All Posts

  • Welcome APIENC’s New Leadership Development Coordinator! January 26, 2022 Welcome APIENC’s New Leadership Development Coordinator!
    Dear APIENC Community, We are thrilled to announce Shivani Chanillo (they/them) has joined APIENC as our new Leadership Development Coordinator! Shivani is an incredible educator and organizer who brings years of leadership development experience. They demonstrate a passion for building relationships, ...
  • Cultivating Growth and Leadership: Reflections on Sammie’s Time at APIENC December 15, 2021 Cultivating Growth and Leadership: Reflections on Sammie's Time at APIENC
    I first met Sammie in 2015 when I chaired the Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women & Transgender Community (APIQWTC) scholarship committee, and we awarded Sammie one of the scholarships. On paper, Sammie already had an impressive track record of social ...
  • Shivani Chanillo November 23, 2021 Shivani Chanillo
    NOV 2021 | Shivani Chanillo Shivani Chanillo (they/them) has been involved with APIENC for about a year and is part of the new Community Safety committee. Shivani, who identifies as a queer South Asian non-binary person, moved to the Bay Area from ...
  • A message from Yuan, APIENC’s Incoming Director October 7, 2021 A message from Yuan, APIENC’s Incoming Director
    On a hot summer day in 2018, Sammie first welcomed me into APIENC. It was the first day of my Summer Organizer Program, and I didn’t know what to expect. As folks filtered in, Sammie sat our group down and ...
  • Living at the Intersection of Queer and South Asian Identities September 1, 2021 Living at the Intersection of Queer and South Asian Identities
    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 ...
  • I am reminded I am enough August 25, 2021 I am reminded I am enough
    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 ...
  • We need to extend humanity to ourselves. August 18, 2021 We need to extend humanity to ourselves.
    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 ...
  • Jeff Ramos July 25, 2021 Jeff Ramos
    JUL 2021 | JEFF RAMOS Jeff (they/he) joined APIENC in 2019 and is a member of the Trans Justice committee, where he is working on launching the peer counseling pilot. Jeff, who identifies as a Filipino American, demi/pansexual, genderqueer and nonbinary person, ...
  • Trans and non-binary APIs: we have what it takes. July 7, 2021 Trans and non-binary APIs: we have what it takes.
    My name is Leo Shanti Hegde, I use he and they pronouns, and I am excited to share that I’m APIENC’s newest community organizer! I’m a second-generation Indian American who grew up in Edison, New Jersey. I attended college on the ...
  • Who’s that new staff person?! – 24 hours to #PowerUpGiveOUT June 29, 2021 Who’s that new staff person?! - 24 hours to #PowerUpGiveOUT
    Dear APIENC community, This year, our community has faced crisis after crisis. We’ve been targeted by white supremacist attacks, denied access to gender-affirming healthcare, isolated through the COVID-19 pandemic and so much more. So many trans and queer APIs have been ...
  • What would you do in a world without hope? June 22, 2021 What would you do in a world without hope?
    “What would you do in a world where compassion, hope, or liberation doesn’t exist?How would you teach someone about it?” This prompt was etched into my memories from a creative writing opportunity in 2018. Looking back, I would have explained the ...
  • Dorothy Tang May 25, 2021 Dorothy Tang
    MAY 2021 | DOROTHY TANG Dorothy Tang (they/them) joined APIENC last year and is on the Dragon Fruit Podcast production and dissemination teams and is a member of the Trans Justice Committee. Dorothy, who identifies as 2nd generation Teochew/Chinese-Vietnamese and non-binary, first ...
  • It took me 8 years to write this 😱 May 6, 2021 It took me 8 years to write this 😱
    Dear Community,  At one of my first supervisions as a Summer Intern in 2013, Monna turned to me and asked, “why does it feel so difficult for you to ask for help?” I stared at her blankly, the grey partitions of ...
  • Sangeeta Sarkar March 30, 2021 Sangeeta Sarkar
    MAR 2021 | SANGEETA SARKAR Sangeeta (they/them) identifies as a queer non binary South Asian femme. They were part of the 2020 LEX (Queer Leadership Exchange) cohort and are currently leading an Asking for Help workshop series for Trans and Queer ...
  • What will it take to build communities rooted in healing and safety? – APIENC’s Theory of Change March 21, 2021 What will it take to build communities rooted in healing and safety? - APIENC's Theory of Change
    Dear APIENC Community, Since 2017, APIENC has been guided by a set of priorities and directions crafted by APIENC staff in order to help the organization make decisions about where to focus our power and grow our work. In the time ...
  • What do we have to offer our movements? March 3, 2021 What do we have to offer our movements?
    It’s December 2019, and I’m in a cabin in Guerneville at my first Core Retreat as one of the newest members of APIENC Core. I’m super excited to be spending a weekend with such cool people, but I’m also a ...
  • Boundless Possibilities & Imperfect Experiments February 18, 2021 Boundless Possibilities & Imperfect Experiments
    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 ...
  • 2021 Summer Organizer Program – Apply by March 1st! February 1, 2021 2021 Summer Organizer Program – Apply by March 1st!
    Do you want to work with trans, non-binary, and queer Asian and Pasifika people and communities? Do you have a commitment to social justice? Are you ready to transform, learn concrete community organizing skills, and work to build movements for ...
  • Jessica Mitchell January 27, 2021 Jessica Mitchell
    JAN 2021 | JESSICA MITCHELL Jessica (she/her) is the newest member of APIENC’s Core Committee and has been a member of the Dragon Fruit Network since the summer of 2019. Jessica and her older sister, Nicole, heard about a group of people ...
  • Will we concede to fear, or will we choose interdependence? January 10, 2021 Will we concede to fear, or will we choose interdependence?
    Dear APIENC Community,  Throughout the past year, I have often come back to the question, “Will we concede to fear and individualism, or will we choose interdependence?”  This past week, as we celebrated historic Senate wins in Georgia and watched in horror ...