Miriam Yeung
Executive Director
Miriam W. Yeung, MPA, is the Executive Director of NAPAWF. Prior to this position, Miriam had a ten year career at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City, where she was most recently the Director of Public Policy and Government Relations. In that position, she was responsible for the advocacy, community education and government relations work of the Center – including Promote the Vote, one of the country’s oldest and largest LGBT voter education and mobilization projects, and Causes in Common, a national project which seeks to build working alliances between the reproductive rights and LGBT liberation movements.

Prior to that position, Miriam provided direct services in the Center’s Youth Enrichment Services Program for seven years and was the driving force behind its Safe Schools Campaign, which seeks to erase hate and homophobia from schools through the empowerment, training and support of youth leaders. Miriam has also co-produced a documentary about the queer youth community of NYC entitled “I Look Up to the Sky Now.”

Born in Hong Kong and raised in the projects of Brooklyn, Miriam is a proud queer, Asian American, immigrant woman activist who is committed to social justice movement building. Miriam received her Master’s in Public Administration at Baruch College and her B.A. in psychology/pre-med at NYU.

Christine Soyong Harley
Policy and Programs Director

Chris started her social justice career as a community organizer in Los Angeles, organizing and advocating for labor, civil, and immigrant rights on behalf of disenfranchised and under-represented communities.

Most recently, Chris worked as a Project Manager for the Assistant Secretary of Programs, at the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS). In her role as Project Manager, she was responsible for many of DHS’ immigrant integration efforts including initiatives to improve linguistically and culturally competent access to DHS services for Limited English Proficient immigrants and refugees. As part of these efforts, she managed the Asian Americans with Disabilities Initiative, a public/ private partnership to assess barriers to accessing DHS services for underserved immigrant communities and develop a pilot project to increase the capacity of ethnic service providers to work with individuals with disabilities. She also worked closely with the Director of the Illinois Welcoming Center to promote and expand this model program.

In addition, Chris led the initial phases of implementing the State of Illinois’ $53 million Neighborhood Stabilization Program, including plan development, grantee selection, and administrative budget oversight. She also directed efforts to expand the Open Door pilot program, an initiative to provide comprehensive, one-stop service delivery for high-need and at-risk DHS customers.

Chris has a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Oberlin College and a Masters from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. She has been named a 2009 Future Leader by the Overseas Korea Foundation, is a 2005 alum of the Community Leadership Program held by the Leadership Center for Asian Pacific Americans, and is a 2000 Evelyn DuBrow/UNITE! Fellow.

Jaspreet Chowdhary
Reproductive Justice Fellow

Jaspreet received her B.A. in English and Women’s Studies from Goucher College, where she received a Marvin Perry Scholarship. While at Goucher, she interned at the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press and published an article on Women of Color on Campus and the Struggle for Networking. During her senior year, she conducted research on Intimacy After Illness and presented findings at the American Public Health Association meeting.

Jaspreet’s M.P.H. studies in Epidemiology from Tulane University furthered her passion for the health care rights and needs of women.  While in graduate school, Jaspreet interned at the Louisiana Department of Public Health and helped input data for a cervical cancer screening study. Subsequently, she worked as an epidemiologist at Duke University, where she conducted research on obesity in post-partum women and genetic causes of cancer. In that capacity, she researched and collected data on disease progression. She also created, populated and managed a database from which she pulled data for analysis that was included in published materials about the studies.  Jaspreet also supervised the data collection team to make sure they were properly trained in explaining consent forms and entering data accurately.

She received her J.D. from Seattle University.  While in law school, Jaspreet was a board member of Law Students for Reproductive Justice. She received Public Interest Law Foundation Grants for her summer internships at SPARK Reproductive Justice Now and the Center for Medicare Advocacy.  While in law school, she also helped coordinate several programs including a session on how to be a social justice advocate using techniques of the theatre of the oppressed. During the fall of 2009, she interned at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Office of Legal Counsel and Health Care for All.

Jaspreet has worked in academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and government agencies which honed her understanding of and effectiveness in interdisciplinary environments.

Kathy Huynh
Community Organizer

Born and raised in Oakland, California, Kathy became aware of social disparities at an early age. Following her exposure to Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and identity politics, Kathy involved herself with organizations and projects that worked towards community development and social change in the Bay Area and Philadelphia region. Such organizations included Asian Americans United, Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, Breakthrough Collaborative, and Norristown Youth Development Coalition.

Prior to joining NAPAWF’s team in August 2010, Kathy was a volunteer and staff for Vietnamese Overseas In Conscience Empowerment in the Philippines and Cambodia. In Makati City, Philippines, Kathy’s work focused on refugee protection and helping stateless Vietnamese emigrate to Canada through the Humanitarian and Compassion Program. In Siem Reap, Cambodia, Kathy coordinated the establishment of a social enterprise and co-led a life skills curriculum for Vietnamese girls and women at-risk to or involved in the sex industry.

Kathy graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and minor in Education.

Vui Ung
Administrative Assistant
Vui is the Administrative Assistant at NAPAWF. She assists with the daily operations and projects of NAPAWF. Vui earned a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance and a minor in Family Violence Prevention from the University of Minnesota. During her undergraduate years, Vui volunteered and interned at several nonprofit organizations, including the Neighborhood Involvement Program, Council on Crime and Justice, Chrysalis, and Open Arms of Minnesota. She received intense training in domestic violence prevention and intervention, and learned that her personal and career goals would involve serving others in her community.

Vui moved to NYC to pursue an internship opportunity at Impact Coalition, a nonprofit that organizes debate training and tournaments for the NYC public schools. Currently, she is living in Brooklyn with her boyfriend, Ryan, and her 2 dogs, Henry and Leroy. Vui enjoys reading philosophy books, eating, biking, and spoiling her dogs. Vui is a competitive card player and would welcome the opportunity to play cards whenever possible. She aspires to attend a Public Health graduate program in a couple of years, hopefully in the NYC area.

Wen-Hua Yang
Finance and Operations Director
As NAPAWF’s Finance and Operations Director, Wen-Hua oversees the financial and administrative functions of the organization. Wen-Hua spent the last 10 years working and volunteering for various social justice organizations, including stints at Human Rights Watch, National Advocates for Pregnant Women and the New York Asian Women’s Center. She has also traveled extensively in China, where she interned at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and honed her Mandarin. In her free time Wen-Hua enjoys cooking, reading and traveling.

Wen-Hua received her Master’s in Public Administration from New York University, and a B.A. in Asian Studies and Religion from Mount Holyoke College.