“Yee Thao (she/her/hers) is a first-generation Hmong American womxn born and raised on traditional Nisenan Land (Sacramento, CA). She obtained her Bachelors at CSU Sacramento with a double major in Anthropology (Culture, Language, & Society) and Ethnic Studies (Asian American Studies). Throughout her undergraduate career, she worked alongside many empowering Hmong and AANAPISI organizers trying to dismantle the oppressive systems that impact folx with a community history of displacement and forced migration. Her work is rooted in fostering communities who ground themselves in love, care, and abundance while propelling themselves towards transformative change — sowing the seeds of a movement where resilience is not the immediate product of surviving oppressive and exhaustive systems, but rather, through a shared power of love, healing, and liberation. In her time at UCLA, she hopes to blend her passions of serving disenfranchised and underserved communities into a multifaceted fold of racial equity, language justice, youth representation, mental health and equal/accessible education. In particular, she strives to deepen her understanding in Gender, Migration, Hmong diaspora, and Organizational/Grassroots Leadership. In her free time, Yee enjoys spending time with family by solving jigsaw puzzles! Some of her hobbies include photography/videography, collecting succulent plants, writing poetry, and eating (especially sticky rice and corn)!

Marina Aina (she/her) is a mixed-race Sāmoan woman who grew up on Cahuilla and Luiseño land in Southern California. She completed her undergraduate studies at Pomona College, receiving her B.A. in American Studies. She strives to better understand how American militarism impacts Pasifika peoples (and more specifically how pervasive the militarization of American Sāmoa is for Sāmoans, both on and off the islands). In her free time, she enjoys trying new foods, reminiscing about media from her childhood, watching anime (or claiming she will get around to it), and seeing more movies to improve her odds at winning Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. She will be starting her first year in the Asian American M.A. program fall of 2023, so she hopes to add exploring UCLA’s campus (to reduce the chance of getting lost) to the list of things to do during her free time.

Anou Vang is a first-generation Hmong American who was born and raised in the Central Valley. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Asian American Studies at Fresno State. Through her experiences serving underserved communities, she has found her passion for helping individuals learn more about mental health. During her time at UCLA, she hopes to collaborate with Southeast Asian American communities to see how their upbringing, culture, and education affect their views on mental health and their likelihood to reach out during a crisis. She is especially interested in addressing the gap in research and literature for Hmong Americans in the United States. In the future, Anou would like to return to a higher education institution to help support marginalized communities thrive at their campus. She is a proud Gryffindor who enjoys the outdoors, painting, baking, and listening to Studio Ghibli Lofi.

Joshua Luo (he/him/his) is a first-generation Han Chinese immigrant who moved to the United States at the age of 14 from Beijing, China. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2022 and holds a degree in East Asian and Asian American Studies. As a first year MA student in Asian American Studies at UCLA, he is primarily interested in the intersection of Sinophone/Chinese and Uyghur diaspora politics and culture in North America, with a particular emphasis on the possibility for decolonial and anti-imperial solidarity against multiple empires in the context of escalating US-China tensions. In his spare time, he enjoys reading sci-fi, playing roguelike video games, and collecting very very old computer keyboards.

Esther Se Bin Kim (She/They) is a 1.5-generation Korean-American from San Francisco. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Humanities and a minor in Asian American Studies at UCLA in 2020. She is currently a first-year graduate student pursuing an M.A. in Asian American Studies. Her research focuses on investigating currently existing methods of promoting educational equity within the University of California system for undocumented East Asian students, while also examining the legal and socio-cultural nuances that comprise the seemingly paradoxical experience of being both East Asian and undocumented. She is passionate about grassroots organizing and mutual aid work, specifically on unhoused advocacy and food justice. In her free time, she enjoys powerlifting, binge-watching anime, listening to true crime podcasts, and mindlessly scrolling down her Tik-Tok For You page.