Reflections with Raja

Kristina Wong

Join this conversation with Kristina Wong as she shares her journey as an artist, mask-making with her Hello Kitty sewing machine, exploring trauma and developing care systems during a pandemic. 

Kristina Wong is a performance artist, comedian, writer and elected representative who has been presented internationally across North America, the UK, Hong Kong and Africa.  Her work has been awarded with grants from Creative Capital, The MAP Fund, Center for Cultural Innovation, National Performance Network, a COLA Master Artist Fellowship from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as eight Los Angeles Artist-in-Residence awards.  Center Theatre Group honored her with the 2019 Sherwood Award.  Her rap career in post-conflict Northern Uganda was the subject of The Wong Street Journal which toured the US, Canada and Lagos, Nigeria (presented by the US Consulate).  Her long running show Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest looked at the high rates of depression and suicide among Asian American women and is now a concert film.  Kristina currently serves as the elected representative of Wilshire Center Koreatown Sub-district 5 Neighborhood Council, the subject of her latest show “Kristina Wong for Public Office.” The national tour of that show has been postponed due to the pandemic.  She's pivoted to performing "Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord" about how in ten days during the pandemic, she went from out of work artist to factory overlord of the Auntie Sewing Squad, leading hundreds of volunteers sewing for vulnerable communities.   www.kristinawong.com

Taped on June, 10, 2020

Dr. Maisha Beasley

Dr. Maisha Beasley shares her journey empowering Black female students and the power of finding humor in life. 

 

 A Bay Area native, Dr. Beasley was raised by a family engaged in community based programs and resources for the underserved. This principle led her to pursue higher education. She went on to graduate from San Diego State University with a B.A. in Communication, University of the Pacific with a M.A. in Higher Education Administration, and from University of San Francisco with an Ed.D. in International and Multicultural Administration. During her 20 year tenure as a student affairs administrator and consultant she has become a master planner, strategist, and visionary for orientation and family programs throughout California. Her current passions include creating workshops, programming, and resources around diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

 

Taped on April 30, 2020

Dr. Tabatha L. Jones Jolivet

Dr. Tabatha Jones Jolivet speaks about honoring ancestors, education as a tool for social change and the importance of the Black Lives Matter movements.

 

Dr. Tabatha L. Jones Jolivet is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Higher Education at Azusa Pacific University. She holds a PhD in Education from Claremont Graduate University, where she received the Winifred Hausam-Helen Fisk Award for Distinction in the Study of Higher Education. Her dissertation, “’A Peculiar People’ and Their ‘Strange Freedom’: The Spiritual Habitus and Wealth Cultural Workers Employ in Liberatory Higher Education Praxis,” explored the intersectional phenomena of spiritual community, social justice, and higher education praxis among justice workers in forty U.S. colleges and universities. A higher education leader for nearly 20 years, she served as associate vice president for student life, Title IX coordinator, and associate dean of student affairs at Pepperdine University prior to coming to Azusa Pacific University. She is committed to higher education as a public good, and therefore, grounds her research agenda in spiritually-minded, community-engaged praxis. As an educator, leader, minister, and public speaker, she strives to institutionalize diversity, equity, and inclusion; prevent and reduce sex and gender-based violence; and advance social justice aims.

 

 

Taped on April 28, 2020

 

 

Dr. Cherjanet Lenzy

Dr. Cherjanet Lenzy talks with me about spiritual healing, coming out and embracing one's own journey, especially during a global pandemic.

 

Dr. Cherjanét D. Lenzy completed her doctoral degree in Higher
Education and Student Affairs Leadership at the University of Northern
Colorado. Her research interests include intersectionality of Black
Women, activism, and metaphysical spirituality. Prior to pursuing her
PhD, she worked in Student Affairs for ten years mostly situated in the
areas of diversity, social justice and inclusion. She is also a Reiki Level
III practitioner and she received her M.Ed. in College Student Affairs
Leadership from Grand Valley State University and a BA in Mass
Communication from Wright State University.

 

Taped on: April 30, 2020