Becoming Leaderful: A Panel Discussion on Building the Communities We Want

Join a discussion among local activists and leaders on how to unlock and amplify our capabilities in a moment which calls for leadership from every community member. As our community and our structures come under attack, this is the time for deep reflection and action, to ask ourselves who we are, who we can be, and how to become the people we have been waiting for. Our panelists will share their processes of refuting the model minority myth, our own learned powerlessness, and what it looks like to take an active part in ongoing social change. Attendees will leave the session with new models and inspiration to build lasting change in their communities.
The panelists are Claudia Leung from New Breath, Tash Nguyen from Restore Oakland, and Krishna Desai, Esq. of Desai Tran, with moderator Kim Tran.

About the Panelists

Claudia Leung (she/they) is a queer, disabled, mixed-race second-generation Chinese American born and raised in the Bay Area. At New Breath Foundation, she serves as the Director of Programs, leading in strategic grantmaking, capacity building, evaluation, and learning. Throughout her career, Claudia has consistently focused on centering marginalized communities to effect intersectional cultural and social change. Her career spans more than a decade in roles from grantmaking to communications to fundraising at organizations working on racial justice, gender justice, arts, and education. Her organizing work and background as a liberatory coach inform her approach to philanthropy.

Tash Nguyen (she/they) is a queer, gender-nonconforming, community organizer and circlekeeper working to build racial and economic justice. Born and raised in the Bay, they are the child of Vietnamese refugees, and communities ties fuel their drive to dismantle systems of domination. For over 10 years, they’ve been organizing to reduce jail populations, stop jail expansions, and redirect resources out of carceral budgets and into life-affirming solutions. Tash is trained in restorative justice, mediation, and various conflict resolution techniques. They believe that we must build cultures and practices that move beyond punishment if we are to meaningfully break cycles of violence and create a world rooted in shared prosperity.
Prior to joining Restore Oakland in 2019, Tash served as a Senior Organizer and Advocate at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a founding partner of Restore Oakland. They proudly serve on the board of the REAL Peoples Fund.
Krishna Desai, Esq. (they/them) works as an employment attorney, facilitator, and consultant to create just and equitable workplaces. Early in their career Krishna worked in gender-based harm prevention and published a book advising LGBTQIA+ youth of their rights. As an attorney, they have helped employees facing discrimination and harassment secure robust settlements and policy changes from Fortune 500 companies and national non-profits. For over a decade, Krishna has coupled that same proactive mindset with their legal background to counsel organizations seeking to align their practices with their values.
Their past consulting clients include values aligned multinational corporations, national non-profits and community based organizations. Committed to real-world application, Krishna fosters productive partnerships between community coalitions and local governments. They also provide deescalation support at protests nationwide.

Kim Tran (she/her) believes imagination is the engine of change. With over ten years of experience in anti-racist and LGBTQIA+ initiatives, she takes a multidimensional approach to organizational work.
Kim's holistic approach to assessments, management training, facilitated sessions, and implementation are highly effective and have been utilized by national non-profits, purpose-driven companies, community-based organizations, premier academic institutions, and healthcare providers. Her research and community organizing experience have also been featured in NPR, Slate, Politico, PBS NewHour, and the New York Times. Her commitment to advocacy with trans communities was featured in a TEDx talk. In 2021, the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus honored Kim with its Outstanding Community Member award. Her first book, After Diversity, is forthcoming from Haymarket Books.