Meet the team!

Alvina Yeh, Executive Director
Alvina (she/her/hers) is the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and Institute for Asian Pacific American Leadership & Advancement.  Originally from Colorado, Alvina comes from a Chinese family who fled from the Vietnam War. Her experiences as a child of immigrants and growing up in a house that welcomed and supported refugees and immigrants have shaped her values and commitment to community. Alvina’s career demonstrates her deep passion for empowering traditionally disenfranchised groups to become active participants in our democracy. Most recently, she served as the Director of State Capacity Building with State Voices, working with state-based coalitions on program management, strategic planning, and organizational development. Her prior experiences include high-level work on several campaigns at the congressional and presidential level and serving as Program Director at Asian Pacific Islander American Vote. Alvina lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Jeff, and baby, Mazie. In her free time, you can find her risking friendships over a competitive board game, enjoying live entertainment, traveling, or trying new restaurants. 

Kristina Romines, Program Manager
As Program Manager of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and Institute for Asian Pacific American Leadership & Advancement, Kristina (she/her/hers) oversees the development, planning, and execution of APALA’s campaigns and programs. She works to foster the growth, sustainability, engagement, and effectiveness of APALA’s network of chapters and pre-chapters across the country. Prior to joining APALA, Kristina coordinated the field operations of several national women’s organizations and, utilizing an intersectional framework, campaigned on a wide range of progressive issues. Originally from Hawaii, Kristina is hapa Filipina. She grew up on a number of military bases and began her political career organizing in Virginia. It is this background that has shaped her passion for community, with particular interest in multi-racial/ethnic identity and organizing southern and rural communities. When she is not campaigning to advance worker, immigrant and civil rights, she can be found walking her hound dog named Hermione or coaching a middle school girls’ basketball team.​

Michelle Loo, Program Coordinator
Michelle (They/them/theirs or she/her/hers) joins the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance as the Program Coordinator, supporting the development, planning, and execution of APALA's campaigns and programs. They will work to foster the growth of our chapter and member base, develop capacity in our leaders, build relationships across the labor movement and AAPI communities, and support APALA's general communications and operations needs. Raised by Chinese Malaysian immigrants in New York City and Philadelphia, Michelle is passionate about building the capacity of communities most impacted by systemic oppression. During their time at Barnard College, Michelle organized students, faculty, and professors to make campus a safer space for students of color, first generation students, LGBTQ students, and low-income students. Following that - they worked with housing organizers and homeless advocates as a Congressional Emerson Hunger Fellow. Prior to joining APALA, Michelle coordinated healthcare consumers to share their stories on how national and local healthcare policies impact them. Outside of APALA, you can find Michelle volunteering as an abortion doula, cooking, or crafting. ​

Vivian Chang, Civic Engagement Manager
Vivian (she/her/hers) joins the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance as the Civic Engagement Manager, overseeing APALA's efforts on Census 2020, civic engagement, citizenship, and political work. Her new role builds on her recent leadership of APALA's field program in Nevada, coordinating and mobilizing AAPI communities for record voter turnout. She previously worked in federal science policy, as well as served two years as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Philadelphia, Pa., and Moline, Ill. She is dedicated to advancing social and economic justice informed by the collective power of communities, and to improving physical environments. Throughout her time at Carnegie Mellon and Princeton University, she dedicated time to cultivating AAPI community and building solidarity across communities of color. Vivian is a native of Columbus, Ohio, sprouting from dual Taiwanese and Buckeye traditions.​

Hana Jeong Pak, Operations and Programs Associate
Hana (she/her/hers) is the Operations and Programs Associate of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and Institute for Asian Pacific American Leadership & Advancement. Hana manages event logistics, operations and programs for APALA. Born in Korea and raised in the United States, immigration matters took her back to Korea where she worked in finance for a number of years. Working alongside various corporations in Asia, her long-term volunteer work at an orphanage for girls in Seoul, as well as her own immigration saga heightened her interests in socioeconomic justice and human rights, especially immigrants’ rights and workers’ rights. Hana is thankful to back in the United States and enjoys reading, traveling, and volunteering.
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Marian Manapsal, Strategic Communications Consultant
Marian Manapsal (she/her/hers) is APALA's Strategic Communications Consultant, where she oversees and implements communications strategies for the organization. Prior to joining APALA, she was previously the Communications & Development Assistant at the International Labor Rights Forum, a human rights NGO strengthening workers' rights in global supply chains. Before moving to Washington, DC, Marian worked as a political fundraising staffer for electoral campaigns in Massachusetts on the national, state and local levels. She has been a longtime supporter of Asian American causes -- from leading her university's Filipino-American student organization during her undergraduate career to serving on the boards of the Asian American Resource Workshop and the Asian American Women's Political Initiative (AAWPI). In 2013, Marian was a State House Fellow herself in the AAWPI program, an experience that opened her eyes to the importance of building a pipeline of Asian American leaders to drive policy and political change. Marian is a graduate of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, and she hails from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Organizing and Civic Engagement Fellows

Cantara Ali, Organizing and Civic Engagement Fellow
Cantara (she/her/hers) is APALA’s Texas fellow, hosted in Houston at the Texas Area Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation. She will be working on census organizing, a citizenship project and other civic engagement activities with the Houston AAPI community. She will also work on building up the Texas chapter. Cantara’s father is Pakistani-American and mother is white American; she was born in the Middle East and moved to Houston when she was 6 years old. Her last organizing job was with the Sri Kulkarni for Congress campaign in 2018, but she has spent the most time organizing with South Asian Youth in Houston Unite (SAYHU), a feminist collective focused on transnational solidarity and intersections of identities in the South Asian American community. While in college at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX, Cantara started organizing in the labor movement with SEIU's Fight for 15. Outside of organizing, she is a graphic designer and artist, and especially likes woodblock printing and alternative film photography. She is also a big sci-fi fan. 

Winnie Chen, Organizing and Civic Engagement Fellow
Winnie (she/her/hers) is the Boston Fellow with Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance. In this position, she is also the Services and Civic Engagement Administrator at Chinese Progressive Association. Born and raised in San Francisco of working-class Chinese immigrants, Winnie was brought into Asian American movement building through youth organizing and community organizing, where she first learned about the economic and social issues that continue to threaten her community in San Francisco Chinatown. In the summer of 2017, she interned with APALA and felt a deep and personal connection between social justice and labor organizing. After having worked with different non-profit grassroots organizations and local electoral campaigns, Winnie is very excited to momentarily relocate to Boston to learn about the parallels between both Chinatown's and integrate community organizing into labor and civic engagement.

Sophie Song, Organizing and Civic Engagement Fellow
Sophie (she/her/hers) is the Philadelphia Fellow with the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance. In this role, she facilitates the civic engagement work of Asian Americans United, a grassroots organization dedicated to advocacy and youth leadership development in the local Asian American community. She also thinks about how to build AAPI worker power in the region. She studied Computer Science at RIT and in a past life, spent some time in the tech industry where she was able to work with her passion for data but not her passion for social and economic justice. Her path to this point has covered everything from a congressional race, to the Poor People’s Campaign, to a grassroots agricultural workers immigrant justice group, to a local labor union. Despite moving all around the northeast, Sophie has always considered Philadelphia home and is excited to be doing this work in the city where her Chinese immigrant family have put down roots. She is very grateful that this fellowship provides her ample opportunity to build in city that she’s from as well as spend time with her living grandparents. ​