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Angela Yan

Co-Founder, Co-Director, Senior Advisor, and Initiative Lead

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Angela Yan (she/her) is an alum of Vanderbilt University, class of 2024, cum laude with a B.A. in Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies and Public Policy Studies (Highest Honors) with a minor in Economics and Honors in the College of Arts and Science. During her time at Vanderbilt, Angela served as Co-Founder, Co-Director, Senior Advisor, and Initiative Lead of The Asian American Advocacy Project, a Co-Facilitator for the K.C. Potter Center’s Queer and Asian Affinity Group, a Family Head for the Asian American Student Association, and a Research Assistant for The Reproductive Politics Lab, where she wrote her senior honors thesis on “Culture and Family’s Influence on Young Asian Americans’ Pro-Abortion Views.” Directly following graduation, Angela will work as an Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) Congressional Fellow with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), helping to advocate for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities on a federal level. 

 

In her time at Vanderbilt, she helped promote Asian American advocacy by

  • Conducting a three-year-long research project on young Asian Americans’ perspectives on abortion

  • Leading an initiative to disaggregate data on Asian American college students by ethnicity to help Vanderbilt offices plan programming and resources for Asian American students that meet their specific needs

  • Helping to form the University Counseling Center’s Social Justice and Inclusion Counselor Hiring Committee, interviewing and providing student input on two finalists for the Social Justice and Inclusion Counselor position

  • Organizing social events for queer and questioning Asian and Asian Americans such as game nights to build community in the K.C. Potter Center’s Queer and Asian Affinity Group

  • Serving as an Advisory Board Member for the AAPI Identity Initiative, advising Vanderbilt’s EDI Office in supporting Vanderbilt’s 1500+ AAPI students

  • Serving as a committee member for the Asian American Studies Professor Hiring Committee, interviewing and providing student input on three finalists for a Vanderbilt Asian American Studies professorship

  • Co-organizing a social media campaign to increase Asian American Studies course enrollment by 20%

  •  Co-establishing (with Vanderbilt EDI Office) Vanderbilt’s AAPI Fund and co-leading efforts in contacting 875 Asian American alumni to fundraise for an Asian American Cultural Center

  • Co-working with Vanderbilt’s Asian Studies librarian to create an Asian American & Diaspora Studies academic research database for students

  • Co-hosting a panel and roundtable discussion with Helen Zia alongside Vanderbilt’s AAPI Employee Affinity Group and a second panel with Curtis Chin alongside Vanderbilt Peabody Graduate School’s APIDA Student Association

  • Co-organizing (with the Vanderbilt EDI Office) Vanderbilt’s inaugural Asian American Meet 'n' Greet, connecting Asian American faculty/staff and 40+ Asian American student leaders

  • Co-developing an APIDA Heritage Month activism education social media campaign, garnering 20,000+ Instagram impressions

Rohit Kataria

Co-Founder, Co-Director and Senior Advisor

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Rohit Kataria (he/him) is an alum of Vanderbilt University, class of 2024, with a magna cum laude B.A. (Honors) in Public Policy Studies (Advanced Quantitative Methods) with minors in Data Science and Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies and Honors in the College of Arts and Science. In service to the Asian American community at Vanderbilt, Rohit served as the Co-Founder, Co-Director, and Senior Advisor for The Asian American Advocacy Project, Advocacy Chair for Vanderbilt’s South Asian Cultural Exchange, Director of Strategic Growth and Development for Vanderbilt South Asian Rural Resettlement Aid, and the Hindi-Urdu Language Table Student Co-Host for the Vanderbilt Center for Languages. Following his graduation from Vanderbilt, Rohit is pursuing a Master of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School as a John F Kennedy Fellow and a Program on Education Policy and Governance Fellow.

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In his time at Vanderbilt, he helped promote Asian American advocacy by

  • Serving on multiple student panels regarding activism and advocacy in practice for the Vanderbilt Asian American Student Association and Vanderbilt Multicultural Leadership Council

  • Serving as an Advisory Board Member for the AAPI Identity Initiative, advising Vanderbilt’s EDI Office in supporting Vanderbilt’s 1500+ AAPI students

  • Serving as a Planning Committee Member for the APIDA Empowerment Summit, advising VU’s student affairs office in planning an AAPI-focused conference with 150+ registrants

  • Serving as a Hindi-Urdu Language Program representative for Language Integration in the Residential Communities, helping the committee gauge interest in living communities that prioritize language and cultural learning

  • Serving as a committee member for the Asian American Studies Professor Hiring Committee, interviewing and providing student input on three finalists for a Vanderbilt Asian American Studies professorship

  • Organizing a seven-part South Asian-focused dialogue series, increasing attendance to 300% of past years’ attendance

  • Executing a five-part weeklong series of South Asian-focused programming in collaboration with four Vanderbilt offices

  • Co-hosting a panel and roundtable discussion with Helen Zia alongside Vanderbilt’s AAPI Employee Affinity Group and a second panel with Curtis Chin alongside Vanderbilt Peabody Graduate School’s APIDA Student Association

  • Co-organizing a social media campaign to increase Asian American Studies course enrollment by 20%

  • Co-establishing (with Vanderbilt EDI Office) Vanderbilt’s AAPI Fund and co-leading efforts in contacting 875 Asian American alumni to fundraise for an Asian American Cultural Center

  • Co-working with Vanderbilt’s Asian Studies librarian to create an Asian American & Diaspora Studies academic research database for students

  • Co-organizing (with the Vanderbilt EDI Office) Vanderbilt’s inaugural (and second) Asian American Meet 'n' Greet, connecting Asian American faculty/staff and 40+ Asian American student leaders

  • Co-developing an APIDA Heritage Month activism education social media campaign, garnering 20,000+ Instagram impressions

  • Co-providing guidance and mentorship to seven students to research, develop, and execute their own initiatives in service of Vanderbilt’s Asian American community

  • Serving as a Policy, Documentation, and Outreach Committee Member for the Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies, providing insights/feedback to support the creation of an Ethnic Studies policy database and materials for Ethnic Studies advocates

  • Text banking for APIAVote, disseminating information regarding COVID-19 vaccination safety and vaccination centers to 5,000+ Asian Americans nationwide

  • Founding and serving as Executive Director for Asian American Studies Collaborative, a national peer network of students advocating for college-level Asian American Studies

  • Interviewing 25 college-level Asian American Studies program directors and producing a guide concerning national college-level Asian American Studies development

  • Co-creating and sharing a student strategy guide to college-level Asian American Studies program establishment and expansion

  • Co-presenting workshops on college-level Asian American Studies development at two national conferences

Iris Kim

An Alum Who Inspired the Cause

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Iris Kim (she/her) is an alum of Vanderbilt University, class of 2021, with a B.A. in Neuroscience and Medicine, Health, and Society (Critical Health Studies). Currently, Iris is a Fulbright research grantee examining Asian American immigration, mental health, and belonging in South Korea.

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In her time at Vanderbilt, she helped promote Asian American advocacy by

  • Founding Vanderbilt Asian American Studies Initiative, which gathered nearly 1,300 signatures in support of an Asian American studies program at Vanderbilt (2020-2021)

  • Serving as President of the Asian American Student Association, overseeing annual programming by the executive board (2019-2020)

  • Founding the Asian American Book Club, formed in response to the lack of Asian American courses at Vanderbilt (2019-2021)

Jack Mok

An Alum Who Inspired the Cause

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Jack Mok (he/him) is an alum of Vanderbilt University, class of 2022, with a B.A. in Political Science and Economics with a minor in History. During his time at Vanderbilt, Jack served as the President of the Asian American Student Association (AASA) and was a passionate volunteer within local Nashville politics. Jack is currently serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Center for Appellate Litigation, helping indigent New Yorkers access quality appellate defense.


In his time at Vanderbilt, he helped promote Asian American advocacy by

  • Connecting AASA with other Asian American student groups across the country to host a panel and fundraiser against acts of anti-Asian violence 

  • Rallying support from student organizations to advance the movement for an Asian American Studies program at Vanderbilt following the Atlanta shootings

  • Lobbying Vanderbilt administrators, such as Chancellor Diermeier and Vice Chancellor Churchwell, for a more robust AAPI alumni network and increased storage space for cultural organizations

  • Organizing cultural education and celebration events for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month for two years

  • Coordinating voter and census registration drives targeting Asian American populations throughout the 2020 election season

Varsha Nair

An Alum Who Inspired the Cause

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Varsha Nair (she/her) is an alum of Vanderbilt University, class of 2022, with a B.A. in African American and Diaspora Studies and Neuroscience. Besides making quality Spotify playlists, volunteering, and reading questionable YA fiction, she is personally invested in mental health advocacy and working to collaboratively create equitable, diverse, and inclusive spaces. Varsha is currently pursuing a Master's in Public Health at UCLA with a concentration in Health Policy and Management.


In her time at Vanderbilt, she helped promote Asian American advocacy by

  • Being part of initial talks with Chancellor Diermeier along with other multicultural student organization leaders following the Atlanta shootings

  • Serving on a panel with Asian American and LGBTQ+ advocate, Helen Zia, focused on Asian American advocacy and collaborative work

  • Being part of the student committee that helped hire an Asian American professor in the English department

  • Serving as a Cultural Initiatives Chair and as Co-Vice President for the South Asian Cultural Exchange (SACE)

  • Organizing and executing the first-ever South Asia Week, a week-long collaboration with the Vanderbilt South Asian Studies department and various campus bodies to celebrate and raise awareness about South Asian culture and history

  • Organizing and overseeing the largest cultural showcase at Vanderbilt during the COVID-19 pandemic

 TAAAP Alumni

Some of the amazing people who bettered TAAAP!

'23 Bachelor Graduates: Yuna Jeon, Sanjana Padala, Teresa Xu

'24 Bachelor Graduates: Carol Ham, Sunny Gorrepati, Rohit Kataria, Mikaya Kim, Ryder Li, Adrian Wong, Fiona Wu, Angela Yan, Lilly Zheng

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