Our Staff
Executive Director
Miriam W. Yeung, Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) guides the country’s only national, multi-issue, progressive organization dedicated to social justice and human rights for Asian and Pacific Islander women and girls in the US. With offices in NYC and DC, and chapters in 11 cities, NAPAWF’s current priorities include winning rights for immigrant women, organizing nail salon workers for safer working conditions, conducting community-based participatory research with young API women and ending human trafficking.
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.
Administrative Assistant
H’Rina DeTroy has been interested in Asian/Pacific American issues ever since her student organizing days in college in Eugene, Oregon. Born and raised in New England, she had never before encountered politically active Asian American groups until then. Inspired, she founded a local chapter of the Asian/ Pacific American Student Union.
A trained journalist and a writer, she has dedicated much of her reporting to Asian American issues. She was selected as the first Asian American Journalist Association scholar in her graduate school, the CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism in 2009.
In addition to working alongside her righteous Asian American sisters at NAPAWF, DeTroy is also working on memoir based on her personal experience of growing up in a challenging bicultural household. The story details the search, and reunion, to her mother’s family in Vietnam.
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.
Reproductive Justice Fellow
Shivana is a legal advocate, community organizer, and artist. In May 2011, she graduated from Emory University School of Law, where she was Co-Chair of Law Students for Reproductive Justice, on the executive board of Emory’s LGBTQ legal association, and led service trips for the Emory Public Interest Committee. She has been a legal clerk at the New York State Division of Human Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
From 2006 to 2008, Shivana worked with Sakhi for South Asian Women, a non-profit dedicated to ending violence against women of South Asian origin, as an intern and then as a Volunteer Coordinator. While at Sakhi, she spearheaded efforts to expand the organization’s reach into neglected communities, namely New York City’s Indo-Caribbean population. In 2007, Shivana co-founded Jahajee Sisters, a New York-based movement-building organization, led by Indo-Caribbean women, that seeks to foster women’s empowerment through dialogue, arts, leadership development, and grassroots organizing. She currently sits on the Jahajee Sisters Steering Committee.
Shivana is also a classical Indian dancer and a spoken word poet, who seeks to use her art to illuminate women’s trauma and resilience. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Fordham University.
