DC Staff

• Capturing The Essence Of Our Elementary School Program

  By Saadia Ahmad, DC Elementary School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of Saadia Ahmad They say a picture is worth a thousand words; so when I was asked to do this blog at a time where AALEAD participated in the Lights On Afterschool campaign, I wanted to capture the essence of our DC Elementary School Program through

• My Journey To Youth Work

  By: Saadia Ahmad, DC Elementary School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff “But you’re a fashion designer, how come you’re teach

• Finding My Voice

  By Freidricka Camille, Community College and Internship Programs Coordinator Photo Courtesy of AALEAD Staff   My name is Freidricka Camille, and I am excited to join the AALEAD family as the new Community College and Internship Coordinator. A little bit about me, I was born and raised in the Philippines for eleven years before my mom and I immigrated to the United States to live with my dad. It was the summer before 6th grade.  When I lived in the Philippines, I had imagined that

• Coming full circle…

    My first job in California was with the Pacific Asian Alcohol Program, which is a social service agency that provides counseling and referral to Asian Pacific Americans (APA) who were convicted of drunk driving and other misdemeanors. Many of our clients were recent immigrants who do not speak nor understand English. The county could not provide translators most of the time, so our clients would bring their elementary or high-school age children to do the translation. I witnessed how t

• Starting a New Adventure with AALEAD

  By Vi Bui, Mentoring and Volunteer Programs Coordinator Photos Courtesy of Vi Bui My name is Vi and I am AALEAD’s new Mentoring and Volunteer Programs Coordinator. I am really excited to start this incredibly important and valuable work and wanted to take some time to introduce myself to the community. I was born and raised in the State of Delaware. Not to be confused with the city in Ohio or the county in Pennsylvania. You’ve probably never been there, driven through it on I-95, do

• My Fourth First Day

  By Stephanie Lim, DC Middle and High School Program Coordinator Photos courtesy of Stephanie Lim On one of my first Mentoring Program site visits in 2015, Ari, our MD High School Program Coordinator, joked that they had a plan to have me join the after-school program team. At the time, I'd already worked with youth and students in after-school and teaching programs, and thought that perhaps my time with that kind of programming was over. I took Ari's words to signal a welcome to the full-tim

• #AALEADFam is Forever

  By Tina Ngo, Mentoring & Volunteer Programs Manager Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff There have been many things that I've learned over the course of my time at Asian American LEAD (AALEAD), but one lesson in particular will always stand out to me. During an after school program session, a young person and I had a discussion about choices and how a single decision can create a ripple effect. I'll never forget this conversation because AALEAD youth speak truth: the choices that we make imp

• My Dream Job Experience

  By Naijla Faizi, DC Middle and High School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of Chelsea Iorlano, Development and Communications Associate   Dear AALEADers, I want to thank all of you for an amazing 6 months starting from my summer internship until now. Unfortunately, due to personal family circumstances, I will be cutting my time a

• Letter from the Director

  Dear AALEAD Family, I write this letter to you, past and current youth, donors, supporters, and staff, to express my excitement as I embark on this journey as the new Executive Director of Asian American LEAD. I am honored and humbled to have been selected by AALEAD’s Board to follow in the visionary footsteps of our previous executive directors: Sandy Dang, Rosetta Lai, and Surjeet Ahluwalia. It is through the commitment and efforts of all of you that we are the only organization in the

• See You Soon!

  By Surjeet Ahluwalia, Executive Director Photo Courtesy of Chelsea Iorlano, Development & Communications Associate This is the last time I will be writing all of you as Executive Director of Asian American LEAD!  Beginning November 7^th, I will pass the torch to Neel Saxena, our current Development & Communications Director. The last six years have been quite the journey for Asian American LEAD and for me personally.  I’m proud of the work we have done together: