BOARD

Kristina Wong

Kristina Wong is a performance artist, comedian, writer and elected representative in Koreatown Los Angeles who has been presented internationally across North America, the UK, Hong Kong and Africa. In the pandemic, Kristina founded Auntie Sewing Squad, a national network of volunteers sewing masks for vulnerable communities. Their book “The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care and Racial Justice is published by the University of California Press. The experience of erecting this remote factory turned national mutual aid collective at the start of the pandemic is the subject of “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord”– a “New York Times Critics Pick” that premiered off-Broadway at New York Theater Workshop. Kristina also devised and directed last season’s “From Number to Name” at East West Players with members of API RISE, a support group for individuals who have been impacted by the criminal justice system.

Kirn Kim

Kirn Kim was a former honor student and son of a prominent physician in the Fullerton Korean community. However, at age 16, he was sentenced as an adult to life in prison as part of a high-profile case that became known as the “Honor Roll Murder.” He earned parole after serving 20 years. Kirn became active in justice reform advocacy, leading to his hiring as the first formerly-incarcerated employee of The California Endowment. Currently working as a software developer, Kirn continues speaking on issues of criminal and juvenile justice reform, and the culture of shame and the model minority myth in the Asian/Pacific Islander community. Kirn is also currently on the board of directors at the National Juvenile Justice Network.

Godfrey Santos Plata

Godfrey Santos Plata (he/him) is a queer Filipino immigrant and renter whose north star is a racial justice, and whose tools of choice are political education and building people power. He unapologetically works toward a world in which Black Lives Matter. Plata was born in Marikina, Philippines, and is a teacher-turned-organizer currently living in LA's Koreatown. After beginning to meet API RISE members in 2019, he was proud to support API RISE members in East-West Players' production of FROM NUMBER TO NAME, a collection of members' stories and experiences theatricalized for a Zoom audience. In his civic life, Plata sits on the boards of LA Forward and Pilipino American LA Democrats; and represents almost half a million LA residents as a member of the LA County Democratic Party's Central Committee. In 2020, Plata ran for California's State Assembly and won 50,000 votes (44% of the vote) as a first-time political candidate running against a 3-term incumbent, without taking any corporate PAC money and with 7 times less funding than his opponent. State-wide, he serves as Regional Vice-Chair of the Filipino-American Democratic Caucus of California and steers the California Progressive Alliance. In his organizing work, Plata supports community members in multiple LA-based organizing groups, having worked on issues of Sheriff's Department accountability alongside Black Lives Matter; immigrant supports and services at LA Unified School District; and protections for Asian Americans in light of recent waves of anti-Asian violence.

Annie Liu

Annie is a research consultant for big tech companies and higher education. She received a PhD from UCLA where she studied the racial formation of Asian American youth gangs. As a doctoral student she started an educational program inside Barry J. Nidorf juvenile hall. She has conducted research and worked with incarcerated youth in Los Angeles, New York, Europe, and Guam. She went on to do her postdoctoral research at Stanford, in the Graduate School of Education. She's a proud San Jose native, and daughter of Vietnamese refugees. In her free time you can find her taking a cult workout class, or spending time with her large family (they call themselves the Asian Brady Bunch).

Ben Jung

Born and raised in Echo Park, Los Angeles, Ben Jung is a former juvenile lifer who served 21 years of a 25-to-life sentence. As the eldest son of Korean immigrants and the brother to a lawyer and the co-founder of API RISE, Ben brings a deep commitment to community advocacy and empowerment. Now a full-time Union Electrician with IBEW Local 11, he balances his career with his passion for supporting those currently and formerly incarcerated. Ben graduated college with honors and is a proud uncle to his toddler niece. He is also a die-hard Raiders, Dodgers, Lakers, and all things LA fan.