People
Board of Directors
Candace Chewning
Deputy Director, Philadelphia Department of Labor
Director, Office of Worker Protections
Sandra Clark
Chief Executive Officer, StoryCorps
Anne Ishii
Executive Director, Asian Arts Initiative
Tuan H. Nguyen
Board Chair
Sr. Client Advisory, Managing Director, Rockefeller Capital Family Office
Sonia Pal
Treasurer
Sr. Internal Auditor, University of Pennsylvania
Eva Ray
Board Secretary
Former Director of Education, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Blessy Thomas
Partner, Innovate Capital Growth Fund
Mary Yee, Ed.D
Educational Researcher, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
Staff
Anne Ishii
(she/her)Executive Director| ext. 701
Ann Adachi-Tasch
(she/her)Project Manager
Clarissa Cheung
(she/they)Development Coordinator
Daniela Galindo
(she/her)Teaching Artist
Dave Kyu
(he/him)Director of Programs| ext. 703
Devin McKnight
(he/him)Technical Manager
Dominique Chua
(she/they)Creative Assistant| ext. 710
Hanzi
(they/them)Teaching Artist
Jino Lee
(he/him)Marketing & Communications Supervisor| ext. 706
Joey Wong
(they/them)Director of Development| ext. 708
Joyce Chung
(she/her)Curator| ext. 714
Kong Yang
(she/her)Youth Education Programs Manager| ext. 705
Liz Karcewski
(she/her)Operations Assistant
Matt Nelson
(they/all)Managing Director| ext. 707
Mehgan Abdel-Moneim
(she/her)Lead Teaching Artist
Samantha Cavanaugh
(she/her)Building Custodian
Samantha Quinn
(she/her)Operations Supervisor| ext. 709
Gayle Isa is a Founder and former Executive Director of Asian Arts Initiative. Gayle has been a Douglas Redd Fellow focused on arts and community development and has served on the boards of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the National Performance Network, and the national Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists. She has also been a member of the Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on Asian American Affairs and the Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council, and was the first Asian American appointed to serve on the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She has been an aspiring dramaturg and taiko drummer, and is currently focusing her creative energy on parenting her school-aged daughter.