KEYNOTE SPEAKER — IRENE PHUONG VAN
Irene Van is a queer Vietnamese 2nd generation performer, healer, and community organizer proud to call her hometown as San Jose. For many years, she served as an academic counselor and advocate for low-income youth of color in the Bay Area, where she then became passionate about doing healing work through the performing arts. She is currently pursuing her passion for theatre as a tool for healing and social justice at the California Institute of Integral Studies where she is getting a license to become a Marriage and Family therapist with a concentration in Drama Therapy. Irene Van has also been an organizer since 2010 where she has worked on a wide range of issues affecting low-income Vietnamese communties, including educational cuts, gentrification, and anti-black racism. Right now, she is interning at Oakland High School where she provides individual therapy and leads therapy groups for young women. Additionally, sometimes you'll find her rockin' the stage with poetry and acting in an Asian American theatre group called Bad Rep Theatre or the queer and trans Vietnamese art collective (QTViet Cafe) in the Bay Area.
EXPRESSION WORKSHOP — REYNALDO "MISTER REY" TIMOSA NOVICIO JR.
Reynaldo, also known as "Mister REY," is a Pilipino community leader, mental health advocate, musician, and producer based in San Francisco. At 12 years old, Mister REY immigrated to San Francisco's Mission District. While he was growing up, he joined a few after school programs such as Youth Speaks, an SF-based program that holds space for youth to develop themselves through poetry and freewriting. As he got older, he continued to involve himself in his community by working with under-resourced and at-risk youth in the South of Market (SOMA) of San Francisco. Today, he is the Program Coordinator for the Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Francisco. He also recently produced an entire album titled "Native Immigrant" alongside fellow Pinoy artist RO3LAY and other members of his kapwa.
EDUCATION WORKSHOP — URSULA-ANN SIATAGA
Ursula-Ann Siataga is of Samoan descent. Siataga was born and raised in San Francisco. She holds a Master's Degree in Social Documentation form the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Bachelor's Degree in Asian American Studies form the University of California, Los Angeles. Her commitment to community work has never left her focus, and she has found ways to balance the work throughout her academic journey. She is a Mana faculty member and film studies professor at College of San Mateo and San Francisco State University, and currently an Education coordinator and G.E.D. instructor for Mission Neighborhood Centers in San Francisco.
IDENTITY WORKSHOP — DANIEL "DANNYBOY" NAHA-VE'EVALU
Daniel “DannyBoy” Naha-Ve'evalu is a native of San Francisco, CA and has recently moved back to the Bay Area after being gone for 10 years.
After high school, DannyBoy went to College of San Mateo and City College of San Francisco before deciding that college wasn’t for him. He entered the workforce and worked various manual labor jobs. While standing on a scaffold during a construction job, DannyBoy realized he didn’t want to do that kind of work for the rest of his life. He made the decision to pursue higher education, but he knew it wouldn’t be an easy journey.
With the support of his family, DannyBoy packed up and moved to Atlanta, GA to attend to the Art Institute of Atlanta where he studied video production. DannyBoy knew in order to succeed, he needed to take himself out of his comfort zone. After 2 years, he applied to the University of Southern California (USC) and was admitted Fall of 2009 into the School of Cinematic Arts. In 2013, DannyBoy graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree.
While in college, DannyBoy was a student organizer for a Pacific Islander initiative called Promoting Unity, Liberation and Education or PULE (pronounced pooh-leh) that he created while working with Asian Pacific American Student Services, a department of Student Affairs at USC. After graduation, DannyBoy worked for Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC) as the Program Coordinator for Pacific Islander Leaders Of Tomorrow, a culture-based and community-focused leadership development program designed to build the leadership within the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (NHPI) community. DannyBoy currently works for The Office of Diversity and Equity in San Mateo County as the NHPI Community Outreach Worker.
DannyBoy is also an aspiring filmmaker with a social justice lens who desires to create content about the nuanced experiences of NHPIs in America. DannyBoy recently found a strong sense of solace in his identity as a Queer Pacific Islander-Sāmoan-American male, a battle he has struggled with for a lifetime. DannyBoy is devoted to the advancement and progression of NHPI’s and all people of color!