Rini Banerjee has two decades of experience in philanthropy. An Integrated Capital Fellow at RSF Social Finance, she has served as Executive Director at Foundation for a Just Society, Program Officer at the Overbrook Foundation, and Program Director at the New York Women’s Foundation. She is a trustee of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Board member of Funders for Reproductive Equity, and has co-created or served on groups including the NYC-based Asian Women’s Giving Circle, Philanthropy Advancing Women’s Human Rights, the Groundswell Fund, and the Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing. She was a past Board Chair of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) and past Board member of South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!). She holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University and a BSc in finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Chitra Aiyar brings over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, including serving as Executive Director at Sadie Nash Leadership Project and Senior Staff Attorney at African Services Committee, teaching graduate courses on nonprofit administration at Baruch and CUNY’s School of Professional Studies. As a capacity builder and researcher, Chitra helped nonprofits secure over $2 billion in PPP loans during the pandemic and authored a report that is shaping innovative retirement plan designs for nonprofit workers. She recently completed an LLM in Taxation to better understand how tax policy affects wealth distribution and the nonprofit ecosystem. A longtime volunteer with Giving Circle grantee Andolan (funded in 2007 and 2013 for a theatre and film project) she is excited to bring a grantee’s perspective to the Steering Committee.

Leslie Chang is the author of the poetry collection Things That No Longer Delight Me. She received a BA from Harvard College and an MFA from Columbia University and served on the board of Kundiman, an organization supporting Asian American writers, through 2016. Leslie joined AWGC in 2020. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Lily is a nonprofit fundraiser, social justice advocate, writer, and attorney. She is currently the Chief Strategy Officer of Girls Inc. of NYC and Executive Director of Asian Boss Ladies. Prior to Girls Inc., Lily served as the Director of Development of Lawyers Alliance for New York, the Director of Development & Communications of Girl Be Heard, and has also worked at the Hedge Fund Law Report, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, South Brooklyn Legal Services, and Earthjustice. She is an Aspen Institute Fellow, an inaugural member of the Omega Institute Juno Leadership Collective, and former Board Member of the Chinese American Education Association of California. She received a JD from NYU School of Law, and BAs in Philosophy and Political Science from UC Irvine. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with her husband and two children.

Lisa is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer and editor for progressive causes. She is the author of a book of poems, Mouth, and a novel, Activities of Daily Living (W.W. Norton), inspired by the life and work of the performance artist Tehching Hsieh. It was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and Gotham Book Prize and named a Best Book of 2022 by the New Yorker and Vogue. Born in Taipei, she holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MFA from the University of Iowa and is a member of the NYC Books Through Bars collective and the editorial board of Kaya Press, an independent publisher of writers from the Asian diaspora.

Angela joined AWGC in 2012. She is a senior program officer for Democracy, Gender, and Racial Justice at The JPB Foundation, which seeks to help people who have been denied power to build it, so they can change unjust systems and create a more democratic, inclusive, and sustainable society. Previously, she was at NYU Law, Fund for the City of New York, Open Society Foundations, and Lawyers Alliance for New York. Angela holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and a Bachelor’s in Politics from NYU. She is proud to be an immigrant from Taiwan.

Kathleen (Kat) is an actor, singer, screenwriter, producer, and video editor, with a BFA in Film Production from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA in Acting from the New School for Drama. She also serves as an Artistic Board Member for the theater company Revolution Shakespeare in Philadelphia. She has appeared on television on Law and Order:SVU, Maniac, Broad City; and for theater Noises Off, Avenue Q, and Are You There, Truman?. She is very grateful to be a part of creating and promoting change through intergenerational Asian sisterhood with AWGC. In her spare time she enjoys libraries, knitting, cooking, a good adventure, a good hike, and spending time with family and friends.

A founding member of AWGC, Aiyoung is passionate about many things. Born in Korea, she grew up in China, Taiwan, and Japan, coming to the US to attend Knox College. She firmly believes in the power of art to inspire, embrace, and heal. She is deeply committed to ending all forms of violence against women, upholding LGBTQ rights, supporting the leadership of women and youth, and building peace on the Korean Peninsula. A former artist, teacher, editor, publicist, and human resources manager, she is a mentor, coach and consultant to nonprofits, and serves on several boards. Currently, she is Board Chair of Women Cross DMZ, an organization of women peacemakers that launched Korea Peace Now! a global campaign to bring an end to the 70-year-old, still un-ended Korean War. Aiyoung and her husband Gene are blessed with many grandkids, and she especially loves creative cooking, all types of music and dance, and traveling.

Melinda is an advocate for equity and the Asian American community. She is a founding member of the Asian Women Giving Circle, is on the Steering Committee of the Asian Affinity Roundtable and volunteers for the Asian American Justice + Innovation Lab.  She was on the board of the Girls & Boys Projects (Institute for Labor & Community), a New York Cares volunteer, served on the Grants Advisory Committee of the New York Women’s Foundation and has worked as an account director at IW Group and a paralegal in Time Inc. She enjoys figuring out her family’s complicated Chinese American genealogy and relaxes by watching really bad and really good television.

Pat is a social change optimist and the Executive Director of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy. She is the founder of the New York Asian Women’s Center and has served as Senior Vice President at Safe Horizon, Vice President at the Ms. Foundation for Women, and Program Director at Bolder Giving. She was formerly the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at the New York Women’s Foundation. She has a BA in Politics from Princeton University and an MSW from Hunter College of Social Work. When not working, Pat daydreams about ocean waves.

Shinhee is a founding member of AWGC. She is a psychotherapist who divides her time among the New School University Counseling Services, her private practice, and writing on race and psychoanalysis. Her work and research focus around Asian American mental health, literature, psychoanalysis, art and social activism. She is the co-author with David Eng of Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Americans (Duke University Press). Shinhee aspires to be a salsa dance queen.

Tiloma Jayasinghe is the President & CEO of Community Resource Exchange. A movement-builder and human rights advocate, Tiloma has worked in reproductive rights and racial and gender justice work from the local to the international level. She has served as the Executive Director of Sakhi for South Asian Women, as the Social Affairs Officer for the Division for the Advancement of Women at the United Nations, and was the first staff attorney at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women. Tiloma also has strong roots in advocating for the entire nonprofit sector through her tenure as the Chief Program Officer at Nonprofit New York. She holds a JD from George Washington University School of Law and a BA from New York University. She is on the board of the New York Women’s Foundation and runs her neighborhood’s local CSA which connects a small, organic, family run farm with the good folk of Long Island City. In 2014, she received the New York City Comptroller’s Commendation for service and advocacy for women of color and immigrant communities and empowering communities of New York City.

Helen Koh is a specialist in East Asian culture and history. She has been on the faculty of Columbia University and is the founding director of Art Science Connect, an initiative of the CUNY Graduate Center that bridges art and science through research, public programs, and conferences. She is writing a biography of video artist Nam June Paik.

Pat is Chief of Staff at Custom Collaborative which supports no-/low-income and immigrant women to get good-paying jobs or start a sustainable business in the fashion industry. Previously, she was Chief Operating Officer at The Century Foundation after serving as interim Executive Director at various nonprofits undergoing leadership changes. Earlier, she was Managing Director at the National Employment Law Project, and Vice President for Finance & Administration at the F.B. Heron Foundation. She has also held executive positions in the corporate/ entrepreneurial sectors. Pat is an avid sailor, quilter, traveler, and the adoring baachan (grandmother) to two grandsons.

Hali Lee is delighted to have been co-builder of a few pieces of philanthropic infrastructure. She co-founded the Donors of Color Network, was on the co-design team for Philanthropy Together, and is the founder of the Asian Women Giving Circle.  She is lead author of Philanthropy Always Sounds Like Someone Else: A Portrait of High Net-Worth Donors of Color. She currently builds out of Radiant Strategies, and a primary project has been Freedom School for Philanthropy, whose goal is to move more resources, faster, to the movements building more freedom, equity, and joy for all.  

Hali was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up in Kansas City. She graduated from Princeton University, studied Buddhism at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, and received a Masters in Social Work from New York University.  Hali lives in Brooklyn, NY along with her dear husband, three college-age children, an old cat and a big love of a dog. In her free time, Hali loves to travel, read, play tennis and keep rooftop honeybees.

In 2021, Hali was profiled in Forbes 50 Over 50: Impact. Hali’s first book, THE BIG WE, about how together, we are so much stronger than the sum of our individual parts, will be published in March 2025 by Zando/ Sweet July Press.

Alice is a writer, currently studying poetry and teaching at NYU. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and can be found in literary journals such as The Rumpus and The Margins from Asian American Writers’ Workshop. She is also a data and technology consultant in the nonprofit sector, following a career in analytics at Rethink Food, The New York Times, and the Federal Reserve, among other organizations. She is an MFA candidate and she holds a BA from Wellesley College. For fun, she constructs crossword puzzles and plays piano. A 1.5-generation immigrant from China, Alice now lives in Brooklyn and is grateful to be a part of the Asian American arts community.

Ellen is Director of Capacity Building and Learning at the Ms. Foundation where she was formerly Director of Women’s Health. She previously worked as Program Officer at Open Society Foundations’ Public Health Program on international public health and human rights issues. She is a second-generation immigrant and the daughter of Taiwanese floral entrepreneurs. Ellen has lived in China, Taiwan, and Italy, and has traveled extensively in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Southern Africa. She enjoys yoga, singing karaoke and baking with her young son.

Amita Nagaraja serves as a consultant and coach to clients in the nonprofit, public and private sectors, advising in a number of areas including strategy, program design and organizational efficiency. Prior to starting her consulting practice, Amita spent much of her career working in Corporate Responsibility, managing strategic giving portfolios and global employee programs for AXA Financial, S&P Global and the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. Earlier in her career, Amita worked for the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and led a workforce readiness program at a small nonprofit in Jersey City. Amita has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from CUNY Baruch College and a BA from Tufts University. She lives in Jackson Heights, New York with her husband and two children.

After a long break from practicing law, BJ joined the Compliance Division of Goldman Sachs & Co. in 2013, moved on to Societe Generale in 2015, and has been at Morgan Stanley since 2017 in governance, regulatory risk, and operational risk roles.  As of July 2020, BJ will be leading CRA regulatory compliance for Morgan Stanley’s Community Development Finance group and community relations with CRA partners.  She has raised three daughters and served on the boards of the NY Asian Women’s Center and the Korean American League for Civic Action. She has a BS from MIT, a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard, and her M.Phil and JD are from NYU. In her spare time, BJ enjoys Korean TV dramas, reading, and spending time with her family.

Shalini Somayaji has over 20 years of experience in social justice work, specifically around gender-based violence within immigrant communities. She previously served as the Executive Director of Sakhi for South Asian Women and Co-Executive Director of Tapestri in Atlanta. She was on the founding staff of the Donors of Color Network and currently works at Radiant Strategies. She graduated from Tufts University and Emory University School of Law. She lives in Brooklyn and is always looking for the best vegan meal.

Born and bred in Manhattan, Raquel works in the travel industry on development, strategic positioning, and negotiations of products in the tour market for Asia, Africa, and North America. She holds an MA in Cultural Policy from Columbia University and a BA from Fordham University. Alongside travel, Raquel’s other loves include theater, dance, and cupcakes.

Andine Sutarjadi is a speaker, facilitator and writer on next generation philanthropy who has dedicated her career toward advancing inclusive practices in philanthropic decision-making, governance and advising. Currently, she serves as the Director at 21/64, a nonprofit practice providing multigenerational advising, facilitation and training for next generation engagement within family philanthropy and enterprises. An advocate for health equity, Andine is a Technical Advisor for Pyramid Life Care, a social enterprise she co-founded with her mother that provides health and holistic services to elderly communities in her home city of Jakarta, Indonesia. As an Asian-American feminist, Andine serves on the steering committee of the Asian Women Giving Circle and is Vice Chair of Asian American Futures – an organization that aims to cultivate philanthropy in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and to ensure that AAPIs are an essential part of the American narrative.

Vivian is Senior Vice President, Program, at the William T. Grant Foundation, leading its grantmaking and initiatives that connect research, policy, and practice to improve child and youth outcomes. Deeply committed to mentoring young researchers and strengthening the career pipeline for scholars of color, her leadership of the Foundation’s Scholars Program extended its racial diversity. She was Assistant Professor in Psychology and Asian American Studies at CSUN, and has a Ph.D. from NYU and a BA from UCLA. She is a fan of Star Trek (new, old, new versions of old) and reports never having enough time at the beach, eating, drinking wine, and being with friends!

A founding member of AWGC, is an experienced strategist and leader with 25+ years of experience in social change work. She collaborates with visionary groups to strengthen their impact through thoughtful planning, systems building, team leadership, and partnerships. As Chief of Staff to filmmaker, philanthropist, and activist Abigail E. Disney, Angie brings her expertise in both big-picture strategy and day-to-day operations to various initiatives and organizations, including the Daphne Foundation, Level Forward, Fork Films, and Peace is Loud, where she was the first executive director. Her previous roles include serving as Director of Programs at The New York Womens Foundation, where she supported grantee partners through grantmaking and capacity building, and as Program Director at the September 11th Fund, where she managed grant programs for crisis services and health care for dislocated workers in New York and Washington DC. Prior to this, she worked at Safe Horizon, in several roles managing programs for survivors of violence and abuse. Angie serves on the boards of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa-USA, Level Forward and Peace is Loud. She is also a Steering Committee member and co-founder of the Asian Women Giving Circle and an advisor to the Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation.

Melissa has led many professional lives as a theater performer, teacher, cultural programs producer, and fundraiser.

Melissa is the Director of Individual Giving at Guttmacher Institute, a think tank on sexual and reproductive health and rights. She was also the Director of Institutional Giving at the Museum of Chinese in America. As a consultant, she has raised funds for national and global organizations that advocate for women's and girls' rights, the safety of human rights defenders, criminal justice reform, and avoidable blindness.

Dedicated to service, Melissa has held leadership and board positions in academic professional organizations for over a decade. She served on the steering committee of the Mosaic Network and Fund, a New York Community Trust initiative that advocates for equitable funding structures for ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American) cultural organizations. She has volunteered with Women in Development, New York, since 2018 and is currently secretary on its executive board.

Melissa holds a PhD and an MPhil in theatre and performance from City University of New York Graduate Center, an MA in performance studies from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and a BA with honors in English literature from the National University of Singapore.

Home is Brooklyn with her family, and she takes advantage of NYC's fantastic arts and cultural programming whenever she can.

Xin is a nonprofit fundraising professional with human rights grantmaking experience. She believes movement-led philanthropy and donor-of-color activism support the revolutionary transfer of power necessary for social and racial justice movements. Xin is an intersectional feminist, who is pro-Black and anti-capitalist. Born in China, Xin considers herself a Midwesterner at heart with an appreciation of New York’s pace. She currently resides in the Bronx. Xin fosters a love of library books, Star Trek, and all things Dwayne The Rock Johnson. She is grateful for the opportunity to show up for Asian communities through this intergenerational sisterhood.

For over 15 years, Joyce represented the UN Development Programme in Jamaica, Malaysia, and Western Samoa. Her last UN posting was in Bonn, Germany as Deputy Coordinator of UN Volunteers, the world’s largest volunteer corps, serving most of the UN Peacekeeping missions. Previously, she was Executive Director of the Ms. Foundation for Women and Program Officer at the Otto Bremer Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was a founding board member of Women, Foundations & Corporate Philanthropy, New York Grantmakers Association, and President of the Museum of the Chinese in America. A long-time organizer for community social services, urban development, and the peace and civil rights movements, Joyce has served on the board of the YWCA Brooklyn and as a former tenant and community organizer she remains active in her neighborhood organizations.  She lives in a historic brownstone in  Brooklyn with her husband Ed, daughter Alicia and their big old dog.