Meet our 2021 Summer Intern: Josephine Man

Meet our 2021 summer intern, Josephine Man! We are excited to have Josephine join APIAHiP this summer as we explore hybrid (in-person + virtual) participation for our 2022 National Forum.

Hello, I’m Josephine! I was born in Manhattan and currently live in Staten Island, NY. I am a rising sophomore at Vassar College, intending to major in Computer Science and minor in Asian Studies. On campus, I am involved in several student activities such as being president of the Vassar Asian American Studies Working Group (VASAM), secretary of Gender Inclusivity in STEM (GiSTEM), blog writer and designer for Portrait Magazine (an Asian American student-led magazine publication), and member of VC++ (a coding club).

I found out about this internship through a posting on RYSE: The Professional Asian Network, a Facebook Group that I am in. Upon reading the internship description, I was immediately hooked and knew that APIAHiP’s mission closely aligned with my personal morals and values. Though I come from a more technical and STEM-oriented background, I had the opportunity to take a class called Chinatowns in the Asian Studies department during the spring semester and I learned an immense amount about the racial and ethnic politics of Chinatown, as well as the urban development history of Chinatown and the contemporary issues that surround it. I also got involved with VASAM this year which is a student organization that fights to increase the number of tenure-track professors within the Asian Studies department and to improve Asian American Studies as well as other critical ethnic studies on campus. My experiences within the Asian Studies department at my institution has undeniably brought forth a passion within me to preserve APIA culture and heritage and to especially strengthen APIA communities in light of the heart-wrenching events that have occurred within these past few months.

During this internship, I would like to bring my technical and creative skills to the table and contribute to streamlining a hybrid model for next year’s APIAHiP Forum and for all of the future forums to come in order to give attendees the best possible experience. APIAHiP’s plans to develop a conference model that will allow for online and in-person engagement could set a precedent for other organizations and companies and I am interested in using my prior experiences with virtual event planning to develop successful ways to showcase such an immersive forum like this and also document it for viewing pleasure. In addition, I look forward to using my knowledge in web development and user experience to help enhance APIAHiP’s digital presence and make improvements to maximize user engagement with the East at Main Street project.

In this internship, I hope to learn more about contemporary urban planning and development within APIA communities as well as APIA history in the United States. I think planning for the forum will allow for a wonderful educational opportunity to learn more about the physical and cultural displacement that has impacted APIA communities and to learn more about coalition-building with other organizations and places involved with preserving the legacy of ethnic enclaves. I also generally hope to grow my interpersonal, outreach, and networking skills during this experience.

In the future, I want to pursue a career either as a UX/UI designer or product manager for an ed-tech company. As a former intern for an education-tech startup, I really enjoyed the high social impact that this niche intersection of the tech industry had to offer. I am a huge proponent of STEM education equality, especially in fields such as computer science where males outnumber females in the industry, and also hope one day to establish my own non-profit organization dedicated to equitable CS education for the youth.