Coalition Member Organizations
AAPI Equity Alliance (formerly A3PCON) is a coalition of more than forty community-based organizations that are dedicated to improving the lives of the 1.5 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the greater Los Angeles area through civic engagement, capacity building, and policy advocacy.
Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) is a San Francisco-based organization that since 1969, has advocated for systemic change to protect immigrant rights, promote language diversity, and remedy racial and social injustice. CAA is the fiscal sponsor of the Stop AAPI Hate coalition.
Leadership
Cynthia Choi
Co-Founder
Cynthia Choi (she/her) is the co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, a community based civil rights organization committed to protecting the dignity and fair treatment of all immigrants and fulfilling the promise of a multi-racial democracy. Cynthia is also co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition addressing anti-Asian racism across the U.S. She was recently appointed by Governor Newsom to serve on California’s Commission on the State of Hate. Cynthia has over 30 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector and over 20 years serving in leadership positions. She has led local, state and national community based organizations and initiatives working on a range of issues from racial and gender justice and violence prevention.
Manjusha Kulkarni
Co-Founder
Manjusha (Manju) Kulkarni is a Co-Founder of Stop AAPI Hate and Executive Director of AAPI Equity Alliance. Alongside fellow Stop AAPI Hate co-founders Cynthia Choi and Russell Jeung, Manju has been recognized on the prestigious TIME100 Most Influential People in the World and Bloomberg 50 lists. More recently, Manju was honored with the 2024 James Irvine Leadership Award. She is a member of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission and the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board. Manju holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University and a Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law.
Stephanie Chan
Director of Data & Research
Stephanie Chan (she/her) is the Director of Data & Research for Stop AAPI Hate. Previously, she was a sociology professor.She has over 20 years of experience in social science research and has published articles on the social processes and cultural resources that contribute to peace and justice. She holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from UCLA, M.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University, and Ph.D. in Sociology from UCSD.
Ashley Iwanaga
Director of Coalition Planning & Culture
Ashley Iwanaga is the Director of Coalition Operations and Culture for Stop AAPI Hate. Her long career in the nonprofit/philanthropic space has primarily focused on environmental health but the increasing and continuing historical harm and violence against the AAPI community motivated and inspired her to refocus her advocacy towards social and racial justice. She has a BA in Social Sciences from California Polytechnic State University and a Master’s in Public Health with a focus on Community Health Education from San Francisco State University.
Annie Lee
Managing Director of Policy
(Chinese for Affirmative Action)
Annie Lee (she/her) is the Managing Director of Policy at Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) and co-leads policy at Stop AAPI Hate. She brings a decade of legal experience, especially in education law and civil rights. A former Equal Justice Works Fellow, Annie is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, and the University of Pennsylvania and is admitted to practice in California.
Rose Lee
Director of Communications
Rose Lee (she/her/hers) is the Director of Communications at Stop AAPI Hate. She started her professional career as a journalist, reporting for various local newspapers, radio stations and television news stations before transitioning into strategic communications and advocacy. Prior to joining the Stop AAPI Hate coalition, Rose worked at a communications firm where she specialized in strategic campaigns and collaborated primarily with racial justice and economic justice groups. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
Ly Nguyen
Director of Development
Ly Nguyen (she/her) is the Director of Development for Stop AAPI Hate. Prior to joining Stop AAPI Hate, she was a corporate communications strategist for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives for Kaiser Permanente, McKesson Foundation, and Concentrix. Ly is the co-founder of Oasis for Girls, a non-profit based in San Francisco that partners with young women of color to build strong futures. Ly is a past recipient of the Daniel E. Koshland Award from the San Francisco Foundation and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Ly is a member of the KQED Community Advisory Panel.
Vincent Pan
Executive Advisor
Vincent Pan (he/him) is the Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action and a leading voice on issues of racial justice and social change. Prior to joining CAA in 2006, Vincent worked with the William J. Clinton Foundation in Beijing to launch HIV/AIDS programs in China, and before that, he co-founded and led an AmeriCorps youth development program in Washington, D.C. Vincent also helps lead the Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality social justice network, and co-chairs the board of the Center for Asian American Media.
Norbert Tan
Executive Advisor
Norbert K. Tan is an Executive Advisor to Stop AAPI Hate and the Deputy Director at AAPI Equity Alliance, a coalition of 40+ community-based organizations that advocates for the 1.5 million Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County. Norbert brings 25+ years of leadership and management experience from the non-profit, performing arts, higher education, entertainment, and advertising fields. He is also a certified executive coach, consultant, and certified interim leader. Norbert earned his MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School at UCLA and his BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley’s Haas School.
Lee Wang
Managing Director
Lee Wang (she/her) is the Managing Director of Stop AAPI Hate. She has devoted her career to building sustainable movements for social change. Previously, she fought against the criminalization of immigrants at the Immigrant Defense Project and fought the detention of immigrants with Envision Freedom Fund. Lee is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Yale College.
Andy Wong
Managing Director of Advocacy
(Chinese for Affirmative Action)
Andy Wong (he/him) is the Managing Director of Advocacy at Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) and leads campaigns on behalf of Stop AAPI Hate. Previously, he advocated for education equity at The Education Trust-West, gun violence prevention at Giffords, and LGBTQ equality as the founder of API Equality (now Lavender Phoenix). Andy has also managed congressional races in the Sierra Nevada and Silicon Valley and served on President Obama’s re-election campaign. He is the son of working-class, Chinese immigrants and holds degrees from Swarthmore College and Princeton University.