Biography
My parents immigrated from the Philippines to the United States in the 1980's. I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California. After graduating from UCLA, I wanted to get out and see the world so I went to South Korea to teach English as a second language. I lived there for five years and it was there that I eventually met my wife, whom I followed to Nashville in 2014. In 2017, I graduated from Vanderbilt University with an M.Ed in Community Development & Action where my studies were focused on organizational studies, program evaluation, and community school models.
My professional life has been focused on education and community-centered nonprofit work. Since 2017, I have been working at the Dan & Margaret Maddox Fund where I manage grant partnerships. My responsibilities there have been helping education nonprofit organizations through the grant application, review, and reporting processes.
I am also the founding executive director of API Middle Tennessee, which officially incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2020. API Middle Tennessee is an Asian and Pacific Islander-serving organization whose mission is to work towards racial justice by building API community, lifting API voices, and celebrating API identities.
When not working, you can usually find me around Nashville riding my bike, taking photos, or trying new restaurants with my wife.
Community Leadership