Happy Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Melanie Ho, Ph.D. is an award-winning author and professional speaker who combines over 20 years of leadership experience with her perspective as an artist and multi-media storyteller. She delivers unique workshops and keynotes that help audiences achieve bolder transformations by starting with today's most important leadership concepts and then bringing them to life through the power of art and storytelling. 

In addition to her work with leaders across industries, Melanie leads The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Women Leading Change program, providing professional development to women leaders in higher education during a time of complexity and change. Prior to her current work, she served as SVP of Research at EAB Global, a technology and services firm in Washington, DC (formerly part of The Advisory Board Company), where she managed a team of 100+ consultants that provided strategic and operational advice to 1500+ colleges and universities worldwide. 

Her recent book, Beyond Leaning In: Gender Equity and What Organizations are Up Against, received a silver medal in the 2022 Axiom Awards recognizing the world’s best business books, and has been acclaimed by Kirkus Reviews as “an engaging evolution of Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘Lean In’ mantra.” Also a visual artist, Melanie has drawn dozens of comics about the challenges that women face at work. She received her PhD in English from UCLA, where she taught literature, visual culture, and leadership and earned the Distinguished Teaching Award.  

Learn more and stay in touch with Melanie: 

• E-mail: melanie@beyondleaningin.com

• Website: https://www.melanieho.com/

• Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/melanieho13/

• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieho 

Ninez A. Ponce, PhD, MPP, is a long-standing advocate and researcher dedicated to advancing the health and well-being of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. With a career spanning academia, public policy, and grassroots activism, Dr. Ponce has championed initiatives to address healthcare disparities, improve access to culturally competent services, and promote social justice for AANHPI populations. As a respected leader in her field, she has led groundbreaking research projects such as the California Health Interview Survey, The NHPI Data Policy Lab and the UCLA Data Equity Center.  She has advised policymakers, and collaborated with community organizations to make AANHPI individuals more visible in policy agendas and in health system decision-making. She holds the Wasserman Endowed Chair in Health Policy and Management and leads the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, nationally-recognized for its research on data equity,  equitable healthcare access and outcomes.

Richard Calvin Chang is a Native Hawaiian attorney who co-founded and currently serves as Director of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Data Policy Lab at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Calvin has over a decade of experience working with NHPI communities and managing policy campaigns that address NHPI health disparities and promote data equity. He co-authored demographic profiles of NHPIs in the U.S. and California, the first Policy Platform Blueprint for NHPIs in the United States, and recently co-authored the first NHPI Data Policy Platform. He is currently working on projects that include a data curriculum for community organizations, developing accessible data tools, and supporting inclusive and equitable data policies. Calvin serves as the Board Chair of Pacific Islander Health Partnership. He earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and his M.S. in Computational Analysis and Public Policy from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. He was appointed to the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations in 2021.

Ayam Nouiouat (she/her) is a research scientist with the Office of Health Equity at the California Department of Public Health, where she has spent the last two and a half years supporting COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, and the advancement of community equity. Much of Ayam’s work and passion lies in the improvement of data collection and quality methods to provide visibility and representation to communities that have long been erased in data. Ayam earned a BA in Public Health, minoring in Public Policy, from the University of California of Berkeley and a Master’s of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. 

Dr. Seciah Aquino serves as Executive Director for the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC) — the State’s leading policy organization advocating for health equity in the Latinx community. In her role, she is passionate to advance health justice for CA Latinxs through unity. Latinxs working hand in hand with fellow siblings from Black, Native, Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, Indian, and other communities of color to advance a unified Health Equity Agenda. An agenda that seeks to advance sustainable systemic changes, through policy solutions that will address the acute and long-term repercussions of health inequities. She strongly believes we must as a collective -- own our power and harness our resiliency to achieve true justice. Dr. Aquino is a proud immigrant from Guatemala. Through life experience she has been blessed to learn first-hand how to stand up for the oppressed, how to provide for the needy, and how to speak up for the rights of the destitute. Dr. Aquino began her journey in public health as a promotora and throughout her career, thereafter, has remained committed to creating a culture of health across the nation. For over 10 years, she has worked to advance health equity and social justice issues across non-profit, government, and academic sectors and at multiple levels including local, state, and national. Dr. Aquino holds a Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH) from Harvard University and a Master of Science (MS) in Global Medicine from the University of Southern California.

'Alisi Tulua (moderator) is the executive director of the Southern California Pacific Islander Community Response Team (SoCal PICRT). For over 15 years, 'Alisi has been a prominent leader in the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) community through her various roles in NHPI and Asian American organizations. Her recent positions as California Program Director for Asian American Futures and Project Director for the NHPI Data Policy Lab at UCLA Center for Health Policy Research ignited and expanded a passion for exploring, dissecting, and understanding systemic barriers to equity for NHPI and other communities of color. She brings depth of experience in health equity, leadership development, policy advocacy, community organizing, organizational development, and research. ‘Alisi has an M.S. in biology and a B.S. in biochemistry/cell biology from UC San Diego.