Where I Call Home:
I was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota—so this is home!
Areas I’m Hoping to Grow:
Broadening the array of qualitative and mixed methods, working with rural BIPOC communities, and furthering accessible research translation.
Values That Shape My Work:
I often say, “I wonder…”. It allows me, and I hope others, to wonder and dream. I also like to ask questions to understand context and histories that will ground my community-based work. To know the past is to know the present and our futures. Our history is indeed our future, and like Nick Estes shares, we are “ancestors of the future”. So I approach my community-based work as critical, transformative, and oriented towards liberation for today and generations after. It’s difficult work, but I believe all we need is love, hope, joy, humility, and community to keep us going.
I am a Hmong-American, queer, and non-binary PhD student, youth worker, community organizer, and artist. Growing up, full of unprecedented events after the other, and where young people were using their voice to create change, community power offered a critical space for my learning and change-making. I have approximately seven years of community-based education, youth engagement, curriculum development, and community organizing. I bring my background in facilitation, youth organizing, and storytelling to support my research and community-based work to ultimately create community solutions and address broader societal issues alongside youth, families, and communities.
A Meaningful Meal or Tradition:
Eating All You Can Eat Sushi with friends and family. I refuse to take a nap afterwards, even if my body calls to it. A few hours later, I’m hungry again and should’ve eaten more sushi. Repeat.