPI community as a member of Nodutdol, a progressive
Korean diasporic organization, the Board of Directors of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, and the
Coordinating Committee of the Dari Project, an organization that works to increase awareness and
acceptance of LGBTQ people of Korean descent in Korean American communities
Mark grew up in San Diego, CA and received his B.A. in History and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration from
Yale University.
Sarun Chan
Youth Program Director, Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)
chansarun@gmail.com
Sarun Chan is the Youth Program Director at the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia. He
attended the Pennsylvania State University where majored in Sociology with a minor in English. Sarun
was born in a refugee camp in Thailand during Cambodia’s civil war after the fall of the genocidal Khmer
Rouge regime. Sarun coordinates programming where he works with directly with groups across the
various generations. Sarun also works on projects that require him to collaborate regularly with other
agencies on the local and national level where it directly impacts communities of color. His interest
includes demography, race & ethnic relations, identity, and events coordinating. On his free time, he
enjoys cooking and dreams of one day opening up his own Southeast Asian Bistro to further impact the
larger community through delicious food.
Melissa Chan-Leiba
Program Manager, Center for Pan Asian Community Services (Atlanta, GA)
melissa.leiba@cpacs.org
Melissa Chan-Leiba is a program manager at The Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS)
located in Atlanta, Georgia. She was born in California and moved to Atlanta to attend Spelman College.
While in college, she started working with youth through the Atlanta Public School System and non-profit
organizations. She began working at CPACS in 2005. Melissa manages the "Jobs for Pay” summer
program through Workforce Investment Act, after school programs and youth leadership empowerment
and development program.
Wei Chen
Student Activist, Asian Student Association of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)
cw041056@yahoo.com
Five years ago, Wei Chen’s father brought him to Philadelphia from China, he spoke no English and had
no knowledge of the community’s history of tense race relations. But he discovered immediately that
Asian students at the school were being systematically beaten by groups of other students, and that the
school administration was doing nothing to stop it. Not knowing what else to do, Wei believed his best
chance lay in keeping his head down, working hard and not attracting any attention.
Wei studied the civil rights movement tried to organize students to stand up against the attacks, boycott
classes and demand that the school administration take more aggressive action to prevent them. But too
many were fearful of reprisal and disapproval from their own parents, who were culturally resistant to
challenge authority.
Steve Chung
President, United Chinese Association of Brooklyn (New York, NY)
dabull003@msn.com
Steve Chung was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to the U.S. in 1973. His life and background
typifies many of the new immigrant teenagers with language difficulty. Steve enrolled as an English
Language Learner in high school. Through hard work he eventually earned a masters degree in
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Information Management System for Engineering Design. Currently, Steve is an Electronic Engineer
specializing in the test and evaluation field.
Steve has been volunteering as the President of United Chinese Association of Brooklyn (UCA) since
2003. Under Steve’s leadership, UCA has grown to be the largest and the only non profit organization
that provides both direct social services and civil justice advocacy in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. UCA’s
registered membership has increased from the original three hundred to more than two thousand now.
Currently, UCA has three major programs: Senior Services, Youth Development and Community
Outreach.
Jacob Cohen
Assistant Director, Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)
jacobcohen@vayla-no.org
Jacob received his BA in Political Science from Pomona College, graduating Summa Cum Laude. During
his time as an undergraduate, Jacob was selected as a Public Policy and International Affairs fellow, a
Young People For fellow, and a Truman Scholar Finalist. He received the top departmental prize for his
senior thesis, Privatization, Antidemocratic Governance and the “New Orleans Miracle”: Reexamining
Post-Katrina Education Reform through Bottom-Up Participatory Action Research, a segment of which
was later published in UCLA’s AAPI Nexus journal. The recipient of the Davis Projects for Peace, the
Donald Strauss award, and the inaugural Napier Initiative Award for Creative Leadership, Jacob garnered
over $35,000 in grants during his undergraduate career to pursue work in New Orleans with the
Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association. He spent his last two summers during college
developing the Raise Your Hand Campaign, a program that empowers youth of color to document and
contest inequities within New Orleans public schools.
As Assistant Director of the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association, Jacob directs the Raise
Your Hand Campaign and supports the organization’s general fund development. In two years as
Assistant Director, Jacob has worked intensively with the Executive Director to triple the size of the
organization’s operating budget and to attract over a dozen new foundation partners. As director of the
Raise Your Hand Campaign, Jacob has supported countless projects and initiatives, including the city’s
most expansive post-Katrina youth-led evaluation of New Orleans high schools. Currently, the Raise Your
Campaign engages over 30 committed youth leaders across five organizing committees, and has a base
of over 200 students. In 2011, the Raise Your Hand Campaign drove a local organizing effort that directly
resulted in the district’s first-ever hiring of bilingual community liaison staff, an annual public investment of
over $80,000. Since the program’s founding, RYHC youth leaders have met over 15 times with topranking officials, and have been quoted in close of a dozen major print media articles and on two local
news broadcasts.
Trang Dang
Student Activist, Asian Student Association of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)
trang.dang94@gmail.com
Trang Dang is a senior at South Philadelphia High School. She is currently enrolled in the Sustainability
Workshop School, an honors program for High School senior students. The Sustainability Workshop
is a project-based learning school where students design curriculum based on personal interest.
She and her sister joined the boycott of South Philadelphia High School after they were attacked inside
and outside the school on December 3. Since then, she has been actively organizing students in South
Philadelphia High School to empower Asian immigrant students to become leaders in their community.
After she joined Asian Student Association of Philadelphia, she has worked closely with Vietnamese
students to educate them and help them address the problem of bias-based violence.
Quyen Dinh
Education Policy Advocate, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (Washington, D.C.)
quyen@searac.org
AALDEF • 99 HUDSON STREET, 12 FL • NEW YORK. NY 10013 •
T 212.966.5932 • F 212.966.4303 • INFO@AALDEF.ORG
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Quyen Dinh is the Education Policy Advocate for the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC).
In this role, Quyen focuses on implementing SEARAC’s Southeast Asian American Action and Visibility in
Education (SAVE) program. Prior to joining SEARAC, Quyen served as Senior Program Manager of the
International Children Assistance Network (ICAN) in San Jose, CA. At ICAN, she oversaw an early
childhood education campaign that serves Vietnamese immigrant families through community education
channels ranging from parenting workshops, to weekly radio programs and community forums. Her work
at ICAN ranged from conducting community outreach, to resource development and staff management.
Quyen holds a Master of Public Policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs with a focus in
education policy and research methods. At UCLA, Quyen spent her summer internship with Education
Pioneers, a national human capital organization building the pipeline of talent to address the urban
education crisis. With Education Pioneers, she worked with the Silicon Valley Education Foundation on
Lessonopoly, an online open-source consortium of lesson plans. Quyen also co-founded a graduate
student organization called Policy Professionals for Diversity & Equity with the mission to provide a forum
for students and alumni to advocate for diversity and equity within the Masters of Public Policy program at
UCLA. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of California,
Berkeley. Quyen grew up in both Orange County, CA and San Jose, CA, homes to the two largest
Vietnamese American communities in the United States.
Lata D’Mello
Assistant Director, Monsoon United Asian Women of Iowa (Des Moines, IA)
latadmello@muawi.org
Lata D'Mello is the assistant director of Monsoon United Asian Women of Iowa, an organization serving
victims/survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Asian and Pacific Islander communities in
Iowa. She works primarily as a multilingual advocate, providing direct services to API victims of domestic
violence and sexual assault; assisting with the sexual assault prevention program involving API youths;
and coordinating an oral history project on sexual assault among older API women. Lata hails from
Mumbai, India. She also has had about 22 years of experience as a journalist in newspapers in India,
Singapore and the United States. Her interests are social and economic justice, community health, and
arts and culture.
Nyasha Griffith
Policy Manager, Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (New York, NY)
ngriffith@cacf.org
Nyasha joined CACF in July 2011. As a Policy Manager, she is responsible for leading CACF's city and
state policy advocacy on Education and Child Welfare in order to improve educational and child welfare
policies, funding, and services for Asian Pacific American children and families. She will also be fostering
collaboration with other advocates, community based organizations, and communities of color to conduct
joint advocacy campaigns. Nyasha has over five years of experience in policy advocacy, human rights,
and community development. Prior to joining CACF, she worked at the Neighborhood Family Services
Coalition where she spearheaded the Preventive Services Action Network, securing a funding increase of
$4.2 million for preventive services. She has also worked at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meagher & Flom, the South African Human Rights Commission, the Center for the Study of Human
Rights at Columbia University, and the Social Development Commission in Kingston, Jamaica. Nyasha
received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Georgetown University, her Master of Science in Social
Work from Columbia University, and her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.
Klyde W. Kim
Program Manager, Youth Department, Center for Pan Asian Community Services (Atlanta, GA)
klyde.kim@cpacs.org
Born in Atlanta, GA, Klyde attended the University of Georgia and received a BSED in 2000. After four
years as a Biology teacher in Athens-Clarke County, he spent time in New York City as an Administrative
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Assistant for American Express and then transitioned to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as a
Certification Officer for the Radiology Department. Klyde has grown up with CPACS. He started as the
lead summer school teacher in the Jobs for PAY Program for 4 summers and now is a Program Manager
for the Youth Department overseeing all 13 after school sites and managing over 40 employees.
Jenny Lam
Director of Community Initiatives, Chinese for Affirmative Action (San Francisco, CA)
jlam@caasf.org
Jenny is the Director of Community Initiatives at Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA). Her
responsibilities include overseeing CAA’s local San Francisco community building, policy and analysis,
and advocacy programs. These programs focus on the organization’s core issues including workforce
development, immigrant rights, racial justice, and education.
A second-generation Chinese American, she is passionate about social justice and has dedicated her
career to public service—specialized in the areas of youth empowerment, education and women’s rights.
Prior to joining CAA, Ms. Lam served as the Executive Director of GirlVentures in San Francisco and held
a six year career with the Oakland Asian Students Educational Services (OASES), serving in various
roles from program Director to Deputy Director where she was responsible for organizational
development, fiscal and internal operations.
Jenny was appointed to the San Francisco Redistricting Taskforce in 20111 and served as Vice-Chair.
She is a board member for the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and has
been involved with the organization since 2004. Ms. Lam received her B.A. in Political Science and Asian
American Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Otter Lee
New York City High School Student (New York, NY)
otter.lee.moy@gmail.com
Otter Lee’s first introduction to civil rights came in middle school. He first worked with the Asian American
Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) as an 8th grader. Having attended schools in three
different New York State school districts, Otter feels that bias towards Asian Americans is a very real and
present threat and one that is virtually unaddressed issue in America’s classrooms. He plans to combat it
one story and one word at a time. Otter enjoys creative writing, acting, musical theatre, fencing, and
making films. Currently a graduating senior at The Beacon School, a progressive public school on
Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Otter will most likely be studying at New York University’s Gallatin School
of Individualized Study this fall.
Armael Malinis
Lead Organizer, Asian Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (Oakland, CA)
armael@aypal.org
Armael Malinis is from Mindanao Philippines and grew up in Vallejo, CA in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He has been organizing for over thirteen years working with youth, students, faith-based folks and
workers. Armael is an Alumni of UCDavis and has roots in union organizing with the grocery workers
union United Food and Commercial Workers. He co-founded of Anak Bayan East Bay, which is a Filipino
youth/students organization that links the anti-imperialist struggles of folks in the US to the conditions of
the Philippines. He also is a keyboardist of Bandung55(soul/funk/hip hop band) and has been the Lead
Organizer with AYPAL for the past seven years in Oakland.
Thomas Mariadason
Staff Attorney, Educational Equity and Youth Rights Project, Asian American Legal Defense and
Education Fund (New York, NY)
tmariadason@aaldef.org
AALDEF • 99 HUDSON STREET, 12 FL • NEW YORK. NY 10013 •
T 212.966.5932 • F 212.966.4303 • INFO@AALDEF.ORG
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Thomas Mariadason is a staff attorney in the Educational Equity & Youth Rights Program at the Asian
American Legal Defense & Education Fund (or “AALDEF”). His work focuses on addressing issues of
language access and bias harassment that impact Asian students in public school systems across the
country. This includes working directly with our grassroots partners: in Philadelphia (AAU and BPSOS) to
monitor implementation of an anti-harassment consent decree; in New Orleans (VAYLA) to outreach to
parents and students denied ELL programming in the city’s increasingly charter-operated system; and in
Detroit (DAY Project) to explore recent challenges faced by ELL communities resulting from cuts to
bilingual programming and ongoing school restructuring. Prior to becoming an attorney at AALDEF,
Thomas worked for an alternative to incarceration program for prison-bound youth in New York City, and
researched justice system outcomes for youth of color at the Vera Institute of Justice. Thomas graduated
from CUNY School of Law in 2009.
Maylou Moua
Youth Leader, Providence Youth Student Movement (Providence, RI)
Maylou Moua is a Hmong American youth leader at PrYSM, or Providence Youth Student Movement,
which works on the leadership and community organizing capacities of Southeast Asian youth. She works
with the SOUL (Students Organizing for Unity and Liberation) program at PrYSM, which is currently
coordinating the campaign against racial profiling in Rhode Island. Maylou is a senior at Central High
School in Providence. Next year, she will be attending the University of Rhode Island as a pharmacy
student.
Roksana Mun
Dignity in Schools Campaign Organizer, Desis Rising Up and Moving (New York, NY)
roksana.mun@gmail.com
Roksana Mun is working-class Bangladeshi immigrant, raised in Jackson Heights, Queens. She has been
a member of DRUM Youth Power since 2003 and a graduate of the Youth Power! Summer Organizing
Institute in 2003. Roksana is a graduate of Dickinson College with a degree in International Studies
concentrating on the Middle East. She has served as a Youth Organizer from 2007 to 2009. She has
worked as a Legal Advocate at the Urban Justice Center serving low-income/no income New Yorkers on
their right to accessing welfare benefits. She is currently the Dignity in Schools Campaign Organizer
working on School to Prison Pipeline issues.
Elsa Cruz Pearson
Attorney, Immigrant Students’ Rights Project, Advocates for Children (New York, NY)
ecp@advocatesforchildren.org
Elsa Cruz Pearson (B.A. Stanford ’00; M.S. City College-CUNY ’02; J.D. NYU Law 2006) is an attorney
with AFC’s Immigrant Students’ Rights Project. In this capacity, she has presented trainings for parents
and service providers on many aspects of education law. She also represents families in administrative
hearings, advocates on behalf of individual students, and engages in policy work focused on improving
the quality of education that the City’s English Language Learners receive in its schools. Elsa is a New
York State licensed educator with several years of experience teaching English as a Second Language to
both children and adults. Elsa’s legal interests include issues related to immigrants’ rights, workers’
rights, and family defense. She has also been a member of community organizations that work against
police brutality and the expansion of the prison industrial complex.
Pitu Sim
Board Member, Providence Youth Student Movement (Providence, RI)
pitusimx@gmail.com
Pitu Sim is currently a second year undergraduate student studying Political Science and Economics at
the University of Rhode Island (URI). He is an active member of the URI community. He currently works
as a Resident Advisor. He was recently elected Student Senator, is the Vice-President of its Asian
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Student Association and was PR Chair for its College Democrats group. Outside of the university, he is a
fellow at the New Leaders Council, a national non-profit progressive organization with over twenty
chapters. He became active in politics his sophomore year in high school upon joining The Providence
Youth Student Movement as a youth and currently serves on its board. During his time at PrYSM, he was
both part of PrYSM’s main organizing group, SOUL, as well as seaQuel, its LGBT program. He’s been
involved in several campaigns and political projects, including the Disaggregation of Data campaign,
QSEA visibility survey campaign, Providence Mayoral Candidates Forum
Amardeep Singh
Director of Programs, The Sikh Coalition (New York, NY)
amar@sikhcoalition.org
Amardeep Singh is the co-founder of the Sikh Coalition, the largest Sikh civil rights organization in the
United States. He currently serves as its Director of Programs where he oversees the Coalition’s use of
litigation, advocacy, community organizing, and strategic communications to advance social justice goals.
Amar has represented dozens of Sikh victims of airport profiling, employment discrimination, and hate
crimes since the organization’s inception after 9/11. Along with Department of Homeland Security
officials, he helped to formulate guidelines governing the searches of Sikh passengers in U.S. airports.
His work also led to the formulation of a regulation protecting 1.1 million New York City public school
students from bias-based harassment in schools.
He has represented the Sikh community during meetings with the United States Attorney General,
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of Transportation, and the Chair of the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He has been quoted speaking on civil rights issues in the
New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN during his tenure at the Coalition.
Prior to joining the Coalition, Amar worked as a Researcher in the U.S. Program of Human Rights Watch
(HRW). While at HRW, he authored its report, “We Are Not the Enemy: Hate Crimes Against Arabs,
Muslims, and Those Perceived to be Arab or Muslim after September 11.” Amar was also an Adjunct
Professor at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race where he taught a course
on the intersection of ethnic identity and the law.
Over the past year, Amar was appointed by President Barack Obama to the White House Advisory
Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He was also named a “Best Lawyer Under 40”
this year by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He sits on the Board of Trustees of the
Hoboken Public Library.
Linda Sopheap Sou
Director, Lowell Community Health Center’s Teen Coalition (Lowell, MA)
LindaSo@lchealth.org
Linda serves as the Director of Lowell Community Health Center’s Teen Coalition. She currently works
with a team of youth development specialist servicing young people of the City of Lowell in an afterschool setting. Linda serves as facilitator of communication with staff leadership, subcontracted partners,
and local youth providers, she maintain relationships with public/private funders and develops grant
proposals to support sustainability of our efforts. Linda and her team supports the healthy development of
young people and empowers them to become leaders in the community by working to reduce risky
behaviors that lead to teen pregnancy, HIV/STIs, substance abuse and violence in Lowell, with the belief
that promoting healthy behaviors will enhance future prospects for young people.
In August of 2009, Linda completed her graduate studies at Springfield College – Boston Campus with a
Master’s of Science in Organizational Leadership and Management. Linda graduated from the
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) with a BA in Sociology, with a double minor in Social Work
and Criminal Justice.
She also services the Lowell community through her work with the Angkor Dance Troupe Inc., servicing
as the President of the Board of Directors. Linda was also a lead subject in the documentary film,
“Monkey Dance” by Julie Mallozzi which has been screened throughout the United States to raise
awareness on intergenerational challenges facing Cambodian youth in Lowell, MA.
AALDEF • 99 HUDSON STREET, 12 FL • NEW YORK. NY 10013 •
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Raksa Tan
Peer Leader, Lowell Community Health Center’s Teen Coalition (Lowell, MA)
tanraksa@gmail.com
Raksa Tan is a Senior at Lowell High School. He serves as an intern and Peer Leader for the Lowell
Community Health Center Teen Coalition and is a graduate of the Journey to Healing Program. Raksa is
committed to serving his community, learning more about his culture and educating others.
Larry Tantay
YMSM (Young Men who have Sex with Men) Project Coordinator, Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on
HIV/AIDS (New York, NY)
ltantay@apicha.org
Larry Tantay is the YMSM (Young Men who have Sex with Men) Project Coordinator at APICHA. He is a
trained HIV/STD screening counselor and tester, and provides workshops about HIV, sexuality, and
community empowerment for young men of color who have sex with men and their partners. He received
his B.A. in Sociology from Rutgers University, and is currently studying to receive his Master's in Applied
Theatre from the CUNY School of Professional Studies. Through his work in applied theatre, he has
participated in a number of projects and has worked with a variety of populations, ranging from Filipino
youth to recovering substance users to women dealing with domestic violence. He has also served as
Director of SHADES Theatre, a health educational theatre troupe at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Monica Thammarath
Senior Program/Policy Specialist, Office of Minority Community Outreach, National Education Association
(Washington, D.C.)
mthammarath@nea.org
Monica Thammarath is the Senior Program/Policy Specialist in the Office of Minority Community
Outreach (MCO) at the National Education Association (NEA), where she serves as the liaison between
the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and NEA’s more than 3 million members.
Prior to the NEA, Ms. Thammarath was the education policy advocate for the Southeast Asia Resource
Action Center (SEARAC) where she was the only full-time Washington-based staff person focused on
education policy for the AAPI community. In addition to overseeing SEARAC’s Education Program, Ms.
Thammarath was co-chair of the Education Committee for National Council of Asian Pacific Americans
(NCAPA) and co-chair of the Grassroots Committee for the Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE). As
a result, Ms. Thammarath was the community point person on AAPI education issues to the
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), the U.S. Department of Education, and the
White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI). Ms. Thammarath’s work is
grounded in her experience organizing as a college student and providing services locally around access
to affordable and high quality education. Ms. Thammarath currently serves as the Chapter Liaison on the
National Governing Board of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and
represents the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) on the Executive Board of the State
Federation of Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO.
The daughter of refugees from Laos, Ms. Thammarath was born and raised in Southeast San Diego,
California and a proud product of California’s public K-16 education system. She graduated with
university and departmental honors from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in Social
Welfare, BA in Political Science, and minor in Asian American Studies. She has been trained by the
United States Student Association, the Center for Progressive Leadership, and will begin the Masters in
Public Administration Program at American University next fall.
When not organizing, analyzing policy, or lobbying, you can find Monica at home playing with her two cats
or figuring out how to make Asian food vegetarian, in Virginia or Maryland hiking, or at an airport waiting
for a plane to go do one of the things listed above.
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Cassandra Tran
Youth Organizer, Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)
My name is Cassandra Tran and I am from New Orleans, Louisiana. Well, to be more specific, I was born
and raised in the Vietnamese American community on the east side of the city. I am an active member of
the Vietnamese Americans Young Leaders Association (V.A.Y.L.A) and I am one of their many
passionate youth organizers. I have been with V.A.Y.L.A for about six years since its formation. I have
immersed myself in the organization's many present and past initiatives, ranging from environmental
justice and education reform to the Young Women's Leadership Program. Currently, I am attending my
second year at the University of New Orleans for my undergraduate degree in psychology and studio art
while remaining an active member of the organization.
Linda Tran
Youth Organizer, Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)
Linda Tran is a founding youth member of VAYLA's Raise Your Hand Campaign, and currently works as
a part-time youth organizer for the program. She has been instrumental in coordinating multiple youth
leadership development retreats, and leads the program's bi-monthly "High Five Sessions." Linda
graduated valedictorian from Abramson Science and Technology Charter School, and is currently
attending the University of New Orleans. She is very passionate about education believes that everyone
deserves a good education.
Vivian Truong
Intern, Providence Youth Student Movement (Providence, RI)
vivian_truong@brown.edu
Vivian Truong was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York as the daughter of Chinese-Vietnamese
refugees. Understanding her family's history of struggle has politicized her to work with Asian American
communities. Her focus is on education and youth organizing. This weekend, she will be discussing
PrYSM (Providence Youth Student Movement), a Southeast Asian youth organization where she is an
intern. At PrYSM, she has volunteered for the racial profiling campaign and helped plan community
events. She has also begun and maintained the college advising and tutoring programs for PrYSM youth.
Back home in New York City, she has been a facilitator for the by-youth, for-youth education and
empowerment organization Chinatown Youth Initiatives (CYI). She has also interned with CAAAV
Organizing Asian Communities, aiding the Chinatown rezoning campaign and anti-gentrification efforts.
After graduating with a B.A. in Ethnic Studies in May, she will be returning to CAAAV as the program
coordinator for the organization's Asian Youth in Action (AYA) program.
Brandon Ung
Youth Peer-to-Peer Advocate, Monsoon United Asian Women of Iowa (Des Moines, IA)
brandonung@muawi.org
Brandon Ung is a senior at North High School in Des Moines, Iowa, attending AP classes at Central
Academy as well. He joined Monsoon United Asian Women of Iowa as a youth peer-to-peer advocate in
2010. Brandon is among 10 middle and high school interns at Monsoon who assist the organization in its
violence prevention program and peer-to-peer advocacy. Brandon is of Tai Dam and Chinese descent.
He is the youngest of three brothers; his parents were Vietnam War refugees who were resettled in Iowa.
Brandon is passionate about higher education, tennis, fashion and theatre. He has won a full tuition
scholarship to attend the University of Iowa in fall 2012.
Nilesh Viswashrao
Youth Leader, Desis Rising Up and Moving (New York, NY)
frankenlesh@gmail.com
Nilesh Viswashrao is an 18-year-old working class, youth leader of Desis Rising Up and Moving since
2009. As a youth who was pushed out from the NYC public school system Nilesh has been one of the
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main leaders in the original campaign to pass the Student Safety Act and continue to hold NYPD and the
NYC Department of Education accountable to the reporting dates throughout the year.
Joyce Yin
Program Associate, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (Washington, D.C./Los
Angeles, CA)
jyin@nakasec.org
As a program associate at NAKASEC, Joyce is responsible for providing programmatic support for
NAKASEC’s Immigrant Rights Project, youth organizing and new media and communications work. Prior
to joining NAKASEC, Joyce served as a Public Ally for two years in Chicago under Americorps,
coordinating after-school programs at the University of Chicago – Donoghue Campus charter school her
first year and then managing the volunteer program across five local sites at Christopher House, a social
service agency, her second year. Joyce was first introduced to immigrant rights work when she interned
with NAKASEC in 2009 under the OCA internship program where she worked on immigrant inclusion in
health care reform.
Joyce graduated with a B.A. in Gender & Women’s Studies and minor in Sociology from the University of
Illinois at Chicago. In her spare time, she volunteers with Sulu DC, an underground network for emerging
and established artists of the Asian American and Pacific Islander diaspora, and helps coordinate their
communications work. She also immensely enjoys watching and obsessing over NBA basketball and
rooting for her hometown Chicago Bulls.
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