Frequently Asked Questions

The Gold Futures Challenge is an exciting new online grant competition to benefit Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations in the United States.  A departure from traditional philanthropy, the challenge invites experts on the ground (community leaders) to submit their innovative proposals that will help AAPI individuals and communities be Seen, Heard, Empowered and United.

SEEN means accurate and meaningful representation for AAPI individuals and communities. HEARD means a strong, unified voice that effectively advocates for AAPI needs and causes. EMPOWERED means ensuring that all AAPIs have the resources and agency to positively affect their own lives and the lives of others. UNITED means having a unified, pan-Asian identity, lifting up other AAPI ethnic groups and allying with other communities of color, rather than struggling against each other.

Once organizations submit their application, a Selection Committee of AAPI identifying philanthropists, academics, community leaders, and celebrity judges will select a minimum of  10 finalists, and the public will vote for the grand prize winners.

Applications open on Wednesday, June 2nd and are due Saturday, July 31st.

The history of the term Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)  is nuanced and we seek to be intentional and inclusive. 

We understand AAPI to broadly encompass approximately 50 ethnic groups, speaking over 100 languages. We understand Asian Americans to include anyone with an ethnic origin or ancestry originating from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and/or South Asia. We understand Pacific Islanders to include those with an ethnic origin or ancestry native to the islands which encompass Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, including Native Hawaiians. 

Applicants must be a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, for-profit, fiscally-sponsored project, or governmental organization serving AAPI individuals or communities. The organizational work can be in a particular neighborhood, community, city, county, region, state, or have a national impact. Both new and existing projects are eligible for submission.

Only one proposal can be submitted per organization for the Gold Futures Challenge per year. Multiple organizations can work collaboratively to submit one proposal, but must designate one lead organization that will receive the funds.

Voting will be open once finalists are announced on October 11, 2021, and will remain open until October 31, 2021. In order to vote, you must first create a voter profile on the Gold Futures Challenge website. Then follow the online instructions for how to vote. Only one vote per person is allowed.

We will be giving out 10 prizes ranging from $25,000 – $100,000, with a total of $500,000 being granted. All finalists will receive a prize, but the amount each organization receives will be determined by the public vote. The organization with the most votes will be the grand prize winner.

The Selection Committee will include AAPI identifying philanthropists, academics, community leaders, and celebrity judges. We are still finalizing this group; once the committee is confirmed, we will publicize the panel on the website. 

We believe that the experts are community leaders. They know the problems, solutions, and measures of success for their communities. In the application process, we explicitly ask for organizations to submit their chosen metrics. 

© 2021 Gold Futures Challenge. All Rights Reserved.

Made with ❤️ & 🙏 by Excelsior Creative

Chanel Miller

Writer and Activist

Chanel Miller is a writer and artist. Her memoir, Know My Name, was a New York Times bestseller and a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the Ridenhour Book Prize, and the California Book Award. It was also a best book of the year in Time, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, NPR, and People, among others. She was named one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 and a Time Next 100 honoree, and was a Glamour Woman of the Year honoree under her pseudonym Emily Doe. Her first art exhibition, titled I WAS, I AM, I WILL BE, is on display at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. 

Juliann Anesi

Assistant Professor, Department of Gender Studies, University of California - Los Angeles

Juliann Anesi is an Assistant Professor of Gender Studies at the University of California – Los Angeles. Her research interests include disability and indigeneity, educational policies, and decolonial feminisms. As a community educator and activist, she has also worked with non-profit organizations and schools in American Sāmoa, California, Hawai ́i, New York and Sāmoa.

Juliann’s work has appeared in venues including Disability and the Global South, Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600 to 2000; and Disability & Society.

Rick Bonus

Professor

I am professor and chair of the Department of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington (UW). I’m also UW’s Director of the Diversity Minor Program and the Oceania and Pacific Islander Studies program. My academic research focuses on migration and culture, community change, and multicultural education. My latest book, The Ocean in the School, is an ethnography of Pacific Islander students and their allies who attempted to make meaning out of their schooling by transforming their own university. I’m currently editor-in-chief of ALON: Journal for Filipinx American and Diasporic Studies, former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Asian American Studies, and former president of the Association for Asian American Studies. I obtained my PhD degree in Communication from the University of California, San Diego.

Pawan Dhingra

Professor and Associate Provost/Associate Dean of the Faculty

Pawan Dhingra is Associate Provost and Associate Dean of the Faculty and is Professor of American Studies at Amherst College. He is a former curator at the Smithsonian Institution. His bylines include The New York Times, CNN, and more. He and his work have been profiled in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, TheGuardian, and other venues. His most recent book is Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough (New York University Press 2020). His other books include the multiple award-winning Life Behind the Lobby: Indian American Motel Owners and the American Dream (Stanford University Press, 2012) and the award-winning Managing Multicultural Lives: Asian American Professionals and the Challenge of Multiple Identities (Stanford University Press, 2007). He co-authored Asian America: Sociological and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, now in its second edition (Polity Press 2021). An award-winning teacher, he also appears in the documentary, Spelling the Dream. He is President-elect of the Association for Asian American Studies and has been Chair of the Board of the South Asian American Digital Archive. He has been department chair and held tenured positions at Tufts University and Oberlin College.

Stephanie Hsu

Executive Director of the Jeremy Lin Foundation

Stephanie serves as the Executive Director of the Jeremy Lin Foundation, a private Foundation with a mission of loving and serving youth via hope, empowerment, and leadership development. The Foundation is focused on overlooked AAPI and cross-racial youth programs that wraparound their youth relationally. Prior to the Jeremy Lin Foundation, Stephanie worked with the Partnership Fund, a civic fund making catalytic investments into underserved communities in New York City. She also worked at Bain and the Bridgespan Group, consulting to some of the world’s largest Foundations. Stephanie received her MBA from the Wharton Business School and a BA from the University of Virginia, where she was President of the Asian Student Union and led efforts for Asian American Studies and an AAPI Mentoring Program.

Greg Lutze

Co-Founder of VSCO, Advisor, Venture Partner

“Greg Lutze is an Asian American founder, advisor and artist based out of California. A polymath, his interests lie in a variety of creative pursuits including design, photography, painting, fragrance and fashion.

The Co-Founder of VSCO, Greg is a leader driven by creative vision and soul. VSCO has been named Apple’s “App of the Year,” Google Play’s “Best Apps” and Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in Social Media.” He is a a member of Gold House, a non-profit collective of Asian & Pacific Islander founders, creative voices, and leaders; a venture partner at Hidden, investing in the future of creative work; and a mentor at Praxis Labs, a creative engine supporting innovators motivated to love their neighbors and renew culture. Greg serves as an advisor to creative startups Studio, Made in Part & Chroma.

Previously, Greg was a Creative Director working for clients including Universal Records, Sony, Showtime, Interscope Records, Capitol Records, Warner Brothers, Nintendo, XBOX, and K2 Snowboards. Greg’s work has been recognized by The Grammy Awards, Graphic Design USA, Taschen, and Communication Arts.

Outside of work, Greg enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, cheering on Chelsea FC, going to the gym, and making music.”

Aryani Ong

Activist

Aryani Ong, Civil Rights Activist, Attorney and Consultant Aryani Ong is a civil rights activist, attorney and consultant who has worked on issues concerning Asian Americans for the last 30 years. Civil Rights – National Security Balance Since 2015, Aryani has advocated for civil rights safeguards for Chinese Americans who are collateral damage in the government response to the rising U.S.-China conflict.

She facilitated bimonthly conversations among community leaders around scientists and researchers until early 2019 through the Asian American Justice Task Force, which she co-founded. With leading national and community organizations, Aryani has organized coalitions around advocacy and media campaigns; organized dialogues, several with the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s offices around the country; and, worked on a documentary. In early 2020, Aryani co-founded the Asian American Federal Employees for Non-Discrimination (AAFEN), which calls for protections for Asian Americans in the federal government against negative employment actions, particularly security clearances due to suspicions based on race, ethnicity and national origin. Through AAFEN, she has given many briefings to congressional committees, members and staff and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, as well as high ranking federal agency officials and employee affinity groups. The roots of Aryani’s activism at the intersection of civil rights and national security dates back to the Dr. Wen Ho Lee case.

Back in 2000, Aryani participated in a community advisory group to the U.S. Department of Energy Task Force Against Profiling. Representing the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), she was among a delegation who met with then-Attorney General Janet Reno to raise concerns about Dr. Lee’s treatment. The briefing memo that recorded the broad community concerns was written by Aryani for the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC) and entered by Rep. Patsy Mink into the Congressional Record.

Hate Crimes Inspired by Helen Zia’s activism in 1982 around the Vincent Chin case, Aryani became a civil rights lawyer specializing in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). She was the project lead on an annual national report that tracked and analyzed hate crimes against AAPIs; the report was produced through the now-Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Pacific American Justice Center (formerly the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium) and its affiliates. Aryani worked with Leadership Conference on Civil Rights on advocacy efforts to press Congress for stronger legal protections.

Invited to join a civil rights delegation of U.S. experts, she testified before the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva and organized speaker panels for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa. Aryani wrote among the earliest community response guides on hate crimes in the field as a consultant and then Deputy Director of the now OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates (formerly Organization of Chinese Americans).

Aryani is a founding member and Senior Advisor of Communities United Against Hate (CUAH), an anti-hate crime coalition in Montgomery County, Maryland. She also served as member of an Asian American parent advisory group to Montgomery County Public Schools, and addresses school bullying. Aryani regularly speaks to dozens of audiences around the country. Representations of AAPIs To preempt bias, Aryani has worked to inform the public about AAPI and challenge stereotypes in the public domain. She has co-created and co-led professional training sessions for teachers and administrators at the Montgomery County Public Schools. Recently,

Aryani’s efforts led to a groundbreaking student listening session where AAPI students addressed the school community about their perspectives during the pandemic and the unprecedented numbers of reports of anti-Asian incidents. Outside of schools, she’s also worked with Norman Mineta and the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition to negotiate MOUs on diversity initiatives at the major TV networks; an award-winning pictorial book that featured Asian American heroes and community responses to 9/11; and several campaigns that challenge racist depictions by public figures, retail or media corporations and political campaigns. Diversity, Inclusion And Equity Aryani promotes diversity, inclusion and equity.

She is Founder of the Montgomery County Progressive Asian American Network (MoCoPAAN), which focuses on racial equity, immigrant rights and bias and profiling. Related to education, she served on an Asian American parent advisory council, or Asian Pacific American Student Achievement Action Group (APASAAG), and the Beyond the Boundaries Working Group with Impact Silver Spring. Aryani also facilitated Study Circles with students on the achievement gap.

She’s worked within coalitions to file amicus briefs on affirmative action cases before state and federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Related to immigrants and workforce development, Aryani served as board chair of the Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (MCAEL), countywide system of 50+ ESOL programs. Related to inclusion, Aryani has addressed the county government leadership several times, proposing a blueprint to address the AAPI community needs, and facilitated a table dialogue at a community forum on a proposed racial equity bill. Immigrant Integration, Civic Participation and Political Empowerment Aryani supports the pipeline of immigrant integration to civic participation and political empowerment. She works with local and national groups such as Civic Leadership USA and Asian American Unity Coalition and serves as Senior Advisor to the United Chinese Americans.

In 2018, Aryani returned to politics after having worked for the California Democratic Party as a field organizer for the Clinton/Gore/Boxer/Feinstein coordinated campaign in 1992. She served on the kitchen cabinet advisors to Hoan Dang (county council) and Lily Qi (state assembly). She moderated the candidate forums for the Maryland gubernatorial race (as a member of the United for Maryland PAC) and Montgomery County Executive’s race (as an officer of the Asian American Political Alliance). Aryani is on the board of the Asian American Action Fund (AAA Fund) and a member of the local MoCoWoMen political group. In 2019, she invited to serve on the new Montgomery County Executive’s transition team. During the 2020 elections, Aryani served as a co-chair of Chinese Americans for Biden (CAFB – 2ndgeneration) affinity group under the AAPIs for Biden component of the Biden campaign. Currently, she serves on the AAPI Leadership Committee under the DNC AAPI Caucus and as an advisor to Indonesian American Democrats.

Nonprofit Management, Board Governance and Consulting Aryani has devoted her career to the nonprofit sector in various professional roles ranging from staff, fundraising and management to consultant and coalition partner. She has been hired as a consultant to work with clients that ranged from nonprofits such as the Urban Institute, whose work provides strategic direction to The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) and the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund to universities such as Harvard’s Civil Rights Project and University of Maryland’s Asian American Studies Program.

Aryani was trained as a senior governance consultant by BoardSource and by the Georgetown University’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership and a ChevronTexaco Management Institute-sponsored training program. While MCAEL’s board chair, she created a peer board chair circle for Nonprofit Montgomery. Aryani has served on several boards, among them the OCA – Washington, D.C. chapter and the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County (CRCMC) and as advisor to the Betty Ann Ong and Calvin J. Li Memorial Foundations. She’s a Leadership Montgomery graduate (class 2013).

Further Background Aryani has been represented in major news outlets such as NBC4, New York Times (Chinese language edition), the Washington Post, Science magazine, CSPAN, and ethnic or international media such as Voice of America – China, Voice of America Indonesia, CNN Indonesia, SinoVision, South China Morning Post, DingDing TV, as well as local county cable and print media and podcasts.

She has freelanced for Newsweek magazine. Aryani has received awards and recognition from Maryland’s Top 100 Women Award, The Community Foundation’s Linowes Leadership Award (semi-finalist), the Center for Nonprofit Advancement (board), and the Clarion Award (team book project).

Aryani holds a law degree from George Washington University Law School and a B.A. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley. She has clerked on Capitol Hill, the National Women’s Law Center, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and the Human Rights Commission in San Francisco. Aryani is working on a blog called Six Hues to elevate stories with multi-dimensional perspectives, especially from AAPIs.

Arnie Saiki

research, writer, program director

Broadly focusing on regional economic and geopolitical themes in the Asia and Pacific regions, Arnie Saiki is currently leading a working group on data, statistics and valuation in the Pacific. His book “Economic and Ecological Accounting: Towards Intemerate Values,” was published last year by the Pacific Conference of Churches, the Pacific Theological College and the University of the South Pacific.

Since the publication, this campaign has been introduced to the Ecological and Economic Justice program at the World Council of Churches and he is participating in a G8 Interfaith forum for the inclusion of Wellbeing indicators into our economic accounts. 

While national statistics and ecological accounting normally fall under the purview of government, academic or international institutions, Arnie has been campaigning in democratizing our ecological data, seeking support for a proof-of-concept accounting program that would enable poor, impacted, and indigenous peoples to actively participate in how we account for our socio and economic biodiversity. Intemerate Accounting is an equation that helps to correct accounting disparities that have, to a large extent, excluded the Global South. Revising our accounting system can provide access and opportunities that cross wide campaign sectors, bringing hope, action and efficacy to reverse climate change, restore our ecological biodiversity, and redistribute global wealth more equitably.

Arnie has been actively promoting and working on global justice campaigns since 2007 when he received a “We the People” grant from the Hawai’i Council of the Humanities for his work on Hawai’i Statehood. He has organized conferences with Hawaiian national independence groups, managed the Save Rapanui campaign after the Chilean military forced a lockdown of Easter Islanders. Arnie spoke at the World Bank representing the Pacific Island Forum, and participated in discussions around regionalism in the Pacific. He was recently appointed the US-Pacific Diplomacy and Solidarity Mission for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), and is on the management team of the Deep Seabed Mining Campaign.

In 2011, Arnie received the blessing from Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell to organize a counter-conference in Honolulu while APEC was there and coordinated the Moana Nui conferences, an international partnership between the International Forum on Globalization and Pua Mohala I Ka Po. For the last ten years he has been campaigning on issues around trade, development, ecological resources, indigenous issues and militarization in the Pacific.

His essays, “TPP at the End of the Line: a briefing on economic cooperation and capacity building” was published in American Quarterly by John Hopkins University Press, and “Manifesting the Liquid Continent,” was published by Yunnan National University, as part of the 1st International conference on Asia and Pacific Ethnology and Anthropology.

Linda Trinh Vo

Professor, Department of Asian American Studies, University of California, irvine

Dr. Linda Trinh Vo is a professor and former chair of the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Mobilizing an Asian American Community, co-author of Vietnamese in Orange County, and co-author of the report Transforming Orange County: Assets and Needs of Asian Americans & Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, along with co-editing numerous collections, including Keywords for Asian American Studies. Dr. Vo was president of the national Association for Asian American Studies and has served in leadership roles with numerous community projects and organizations, including Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Project; Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Orange County; Orange County Asian & Pacific Islander Community Alliance; and Viet Film Fest. From her campus, she has received the Pedagogical Innovation: Civic Engagement Teaching Award and the Community Service Award.

A. Sparks

Executive Director, MasTo Foundation

She values and is deeply committed to promoting equity based on her experience as a queer, multi-racial, woman in the field of philanthropy. She is currently Executive Director of Masto Foundation, a US-based family foundation rooted in the Japanese-American community.

Prior to taking on leadership at the foundation, Sparks worked in philanthropy for 12 years, as a Program Officer and founded Queer Leaders in Philanthropy (a national network focused on changing the culture of philanthropy to be more empowering of LGBTQ individuals through advocacy and community building).

Sparks has served on the Program Committee for Horizons Foundation for ten years and regularly advises the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, National Center for Family Philanthropy, Asian-American Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), and Council on Foundations. She a former Board Member of San Francisco Women Against Rape (SFWAR) and the SF LGBT Community Center, and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District and the Board of Directors for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).

In addition to volunteering her time, Sparks has led initiatives to make the field of philanthropy more accessible. She founded Horizons Foundation’s young donor circle called HYPE and was a founding member of the Funding Queerly Giving Circle which, in five years after granting out $1+ million, fundraised and allocated more money to small-budget LGBTQ nonprofits than any other US-based giving circle in history.Prior to entering philanthropy, Sparks worked as a clinical social worker for foster care youth in Harlem, New York, and received a BA from Vassar College, a Master’s in Social Work from UC Berkeley, and a Master’s in Business Administration for the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. She lives in San Francisco with her partner, Sierra, and adorable Morkie named Panda and travels up to Seattle regularly for work with the foundation.

Natasha Saelua

Researcher, McREL International

Natasha Saelua, Ph.D. ABD, is a researcher at McREL International, specializing in higher education assessment and accreditation. In this role, she supports a variety of projects through research and consultation under the REL Pacific contract. She has worked as a graduate research assistant at the Indiana University School of Medicine’s Faculty Affairs, Professional Development, and Diversity office, the National Institute for Transformation and Equity at the University of California, San Diego, and the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University. She co-founded and worked as a lead researcher for Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC), a national nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, California. Natasha will be earning her Ph.D. in higher education from Indiana University in September, 2021, and holds a B.A. in history and an M.A. in Asian American studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Tamlyn Tomita

Actress and Activist

Tamlyn Tomita is perhaps best known for her role in “The Karate Kid, Part 2” which is enjoying its renaissance due to the popularity of “Cobra Kai” on NetFlix. She has 2 projects yet unannounced. Other projects she is known for are the films: “The Joy Luck Club”; “The Day After Tomorrow”; “Come See the Paradise” and the TV shows: “Star Trek:Picard”; “The Good Doctor”; “The Man in the High Castle”; “Teen Wolf”; “Berlin Station”; “Glee”; “True Blood”; and “Heroes”. A supporter of independent film, credits include: “The Right Mom”; “Real Artists”; “Daddy”; “Operation:Marriage”; “White Room:02B3”; “Awesome Asian Bad Guys” and “Robot Stories”. A native Los Angeleno, specifically from the (818) and a proud AAPI embracing her Okinawan, Japanese, and Filipino heritages, she continually advocates for stories to be told from a ‘golden’ perspective. And most importantly, she is a proud and loyal UCLA Bruin.

Nancy Chan

Director of Philanthropy

Nancy Chan currently serves as director of philanthropy for the family office of a technology entrepreneur. Prior to this, she led the monitoring, evaluation and learning function of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Justice & Opportunity Initiative.

She was also head of community partnerships at Catalyte, a tech company with a social mission to promote access to software development careers for nontraditional candidates. Previously, as a director at philanthropy consulting firm Arabella Advisors, Nancy advised clients on strategy development and program evaluation, and served as the founding program director for the Hope & Grace Fund, the charitable grantmaking arm of the skincare brand Philosophy, Inc.

Through her work with Hope & Grace, she and a colleague compiled a set of recommendations to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in grantmaking practice (download at equityinphilanthropy.org) and summarized their work in an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, “Eliminating Implicit Bias in Grantmaking”. Prior to Arabella, Nancy conducted research at SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) and the Urban Institute, and worked in Silicon Valley companies Palm, Inc. and Adaptec.

Nancy currently volunteers on the steering committee of the Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy’s (AAPIP) Silicon Valley chapter. In partnership with AAPIP, she recently led the development and publication of the report Invisible Ink: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She also hosts a blog on social impact career transitions, socialimpactyodas.org. She holds an MPP from the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy and a BS in electrical engineering from MIT.

Gregory Cendana

President & Founder, Can't Stop! Won't Stop Consulting!

Dancer, Strategist and Entrepreneur Gregory Cendana is President and co-founder of Can’t Stop! Won’t Stop! Consulting, Chief Creative Officer of Greg Dances and co-founder of The People’s Collective for Justice and Liberation. He was the first openly gay and youngest-ever Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and Institute for Asian Pacific American Leadership & Advancement.

Gregory was also first openly gay Chair of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, co-founder of the diversity initiative Inclusv, and serves on the board of directors for United We Dream and 18 Million Rising. He co-authored Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) Behind Bars: Exposing the School to Prison to Deportation Pipeline, a first of its kind report on the impact of mass incarceration and mass criminalization in the AAPI community.

Gregory was President of the United States Student Association (USSA), where he played an integral role in the passage of the Student Aid & Fiscal Responsibility Act and Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act. Gregory is also a graduate of the Rockwood Leadership Institute, the Management Center’s Managing to Change the World, the Midwest Academy’s Organizing for Social Change, Training for Change’s Training of Trainers, Spitfire’s Executive Training Program, Center for Story Based Strategy’s Advanced Training and re:power’s Political Training Program.

Prior to his current role on the Board of Pharmacy, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also appointed him to serve on the Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs after he served a two year term on the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Advisory Committee under the leadership of Mayor Vince Gray. Gregory also co-founded the Washington Highlands Civic Association and served as its Vice President. He has been named one of Washington DC’s most influential 40-and-under young leaders, one of the 30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30, 40 Influential Asian Americans in Washington, DC’s Inaugural Power 30 Under 30™ Award Recipients and the “Future of DC Politics”. In his spare time, Gregory enjoys singing karaoke, choreographing dances and trying new recipes. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @GregoryCendana and TikTok: @GregDances

Jaslin Kaur

Organizer at Know Your IX

Jaslin Kaur is an Organizer at Know Your IX where she leads federal civil rights trainings for student survivors of gender-based violence. Prior, she worked at the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) in policy and communications for immigrant justice and reproductive healthcare access, focusing on detention and deportation of Asian families.

She has also worked with multiple organizations on political education regarding racial justice, immigrant rights, and voting rights, including at New American Leaders and the NYC Asian American Student Conference. Jaslin is an alumna of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC Youth Leadership Summit and the OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates Summer Internship Program. Recently, she ran for New York City Council vying to be the first South Asian candidate on the body, and was endorsed by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders. Jaslin holds a B.A. in Women & Gender Studies and Human Rights from CUNY Hunter College and an A.A. from Nassau Community College.

Sathya Mandjiny

Senior Manager, Government Affairs, Groundwork Collaborative

Sathya is a Senior Manager of Government Affairs at Groundwork Collaborative. Sathya most recently served as Political Director of Senator Ed Markey’s re-election campaign where she oversaw the campaign’s community outreach and worked alongside advocacy groups to create a meaningful political dialogue at the grassroots level. Prior to joining Senator Markey’s re-election campaign, Sathya was the Political Director at MassEquality where she managed the organization’s legislative work, including the successful passage of a bill to ban conversion therapy. Sathya began her career at a boutique public affairs firm where she worked on a variety of issues, including health care and transportation. A native of Hope Mills, North Carolina, Sathya earned her undergraduate degree in Global Studies and South Asian Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed her Masters in Social Work at Boston College, focusing on legislative advocacy. From the age of 14, Sathya has also studied Bharata Natyam, an Indian classical dance.

Andine Sutarjadi

Director of Next Gen Initiatives, 21/64

Andine Sutarjadi is a speaker, facilitator and writer on next generation philanthropy. As a Director of Next Gen Initiatives at 21/64, Andine facilitates programs and conversations to equip next gen donors with the tools they need to clarify their philanthropic identity, become more strategic in their giving and be prepared to serve on nonprofit boards.

She also leads the 21/64 Certified Advisors of Color Program that aims to build a community of BIPOC philanthropic professionals with deep knowledge on multigenerational family, wealth and philanthropy, using 21/64’s tools and resources, to guide donors in their grantmaking, governance and investing.

Previously, Andine worked at Women Moving Millions (WMM) where she was responsible for the programming and community engagement of over 300 high-net-worth philanthropists focused on giving with a gender-lens. Andine received her B.Sc. in Health Science with a Minor in Public Health from Boston University. As a next gen donor herself, Andine is a Co-Chair of the Family Prosperity Working Group at NEXUS, serves on the steering committee of the Asian Women’s Giving Circle and is a Technical Advisor for Pyramid Life Care, a social enterprise she co-founded with her mother that provides health and holistic services to elderly communities in her home city of Jakarta, Indonesia.

Richard Lui

News Anchor, MSNBC/NBC

Richard Lui has more than 30 years in television, technology, and business — often addressing Fortune 500 and Silicon Valley firms as a thought leader in media, marketing, and storytelling. Currently, Lui is a news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News, reporting on the ground for stories from terror attacks in France to slavery in Africa. Previously he was at CNN Worldwide, where in 2007 he became the first Asian American male in U.S. history to anchor a daily national cable news program. Lui is a team Emmy and Peabody recipient.

Weijia Jiang

Senior White House Correspondent, CBS News

Weijia Jiang is CBS News’ senior White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C. Jiang’s reporting is featured across all CBS News broadcasts and platforms.

Jiang has extensively covered the rise in violence against members of the AAPI community and has broken stories related to policy changes that the Biden administration has taken to address it. Under the previous administration, she traveled with President Trump on numerous occasions, both domestically and abroad. She has covered major stories for the Network including the president’s impeachments, the 2020 presidential campaign and election, and the confirmations of Judges Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. During her coverage of the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the answers to her questions during press briefings often made news.

Jiang joined CBS News in 2015 as a correspondent for Newspath, the Network’s 24-hour television newsgathering service for CBS stations and broadcasters around the world. Since then, she has reported extensively on both the Obama and Trump administrations, the 2016 presidential campaign and election, the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush; and the congressional baseball shooting that wounded House minority whip Steve Scalise. She has also covered national stories such as Hurricane Harvey, the catastrophic category 4 hurricane that hit Texas in 2017.

Jiang graduated from the College of William and Mary with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a minor in chemistry, and from Syracuse University with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. In 2012, she was inducted into the prestigious Professional Gallery at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. She is an active member of the Asian American Journalists Association.

She was born in Xiamen, China, and raised in West Virginia, where she immigrated with her parents when she was 2 years old.

MILCK

Singer and Advocate

MILCK (Connie K Lim) is a singer, songwriter, producer, performer and advocate who uses music to write her most courageous self into existence.

MILCK hit an international breakthrough after her song “Quiet” went viral, becoming Billboard’s No. 1 Protest Song in 2017, and a part of NPR’s American Anthem series. Her song sparked a movement, inspiring choirs from all over the world to translate it, from Dagbali, Spanish, Chinese, to German.

As a musical performer and public speaker, MILCK has shared stages with Michelle Obama, Glennon Doyle, Amanda Gorman, Aloe Blacc, Oprah, Jason Mraz, Yoko Ono, and Ani DiFranco.

Her love for music transcends her own project as she begins writing and producing upcoming releases for artists including Phillipa Soo and John Legend.

Interwoven with her music is MILCK’s advocacy work. Her current focus is raising funds and awareness for The Somebody’s Beloved Fund, which is a fund she started to support 10 grassroots organizations that do incredible work to build power around racial healing (somebodysbeloved.com).

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