Category: Leadership Development

Dear APIENC Community, I started organizing around my identity as a queer kānaka maoli from a place of great anger. I was angry that my lāhui lived in such dire poverty in our own homeland. I was angry that the university I attended actively contributed to the desecration of our ‘āina. I was angry that

For a huge portion of my life, I’ve been in denial that South Asian society is ready to fully support my sexuality and attraction to the same gender. I’d replay the thoughts in my head: “If they didn’t support me at thirteen, why would they now?” At home and around my family, my “choices” turned

When my time as an APIENC Summer Organizer came to a close, I brought ink to skin, tattooing a representation of my transformation this summer. Now, on my right arm is an abstract person whose head is exploding, three bold eyes flying in different directions. If I could encapsulate this summer with APIENC in a

I sat in a Zoom room with 30 other people—most, I didn’t know, and all, I had never actually met in-person. It was our first weekend of LEX—APIENC’s API Queer Justice Leadership Exchange—and I felt a mix of anxiety and excitement. Just over a year ago, I first joined APIENC. At the time, the COVID-19

There I was—sitting on my chair at home, hundreds of miles away from the seven other people on my Zoom screen, feeling vulnerable and nervous, and yet, so warm at the same time. I was asking my fellow APIENC Summer Organizer Team for support around gender identity. I felt so emotional I had to type