ACLF welcomes Administrative Associate, Yayoi Tsutakawa-Chinn!
Yayoi Tsutakawa-Chinn was born and raised in Seattle, recently returning to the Puget Sound area. She earned a B.A. in history at Portland State University, focusing on oral history and public memory. For the first part of her undergrad, she attended Lewis & Clark College where she worked with a coalition of students that successfully created an academically recognized ethnic studies program. For two years she co-chaired the Ray Warren Multicultural symposium, building panels that examined the complexities of American multiculturalism; bringing speakers and performers such as bell hooks, and Guillermo Gomez-Peña.
Yayoi had the privilege of studying abroad in Nanjing, China, where she took classes in contemporary Chinese culture and society, and Mandarin Chinese. She also volunteered for three months in Bungoma, Kenya, working with a local Kenyan organization to form a grassroots community health curriculum targeting malaria prevention, and organizing public forums for health education.
Yayoi has worked in San Francisco with PODER (People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights), a community based organization from the Mission District, as well as volunteering with San Francisco Women Against Rape. Yayoi is happy to be back in Seattle, and looks forward to working with ACLF.