2021 Pacific Bridges

MEET OUR REMOTE FELLOWS

CLARE AULD-BROKISH

University: Wellesley College ‘19

Host organization: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Beijing, China

Role: I’m working across the Sustainable Cities and Nature teams, proofreading documents, researching relevant U.S. and Chinese case studies, and juggling independent projects in both teams. I have spent the past months helping the Sustainable Cities team launch its energy efficient buildings work, and writing and translating into Chinese a wildlife media report.

“One of the silver linings of the virtual fellowship has been the opportunity to work closely with U.S.based NRDC colleagues. I have enjoyed supporting NRDC’s work, both in China and in the U.S.”

MIKE GIOVANNIELLO

University: The College of William and Mary ‘20

Host organization: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Beijing, China

Role: I work on the Climate and Clean Energy Team and the Clean Power Project. My time is split between doing translation and research work to support different projects and conducting independent research on hydrogen technology and the emerging policies surrounding it.

“I enjoy the chance to improve my Chinese and learn about the clean energy transition all at the same time. I also enjoy participating in international strategy calls, where I get to hear about how NRDC engages with politicians and major world leaders to promote climate solutions.”

APOORVA HANDIGOL

University: Carleton College ‘19

Host organization: Tractus / Carrie Gordon Bike Ride

Role: In my dual business and public health role, I split my time working at strategy consulting firm Tractus Asia and leading an HPV and cervical cancer prevention project. As a Senior Analyst & Marketing Coordinator at Tractus Asia, I deliver market research and analyze findings to support clients entering Asian markets, coordinate economic and business development practices, and manage our marketing and social media. I am also working to organize a bicycle ride set for Spring 2023 to support HPV & cervical cancer prevention, education, and testing throughout rural Việt Nam in memory of former PiA Executive Director Carrie W. Gordon.

MEET OUR REMOTE FELLOWS:

CLASS OF 2020-21

SOMI JUN

University: Princeton University ‘20

Host organization: Himal Southasian in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Role: I’m an editorial fellow, so I have written/researched two articles and have provided support to the editors by doing fact checks, transcriptions, and varied tasks for their articles.

QUINN SHU

University: Oberlin College ‘21

Host organization: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Role: I assist the Business Development Unit on donor research and outreach activities. I also support IWMI in sustainable finance and digital innovation practices under the One CGIAR transformation background.

CLARA SYMMES

University: Goucher College ‘19

Host organization: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Role: I support the communications team through written and graphic content production.

“I’ve especially enjoyed the series of interviews with researchers that I have been running! They’re a great opportunity to learn more about the many projects that IWMI is working on and to build connections with experts around the world.”

PETER TROUSDALE

University: Bucknell University ‘20

Host organization: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Beijing, China

Role: I work with the Environmental Law Practice team at NRDC China. Within the ELP team, I primarily focus on work related to climate finance and chemical risk management. This work includes research, translation, and communications writing on topics such as transition finance, biodiversity finance, and computation toxicology.

“Collaborating with my accomplished colleagues in the China office has been an enriching experience. This collaboration includes co-authoring a blog on biodiversity finance with my supervisor.”

A WORD FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Following this long pause, it is a thrill to write to you again as we relaunch in-person fellowships.

Much as a PiA fellowship is transformational for an individual, this time has been transformational for PiA as an institution. While staying connected virtually with host organizations, alumni, and friends, we spent much of the past 20 months turned inward, focusing on how to make PiA the very best it can be. Our staff, Trustees, and advisors – in consultation with alumni, host and peer organizations, and colleagues in the field – invested extraordinary amounts of time, energy and effort to strengthen the organization and prepare it for an even more vibrant and impactful future. This included a variety of efforts across all areas of the organization.

>> We launched our first ever remote fellowships and are excited to share the profiles of our remote Fellows with you.

>> We conducted a comprehensive review of health, safety and welfare at PiA and made significant changes to how we meet our duty of care to Fellows. We launched a partnership with International SOS, the world’s leading medical and security services organization, to provide 24/7 emergency support for Fellows. This partnership significantly strengthens the mental health support available to Fellows. In addition, we partnered with Lodestone Safety International to offer new training modules to strengthen Fellows’ travel intelligence and risk management skills. And, we have enhanced staff training to enable our team to more effectively support our Fellows.

>> We dedicated significant attention and resources to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism. We are grateful to our

alumni for their engagement and feedback, which have had a transformational impact on our work in these areas. Our efforts included instituting self-directed learning and trainings for staff and Board, revamping and strengthening Fellow training through a partnership with Global Equity Forward, re-envisioning community-building and connections during the fellowship to better support Fellows of all identities and backgrounds, and strengthening policies and processes to prevent and effectively address issues of harassment, bullying, discrimination and misconduct in partnership with Nonprofit HR. In addition, the Board of Trustees has formed a standing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, which will oversee the implementation of related policies and programs by staff.

>> We focused on financial accessibility in our decision-making around program offerings. We prioritized supplementing the stipends of remote Fellows to accommodate the cost of living in the U.S. and are covering quarantine costs for Fellows departing in winter 2022. We expanded the financial assistance available to Fellows in the winter and were able to meet every request. We eliminated the application fee for 2022-23 fellowships and are committed to removing as many financial barriers to participation in our fellowships as possible.

>> And, we conducted a comprehensive strategic planning process to guide the next ten years of PiA’s growth and development. In the coming months, we look forward to sharing with you the exciting vision and plans we have crafted to lead PiA to a more impactful future.

I could not be more grateful to our tremendous team of staff and Trustees who worked so tirelessly on these efforts over the past 20 months. Among these is a group of extraordinary

Trustees who retired following years – and decades – of service to PiA: Austin Arensberg (4 years), Caitlin Halligan (4), Daisy King (4), Michael Laffan (4), Buzzy Teiser (4), Vicki Noble (13), Michael Northrop (16), Peter Little (16), Jon Wonnell (19) and Ginny Wilmerding (24). We are so grateful for their commitment and contributions to PiA. We are thrilled to welcome the following new Trustees, who have joined the Board over the past year and a half: Matthew Bersani (Taiwan ‘82), A.J. Koikoi (Japan ’16 and Carriebright Fellow ’17), Jamaica Afiya Pouncy (China ’15), Anna M. Shields, Yuri Ouchi Stevens, Leroy Terrelonge III (Kazakhstan ’11), Mai Yer Xiong (Laos ‘15), and Raymond Zhong (Hong Kong ’10).

I also want to thank all of you for your continued support and engagement, which makes all of our work possible.

TEAM TRANSITIONS:

At this stage, I would also like to recognize three extraordinary team members who moved from full-time roles with PiA since our last edition of Pacific Bridges

>> Natalia Rovira Rodrigues, who in five and a half years as Director of Alumni Relations and Programs transformed our alumni engagement and relaunched our programming in India, moved on to attend the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management as a Roy H. Park Leadership Fellow.

>> Ben Van Son, who after three years as Director of Asia Operations and Program Director – roles in which he excelled in managing all manner of health, safety and welfare crises, including COVID – moved on to an exciting role in international programming at Yale-NUS College in Singapore.

>> Audrey Jenkins, who served PiA for six and a half years, most recently as Deputy Director and Director of Communications, has started an exciting new chapter at Harvard Divinity School. She will continue to support PiA’s communications work as she pursues a Master of Divinity.

I am deeply grateful to Natalia, Ben, and Audrey for their tireless efforts and extraordinary contributions to our organization and send them continued best wishes in these exciting new chapters of their lives.

We are thrilled to introduce the newest members of our team – Program Director Matt Hernández, Senior Program Director Sandhya Gupta, and Director of Advancement Sabrina L. Smith – in the pages that follow. Together with stalwarts Robin Palmer (Advancement Officer), Meghana Nerurkar (Program Director), and Julian Peterson (Program Director), we are proud to carry forward PiA’s urgent and important mission of fostering mutual appreciation and cross-cultural understanding between the United States and Asia through immersive work fellowships in host organizations and communities.

A PERSONAL UPDATE:

Finally, I wish to share a personal update with you. Since I last wrote to you in these pages, I have taken some major steps in my gender transition. I’ve retired Maggie, am writing my name as M.B. Dillon, going by Mags, and using both he/him and they/them pronouns. I am very grateful for the support I’ve received from my teammates, the Board, and members of our PiA community as I have made these changes.

It was not until I went on my fellowship in Laos in 2010 that I met any out transgender people and saw that it was actually possible for me to live authentically in my body. A month into my fellowship, one of my Lao colleagues flat out asked me if I was transgender – a question I hadn’t examined since I was a child and knew with certainty that I was one of the guys. Interactions I’ve had with trans and gender non-conforming friends in Southeast Asia and trans and gender non-confirming PiA Fellows over the years have played a meaningful role in expanding my understanding of this dimension of human experience, and their example has helped give me the courage to follow this path. For all this, I am very grateful.

This chapter of my life has underscored just how transformative the PiA experience and the relationships we form through PiA can be. The experience resonates differently for each individual, and the impacts are long-lasting and beyond what anyone can imagine when they sign up for the fellowship. I treasure the opportunity to work in pursuit of our mission of fostering mutual appreciation and cross-cultural understanding between the U.S. and Asia, and the larger project of building a world where individuals share a mutual appreciation and respect for the diversity of cultures and perspectives.

MEET MATT HERNÁNDEZ PROGRAM DIRECTOR

My name is Matt Hernández, and I joined the PiA team as a Program Director in November 2020. I did a PiA fellowship in 2019 at the Tushita Foundation in Jaipur, India. I’m originally from Los Angeles, California, and I majored in history at UC Santa Barbara. My studies initially focused on the colonial history of Latin America, as a way of unpacking my Central American heritage and understanding the historical developments that led my parents to immigrate to LA. However, after joining the Music of India Ensemble at UCSB, I explored additional coursework on South Asian history and culture. My curiosity had been unleashed.

I studied abroad in New Delhi in college. Although I knew Indian cities would be a sensory overload, I still wasn’t prepared for the intensity of the experience. My time abroad raised questions that needed answering, and when I heard about PiA after returning to UCSB, I knew a fellowship would enable me to seek those answers.

The Tushita Foundation is located in Amer, a small town on the outskirts of Jaipur that once served as the Rajput capital. I taught students between the ages of 6-16 who came from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. My students embraced me as a mentor, and though I held the title of teacher, they were the ones who taught me invaluable lessons.

I recall a powerful moment of cultural exchange during one of my music classes. My students were struggling to understand Western solfege, and it reminded me of my struggles to understand Hindustani sargam during my sitar lessons. Music is a universal language, so I figured it wouldn’t matter which cultural system we used. By the end of class, my students were sight-singing Western notation using the sapta svara of the sargam tradition. Despite our different backgrounds, we were able to arrive at a moment of mutual understanding.

Since joining the PiA staff one year ago, my most rewarding experiences have been the opportunities to engage with the extended PiA family. I have been moved by our alumni’s commitment to PiA’s mission. Whether conducting applicant interviews, hosting webinars, or participating in Orientation, PiA alumni, trustees, and friends exemplify devotion to the PiA values and a readiness to welcome new generations of Fellows into the family.

It is my great privilege to contribute to this wonderful community and to work on advancing the mission we so firmly believe in. Thankful for the contributions of those who came before me, and encouraged by those who will come next, I draw tremendous inspiration from everyone who calls PiA their community for life.

AN UPDATE FROM THE SENIOR PROGRAM DIRECTOR

We are ready to send 14 Fellows to Asia this winter, and our first Fellow has already landed in Thailand! This cohort completed PiA’s first ever virtual orientation in October. Although these were long hours to spend on Zoom, we had a number of external experts leading our Fellows through different sessions, so the variety of voices ensured that we kept things diverse and interesting! Over 20 alumni also participated in our orientation, and we continue to be grateful for the willingness and eagerness of our alumni community to contribute to the success of our fellowships.

As part of orientation, we introduced Fellows to the Process for Reporting and Investigating Alleged Incidents of Harassment, Bullying, and Discrimination

MEET SANDHYA GUPTA SENIOR PROGRAM DIRECTOR

My name is Sandhya Gupta, and I’m so pleased to introduce myself to you all. I joined Princeton in Asia as Senior Program Director in April 2021 and the last several months have been filled with exciting challenges, wonderful conversations with my new colleagues, and inspirational engagement with our fantastic PiA community.

Prior to joining the PiA family, I spent 10 years living in New Delhi, India as a Senior Education Advisor for the Tony Blair Institute of Global Change (TBI). In this capacity, I managed a network of 200 secondary schools across South Asia and provided trainings for teachers and for government officials on incorporating social and emotional learning into their curricula. I also facilitated inter-cultural dialogue for teenagers across the world – helping students work through issues of prejudice and bias together, and giving young people the tools to foster cross-cultural relationships.

At TBI, I had the privilege of expanding the program to target students of diverse backgrounds. I sought out public/government schools for recruitment and enhanced our efforts to reach students from marginalized backgrounds. The best part of my job was making connections between students of varying backgrounds, and facilitating conversations between them that would result in a deeper understanding of the other.

Although I did not have the fortune of doing a PiA fellowship myself, I did a similar fellowship in India many years back, which changed the course of my life. I came to India on a one-year fellowship with an organization called Indicorps, and then extended my time in India to two years. Prior to my time abroad, I had been working in the policy arena and had envisioned a very particular career for myself in diplomacy. My fellowship in India had me working alongside Indigenous small farmers and living very much off-the-grid in rural Rajasthan. I became fascinated with international development – both personally and professionally – and ended up working for a human rights grantmaking organization funding, among other things, Indigenous rights in India.

I am so excited to be involved with PiA as we navigate what international travel and cultural exchange looks like in a world that is both more connected and more polarized. COVID-19 presented PiA with the opportunity to slow down and engage in deep strategic thinking, and I am grateful for the chance to lead PiA’s programs team into this new chapter. We’re getting ready to send our first Fellows back to Asia very soon and I look forward to the support and suggestions of this community as we head into this next phase.

Involving PiA Fellows. This is an important step in our ongoing work to prevent and effectively address issues of harassment, bullying, and discrimination in our community.

Preparation for sending Fellows back to Asia has certainly not been straightforward. But our Fellows are committed to their placements and have demonstrated great flexibility and adaptability. Our host organizations in Vietnam, Thailand, China and Japan have been understanding as we navigate these new waters together. They are keen to have PiA Fellows back with them as soon as possible, and their support has been essential as we have worked together to relaunch programming.

We can’t wait to bring you updates from our new class of Fellows, in addition to other exciting developments as we relaunch our fellowships and roll out new initiatives.

SABRINA L. SMITH JOINS PiA AS INAUGURAL DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT

We are thrilled to announce the hiring of Sabrina L. Smith to serve as our first ever Director of Advancement. She will lead the development and execution of an advancement strategy that strengthens and grows the program, broadens PiA’s impact, and harnesses the energy of PiA’s global community, while centering diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“We are excited to begin this new chapter and look forward to Sabrina’s leadership as we embark on an ambitious strategic plan and activate the full potential of our vibrant community of alumni and friends,“ said Blair Blackwell, Chair of the Development Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Sabrina comes to PiA following eight years at Princeton University, where she was Associate Director, Leadership Gifts. Sabrina has also held advancement roles at Smith College and Cornell University. Prior to her work in higher education, she spent seven years raising funds for smaller organizations including CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, the San Francisco Bar Association Volunteer Legal Services Program, and the Foundation Center (now called Candid). She is a graduate of Cornell University.

Said Sabrina: “PiA is a potent community that is deeply rooted in a proven framework for meaningful cross-cultural appreciation and respect. I am incredibly excited to join the team, particularly at this moment when the world so clearly needs the solutions provided by PiA - and PiA so readily embraces its calling to build collaborative bridges between the United States and Asia. I look forward to nurturing the PiA community and welcome hearing community members’ thoughts and ideas.”

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IN MEMORY OF WATARU TAKESHITA

Princeton in Asia was saddened to learn of the death of Wataru Takeshita in September 2021. Takeshita-san was a congressman and served as Minister for Reconstruction of Japan, where he was in charge of Comprehensive Policy Coordination for Revival from the Nuclear Accident at Fukushima. He and his wife Masako-san generously hosted PiA Osawa Fellows in their home during the summers of 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2010 and 2011. PiA mourns the passing of a giant who contributed to both the Japanese political accomplishments of the post-war era and PiA’s work of fostering mutual appreciation and cross-cultural understanding between the U.S. and Asia.

IN MEMORY OF OWEN D. NEE, JR.

The Princeton in Asia community mourns the loss of one of its great supporters and pillars, with the passing of Owen D. Nee, Jr. in May. Owen built a career — and to some degree a life — serving as a bridge across borders and cultures, with PiA playing an important role. Through PiA, Owen taught English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1965 to 1967. It was during this time that he met the love of his life, Amber Wong, then a student there, to whom he was married for almost fifty years.

After law school — interrupted by distinguished military service in Vietnam — Owen launched a legal career with the firm Coudert Brothers, first in Hong Kong and then in mainland China. During a period in which China was just beginning to open up, Owen helped to structure some of the agreements that came to serve as the bedrock of the early economic relationship between the U.S. and China. Owen’s time in private practice stretched decades, during which he mentored many attorneys. One of his legacies is the training he provided to Chinese attorneys, many of whom went on to found or join prominent Chinese law firms, and serve as trailblazers within the Chinese bar.

Owen and Amber were steadfast supporters of PiA. They opened their home in China to PiA Fellows for many years making dozens of Fellows — myself included — feel more at home while living abroad. Owen also helped create and support several PiA fellowships at Coudert Brothers, and later Orrick. Owen possessed a boundless curiosity and exceptional intellect, and it should come as no surprise that he threw himself into his “retirement” years with energy. He taught at Columbia and NYU law schools. He wrote books. He represented veterans on a pro bono legal basis through the endlessly challenging Department of Defense/Veterans Administration disability process. He helped sustain a non-profit organization honoring the life and legacy of his son Dave, which focuses on de-stigmatizing mental health, particularly among law students and those in the legal profession. And he remained a devoted grandfather, moving to a care facility in Concord, MA towards the end of his life so that he could be close to his grandchildren. In honoring Owen, may we remember the importance of bridge-building, and the grace that it grants us. The PiA community extends its deepest sympathies to the Nee family. --

Will Leahy, China ‘04 and PiA Trustee

IN MEMORY OF JOSEF SILVERSTEIN

Josef Silverstein was a paragon of PiA, a dedicated scholar, and a steadfast friend. He passed away on June 29, 2021, at the age of 99. He was a beacon of hope for the third of Myanmar’s population who are minorities such as Shans, Rohingyas, or Karens. He equally supported majority Burmans, whose elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi the army has jailed. His pathbreaking book, Burmese Politics: The Dilemma of National Unity, directly faces the continuing crisis for this country’s 55 million people.

Decades ago on a tour to Inle Lake, my guide was Shan, one of the ethnicities that Burma’s military was then – and is still – attacking. I mentioned to the guide that I knew a Burma specialist named Josef Silverstein. The reaction was immediate. It could not have been greater if he had thought me a pal of Jesus Christ or the Buddha. My guide had heard Joe interviewed on BBC shortwave, telling truths about killings by the military. As activist Muang Zarni wrote, Joe “gave his human solidarity back.” We scholars don’t just study people; we learn from them – and we try to help them, even when governments don’t give us visas.

Joe served on PiA’s Board from 1972 to 2016, and then as Emeritus Trustee until 2021. He and I once were a two-person PiA Planning Committee – and we agreed on everything. As Joe knew, PiA should engage with a variety of Asian countries, rather than putting too many eggs in too few baskets. Joe’s commitment to Burma was special, but he studied other countries too. He wrote the Encyclopedia Britannica article on Laos, spoke often about complexities in Thai or Malaysian politics, and once headed Singapore’s Institute for Southeast Asian Studies. For PiA, he briefed Fellows before they headed off to that part of the world.

Josef Silverstein was a very good man, pioneering scholar, committed husband to Marilyn, his wife of 67 years (who predeceased him by a week), loving father to Gordon and Frank (Thailand ’78) and much-missed friend of Princeton in Asia. The PiA community sends its deepest condolences to Josef Silverstein’s family, friends and loved ones. -- Lynn White, PiA Emeritus Trustee

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES:

ALUMNI CARRY THE PiA MISSION FORWARD

by: Lil Kalish (Myanmar ’16)

For many Princeton in Asia Fellows, their years in Asia have taught them to be adaptable, open to the unexpected and to forge connections where others might see a divide. Mayumi Sato (Thailand ’17 - ’18), now a Sociology PhD candidate at Cambridge and a Gates Cambridge Scholar, says her years in Thailand witnessing the impacts of forestry policies on rural communities pushed her to academia to bolster her research skills – while ensuring that higher education is more accessible for low income students of color through her mentoring project and resource guide, The Solidarity Library. A formal football player and Japanese language enthusiast since his youth, A.J. Koikoi (Japan ’16 - ’17) has called Japan home for the last 5 years. Through his project, Danketsu, A.J. has not only fostered cross-cultural exchange through sports, but has created new spaces for racially mixed Japanese youth to talk about their identities. Simon Shieh (China ’15) credits his years teaching English in Beijing as his “springboard” not only to becoming a high school English teacher but as the perfect lifestyle for him to develop his poetic voice. Simon recently was awarded with the Poetry Foundation’s prestigious Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship. Even after moving countries or finishing their posts, PiA alumni all carry their experiences of building bridges and a deep sense of service at the forefront of their work.

MAYUMI SATO

Hometown: Yokohama, Japan

PiA post: Life Skills Development Foundation, Chiang Mai, Thailand (2017); Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC), Bangkok, Thailand (2018) University: BA at McGill University; MA, PhD at Cambridge University

Current city: Cambridge, United Kingdom

Since she was a child, Mayumi Sato has always been on the move. Born in Yokahoma, Japan, the 27-year-old moved around Japan and crisscrossed the U.S. and Canada. With every new destination, Mayumi says she appreciated the opportunity to see “the realities of each city.” It is no wonder that Mayumi took a keen focus on Geography, which she studied at McGill University in Montreal, along with coursework in Arabic language and a minor in East Asian Studies. After finishing her undergraduate degree in 2017, Mayumi was awarded a PiA fellowship at the Life Skills Development Foundation, a Chiang Mai-based NGO where she worked with Shan refugees who fled Myanmar and helped them obtain job training and education in English and Thai.

Mayumi stayed in Thailand for two years. In her second-year post, Mayumi relocated to Bangkok to work with the environmental nonprofit Regional Community Forestry Training Center, known as RECOFTC, which assists local communities in sustainable forestry projects. Mayumi’s research in forestry policies took her all across Southeast Asia, from visiting rural communities in Thailand to interviewing timber workers in Laos and liaising with colleagues in offices in Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar.

She recalls a highlight of her fellowship was when she traveled to Laos to track a recent deforestation policy and its impact on local economies. She visited Vientiane, the country’s capital, and spoke with business owners who were struggling to stay afloat because they were reliant on illegal logging. She also interviewed female loggers who spoke of pay discrepancies in the industry. This experience was eye-opening for Mayumi. “You read a lot about policy, you read a lot of research,” she says, “but you don’t actually see how it actually operationalizes on the ground.”

After finishing her post, Mayumi knew she wanted to head back to academia to bolster her research skills. She completed an MA in Sociology at Cambridge, focusing her dissertation on racism in prisons and interviewing incarcerated Black and Indigenous activists. A current PhD candidate at Cambridge and a Gates Cambridge Scholar, Mayumi is looking to narrow her research on incarceration to examine the impacts of environmental factors and settler colonialism on the health of people in prisons.

Last May, as the pandemic ravaged the world, Mayumi was finishing up her Masters and became frustrated by the structural inequalities she saw in her program – how low-income students couldn’t access reliable internet connections or resources to complete their studies while wealthier students were able to coast by. She founded The Solidarity Library (TSL), which began as a hub for students to access academic resources and expanded into COVID relief kits and funding for people in the Global South and under-resourced communities in the U.S. and Canada. After receiving some grants, Mayumi and her team built The Solidarity Library’s first fellowship, the Edu-Justice Graduate Fellowship, which offers mentorship for students of color in higher education. She shared TSL on the PiA alumni page and soon she brought on a former Fellow who replaced her post in Bangkok to the organization’s board; two other Fellows became mentors and mentees for TSL’s flagship fellowship.

During the pandemic, Mayumi dove into her work on The Solidarity Library as a way to “distract herself from isolation,” she says – while juggling a role at the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, a research assistant position, and a writing job at the UN Environment Programme. When she has down time, Mayumi says she recently bought herself a violin, rekindling a childhood passion.

Looking ahead, Mayumi hopes to establish The Solidarity Library as a formal organization with an office and members around the world. She wants to find sustainable funding and have a dedicated team - not just other full-time students. “This chance of mentoring specifically students of color, I see the potential where I can actually teach them and have a greater impact.”

A.J. KOIKOI

Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland

PiA fellowship position: Seishin Notre Dame, Okayama, Japan (2016-2017)

University: BA at Franklin and Marshall University; MA at Hiroshima University

Current city: Hiroshima, Japan

A.J. Koikoi doesn’t remember exactly why he began studying Japanese in sixth grade. Yet the 27-year-old has continued to study the language up until today. And for the past five years, A.J., a former football player and son of Liberian immigrants, has called Japan his home. These days, A.J. lives in Hiroshima and works at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, where he develops training materials for post-conflict countries. He recently completed a Masters in Peacebuilding Studies at Hiroshima University. In his free time, he likes to skateboard near the city’s port areas and chat with workers coming back from the docks.

But back in 2011, when A.J. was 11 years old and beginning the year at an all-boys school in Maryland, Japan was a distant dream. He had never left the country. As one of a few Black students at a mostly white school, A.J. says he “never fit in” anywhere. But he always found Japanese classes as a way of immersing himself in something new. “It was an escape,” he recalls of his coursework in Japanese language. “It was the one thing that I had that was just purely me.”

After graduating, A.J. began his PiA fellowship at Seishin Notre Dame, a Catholic all-girls high school in Okayama where he taught for two years. Towards the end of his fellowship, A.J. began looking for a football team. He says jokingly that there was “a piece of me missing.” He ended up joining a Japanese football team in Okayama. One of the first games he played with them was against a university in Takahashi, Japan. He remembers the other team’s quarterback, a college student who asked him for advice on the sport. “I loved how much they loved the sport. I loved their passion going into a sport that was not native to them,” A.J. says. “They decided to shirk going into judo, that kind of stuff, and decided to go with a sport they felt was better for them.”

It was that moment that would sow the seeds for A.J.’s project, Danketsu, which means “unity” in Japanese, an organization which works to forge virtual cross-cultural connections between student athletes in Japan and sports teams in the U.S. In 2017, A.J. was awarded a Carriebright Fellowship, Princeton in Asia’s post-fellowship grant for service projects, to grow this project. As a Carriebright Fellow, A.J. mentored students across Japan and those on exchange programs in the U.S. and helped Japanese sports teams obtain proper athletic gear. A.J.’s service work has extended far beyond the realm of sports. Last year when protests in the U.S. erupted in response to police brutality, A.J. was busy organizing Hiroshima’s own Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstration, which saw nearly 370 people turn up in support. Though A.J. and his co-founders experienced some backlash in a conservative culture, the experience was key to introducing him to a small but growing Black Japanese community, as well as other ethnically mixed Japanese folks.

At Franklin & Marshall College, A.J. studied Psychology, International Studies and Japanese language, and was an enforcer on the football field. During his final semester, A.J. took his first flight ever to Milwaukee as a part of a research grant to study global sports culture. It was there that he began to meld his interests in sports and international diplomacy, interviewing basketball players from around the world. “I saw that despite the fact that these players were all from different countries, they were working together, of course, to win the game,” says A.J.

A.J. now works alongside his BLM Hiroshima co-founder, a Japanese woman with Black-Japanese children. “I work with mixed communities and want to give them somewhere comfortable to be without worrying about someone making fun of their hair or skin color,” A.J. says. After last year’s protests, A.J. has evolved Danketsu’s mission for cross-cultural exchange beyond the playing field. Recently A.J. raised $6,000 for a house in Hiroshima where he hosts barbecues, sports events and discussion groups on cross-cultural identity. A.J. hopes to build sports facilities on the property to promote cultural exchange through sports.

SIMON SHIEH

Hometown: Hyde Park, New York

PiA fellowship position: China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing, China (2015)

University: BA at San Diego State University

Current city: Washington, D.C.

On a Monday afternoon in Washington, D.C., Simon Shieh is walking his dog Mowgli, whom he rescued from the streets of Beijing. The 29-year-old poet says walking is how he does “most of my writing these days” and his way of decompressing after a long day of teaching high school English in Falls Church, Virginia. In August, Simon began teaching 9th and 10th graders. They’re reading one of his favorite writers, Elizabeth Acevado, and her young adult novel The Poet X

This fall was Simon’s first time teaching in an American high school after spending the last six years teaching in Beijing. Though Simon was born in Hyde Park, New York, he spent his teenage years in Beijing when his family moved there.

widely across international publications, including in Best New Poets 2020 and Narrative Magazine. A past nominee for the Pushcart Prize, Simon says it wasn’t until he moved back to Beijing as a PiA Fellow that he began to take himself seriously as a poet. In the sprawling metropolis, Simon found a community of other writers. Evenings after work were spent trawling Beijing’s hutong bars like Mado Bar and the Bookworm where artists would come together for poetry slams and other literary events. He even met his fiancée at a poetry reading there. “Those two years were really great for the literary community,” Simon says about 2015 to 2017. “After that things started to get more strict and it became harder for foreigners to gather and for places to hold events. But that time was really important for me as a writer.”

In 2016, he co-founded Spittoon, a magazine which translated contemporary Chinese fiction writers and poets into English. After finishing up his teaching fellowship, Simon continued melding his passion for teaching and mentoring and the arts. In 2017, he was tapped by an education company to build InkBeat Arts, a literary magazine for high school students in Beijing. He hosted creative writing workshops for students, held contests, and worked with the students to produce a literary journal. He says that experience was a “springboard” in helping him become a teacher full time.

When Simon became a PiA Fellow in 2015, he was hesitant about returning to the place where he grew up. But when he touched down in Beijing he says, “I really felt like I had come home.” Simon taught English and writing for two years at the China Foreign Affairs University. He worked with students to write about current events and literature. Working as a teacher not only satiated Simon’s desire to help students express themselves, it was also a fitting schedule for his life as a burgeoning poet. “I kind of romanticize that period of my life,” Simon says. “When I wasn’t teaching I would sit on my balcony and look out at a bunch of trees. I’d read and write for hours and go out to poetry readings and watch other people read in the evenings.”

Simon was recently awarded the Poetry Foundation’s prestigious Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship, a $25,800 prize given to five emerging poets for their creative pursuits. Simon’s poetry has appeared

Simon returned to the U.S. in June of this year after spending another two years teaching at Beijing World Youth Academy. He says the adjustment back to the U.S. has been challenging with the pandemic. In Beijing, Simon’s school hardly shifted to online teaching; but in the U.S., he has had to adapt to a mix of both online and in-person classes.

Even still, Simon’s current life in the U.S. capital isn’t too dissimilar from his one in Beijing. When classes are over, Simon still goes for long walks, attends literary events, and spends stretches of time devouring the words of his poetic influences – the works of Jericho Brown, Ocean Vuong and Louise Glück. Currently, Simon is working on his first manuscript – a book that interrogates the trauma that men inflict on boys and what he calls “the cult of masculinity.” He says a large part of his inspiration for this work comes from his martial arts training. In the next year, Simon hopes to pursue an MFA in Poetry and is itching to return to Asia.

ALUMNI NOTES

ASIA-BASED ALUMS

Hermes Huang (Thailand ‘12) is still in Bangkok, where he recently moved back into the same apartment unit he was living with other PiAers back in 2014 - “but this time without the status of being a rotating door PiA couchsurfer oasis.” Hermes is having a great time operating a small business with Thai partners and a global team.

[1] Kouta Ohyama (Laos ‘19), pictured with fellow PiA alum Casey Morrison (Laos ‘17), recently returned to his PiA host country: “After a ‘temporary visit’ back home that turned into 16 months, I finally made it back to Laos! I have been happily tam-ing those mak hoongs and pickling those mak-pets ever since.”

[2] Alex Ward (Philippines ‘15) and his partner moved from the Philippines to Vietnam in 2019, where they founded R House, a social enterprise that rehabilitates and rehomes dogs that have been saved by local shelters from abuse, neglect, disease, and slaughter. To date, they’ve rehomed over 100 dogs, 9 of which have started a new life with their families outside of Vietnam. Alex says, “Bridging the gap between East and West, we work every day to raise awareness about animal welfare and bring both Vietnamese and expats together to make a positive difference in the community.”

Clayton Shuttleworth (Thailand ‘16) is working at the Language Institute of Chiang Mai University (CMU), where he teaches English classes and does editing and Thai-English translation work. He is also finishing his thesis research on Thai drag queens for his Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies at CMU.

ON THE JOB IN THE USA

Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon (Cambodia ‘15) recently moved to Atlanta, GA

to join State Affairs, an online news startup covering state government. Alessandro says, “Check us out at stateaffairs. com and for any local PiAers interested in meeting up for some good eats on Buford Highway, please reach out!”

Ayanna Runcie (Cambodia ‘15) started a new job in September as a segment producer for American Voices with Alicia Menendez on MSNBC.

During the 2020-21 school year, [3] Ciaran Willis (Mongolia ‘15) worked with a founding team and 130 students to create A Place Beyond (APB), which provided micro college campuses where students could live while they studied online. “These students came from all walks of life, but, through testing and community buy in, we bubbled up, avoided COVID, and made one-of-akind small colleges in the mountains of Arizona and Colorado where afternoon and weekend trips to the Grand Canyon or just down the road to climb became the norm. Significantly, APB was able to extend sponsorships in whole or part to over 40 first-generation or low-income college students.” Coincidentally, fellow PiAer [4] Rachel Liu (Thailand ‘19, pictured cimbing above) joined APB’s founding team in Arizona in September 2020 and helped open their new campus in January 2021.

Kelsey Smith (Myanmar ‘19) has been living in Washington, D.C. for the past year working on terrorism and immigration for the U.S. Senate Committee

for Homeland Security. She and her co-Fellows had a PiA Yangon reunion in Minneapolis, Minnesota this fall!

After a few months of job- and soul-searching, Pooja Magadi (Laos ‘19) discovered an exciting opportunity at Facebook to create a positive global impact. In August, she began working there and enjoys “the feeling of being new, learning so many cool things and being challenged in a new space. I look forward to moving to Austin once the office is reopened and can’t wait to start a new chapter in my life (although I miss Laos so so much)!”

Stan Clark (China ‘18) recently started working at AFS-USA as the YES Abroad Admissions and Logistics Coordinator. AFS-USA is an international education organization that has been exchanging students throughout the world for over 70 years. Stan says, “My love for international education actually started with PiA and my fellowship at Northeastern University. So thank you PiA!”

This past September, [5] Jessica Lander (Thailand ‘10) was named as a Top 50 Finalist for the 2021 Global Teacher Prize, given each year by the Varkey Foundation. She shares the recognition with 49 other educators from 36 countries, selected from more than 8,000 nominations drawn from 121 countries. Jessica teaches history and civics to recent immigrants and refugees at Lowell High School in Massachusetts. She co-founded the national We Are America project with her former students working with teachers across the country to help spark new conversations around identity led by young people. She is currently finishing her third book, Making Americans (Beacon Press 2022), a comprehensive look at immigrant education as told through key historical moments and court decisions, current experiments to improve immigrant education, and profiles of immigrant youth and schools across the United States. Stay turned for Jessica’s new book next year!

BACK TO SCHOOL

After working with six different startup founders for the past ten years, Max Stein (China ‘11) continues to value social and environmental accountability. He recently started a Master of Science degree in Sustainable Water Management at Tufts University. He hopes to work on transboundary & public-private partnerships that harness technology to better address water scarcity in the Intermountain West.

Victoria Tang (China ‘19) started her MSc in Clinical and Therapeutic Neuroscience at Oxford.

Sowa Imoisili (Hong Kong ‘16), former leader of the PiA Alumni Network’s Boston Chapter, started an MBA at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business this fall.

[6] Nadia Ford (Laos ‘19) is currently pursuing her MA in International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She says

that her time in Laos strengthened her passion for international education development. Nadia is also working with the Department of State’s Bureau of East Asia and the Pacific with their Student Internship Program.

[7] Alex Coulston (Singapore ‘10) has been living the aloha life and seeing at least one rainbow everyday for the past year as a graduate fellow at the EastWest Center and pursuing his MA in Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai‘i.

May Braverman (China ‘17) was awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Fellowship and is now at Harvard Kennedy School pursuing a Master of Public Policy in preparation for a career in the U.S. Department of State. May says, “My time as a ‘grassroots diplomat’ with PiA played a huge role in deciding to pursue a career as a Foreign Service Officer. PiA gave me a sense of what can be accomplished in the span of two years and how immersed in a community you can choose to be during that time.”

Princeton in Asia

Louis A. Simpson International Building

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ 08544

COMMUNITY FOR LIFE

[8] Jon Jay (Kazakhstan ’12) and his wife Crystal welcomed their daughter, Solden Hayes Jay, to the world on September 2, 2021.

Kaishi Lee (Hong Kong ’09) and Devashish Rastogi are proud new parents of their son Arjun Devashish Rastogi-Lee, born on September 18, 2021 in Beijing.

Anne Gillman Cronin (Taiwan ’10) and her husband recently moved to Waimea, Hawaii, where Kevin took command of Pohakuloa Training Area for the U.S. Army. They welcomed their first child, Anna Florence Cronin, on May 3, 2021.

[9] Richard Van Horne (Japan ’78) and his wife Anne (Greece ’78) finished five years of living and working in Japan in 2020, and now they’re off to Poznan, Poland, where Richard will be teaching at the economics university. He invites visitors and emails: rvanhorne@yahoo.com. Richard and Anne are pictured above with friends from Richard’s fellowship in Japan, in Kyoto together forty years later.

[10] Kanoa Mulling (Thailand ’16) got married to Ann Doungarpai in September. Among the wedding guests were PiA alumni Ellis Liang (Hong Kong ’15), Jan Kwan (Thailand ’15) and Robin Palmer (Kazakhstan ’15).

WHAT’S NEW ON THE PiA BOOKSHELF?

PiA alumna and Emeritus Trustee Melanie Kirkpatrick (Japan ’73) has a new book out called Lady Editor. Melanie explains: “Lady Editor is a biography of Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879), editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book and one of the most influential women in American history. She was an author, an advocate of women’s right to an education, and an Oprah-like cultural influencer.” You may have seen some of Kirkpatrick’s other books, Escape from North Korea and Thanksgiving — and PiA: A Century of Service, featured in these pages.