STAFF & VOLUNTEER HISTORY 

Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) was founded in 1989 in San Francisco by Betty Kano, Flo Oy Wong, and Moira Roth. Since then, AAWAA has been a home for artists, organizers and volunteers dedicated to advancing the visibility of Asian American women in the arts.

In 2007, AAWAA was guided to nonprofit status under the leadership of Debbie Yee and Nancy Hom. 

From 2008 to 2015, Cynthia Tom and Shari Arai DeBoer were at the helm of a working board, managing AAWAA’s strategy and programs. Board members Cristal Fiel and Beverly Quintana were instrumental in developing AAWAA’s organizational structure. Staff members Vivian Truong and Khay Hembrador were ace program coordinators and multi-taskers.   

In 2013, Melanie Elvena and Michelle A. Lee joined the organization as volunteers. Since then they have become an integral part of AAWAA. Melanie Elvena is now a Programs and Social Media Manager and Michelle A. Lee is now a curator and Board Member. A year later, Diana Li joined AAWAA as an intern, and is now a curator and Board Member. 

In 2016, AAWAA hired its first Executive Director, Suzanne Tan, later followed by Susie Kagami in 2017. Both have steered AAWAA’s new leadership role.

With the help of volunteer, Kimi Taira, AAWAA established its archives with California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) at UC Santa Barbara in 2017.