I am connected to, supported by, and inspired by various communities. This page is dedicated to those oceans of communities.
Jo-Jikum
I serve as Director for the Majuro-based nonprofit, Jo-Jikum, an organization I co-founded with my cousins in 2012. Our organization focuses on creating community based programs to empower Marshallese youth through trainings in media, arts, and project management in relation to climate change and other environmental programs. While I am currently based in Portland, Oregon, my work with Jo-Jikum is primarily administrative with the support of our nonprofit’s Project Manager Jina David.
350 Pacific Climate Warriors
I am a member of the 350 Pacific Climate Warriors, a youth led grassroots network working with communities to fight climate change from the Pacific Islands. 350 Pacific works with organizers across 15 Pacific Island nations to highlight the vulnerabilities of our island countries to climate change while showcasing our strength and resilience as a people. I have participated in 350 Pacific workshops, actions, and campaigns, and love and admire the group of warriors who make up the family. Collaborating with them has also inspired much of my creative work.
Jaki-Ed Weaving Workshops
My practice has been inspired by recent weaving workshops alongside master weavers in the University of South Pacific Majuro campus in the Marshall Islands. The program was founded by Maria Fowler, daughter of the first President of the Marshall Islands Amata Kabua, and Dr. Irene Taafaki, Director the University of the South Pacific’s Majuro campus, in the mid-2000s to endeavor to bring back to life the art of weaving jaki-ed, the traditional Marshallese clothing mats worn up to the early part of the 1900s.
Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA)
VONA is the only multi-genre workshop for writers of color in the US, and brings writers of color from the margins to a community where their work is centralized and honored.
I have been a part of the VONA community in 2009 and 2011, where I studied under poets Ruth Foreman and Willie Perdomo. Their workshops have deeply informed and influenced my craft and process while the connections I made with other writers of color have helped me understand the ways in which race and identity intersect with my writing.
