Schools
Schools Artist
Statement
Everything I do is rooted in my Vietnamese American, immigrant experience. I know what it is to be marginalized because I came to the United States, poor, illiterate in English, and the only Asian kid besides my brother in my schools and neighborhood. It was a long time before I felt included in my community, so I have made it my professional and personal mission to facilitate conversations about equity and inclusion. The mastery of language was the key to my sense of belonging, and now I bring the stories of my ancestors with me as I work to dismantle systemic oppression in schools. I write and teach poetry from the perspectives of the most marginalized. I know that language isn’t accessible to everyone, so I use art in addition to my words. As a visual artist, I use my paintings and digital artwork to offer healing to BIPOC communities, and as a way to amplify their voices. My artwork includes the beautiful history of Asian art and nature as well because I incorporate florals like peonies and cherry blossoms that are culturally significant to my people.
in forthcoming book Uncertain Girls in Uncertain Times published by Red Hen Press | May 2025
for Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong | May 2025
CV
forthcoming
Contributing author
forthcoming
Essays
for Soapberry Review | December 2024
for Soapberry Review | August 2024
in Soapberry Review | May 2022
Poetry
“The Long Way”
in Good River Review | April 2025
in Diode | March 2025
in Bellingham Review | February, 2025
in Panorama | 2024
in Revolute Lit | May 2022 | 2024
in Southern Humanities Review | 2021
Awards and Positions
ED Advisory Committee at DC Arts Center in DC | ongoing since March 2025
“The Long Way” Honorable Mention at Bethesda Writer’s Center | March 2025
Pushcart Prize nominee for “We Were Made This Way” published by Revolute | October 2022
Reading Standing Committee Member for the National Assessment on Educational Progress | 2021-2024
Chair of Subcommittee on the Young Adult Book Awards for International Literacy Association | 2022-2024
Staff at the National SEED Project | ongoing since June 2020
Additional Paintings
Floral Spring menus | NUE in VA | October, 2024
Featured Floral Mural | Culture House in DC | September 2024
“The Story of Fruit” | NUE restaurant in VA | July 31, 2024
Floral mural | Sparkfest24 at Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth, Texas | June 7, 2024
Performances and Workshops
Hey! We Need to Talk featured poet at University of Michigan Museum of Art | May 2025
Dialogue poetry at High Desert Museum in Bend, OR | May 14, 2025
IlluminAsia Asia After Dark Poetry at National Museum of Asian Art | May 2025
“Art and Activism” Social Justice Day Speaker at Lowell School in DC | April 2025
Greenway Poetry Series at People’s Book Takoma | April 2025
Featured poet Reuben Jackson Jazz Poetry Set at American Poetry Museum | March 2024
Unassimilable book club discussion leader for Soapberry Review | March 2024
Featured poet at the Inn at Little Washington | February 14, 2025
“50 Years of HOPE and HA-HAs” | Vagabond @ DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities | January 25, 2025.
“Art and Activism” MLK Assembly at the Maret School | January 2025
Lunar New Year poems for NUE at Smithsonian in DC | January 2025
“Imagining a Flourishing Future” | Art & Democracy Day at Hopkins Bloomberg Center | October 22, 2024.
“We Need To Talk: Repairing Our Social Fabric One Creative Conversation At a Time” | Davidson College | September 30, 2024.
Spring Poetry at Folger Theater in DC | August 3, 2024
Dialogue poetry at NUE restaurant in VA | July 31, 2024
“Cut Fruit” storytelling at the National Museum of Asian Art | June 22, 2024
“Art in Civic Education” | The Sphere Initiative at the Cato Institute | June 22, 2024.
“We Are the Greatest Poems” | Sparkfest24 at Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth, Texas | June 7, 2024
Featured AANHPI speaker at FIS Global, and poet in residence | May 20, 2024.
“Road To Recovery: A Poetic Response” | Brentwood Arts Exchange | May 19. 2024.