AAPIC 16th Unity Dinner Awardees

Sofia Hom

Youth Council Member

Sofia Hom thrives on learning which leads her to loving collaboration and exploring new ideas. She loves getting involved in school, clubs, and sports, and will always offer their help to anyone.

Will Hesp

Youth Council Member

Will Hesp (he/him) is a junior in high school who attends the Noble and Greenough School. He is of biracial descent as his mother was born in Japan, and his father was born in England. He draws inspiration from both of his ethnic backgrounds, which is what has led him to be interested in supporting every community that he is a part of. He has interests in various types of humanities, in addition passions for journalism, sports, and supporting the AAPI community. He is excited to join the AAPI Youth Council with goals such as promoting Asian marginalized groups.

Elliot Chung

Youth Council Member

Elliot is a first-generation Vietnamese-Cantonese American who grew up in Quincy, MA. They are devoted to being a youth voice in multiple non-profit organizations throughout the Greater Boston Area such as through my work with Artists For Humanity, CityMission Boston, and Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. They are committed to spreading equity and amplifying Asian-American voices in Massachusetts through working with the AAPI Commission Youth Council.

Ashley Shan

Youth Coordinator

Ashley Shan (she/her) is the Youth Coordinator of the AAPI Commission. She is a second-year student at Williams College, prospectively double majoring in American Studies and Comparative Literature, with a concentration in Asian American Studies. Ashley is committed to promoting marginalized voices, specifically for youth, previously serving as the Chair of the Dallas Youth Commission and working to generate a diverse, representative curriculum with school districts. She is particularly intrigued by the intersection of community organizing, artwork, and trauma and diaspora studies.

Ashley is excited to join the Commission staff team to continue advocating for AAPI residents across Massachusetts, focusing on elevating the diversity of the Commonwealth’s AAPI youth.

Yasmin Padamsee Forbes

Executive Director

Yasmin Padamsee Forbes is a dedicated advocate for change and community empowerment. As a first-generation student, immigrant, and single mother, she brings a unique perspective to her work, driven by her commitment to social justice, human rights, and sustainable development.

As the Executive Director of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Commission in Massachusetts, Yasmin has led the Commission to new achievements. She increased its funding by 300%, introduced a strategic plan, expanded the staff and intern programs, and founded the Commission’s Youth Council. Additionally, she organized and ran listening sessions with Burmese, Tongan, Bhutanese, and Afghan communities. Yasmin collaborates closely with commissioners and her team to foster a cooperative environment, ensuring the Commission’s efforts have a meaningful and lasting impact on the communities it serves.

Yasmin has held senior leadership roles in non-profits and the United Nations across Papua New Guinea, India, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and the United States. Her extensive experience underscores the importance of cross-cultural collaboration and building strong partnerships for significant change. She holds a Master’s in Communications and Film Production from New York University, where she received a scholarship, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University.

Her impactful contributions have earned her notable recognition. Yasmin received the 2024 Community Diversity & Leadership Award from India New England News and the 2019 All-Star Award from the Harvard Kennedy School for her exceptional work in curating, fundraising, and organizing the LGBTQ film festival, “Pride and Progress.” Additionally, she was honored with the 2018 Julius E. Babbitt Memorial Volunteer Award from Harvard for her outstanding efforts in organizing and fostering partnerships with Harvard alumni in Myanmar. She also served as the Alumni Representative for Harvard University in Myanmar and was elected to the HKS Alumni Board of Directors from 2010-2014. Beyond her professional accomplishments, Yasmin is a Cambridge Human Rights Commission Commissioner. Committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, she works with communities to drive positive and sustainable change.

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Conten

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Place Holder For Content

Anne Lizette Sta. Maria

Executive Communications Specialist

Anne Lizette Sta. Maria (she/her) uses communications to serve communities and causes.

In college, Lizette gravitated towards experiences in higher education and nonprofits. She became heavily involved in her campus community, creating digital communications content for several UMass Amherst entities, including UMass Admissions, the School of Public Policy, and UMass Smart About Money — a peer-to-peer financial literacy program.

A summer 2021 internship took her to Washington D.C., where she worked as a Media and Storytelling Intern for refugee assistance agency Church World Service. Later that year, Lizette co-founded the UMass Amherst Filipino Student Association. She graduated summa cum laude in May 2022 with a double major in Communication and Journalism, and a concentration in Public Relations.

Lizette’s gap year took her to New Haven, San Francisco, and the Philippines, where she proposed a student engagement plan for Yale University’s Annual Fund, promoted high impact community events in the SOMA Pilipinas neighborhood, and reconnected with her ancestral homeland, respectively.

Her most recent commitment was with the The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, where, through writing alumni profiles, she had the honor of bringing to light the stories of alumni doing incredible social justice work.

In her free time, Lizette enjoys the health benefits of daily walks, herbal teas, and a regular gratitude practice. She is proud to come from a first-generation immigrant background. And she is excited to join this team to work towards the full social, economic, and political integration of all AAPI residents of Massachusetts.

Karen Chen

Commissioner

Amy Zhou

Youth Council Member

Amy Zhou (she/her/hers) is currently a high schooler at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and identifies as a queer, second-generation Chinese American. She is a lifelong Cambridge resident and has been participating in local activism for several years now. Amy is currently a commissioner on the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ+ Youth and a member of the Massachusetts GSA Student Leadership Council. When she’s not doing advocacy work, Amy is often reading, writing, or playing ultimate frisbee.

Amy has a deep passion for learning, especially history—there’s always something more to uncover and connect to the present day and future. She is dedicated to using history and education as tools for empathy, solidarity, empowerment, resistance, and liberation.

Ngan Huynh

Youth Council Member

Tasneem Ghadiali

Youth Council Member

Maggie Sun

Youth Council Member

Maggie (she/they) is currently a senior at Milton High School who hopes to major in Political Science. Maggie is passionate about boosting civic engagement and DEI initiatives in her community and will continue to as a member of the Youth Council. During her free time, she enjoys participating in debate tournaments, hanging out with animals, and playing video games.

Talvin Dhingra

Youth Council Member

Talvin Dhingra is a junior at Amherst Regional High School. As an Indian American, Talvin is very passionate about ethnic studies and racial justice. He is a former Stop AAPI Hate intern, a member of the Minority Student Achievement Network at ARHS, an active member of the People of Color United club at ARHS, and an active member of the AAPI club at ARHS. Talvin is committed to mandating ethnic studies across Massachusetts, and working to make Western Mass more accepting and accommodating towards Asians and Asian Americans. He is excited to join the Youth Council to expand on his work and to learn and grow as a student activist with peers that share the same goals.

Evan Owens

Western Massachusetts Regional Coordinator

Evan Owens (he/him) grew up on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi and currently studies Linguistics, Portuguese, and Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He works as a research assistant in the Language, Intersensory Processing, and Speech (LIPS) Lab and the Sound Interfaces Lab, where he researches speech perception and language acquisition of multilingual youth. He also serves as the President of the Humanities and Fine Arts Student Leadership Group as well as an Event Coordinator for the Japanese Students Association. Evan is passionate about language policy and planning, especially when it comes to accessibility and education. After graduating, he hopes to go back to Hawai’i to pursue a Ph.D. in Language Documentation and Revitalization.

Diana Li

Policy & Communications Coordinator

Diana Li is a third-year student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she is pursuing a degree in English and Linguistics. She has worked with the UMass Asian-American Student Association since her first year on campus, and currently serves as secretary. Her passions include Asian-American advocacy, policy/communications, diaspora literature, and creative writing.

Brissa Hunter

Pacific Islander Coordinator

Brissa Hunter (she/her), a passionate advocate for Pacific Islanders, leverages her unique background as an Indigenous Chamorro, Palauan, Yapese, and American woman and academic pursuits to serve as the Pacific Islander Coordinator for the AAPI Commission. Brissa is currently pursuing a Business Marketing degree at Simmons University. She comes from the sun-kissed shores of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands and brings a deep understanding of Pacific Islander experiences and challenges to the Commission. Driven by a desire to bridge cultural divides and advocate for her community and environmental causes, Brissa is excited to assist in building inclusive procedures and policies to make a significant impact on the AAPI Commission and the Pacific Islander community. In her free time, she enjoys swimming and snorkeling in Saipan’s pristine waters, watching films, and exploring Boston.

Shubhecchha Dhaurali

Program & Research Director

Shubhecchha Dhaurali (she/her) received her BA in Community Health at Tufts University, graduating with summa cum laude honors, was the recipient of one of Tufts’ Presidential Awards for Civic Life, and inducted to the Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society. Shubhecchha loves data analysis, generating new project ideas, leading sustainable and innovative research, and bringing communities together to eradicate health disparities. She values kind, nurturing, and human-centered approaches to leadership and building mentoring relationships.

Shubhecchha is an aspiring physician scientist with a dedication to improving health outcomes through scholarship, research, ethical leadership, and advocacy.

Outside of work, Shubhecchha loves writing narrative stories, reading fantasy and thriller novels, watching Mike Flanagan’s works, learning to cook Nepalese cuisine, and spending time with family members, especially my two puppies.

Jennifer Best

Policy & Communications Director

Jennifer Best (she/her) graduated from Tufts University in May 2022, where she studied Political Science, International Relations, and History. She specialized in migration, 20th century history, activism, and national security. She spent her senior year writing her Senior Honors Thesis in Political Science, titled Youth Activism: Who Becomes Involved in Youth Activism and Why? A look into the demographics and opinions of youth activists in comparison to older activists. She used statistical analysis to determine the effects that race, gender, education, and income had on participation in activism among 60,000 respondents, in addition to fielding a survey of former Ed Markey for U.S. Senate Campaign Fellows. Throughout her studies, she prioritized investigating and highlighting the real world effects of policies, regimes, and events on normal people, rather than just political elites.

Jennifer has experience in advocacy both through campaigns and in government. She worked as a Policy and Communications Intern for MA State Representative Erika Uyterhoeven, where she wrote testimonies, created and executed communications campaigns, researched policy, worked on the budget, and much more. She has also worked on multiple Massachusetts-based campaigns, including the Hicks for District Six Boston City Council Campaign, where she was a Finance and Events Fellow, in addition to writing official policy platforms for the candidate. She also worked as a Field and Communications Fellow on the Ed Markey for U.S. Senate Campaign, where she spent many hours writing speeches and remarks for the Senator, hosted in-person and virtual events, and trained hundreds of volunteers. Jennifer will bring her knowledge of communications and advocacy through both intra-governmental and extra-governmental pathways to her work at the AAPI Commission.

When Jennifer is not working, you can find her involved in theater, cooking a new recipe, or curled up with a good book. She is excited to be joining such a passionate team and to continue advocating for AAPI communities in Massachusetts.

Leo L. Hwang

Commissioner

Dr. Leo L. Hwang is the Assistant Academic Dean in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. Hwang is particularly interested in using participatory action research and asset based community development as a model for enhancing how we engage in racial justice work in higher education. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts in Geosciences, an M.F.A. in fiction writing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and his B.A. in English and Fine Arts from the University of the South.

His work has appeared in The Racial Equity & Justice Institute Practitioner Handbook, The Handbook of Diverse Economies, Human Being & Literature, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Travel and Tourism, Route Nine, Rethinking Marxism, Solidarity Economy I: Building Alternatives for People and Planet, Meat for Tea, The Massachusetts Review, Glimmer Train Stories, Rivendell, Fiction, Gulf Coast and other journals and publications. He has taught at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Mount Holyoke College; Greenfield Community College; and Westfield State University; and he served as Dean of Humanities, Engineering, Math, and Science at Greenfield Community College.

Ekta Srinivasa

Commissioner

Ms. Ekta Srinivasa was born in Nepal and immigrated to the U.S. when she was ten. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her Master of Science in Nursing from Curry College. She obtained her Nursing Ph.D. in Health Policy and Population Health at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Ms. Srinivasa is the Founder of Improving Healthcare Culture, Inc. This nonprofit organization is established to provide resources to healthcare workers and healthcare organizations seeking strategies to mitigate the effects of workplace violence. Ms. Srinivasa is thrilled to be selected to serve in the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Commission. She hopes to contribute to the Commission’s goals meaningfully.

Gary Yu

Commissioner

Gary Yu is a senior media personality and political activist. In 2016, he founded Boston International Media Consulting Inc. Four years later, he established Boston Asian Radio and TV, a station dedicated to the lives and interests of Asians. Gary Yu is a senior media personality. He also served as a producer and host of ATV, BNN TV, and Quincy Access Television (QATV), and a reporter for World Journal, World Journal Weekly, and other publications.

In addition, he contributed to the election campaigns of Boston Mayor Michele Wu and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. He is currently the President of New England Chinese American Alliance, Co-President of the

Massachusetts Chapter of United Chinese Americans, and President of the Boston Chapter of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association. He also is Transition Team Member of State Auditor Diana

Dizoglio and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden. In February 2023, He brought the community together to promote for unanimous approval Resolution in support of designating Lunar New Year as an official holiday in the City of Boston by the Boston City Council. In May 2023, He brought the community together to promote for the Governor of Massachusetts to sign the Proclamation designating May as AAPI Heritage Month in Massachusetts.

Philjay Solar

Commissioner

Philjay Somera Solar is currently a Privacy Officer at Mass General Hospital | Mass General Brigham protecting the health information privacy of state and federal HIPAA laws. Prior, he was an investigator at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. Philjay is also chair of the Commission’s Young Leadership Symposium. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Lasell University (’13) and his Juris Doctor Degree from New England Law | Boston (’19). At New England Law, Philjay was President of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association and the Executive Treasurer of the Student Bar Association.

Before attending law school, Philjay dedicated two years of public service with the AmeriCorps Program, City Year. Through City Year, he served the Boston Community working with a team of young individuals striving to close the education gap within inner city public schools.

Philjay has received numerous accolades most notably, being a 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 Scholars Program recipient for Law and Government and a representative of the 2019 Filipino Youth Leadership Program (FYLPro) where he was picked by the Philippine Consulate of New York and  Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Jose Romualdez.

He is also the founder of Fil-Lennials of New England which features young professionals of Filipino-American descent to inspire and connect other Filipino-Americans across New England. Philjay currently sits as President of the Philippine Dance and Culture Organization (PDCO), a Regional Advisor for the National Federation of Filipino Americans Association (NaFFAA) and Board Director for the Philippine American Mainstream Advocacy for Non-Partisan Associations, Inc. (PAMANA)  Through PAMANA, Philjay has contributed to their annual Philippine Independence Day Celebrations and Filipino-American Highs School Leadership Workshop.

In his spare time, Philjay volunteers with multiple non-profit organizations like the  Massachusetts Youth Leadership Foundation and BosFilipino. He is also an active liaison with the Philippine Consulate of New York where he communicates the needs of the Filipino-American Community in New England to the Consulate office.

Marilyn Park

Commissioner

Dr. Marilyn Park is a queer Korean-American who is passionate about anti-racism work in the field of mental health. They are serving the United States as a Lieutenant Commander in the Public Health Service. Currently, they are stationed in the Boston Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) working as a clinical psychologist treating Veterans with addictions. Prior to the VA, Dr. Park was a program supervisor in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for over 18 years, serving the vulnerable and marginalized population of incarcerated adults. Dr. Park strives to be a change agent in their sphere of influence. While in the BOP, they created and implemented anti-racist trainings for clinicians and trainees to recognize inequities, assess the impact of structural racism, and promote anti-racist practices in treating a significantly marginalized and vulnerable population.

Dr. Park proudly served on the town of Natick’s Equity Task Force. Their work specifically involved assessing multiple municipal DEI-related committees, which led to the creation of a Chief Diversity Officer position for the town of Natick. Dr. Park took specific interest in elevating the voice of the AAPI community in Natick, which is the largest racial minority group in town, yet has the least involvement in town government. Dr. Park strives to ensure AAPI folks feel empowered to engage in government and leadership in community spaces, and advocates tirelessly for AAPI community members to have seats around decision-making tables.

Jennifer Rubin

Commissioner

Jennifer Rubin has practiced labor and employment law since her graduation from the UCLA School of Law. Ms. Rubin received both her B.A. and her J.D. from UCLA. She is a member of the State Bars of Massachusetts, California, and Washington, D.C. She is also a member of the bars of the United States Courts of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, First Circuit, Second Circuit, Fifth Circuit, Sixth Circuit, and Ninth Circuit.

Ms. Rubin is the co-author of “Employment Discrimination Law” in “Employee and Union Member Guide to Labor Law: A Manual for Attorneys Representing the Labor Movement” (2008 and 2009 eds). Ms. Rubin has taught seminars, participated in panels, and led discussions on labor relations and contract negotiations. She also served as a judicial extern for federal District Judge Robert M. Takasugi of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. In 2014, Ms. Rubin was named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer Rising Star in Boston Magazine and has been listed in the Top Women Attorneys in Massachusetts in Boston Magazine for 2015 and 2016.

Before practicing in Massachusetts, Jennifer practiced at a firm in Washington, D.C., where she represented national and local labor unions in contract negotiations, litigation, hearings, and arbitrations.

In her free time, Ms. Rubin likes to write letters by hand and visit her local post office (she does not have a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account and refuses to give up her paper planner).

Bethany Li

Commissioner

Bethany Li has used a movement lawyering model to fight for social justice in Asian American communities and advance racial equity. Using an innovative and multi-faceted approach in collaboration with community organizers, Bethany has litigated cases and led advocacy work on a range of civil rights issues, including housing and displacement, workers’ rights, immigration, education equity, language access, and hate crimes. Bethany represented Southeast Asian communities fighting against deportation, including the first Cambodian American to return to the East Coast after deportation. In collaboration with community organizers, she co-produced the documentary “Keep Saray Home” about Southeast Asian families fighting deportations. She served as co-counsel to a multi-racial coalition of organizations and families intervening in a lawsuit in support of Boston Public Schools’ shift in exam policy. Bethany has won millions in back wages for low-wage workers along the Northeast corridor. She has led a variety of initiatives to increase low-income and limited- English proficient Asian Americans’ access to resources. She also published a report documenting the gentrification of Chinatowns on the East Coast and guided the launch of RAISE, the first undocumented Asian American youth group on the East Coast. Bethany started her legal career at AALDEF as an Equal Justice Works Fellow and staff attorney. She then taught and supervised cases in Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic as the Robert M. Cover Fellow. Bethany was also the Director of the Asian Outreach Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services. Bethany taught as an adjunct professor at Hunter College on Asian American civil rights and the law. Bethany graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and Amherst College. She serves on Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Well Being and the Massachusetts Governor’s Task Force for Hate Crimes.

Danielle Kim

Commissioner

Danielle Kim is a proud second-generation Korean American, intersectional feminist, and community activist. She is the inaugural Executive Director of the Asian Community Fund at The Boston Foundation — the first and only philanthropic fund in Massachusetts dedicated to activating, convening, and supporting the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

Danielle previously served as Director of Public Policy at the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, where she organized state and federal advocacy efforts, stewarded relationships with city and state lawmakers, and managed a portfolio of grantmaking. Prior to that, she was the Director of Communications at Scholars Strategy Network, where she shaped messaging, oversaw research and publications, and advanced data-driven policymaking. She also worked as the Director of Policy and Communications for Boston After School & Beyond, a city-wide coalition of after school and summer learning programs serving students in Boston Public Schools.

She began her career as a Fulbright Fellow in South Korea, and then served as a community organizer in her home state of New Jersey—most notably as a Regional Field Director for the 2012 presidential campaign. She continued on as a Communications Specialist in the New Jersey State Legislature, where she managed media relations for six state senators.

Danielle earned a Master’s degree in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor’s degree in Government and Psychology from Smith College. Committed to expanding access to power and opportunity, Danielle serves on the Board of Directors for the Asian Community Development Corporation and the Chelsea Cultural Council.

Christopher Huang

Commissioner

Christopher Huang is a photographer and videographer with extensive experience in creating impactful visual narratives. He works with artists, public figures, leaders, companies, C-level executives, entrepreneurs, educators, politicians, performers, organizations, and students, among others, capturing their stories.

Christopher grew up knowing how frustrating and harmful it is to have Asian and Asian American stories told inaccurately, in a dehumanizing manner, by a media and entertainment industry that is white male dominated. Experiencing this developed his empathy for other marginalized and dehumanized people, and motivated him to tell these stories responsibly and accurately with a meticulous eye for detail. Those experiences have motivated him to continue creating cross-cultural bridges between communities.

Some of his career highlights include being hired to photograph some of the Asian American public media figures who helped inspire him to pursue a creative path. He is especially proud of inspiring younger POC storytellers to take control of their own narrative.

Christopher also gives keynotes and leads workshops on creating more empathetic and effective leadership with body language, both at the interpersonal and marketing level of the organization, promoting a culture that stresses equity, inclusion, and belonging. Even among those who do the basic step of talking about the importance of DEIB and show images with “diversity” in their organization’s branding, which is not as common as it should be, there is often a glaring disconnect in what they say and write compared to what they convey in body language.

His work can be seen at christopherhuang.com

Amy Goh

Commissioner

Amy Goh (she/her) is as a Certified Nurse-Midwife and PhD candidate. She is also Adjunct Faculty at Thomas Jefferson University’s Midwifery program. As a child of immigrants from South Korea, her decade long career as a midwife in the Boston area has focused on providing quality midwifery care for immigrant communities and communities of color. Most recently she received a grant to undertake an analysis of Asian American birth outcomes from the American Association of Birth Centers’ Perinatal Data Registry. Previous to her midwifery career, Amy worked to improve and better understand the complexities of health and rights in global communities. After her stint as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cape Verde, she completed her MPhil thesis in International Development on the socio-political aspects of maternal mortality in Brazil. Amy is a Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives and is on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Birth Centers. She was a former Health Equity Fellow through Cambridge Health Alliance’s Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy and a previous Duke-Johnson and Johnson Nurse Leadership Fellow.

Meenakshi Bharath

Commissioner

Meena grew up in New Delhi, India and moved to the United States two decades ago. Hopkinton, Massachusetts, is home and she enjoys getting to know people, their interests and passions. She is a strong believer in our shared common humanity. She focuses on this belief and her guiding principles of dharma and karma, in the community building work that she does every day.

Meena has many interests. Education and impact of sound education in the lives of young people and society is of deep interest to her. She has served on local, regional and state level educational bodies. She is a strong advocate for personalized education plans for all learners, celebrating strengths, building supports, and varied paths to learning. She has served in many volunteer capacities including as Chair, DESE’s Gifted & Talented Education Advisory Council; Chair, Hopkinton Public School Committee; Member, Education Committee, Christa McAuliffe Charter School; Member, The Education Cooperative (TEC). Through all these roles, she has had an opportunity to learn, collaborate with many wonderful people, and influenced hearts, minds and policies for better outcomes. She takes great pride in her contribution in the formation of AAPI Commission’s first Youth Council, which elevates youth voices and promotes civic engagement.

Meena currently works in the financial industry as a Program Manager. She is very grateful for her family, life experiences and support of her friends and community which have made her life rich and fulfilling.

Richard T. Chu

Commissioner

Richard T. Chu was born and raised in the Philippines where he received his A.B. from Ateneo de Manila University, and completed his M.A. from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. from University of Southern California. His research and numerous publications focus on the history of the Chinese and Chinese mestizos in the Philippines and of the different Chinese diasporic communities in the world, centering on issues of race, ethnicity, gender, empire, and nationalism. He has also co-edited an anthology of LGBTQ studies pertaining to the Philippines.

He teaches courses on US empire and Philippine colonial history, as well as on the history of the Chinese diaspora and of Asian Americans. In 2018, he received the Community Hero Award from the Asian American Commission of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the work he has done in collaborating with Asian American communities in Western Massachusetts through the oral history project that his students conduct when taking his Asian American history course. In 2021, UMass Amherst conferred on him the Provost’s Distinguished Civic Engagement Teaching Award.

Moana Bentin

Commissioner

Moana Bentin is Senior Associate Director of Identity-Based alumni communities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A proud Samoan tamaitai, she is an advocate for underserved and underrepresented communities. Her Cambridge home serves as a base for Pacific Island students studying in Greater Boston.

A descendant of the Seuamuli family in Fagamalo Savaii and Sa Aiono from Fasitoouta, Moana’s journey started from the village of Magiagi, through the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji, and eventually settled in Cambridge, MA.

Moana is currently serving as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee (CEOC) and Moderator of the Executive Council of First Church in Cambridge. She is the mother of two Samoan-Irish-Americans and human to two cats; Tama and Toa.

Tuyet Tran

Treasurer

Tuyet Tran, LICSW, a refugee from Vietnam, holds a master’s degree in social work from Boston College and an undergraduate degree in psychology from Emmanuel College. She brings 30 years of progressive leadership in the design and delivery of public health and social services, including serving as Director of Integrated Care at Community Healthlink for 18 years during which she was recognized by the Worcester Business Journal as a 40 Under 40 “rising star” in the Worcester community. For the past 5 years, Ms. Tran led the Community Partner Program at the Behavioral Health Partners of Metrowest (BHPMW) where she helped to design a multiregional integrated care coordination program as part of the MA Executive Office of Health and Human Service’s DSRIP Demonstration Project.

Ms. Tran has lived in Worcester since June of 2000. At that time, she and a small group of community members came together to advocate for social and health care access for members of the Southeast Asian community. Ms. Tran served as SEACMA Board Chair and Acting Director for the first few years of its founding and continued to support the organization as a board member and supporter for many years after. She was instrumental in steering SEACMA from its inception into a viable community organization and has recently returned as Executive Director to once again lead the organization into the next chapter.

Saatvik Ahluwalia

Vice Chair

Saatvik Ahluwalia is an award-winning digital marketer who is a Senior Campaign Manager at Zebra Technologies and Digital & Communications Director at Asian Texans for Justice. He is a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project and a New Leadership Council Fellow. His work has been covered in the Boston Globe, Austin American-Statesman, Austin NPR, Ms. Magazine, and more. He has won a Platinum MarCom Award, received public-speaking awards through Toastmasters International, competed in multiple Bollywood dance championships, and was profiled in the book “Those Immigrants!: Indians in America: A Psychological Exploration of Achievement” by journalist Scott Haas.

Gary Y. Chu

Chairperson

Dr. Gary Y. Chu is the Vice President of Professional Affairs at the New England College of Optometry. He received his Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree from the New England College of Optometry in 1995 and his Masters of Public Health (MPH) in 2002 from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

He has been in practice and optometric education for over twenty-five years and is involved in the changing landscape of eye care, health care and public health during this span of time. Dr. Chu has been in the forefront of eye care innovations through the development of collaborative partnerships with health systems, federally qualified health centers, social service agencies, local and state government, school systems, health payors, ophthalmic industry and optometry employer groups.

Dr. Chu has been involved in issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging for over ten years and has served on the diversity and cultural competency committee for the Association of Schools and College of Optometry (ASCO) from 2011-2020. He is the founding chair of ASCO’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) SIG and was the Guest Editor for the Journal of Optometric Education’s theme issue on diversity and cultural competency in 2017. In 2021, he was presented the ASCO’s Dr. Jack Bennett Innovation in Optometric Education Award.