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Pronouns: she/her/hers

Sung Yeon is a first-generation immigrant working mom who is passionate about building power to create change so her daughters can live in a more just world than the one she inherited.

Sung Yeon initially came to NAPAWF as its National Field Director with a vision to build infrastructure for building a robust base of community leaders who are most affected by the policy issues that NAPAWF works on, namely immigrant rights, economic justice, and reproductive right and health, using the reproductive justice framework.

Sung Yeon has continued to lead NAPAWF with the vision of building power with Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls as she took on the role of Executive Director at NAPAWF. Sung Yeon deeply believes that policies should be made by the people for the people and when people are equipped with tools to build power and create change, we will get the job done.

Before working at NAPAWF, Sung Yeon was the Director of Organizing at Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) leading collaborative work with community organizations, unions, and faith communities on worker organizing and worker justice public policy. Prior to IWJ, Sung Yeon was a Community Organizer at Asian American Institute where she helped organize the pan-Asian American community in Chicago to work together on presidential and mayoral elections, immigration reform, the state budget, and redistricting.

Sung Yeon was born in South Korea and spent her childhood in Singapore and India. Sung Yeon came to the U.S. at the age of 18 to study Political Science and Urban Studies at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, and earned an M.Div from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. Sung Yeon is an Ordained Minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Sung Yeon is a board member of the Hana Center, a Chicago-based organization that builds power with Korean Americans, immigrants, and multi-racial communities for just policies that impact immigrant families.

Featured Work

Reproductive freedom goes beyond IVF and abortion access — we need protections, now, The Hill, March 13, 2023

The sexual stereotypes that sparked a murderer’s rampage in Atlanta keep Asian women in danger today, USA Today, March 14, 2022

Overturning Roe Will Threaten the Lives of Those Who Depend on Abortion Care the Most: People of Color, with Marcela Howell and Lupe M. Rodriguez, Ms. Magazine, December 9, 2021

Stop Treating Violence Against Asian American Women as Just a Racism Problem, Ms. Magazine, October 27, 2021

AAPI women have been overlooked in the abortion fight. But our voices matter, The Lily, October 1, 2021