THE FOUNDERS

​Kathy Lu
Co-Founder

​kathy@immigranthistory.org

Kathy grew up in Oregon and is a former Skadden Fellow who has spent the last decade working in education, Asian American studies, and organizing. She studied International Relations at Pomona College and worked in public schools as an AmeriCorps member. At Yale Law School, she led the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association and the Immigration Legal Services clinic. Kathy has worked as a nonprofit attorney with Asian survivors of gender violence and vulnerable families of color.

​Julia Chang Wang
​Co-Founder

​julia@immigranthistory.org

​Julia immigrated to the U.S. at age 9. As a child, Julia loved learning history but never saw stories about people like her and her family. She studied History and Economics at Harvard University and received a Gates Scholarship to study and obtain her Masters in History at the University of Cambridge. Since graduating from Yale Law, she has worked as a litigator and at several global nonprofits. Julia has published several articles on immigration and Asian American identity.

THE TEAM

Guigui Yao
AALP teacher trainer

Dr. Guigui Yao earned her Ph.D in American Studies from Shanghai International Studies University. Before she worked as an Associate Research Scholar at the American Studies Program of Yale University, she was a Senior Visiting Fellow there, sponsored by the U.S. China Education Trust. Her most recent research, collaborated with Laura Wexler (Yale) and Karintha Lowe (Harvard), is included in the forthcoming Cold War Camera (Duke University). 

Chenying Wang
AALP adult facilitator

王晨颖 (Karen) is a high-energy and dynamic educator and a poet. She has taught young children and their parents in the past 7 years. Her work focuses on helping children and adults understand how emotion is a gift to us, and she teaches how to be resourceful with emotions by equipping ourselves with knowledge and experimenting with various tools. She loves sharing the joy of creativity and the strength of resilience to help students to heal, reflect and live. 

Odette Wang
operations & partnerships

Odette (she/her) is a California Bay Area native and a graduate of Yale University with a degree in Sociology. She has worked in a variety of educational and nonprofit spaces, including New Haven public schools, the New York State Education Department, and the education programs department at the Yale University Art Gallery. She currently works in development and fundraising at a New Haven youth programs nonprofit.

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Abby Sachar
fundraising &
​communications associate

Abby is a junior at Cornell University studying Government and Statistical Science. She is highly interested in political theory and colonial and postcolonial studies. On campus, she works with Cornell Votes, and for fun, she enjoys hiking, reading, and baking cookies.

Nhi Nguyen
curriculum developer

Nhi Nguyen (she/her) was born and raised in Philadelphia and is the proud daughter of immigrants from Vietnam.  She is an early child museum education specialist, who has worked in the education departments of several museums in Washington D.C and Philadelphia. Her work focuses on the intersection of anti-racist pedagogy and early childhood museum education and ways to talk about and cultivate a positive racial identity with children. 

Sulynn Miao
curriculum & content manager

Sulynn (she/her) grew up in Washington State, the daughter of immigrants from Tianjin, China. She is a graduate from the University of California, Berkeley and has a history in education and mental health. Her experiences providing trauma-informed care for youth and families, leading school-based programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and coordinating vocational services for students, have all led her to the intersection of history, identity development, and intergenerational healing. With Immigrant History Initiative, Sulynn seeks to blend these themes into the curriculum and content designed by and for Asian American communities.

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Megan Elevado
program manager

Megan is a New Yorker with roots stretching across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As an artist, writer, and historian, she explores the shaping of individual and group identities through objects, the built environment, and various media. Her perspective is informed by an appreciation for the stories possessed by the living and inanimate, and by working in design and for cultural institutions

Jennifer Chen
AALP youth facilitator

Jen grew up in Maryland and recently graduated from Harvard College, where she studied Economics and Statistics. During college, she became particularly interested in the intersection between race and economics, and she wrote her senior thesis on the impact of minority media representation on societal attitudes. Jen currently works as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.
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Nancy Billings
grant writer

Nancy (she/her) grew up in small-town Maine, and is a graduate of Wesleyan University where she majored in American Studies, with a concentration in race and ethnicity, and Spanish Literature. She currently works in the U.S. Senate, where she has helped her office manage grant requests and congressionally directed spending requests. She developed a love of Asian American Studies in college, and is excited by IHI's work to bring this history to Asian American communities. 

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Sarah Appelbaum
restorative justice expert

Sarah Appelbaum, Ed. M., is an educator, restorative justice (RJ) practitioner, and school social worker in training. Sarah graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2019 with a program focus in counseling and prevention. As a consultant, Sarah partners with organizations to create RJ resources, implement RJ practices, and address challenging situations.