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OUR TEAM
What I appreciate most about AAJIL is the community of people it has attracted-- curious, generous, talented folks who share our values of justice, love, and emergence. These are people who really believe that we can change the world through collective action. It’s so inspiring.
Founder & Co-Director
Dr. Sandra So Hee Chi Kim (she/her) is AAJIL’s founder and a Co-Director. She is an IDEA Fellow in the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies at Stony Brook University. Her research explores the intersections of race, global coloniality, migration, and culture. Her articles have appeared in Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, Positions: Asia Critique, Korean Studies, Discourse: Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture, and Occasion: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities. She is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Kinning Empire: Transcoloniality and Korean Historical Trauma.
Elaine Chiu (she/her) is an educator, facilitator, and community builder. Elaine has an educational background in Early Childhood Special Education, as well a second masters in Intercultural Studies with an emphasis on Asian American contexts. With her extensive experience as an elementary school teacher for 16 years, she is currently a co-director at AAJIL. Elaine’s lived experiences and work in the education field has led her to dedicate her studies and efforts into rethinking and reimagining curriculum and historical narratives, not only for her students, but for the community at large. As a lifelong learner, her commitment to learning fuels her dedication to studying, researching, and informing others, while fostering partnerships and communities who desire to make meaningful change.
I appreciate the space and support AAJIL has given me to explore my own identity as a Chinese American and to also be a part of a community of people who are dedicated to social and racial justice work. I’ve been deeply moved by the stories and experiences of the individuals in AAJIL and grateful for the opportunity to be on this journey with them.
Co-Director
Being a part of the AAJIL community allows me space to explore and reclaim my identity as an Asian American alongside individuals with shared values of curiosity, joy, love, and collective liberation.
Co-Director
dana (she/her) is a passionate advocate for equity, and a believer in our interconnectedness. She is a lover of the outdoors, arts, and finding the intersections in life. In her free time, you'll likely find her wandering the halls of a library or museum, or curled up in the sun reading.
Jess (they/them) is an independent scholar and former Special Education teacher from Tkaronto. They are currently based on Cession 286, the land now known as Los Angeles. Their interests lie in decolonizing and revolutionary pedagogies, teacher education, and the reimagining of new, hopeful, decolonial possibilities in education. Past publications include Humber College’s Resource Guides on Career Conversations for Learners with Disabilities, Disrupting the Colonizing Gaze and Mobilizing for Systemic Decolonization: 2020 World Events and the Curriculum of Critical Consciousness (2022 with Dr. Ardavan Eizadirad), and What’s Love Got To Do With It? Radical Self-Love as an Activist Pedagogy for Educators (2023 with Yara Kodershah).
I love AAJIL because it was the first time I started hearing my innermost thoughts, hopes, and dreams being articulated outside of me.
Co-Director
I am always inspired by the way the AAJIL community strives to live out the values of emergent strategy in our work. This is a community that consistently helps me believe that we can collectively build the just and loving world that we dream of.
Co-Director
Dr. Nat H.N. Low (they/them) is a queer marine ecologist. They were born and raised in Singapore and now make the central coast of California their home. They are a data specialist at the Center for Biodiversity and Community Science at the California Academy of Sciences, which works to connect communities to nature. They are also a part of Bitter Cotyledons, a queer and trans Asian American collective in Santa Cruz centered around ancestral foodways, food growing, and community as creative resilience.
Reiney Lin is a co-director at AAJIL. She is an organizer, trainer, and consultant with the Racial Equity Institute and the Groundwater Institute, where she serves as the lead Asian American trainer. Reiney has an institutional background in public health with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in higher education with the Center for Race, Ethnicity & Diversity Education at Elon University. She is honored to be a part of the AAJIL team and contribute to collective learning spaces essential to organizing and the movement for racial justice.
The magic of AAJIL is having a space where we can give ourselves permission to be curious, to be authentic, and to sharpen our own analysis no matter where we are in our personal journeys.