Month: December 2017

“Beauty encompasses more than surface attractiveness. There is beauty in strength, intelligence, resilience, inspiration, and even vulnerability. I strive to promote women empowerment by sharing positivity and uplifting our fellow sisters of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds.” -V.NANC

Nancy Vang, 23, from Fresno, California received her Bachelors of Science in Communicative Disorders and Deaf Studies with an emphasis on Speech-Language Pathology from California State University, Fresno. Following her educational career, she worked as a board certified autism technician/behavior therapist for children with autism.

She has participated in multiple community events such as after-school events, book fairs, field days, and yard sales.

Nancy is also a freelance writer, model managing/coordinator and founder of V.NANC. V.NANC is aimed to help young aspiring models in the community to obtain modeling opportunities to develop their portfolios in a safe and professional manner.

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To learn more about Nancy and support her mission, follow each of her social media below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/v.nancc/

V.NANC: http://www.vnanc.com/

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/nanc

Watch our interview below to learn about Nancy’s education story and her passion which helped her discovered V.NANC.

Pa Nhia Her was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Currently, she is pursuing her Masters in Dental Public Health from A. T. Still University and aspires to work as a dentist in the near future. In the realm of oral health, she is fascinated in dental public health and dental policy. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biology at St. Catherine University. There, she is a member of Tri-Beta National Biological Honors Society, and she served as the Co-President of SHE Pab: Voices of Hmong Women.

Aside from being a full-time student, she works as the Program Coordinator of the Minnesota Cavity Free Kids Program at Community Dental Care. Through her work, she served as an advisor to the Minnesota Department of Health’s Early Dental Disease Prevention Initiative or the Healthy Teeth, Healthy Baby Initiative. Additionally, Pa Nhia is researching with Dr. Vacharee Peterson in identifying barriers to caries prevention in high-risk communities.

Pa Nhia is also a member of the American Association of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). Outside of work, Pa Nhia is a member of the Hmong Health Care Professionals Coalition and served as their Co-Chair for the second annual Hmong Health Conference. Earlier this year, Pa Nhia was the commencement speaker for the 916 Northeast Metro graduation and award ceremony. Moreover, she is the founder of Cavity-Free Hmong Baby and seeks to increase the oral health literacy of the Hmong community. 

For the youth, Pa Nhia hopes to inspire them to stay faithful in their career paths. She wants to encourage the youth to pursue higher education and to learn more about their Hmong culture and language so that they can appreciate and value their Hmong identity. She also believes that the youth should engage in community activism. Additionally, Pa Nhia wishes to use her leadership experiences in combination with her education to empower young girls to become leaders in their community.

Follow Pa Nhia’s campaign in educating our community on prevention and care for child dental health on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cavityfreehmongbaby/

Contact Pa Nhia at: panhiak.her@hotmail.com

Watch our interview with Pa Nhia below:

Cindy Vang was born and raised in Sacramento,CA but currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona. She received her a BA in History from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), MA in Social Work from CSU Sacramento, and her Doctoral Candidate in Social Work at Arizona State University.

Cindy has worked in multiple professions including community health navigator, medical social worker, research assistant, and as an instructor. Through her work she has gained significant knowledge in access to health care and school closures. She has organized and advocated alongside other Hmong-American organizers for underrepresented communities (including the Hmong community) in Sacramento, CA.

She hopes to offer insight on how to continue in higher education while remaining committed to helping the Hmong community. She will also provide her perspective of the reality of a PhD program and how to survive as a Hmong woman in a predominantly and historically white academic space.

Ashley Yang,19, was born in Fresno, CA and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ashley is a college senior at Augsburg University studying International Relations and Spanish. Ashley’s commitment to her community and education is strongly reflected in her work of giving back. She graduated from Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) with her Associates of Arts in Liberal Arts two weeks before walking her high school commencement in May 2016 and is a recipient of the Gates Millennium Scholarship.

Other than her education, Ashley is active in her community having served on the City of Minneapolis WorkForce Youth Council, spoken at many community events as well as supports her church as the Worship Leader among many others.

Ashley hopes to bring forth insight on international issues regarding youth, economics, and cultural differences to bridge a better understanding between the Hmong, U.S. Anglo-Americans, and persons of color inside and outside of U.S. borders to allow informational conversations. Her knowledge comes from traditional reserach and reading with a combination in hands-on experience having lived in Mexico for a year and South Korea. Ashley is the Founder and Director of the YANG & YANG Scholarships for Students Campaign and the Co-Foudner of El Centro Cultural de Ensenanza de Idiomas (CCEI), language school, in Mexico where she, her two business partners and teachers teach English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian.

During Ashley’s free time,she enjoys walking, exploring new places, singing, playing billiards, and writing. In fact, she is currently working on her first book.

To learn more about Ashley’s background, please visit her LinkedIn page:
www.linkedin.com/in/yangaa