Staff
Ted Gong | Executive Director
Ted Gong is Executive Director of the 1882 Project Foundation and President of DC chapter of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance. Before retiring in 2012, Ted was a career diplomat in the U.S. Department of State where he served primarily in East Asia on policy and operational issues related to border management and security, migration and refugees, and consular affairs. He has degrees in History, Asian Studies, and National Strategic Studies form the University of California, University of Hawaii and the U.S. Army War College. Ted is also included in The Guardian‘s The Frederick Douglass 200, a list of two hundred people — abolitionists, diplomats, writers, feminists, and more — who best embody the spirit and work of Frederick Douglass.
Stan Lou | Talk Story Director
Stan Lou was born in Greenville, Mississippi, of immigrant parents from China. Stan earned Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan and had a career with the Federal Aviation Administration before retiring in Washington, DC. He is most proud of his three accomplished children who all reside in California now. Upon retirement Stan went to China in 2003 to teach English to university students and to learn about himself there for almost three years. He returned to the Washington, DC, area where he has committed himself to become busily engaged with understanding more about his heritage as a Chinese American. With that as his motivation, he has worked with the Asian Pacific American community to improve the quality of life for its members. Most of his focus has been with OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, where he has served as co-president of the Greater Washington DC Chapter and the Vice-President for Education & Culture on the OCA National Board. He worked with the 1882 Project and is active with a group that created the Talk Story series that engages the DC community in sharing the stories of their experiences living as APAs. He is also leading the Literature and Arts Corner program.
Ting-Yi Oei | Curriculum & Education Director
John Kusano | Historic Preservation Director
John develops historic preservation programs for the 1882 Foundation and is also the Vice-Chair of the Advisory Council of the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership in Washington, DC. He recently retired from a 35 year career with the US Forest Service. He is a third-generation Californian and a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.
Amy Trang, Ph.D., M.Ed. | Administrative Services Manager
Amy Trang is the founder and CEO of Social Capital Solutions, Inc., an SBA certified 8(a)EDWOSB. She has been providing administrative management services for the 1882 Foundation since 2022 and enjoys engaging in diverse projects that create social impact.
Dr. Trang completed her doctorate degree in Public Policy from George Mason University School of Public Policy after transferring her doctoral studies in Culture and Values of Education from McGill University (Montreal, Canada). She holds a master’s degree in Social and Psychological Foundations of Education from the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Education and Human Development, and a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from George Mason University. She has also been an active adjunct faculty at UVA since 2000, where she has taught Sociology of Education, Education in Multicultural Societies, Anthropology of Education, Critical Education Policy, Comparative Education, and Asian Education.
Mia Owens | Program Manager
Mia Owens earned a BA in Global Studies and French at Samford University and a MA in History with a concentration in Public History from American University. After completing her undergraduate degree, she joined the AmeriCorps-Ohio History Service Corps as a Local History member for the Trumbull County Historical Society. During her graduate studies, she was the inaugural AU Public History Fellow in the History of Slavery and Its Legacies in Washington, DC and worked with the White House Historical Association and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. Mia began interning at the 1882 Foundation in 2021 to conduct research on the history of DC’s Chinese American community. In 2022, she began working as a program associate with the Foundation. In addition to serving as a program manager at the 1882 Foundation, Mia is a curatorial assistant at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
Emily Brignand | Communication Associate
Emily Brignand is a Communications Associate at the 1882 Foundation, where she provides communication support by promoting ongoing programs and events on various platforms, including launching and managing the monthly newsletter. Emily started with the 1882 Foundation as an intern in the summer of 2022. She is originally from Reno, Nevada, and moved to Washington, DC, to pursue a B.A. in International Studies with a concentration in East Asia at American University. After graduation in May 2024, she hopes to gain more professional experiences through fellowships and full-time employment before applying to graduate school.
Lauren Eng | Literature and Arts Associate
Lauren Eng is an Associate at the 1882 Foundation, where her role focuses on building the Literature & Arts Corner. After joining the organization as an intern in 2020, she conceptualized the Literature & Arts Corner Library and led its development over two and a half years. She also writes event recaps and articles for the Literature Corner Blog, as well as op-eds for local publications. In addition to her 1882 Foundation work, she is a Data Science Analyst at Dell Technologies and volunteers as a Community Network Leader for the Hydrocephalus Association, a non-profit organization that advocates for people with a brain condition called hydrocephalus. Lauren graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a bachelor’s degree in Information Science and a double minor in Asian American Studies and Sustainability Studies.
Advisors
Sojin Kim | Special Projects and Collaborations Advisor
Sojin Kim is a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, where she works on multifaceted, collaborative projects addressing migration, music, and public history. She was previously a curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (2008-2010) and the Japanese American National Museum (1998-2008). Sojin holds a PhD in folklore and mythology from University of California, Los Angeles. She serves on the board of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation (APIAHiP).
May Cheh | Senior Advisor for Programs
May Cheh earned degrees in Chemistry and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley and American University. She had a career at the National Institutes of Health doing research in medical informatics and directing a training program for visiting fellows at her institute. May was born in Guangdong, China, and came to the United States as a toddler. The first member of her family came to the United State during the California Gold Rush in the 1800’s, but, because of the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act against Chinese immigration, May and her mother were the first women in their family to immigrate to the United States. May’s passion is to preserve the history and stories of Chinese families in America.
Jenn Low | Chinatown Programs Advisor
Jenn is an integrative designer and landscape architect with over twelve years of experience as a Landscape Architect in New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle. She is also a design educator with experience in both secondary and higher education. Jenn holds an MDes in Integrative Design at the Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan and a Bachelor in Landscape Architecture from the University of Washington. Expanding her skillsets beyond traditional modes of urban design practice, her work centers issues in design, power, and spatial justice. In collaboration with the 1882 Foundation, her thesis project, Dear Chinatown, DC, explored how we can redesign public engagement practices that give community members a more meaningful role in how our neighborhoods are planned and designed.
Board of Advisors
Walter Woo
Shirley Woo
Carolyn Chan