Hi! Here are some things about me that I'd love to share with you.
ABOUT ME
SOME THINGS I'VE MADE IN MY LIFE
One dress.
Two humans.
Thousands of photographs.
A biography of my mother.
Plenty of mistakes.
Nine moves to different countries, three moves back.
SOME THINGS IN LIFE THAT HAVE MADE ME
Being kon kat, mixed race, Cambodian-American.
Graduating high school with only 6 other kids.
Working as a barista, receptionist, and waitress.
Navigating sexuality with sex workers in Uganda.
Falling in love with a friend.
Losing a parent.
SOME THINGS I'M PROUD OF:
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I come from a lineage of social change and fateful moments. I'm a daughter of a human rights defender/mother and a United Nations director/father who met on the border of Cambodia and Thailand after the fall of the Khmer Rouge Regime.
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Most recently, I was the Co-Executive Director for FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund the world’s largest participatory fund exclusively for young feminist organizers. From 2013-2019, I co-led the growth of the fund from incubation to independence, from a budget of 250,000 USD to over 4 million USD, cumulatively supporting over 150 groups of young feminists around the world. We grew from 2 staff to over 15 team members, and collectively created a virtual office culture across 6 continents.
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I am passionate about building confidence in mobilizing resources for social justice and democratizing philanthropy. I am a co-founder of the Devata Giving Circle - the first Cambodian-American giving circle. Identity-based giving inspired me to make sure I was FRIDA's first individual donor (a few years before I applied for a job there). That way the first young feminist fund got its first donation from a young feminist.
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My success at FRIDA is inextricably connected to the co-leadership structure and Ruby Johnson. Actually the only reason I considered the position in the first place was knowing that I would be doing this in partnership. We barely knew each other when we started. It's been a labour of love and I'm glad we came out of it as friends who continue to collaborate!
SOME MORE THINGS
YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME:
I'm an extroverted introvert. I love going to concerts by myself - dancing on my own in a crowd. I enjoy being with people, but I get my strongest energy from smaller, intimate conversations. I recently learned the term "friendship as method" and feel it captures so much of my values and approaches to the relationships we want to craft in social justice work.
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I'm good at most things I put my mind to, but I'm learning to be happy at things I put my heart in. The urgency of creating a more just world often creates days when I am "living to work" but I need to remember sometimes it's okay if I am "working to live" a life that is full and whole.
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I have a MSc in International Development and Management from Lund University, and a BSocSc (Hons) in Politics and International Relations from the University of Manchester.
