Story Slam

Tammalivis Salanoa is a first-generation college graduate from the University of Alaska Anchorage and a local female Polynesian artist. She has a passion for the youth of Alaska and the influence art can have in expressing one's true self. She has assisted on a mural commission by the Anchorage Museum and the Municipality of Anchorage and collaborated with the local artist networking to find resources for youth interested in public art. Tammalivis has made an impression in her community and has been a beacon for young artists. She's not only participated in art projects, but has also led public art discussions on climate change and how art can translate the words we can't find into being. She strives to plant seeds and pathways for future generations. She may not live to see the fruits of her labors but knowing she will leave this world better than when she arrived brings her peace.

Kaity L. Yang is a 34 year old writer from the Gates Millennium Scholars Class of 2006. After losing her father abruptly to cancer when she was six years old, then caring for her abusive mother, she chose academia as a haven from her impoverished upbringing as the only child of her refugee parents. Traumas later on did not define her, as Yang refused to allow mental health struggles to smother her. She continued on her non-linear path of recovery to achieve her master’s degree in 2014 and published her first book of fiction, Forgive Eunice under her pen name, Daphne Kaiserin Zorn, in 2017. OCA-National commissioned Yang as a featured spoken word artist for their annual summit in 2021. One of her poems was published in their bi-annual magazine, as well. Yang’s first book of poetry, Of My Mother and Men (or lack thereof) was published in 2022. Yang devotes herself as a harbinger of change through her work as a wordsmith and consults as a freelance poetry composition and performance coach.

Pyar Mo is an APIA Scholar alumni. She was born in a Thailand refugee camp, and due to the Myanmar military, her family fled Karenni state in Myanmar to seek safely in Thailand refugee camp. She is a minority Karenni biomedical Science graduate and will continue to pursue her career in Physicians Associate. In this event, she will be sharing her spoken poetry and documentary.

Chongzheng Wei (he/they) is a doctoral candidate in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at UC Santa Barbara. Chongzheng’s research centers around addressing minority stress and mental health disparities facing the LGBTQ communities, especially those with intersecting identities.

Johnnie Yaj is currently a Ph.D. student at UCLA in the Higher Education and Organizational Change program. He works as a Graduate Student Researcher at the Higher Education Research Institute and focuses on the educational benefits of diversity/homogeneity. During his free time, he enjoys writing and performing spoken word poetry as a way to express censorless rage, but also to heal and better bridge new ways of thinking.

Rashmi was born and partially raised in Nepal, and is very grateful to be a part of this APIA family.
She currently lives in San Francisco, working as a Patient Advocate/ Clinical Studies Coordinator for pediatric population with brain tumor.

Andy is a Gates Millennium Scholar alumnus and received his BA from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and his teaching credential from the California State University at Long Beach. He is currently finishing his MA degree in East Asian Studies at UCLA. His research surrounds the implementation of anti-bias and anti-racist education in Chinese language pedagogy. After graduation, he hopes to teach high school Mandarin.

Uyen Ha is a GMS scholar (’09) and alumna of Agnes Scott College and University of Pennsylvania. Passionate about education and equity, Uyen has taught high school and led diversity and inclusion initiatives in nonprofit and higher education. She is currently a college access program director and an aspiring writer.

Eleanor Ngerchelei Titiml is a Micronesian (Palauan) Ph.D candidate in Research Methodology at Loyola University Chicago. Titiml’s research and professional interests include but are not limited to the following: 1) Educational systems, 2) Program evaluation, 3) Public and school policy, 4) Culturally responsive methodologies, 5) Indigenous evaluation, and 6) Evaluation capacity building.

Titiml has experiences in learning and working within areas of higher education, college-access programs, government, non-profits, and community organizations in the United States and her home in Palau. Today, Titiml serves as a research associate at Planning, Implementation, Evaluation (PIE) Org. where she provides evaluation coaches and clients with research and evaluation support.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Titiml received her Master of Education (M.Ed) from Loyola University Chicago’s Cultural and Educational Policy Studies (CEPS) Program. Titiml also received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, specializing in human resources, from Creighton University’s Heider College of Business in Omaha, Nebraska.

Amit was born in India and now resides in the Bay Area. He received the Gates Millennium Scholarship in 2014 and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Creative Writing in 2018 from Sierra Nevada University. Amit loves writing poetry, and is currently in a Master’s in Public Health program at Columbia University. In his free time, he likes to read and watch educational videos. He is a fitness and mindfulness enthusiast, and he loves being in nature! A fun fact about Amit: his full name translates to the Infinite Wasp.

Axel Defngin was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi and graduated from Yap Seventh-day Adventist School in Yap, Federated States of Micronesia before going to the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo where he earned a BA in Pacific Islands Studies. He is currently a graduate student at University of Hawaii at Manoa where he is also a Media and Publications Graduate Assistant at the Center for Pacific Islands Studies. Axel has also been an APAICS intern and currently serves on the Scholar Advisory Committee at APIA Scholars.

Terisa Siagatonu is an award-winning touring poet, speaker, educator, and community organizer born and rooted in the Bay Area. Her voice in the poetry world as a queer Sāmoan woman has granted her opportunities to perform in places such as the White House (Obama administration), the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris, the Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia, and the 2019 SF Women's March. A President Obama's Champion of Change Award recipient for her activism as a poet/organizer in her Pacific Islander community and with numerous viral poetry videos garnering over millions of views collectively, Terisa's writing/teaching blends the personal, cultural, and political in a way that calls for healing, courage, justice, and truth. A 2019 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 100 List Honoree, Terisa's work has been published in Poetry Magazine and has been featured on Button Poetry, CNN, NBCNews, NPR, KQED, Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, The Guardian, and Buzzfeed.

Offstage, Terisa is a community organizer, organizing with groups such as The Gathering for Justice/Justice League CA and Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC). She also creates and facilitates workshops, leads artistic and professional development training, provides mental health support, and delivers keynote speeches across the country on issues that inform her 15+ years of community work involving: youth advocacy, educational attainment, mental health, Pacific Islander/Indigenous rights, climate change, and others.