I am an innovator and social change maker
trained in mindfulness, systems thinking, and software engineering.
I was born a few miles from San Francisco, California, to parents of Japanese and Chinese origin. As a child, I loved storytelling, poetry, and wandering in nature. Today, I reside in Oakland, California (lands of the Chochenyo Ohlone).
My work integrates social entrepreneurship, government, and technology. I currently work at Code for America on a program called Opportunity Accelerator, supporting local governments in developing policies and processes that promote resident wellbeing and racial equity. I've built Makeen Initiative, an education tech company based in values of inclusivity and empowerment. I am a software engineer with 4-5 years of experience building and designing tech applications at scale.
I am a co-organizer of Sit.Walk.Listen, a series of peaceful demonstrations in the San Francisco Bay Area in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and am currently caretaking a new movement within Plum Village called Beloved Community Circles.
My dharma name, given at Plum Village by a monastic in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh, is Peaceful Embracing of the Heart (Tâm An Dung in Vietnamese). A friend later wrote an email shortening this to Peace Embracing Heart.
My values
Love - Belonging
Love is accepting whatever arises within me and around me, without needing to change it. Seeing my anxiety, shame, fear – whatever emotion it is – and taking good care.
Wonder - Play - Curiosity
When I slow down, I can build intimacy with this moment as it is. The stability of my feet on the earth, the nimble movement of my fingers across the keyboard. The beauty of stillness in this winter evening. When I embody wonder, I play. I jump in puddles, ask questions of the trees, fall asleep in cozy nooks.
Integrity - Resonance - Freedom
To be free is to rest in non-fear. To know that everything is possible. To be fully myself and to act in alignment with my deepest values.
Gratitude - Interbeing
We are intricately connected to each other and all things. To touch this recognition of interbeing is to know my own power and connection, to be grateful and humble all at once.