Joanne Liu
Co-Founder & CEO

She/her. Chinese American.

Joanne is a life-long educator — it’s something she wanted to be as a kid growing up in Boston, MA. This dream motivated her as a first-generation college student studying education. She began her career as a middle school Special Education (SPED) teacher through Teach For America. Since then, she’s spent years as a high school SPED teacher, a middle school Assistant Principal, a Director of Operations for Turing School of Software & Design, and a Program Coordinator at CU Boulder’s McNair Scholars Program. She is an alumna of the Moonshot edVentures Fellowship. She has a BA in English & American Literature and Secondary Education and a MS in Organizational Leadership from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Outside of education, she serves on the Board of Directors of Colorado Asian Pacific United and founded the Mile High Asian Food Week. She enjoys Asian food, BTS, Korean dramas, and spending time with her husband and two kids.

Joanne’s favorite way of celebrating her Chinese heritage is by lion dancing. To her, it represents culture and empowerment.

Mehgan Yen
Co-Founder & COO

She/her. Taiwanese American.

Mehgan is a serial slashie: Social Entrepreneur / Computer Programmer / Self-love Advocate. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA to an undocumented single mother who sparked her love of feminism and Asian cultures. After graduating from college, she moved to Taiwan to dive deeper into her Taiwanese roots and start her career. Her interests guided her to roles in marketing, sustainability, and real estate for Fortune 500 companies and early-stage startups. She has led teams spanning across 7 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, pioneered initiatives resulting in greater AAPI representation in entertainment and media, and managed over $5MM in assets.

Her feminist passions have also given way to serving as an Executive Committee Member of Beyond Our Borders, a donor-advised fund amplifying international opportunities for women and girls to be economically self-sufficient. She is pursuing a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania to further explore the intersection of women’s economic empowerment and technology. Nothing brings her more joy than being present with her husband and baby girl.

Mehgan’s favorite way of celebrating her AAPI identity is to just exist as an AAPI woman. She believes that our existence is always worthy of celebration.

SHENÉ RANDALL
PROGRAM DIRECTOR

She/her. Korean American.

Shené is a Korean American adoptee. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, Shené grappled with her identities as a Korean adoptee and as an Asian American. She processed her feelings through writing that connected her to the Asian adoptee community. Shené feels compelled to amplify adoptees’ stories to bring awareness around transracial adoption from the adoptee perspective. Her work includes co-founding Seoul Conversations, presenting at KAAN (Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network), sharing her story via “Love What Matters,” speaking at Heritage Camps, and piloting the first story writing Open Mic workshop through Boston Korean Adoptees.

Prior to moving to Colorado with her husband, Shené majored in English Education and taught 7th grade English Language Arts for 8 years in Boston.

Shené’s favorite way of celebrating her AAPI identity is by infusing her daughter’s life with Korean food, traditions, and celebrations in ways that feel the most authentic to Shené and her family.

hannah chen
Outdoors program coordinator

She/her. Chinese American.

Hannah is a trier of new things: hobbies, food, traveling. She was raised in Connecticut by parents who love to road trip. Because of this, Hannah found her appreciation for the outdoors through family trips to national parks and summers at YMCA camp. During her time at the University of Pittsburgh studying Health Information Management, she began working at a climbing gym which furthered her excitement for the outdoors community.

Now, Hannah spends most of her free time riding bikes and climbing. She works part-time at Movement getting people excited about bouldering. She works full-time as an IT Visitor Coordinator at the Colorado Health Foundation.

Hannah’s favorite way to celebrate her Chinese heritage is by hosting dinner parties for Chinese holidays to share the experience through good food.

JENNIFER KIM
WOMEN’S COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY MANAGER

She/her. Korean American.

Jenny grew up in Denver before moving to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California (USC). After graduating with a B.A. in Communication with a minor in Cultural Studies, she also earned an M.A. in Occupational Therapy (OT). 

When Jenny moved back to Denver in 2022, she realized she was longing for an AAPI community. Thanks to the wonders of social media, she found Asian Girls Ignite and reached out in hopes of forming meaningful connections! Jenny not only found the community she was looking for but also started building a new one within AGI — the Women's Collective.

Jenny’s favorite way of celebrating her Korean heritage is by never wearing shoes in the house, and always having scallions chopped in the fridge ready to be put on everything.

STEPHANIE LANG
WOMEN’S COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY MANAGER

She/her. Japanese American.

Steph grew up in Long Beach, CA. In her professional life, she is a freelance Talent Development professional and adjunct faculty for Denver University’s Equity Labs Program, a DEI-centered program that helps corporations experience equity transformation.

In her free time, she enjoys traveling with friends, dancing, and reading. Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean is her favorite YA book.

Steph’s favorite way to celebrate her Japanese heritage by folding 1,000 paper cranes with her mom for her wedding this August.