Our Leadership

 

National Advisory Council

  • US Senator Mazie Hirono

  • US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

  • US Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley

  • US Congresswoman Jill Tokuda

  • Former California State Controller Betty Yee

  • Michigan State Senator Stephanie Chang

  • Vermont State Senator Kesha Ram

  • Durham County (North Carolina) Commissioner Nida Allam

  • Georgia State Representative Michelle Au

  • Massachusetts State Representative Vanna Howard

  • Alvina Yeh (Former Executive Director, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance)

  • Linh Nguyen (Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, AAPI Victory Fund)

  • Nancy Yap (Executive Director, Center for Asian Americans United for Empowerment/CAUSE)

  • Eunsook Lee (Director, AAPI Civic Engagement Fund)

  • Karen Chen (Executive Director, Chinese Progressive Association/CPA Boston)

  • Jenn Liu (Senior Advisor and former National Finance Director, Kamala for the People)

  • Lacy Lew Nguyen Wright (Social Innovation Manager, Endeavor)

  • Andrea Dew Steele (Founder, Emerge America)

  • Elizabeth Barajas-Roman (Executive Director, Women’s Funding Network)

  • Emily Neilsen Jones (Founding Partner/Trustee, Imago Dei Fund)

  • Maria Jobin-Leeds (Founder, Jobin-Leeds Partnership for Democracy and Education)

Board of Directors

  • Lena Wu (AAWPI 2016), Chair

  • Theresa Lau (AAWPI 2009)

  • Zainab Khan

  • Nancy Yap

Founding Angel Donors

  • Massachusetts State Representative Aaron Michlewitz

  • Michelle Mercer and Bruce Golden

  • Cynthia Sears

  • Olivia Sears

  • Asian American Futures

  • Elizabeth Baldwin

  • Maria Jobin-Leeds

  • Barbara Lee Family Foundation

  • Neilson Jones Fund

  • Masto Foundation

  • Boston Women’s Fund

  • New Profit Inc.

  • The Geeta and Kamesh Aiyer Family Fund

Meet the Team

  • Diana Hwang

    FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    Diana (she/her) is the Founder/Executive Director of AAWPI. In 2023, Diana was named by POLITICO as “one of the 40 most powerful people shaping race, culture, policy and politics,” alongside Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson and Vice President Kamala Harris; POLITICO called her "nothing short of a change agent." She has also been a featured speaker at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. and at several colleges, including Salem State University where she gave the annual convocation address.

    In 2020, Diana was the first Political and Organizing Director for She the People, a national network of women of color working to transform our democracy. Diana was also a former candidate for the Massachusetts State Senate. She carried the city of Boston and outraised her seven opponents in the race. Diana graduated from Dartmouth College and Columbia Business School.

  • Darlene Vu

    CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (Cohort 6)

    Darlene (she/her) is a 2015 AAWPI alum who led and co-facilitated two State House Fellowship classes.

    After her AAWPI State House fellowship, Darlene worked at the Massachusetts State House as a legislative aide in both the House of Representatives and State Senate. She served as the campaign manager for Cinda Danh, an AAWPI alum who was the first Asian American woman to run for Lynn City Council. Afterwards, she worked as an Associate at Dewey Square Group, a preeminent public affairs and lobbying firm.

    Darlene graduated from UMass Amherst with a BS in Public Health. She currently serves on the UMass Amherst Women into Leadership Board of Directors.

  • Delia Cheung Hom

    CHIEF PROGRAMS OFFICER

    Dr. Delia Cheung Hom (she/her) is an award-winning educator with nearly 20 years of experience working towards goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education. She previously served as the Director of the Asian American Center at Northeastern, where she also founded NU DREAM, a professional development program for staff of color. Delia also co-founded the AAWPI Massachusetts Statehouse Fellowship.

    Currently, she is the co-host of the podcast From Here, which seeks to amplify the voices and experiences of Asian American parents with social justice values. Delia also serves on the board of the Alumni Association of Vassar College, the Newton Schools Foundation, and her local PTO Board.

    Delia was born and raised in Massachusetts, where she currently lives with her family. She earned degrees from Vassar College, Johns Hopkins University, Claremont Graduate University, and Northeastern University.

  • Aubrey Tang

    MASSACHUSETTS STATE DIRECTOR

    Aubrey (she/her) was one of AAWPI's inaugural National Civic Impact Innovators in 2022 and was able to help revive Asian Community Development Corporation's (ACDC's) Chinatown Backyard in Boston Chinatown through her project. She is currently a PhD Candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at Dartmouth College and spends her days researching different metal alloys for renewable energy technologies. By night (or weekends), she is also the Co-Founder and President of The Chinatown Project, a grassroots organization dedicated to documenting Boston Chinatown as it continues to evolve. Her team's passion for this cause has led to interviews with over 25 business owners, residents, and local leaders as well as production of several long-format series investigating the food, culture, and people in the neighborhood. Most recently, they were recognized as one of Boston's Most Influential Community Organizations by GetKonnected!. Ultimately, their goal is to preserve the culture, history, and people of Boston Chinatown through visual media and serve as an easily accessible digital archive for all things Boston Chinatown.

    In the future, Aubrey hopes to combine her passions for materials science and social justice to develop technologies or products that can benefit and support marginalized communities.

  • Victoria Huynh

    GEORGIA STATE DIRECTOR

    Victoria Huynh is a Community Organizer and has more than 18 years of experience working within international, immigrant, and refugee communities in the state of Georgia. In the most recent role, Huynh served as a Senior Vice President/Chief Officer of External Affairs at one of the largest AAPI nonprofits in the Southeast. In October 2022, Huynh formed the Georgia AAPI Hub to support the capacity building of AAPI nonprofits in Atlanta.

    Victoria’s experiences in her limited English proficient (LEP) Vietnamese Refugee household fuels her passion for community building, strategic planning, and policy work within the immigrant spaces. Victoria actively advocates on the local and national level for equitable language access, meaningful civic engagement, protections of immigrant rights, and the enhancements of vital social safety net services and programs. Most recently, Huynh fundraised more than $1,000,000 in 2021-2022 to support vital grassroots AAPI initiatives in Georgia.

    From 2013-2018, Victoria served as an appointed member of the National Regional Health Equity Council. In 2015, 2017, 2022, and 2023 the Georgia Asian Times recognized Huynh as an honoree of the 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia. In 2020, the Southeast U.S. Pan Asian Chamber of Commerce named her an outstanding AAPI in the Southeast and was named a sHERO by the Center for Asian Pacific American Women and OCA at a National AAPI Womxn’s Conference. Huynh recently ended her three-year federal appointment with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel. Victoria currently serves as a federal appointee with the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (PACAANHPI).