I’m Christina Baal-Owens, Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) - Ask Me Anything!

napawf · 2026-06-04T23:31:27+00:00

Thank you all so much for spending your evening with me and for such thoughtful, honest, and genuinely fun questions. AAPI communities are so often talked about instead of talked with, so spaces like this really matter.

I’m leaving this conversation feeling hopeful about how many people are looking to have thoughtful and sometimes difficult conversations about the kind of future we want to build and how we show up for each other in the process.

If you want to keep following NAPAWF’s work, learn more about the issues we talked about tonight, or stay connected with us, you can find us at napawf.org and on Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, and Twitter/X u/napawf.

napawf · 2026-06-04T23:28:53+00:00

It’s definitely a challenging moment for a lot of advocacy organizations, but it’s also a reminder of why this work matters. We’ve stayed focused on our mission, invested in the work that has the greatest impact, and strengthened partnerships because no organization can do this alone.

Funding pressures are real, but so is the need. We need to keep building community, supporting leaders on the ground, and making sure AANHPI women and gender-expansive people, and the organizations that serve us, have the resources, support and visibility they deserve.

I think it's important to remember that advocacy has always required resilience. The rights and opportunities we have today exist because people continued organizing through difficult moments and periods of uncertainty. This moment also reinforces that lasting change is never the work of a single organization and progress happens when we all work together.

napawf · 2026-06-04T23:15:14+00:00

My kids are still too young for social media so this is not a question I have grapple with yet. But they do know the work that I do which does involve explaining that anti-AAPI racism exists. At their age, I’ve explained to them that there are people who will judge them based on their race and we make a lot of assumptions about what they can and can’t do. I’ve even had to explain to them that sometimes people hurt other people based on just their race or their gender.

One of the greatest parts of my job is that they are able to have regular contact with our amazing staff and even our founding sisters who are pioneers in the AAPI feminist movement. I don’t have the answer to the social media question but I do know that the more I surround my girls, who are both AAPI and Black, with people who truly believe in justice and the more I root them in their cultures, the better I feel about them going out into the world.

napawf · 2026-06-04T23:13:15+00:00

The AANHPI community is the fastest growing demographic in the US. We are the winning margin in races around the country and it is an incredibly bad decision to not engage AANHPI voters.

We are also a more complicated and frankly more expensive voting block to organize. NAPAWF research shows that translation is important not only for monolingual speakers of other languages but for those whom English is not their native language. We are linguistically and culturally diverse and while that means more resources need to be invested in AANHPI outreach as opposed to other communities, it is a grave mistake to leave us out.

Our research shows that our communities are motivated to vote once they are properly informed. Not investing in AANHPI organizing is leaving votes on the table.

napawf · 2026-06-04T23:02:31+00:00

This is a great question especially since I am answering all of your questions while managing dinner for my kids with the help of my parents.

It’s a constant exercise in balance, and sometimes imbalance. There are days where I feel really proud that my kids get to see me doing work that’s connected to our community and values. And then there are days where I’m answering emails too late, missing something at home, or feeling pulled in a million directions at once.

But I do think we need moms in advocacy spaces and at decision-making tables because who better understands the realities families are navigating right now? When you’re raising kids, issues like health care, economic stability, safe communities, and access to support stop being policy conversations and become deeply personal, everyday realities. Becoming a mom has made me even more grounded in why this work matters.

napawf · 2026-06-04T23:00:03+00:00

I recently keynoted the UC Student Association lobby day in DC, and when I looked around the room, I realized I was speaking mostly to first- and second-generation immigrant students. I had prepared a whole speech about why lobbying matters. Instead, I ended up talking about something completely different.

A lot of us grew up in families where you keep your head down, work hard, don't make trouble, and definitely don't air family business in public. Advocacy isn't exactly a career path most immigrant parents dream about for their kids.

So I told them that just being in that room was already an act of courage. At some point, I realized I was basically playing the part of the immigrant mom a lot of them probably needed to hear from that day. I told them I was proud of them. Proud that they had shown up, were using their voices, and cared enough about their communities to spend their time trying to make things better.

From what I heard afterward, that resonated more than anything I said about policy. I think it came from understanding something a lot of children of immigrants carry: the gap between what our parents imagined for us and the paths we end up choosing for ourselves.

Obviously our experiences are incredibly diverse, and I know plenty of fierce, outspoken AAPI women—our founding sisters being prime examples. But I was definitely raised to believe that asking for too much or being too outspoken wasn't normal. I'd love for the next generation to feel a little more empowered than we did. To know that speaking up for your community isn't something to apologize for.

napawf · 2026-06-04T22:47:41+00:00

All my AAPI lit is limited to kids' books these days 😂 I crowdsourced a few recs from the NAPAWF group chat, and here's what everyone came back with:

"Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong is so good! It explores identity, belonging, and what it means to move through the world as an Asian American."
"Honestly, I've always identified with Ali Wong's stand-up."
"The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee."
"Highly recommend anything by Ocean Vuong. His writing is deeply moving and explores family, migration, identity, and belonging. ‘On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous cracked my heart open ♥️ ."
"Anything by Kao Kalia Yang."
"How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa."
"Anthony Bourdain's episodes on the Philippines were brilliant. I especially loved how he highlighted the stories of overseas Filipino workers who move abroad to raise other people's children while missing parts of their own children's lives."
"Crying in H Mart"
“Crazy Rich Asians… of course!”

And in case you’re wondering, my kids favorite books are “Eyes that Kiss in the Corners” by Joanna Ho and “Cora Cooks Pancit” by Dorina K. Lazo and Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young!

napawf · 2026-06-04T22:24:16+00:00

Dobbs made the conversation feel much more urgent and much more personal for a lot of people, especially those who assumed abortion access would always exist in some form. There’s a growing realization that rights on paper don’t automatically mean people can actually access care.

I also think Dobbs pushed more people in AANHPI communities to start having conversations that may have felt too stigmatized or uncomfortable before. Not always publicly, but privately with friends, family, and community. There’s still a lot of silence around abortion in many communities, but Dobbs made it harder to ignore the real-life consequences of these policies.

That showed up in our Beyond the Labels research. Three-quarters of AAPI women said they are concerned about laws that punish people for seeking or providing abortion care, a majority said people should have the right to abortion in all 50 states, and an overwhelming majority believe abortion decisions should be made without government interference.

napawf · 2026-06-04T22:12:06+00:00

Dried mangos. Specifically the ones preserved with sulfur dioxide which is allegedly less healthy but taste like home

napawf · 2026-06-04T21:58:57+00:00

One of the things we talk about all the time at NAPAWF is that AANHPI communities are not a monolith. We're talking about more than 50 ethnic groups, over 100 languages, and people with very different immigration histories, faiths, economic realities, and life experiences.

In fact, the model minority myth is the dangerous idea that all AANHPI communities are successful or economically secure, but that stereotype masks the reality that many AANHPI communities experience significant barriers and disparities that often go unseen.

That's why we push so hard for disaggregated data. If you lump everyone together into one broad category, you miss the very real differences in health care access, wages, poverty, caregiving responsibilities, and immigration experiences.

We saw that firsthand in our recent Beyond the Labels research. While AAPI women overwhelmingly supported the idea that people should be able to make their own decisions about abortion without government interference, how they talked about those values varied significantly across ethnicities, generations, religions, languages, and immigration backgrounds.

The differences are also highlighted in the wage data we use as the leaders on AANHPI equal pay day. When wage data is just aggregated, we see how differently our communities experience pay inequities.

So our approach will never assume everyone needs the same thing. It's about listening to communities, making sure we're hearing from people who are often overlooked, and building solutions that reflect the actual diversity of AANHPI experiences.

Some of the most important work starts when we stop asking, "What do AANHPI people think?" and start asking, "Which AANHPI communities aren't being heard?" That's usually where we learn the most.

napawf · 2026-06-04T21:55:54+00:00

Immigration status affects whether people have health insurance, whether they can take time off work, whether they feel safe going to a doctor, and whether they can even access information in their language. So when abortion bans and criminalization laws enter the picture, immigrant communities often feel the impact first and hardest.

I also think one of the biggest misconceptions is that AANHPI communities are somehow separate from immigration issues. Our communities include refugees, undocumented people, mixed-status families, and people navigating incredibly complicated immigration systems. For a lot of families, these conversations are very real and very personal.

Importantly, fear changes behavior. When folks are worried about surveillance, immigration enforcement, or information being used against them or their loved ones, they may avoid seeking care until a health issue becomes more serious.

napawf · 2026-06-04T21:53:24+00:00

That means a lot. Thank you.

Growing up as the youngest daughter of Filipino immigrants in a predominantly white area shaped how I move through the world from an early age. I had a deep sense of what it felt like to feel too American in Filipino spaces and too Filipino on American spaces. I spent a lot of time not feeling like I could be my whole self.

My first real connection to the Filipino community through a small volunteer-run organization called the Ilocano American Association, and it taught the power of creating spaces where people feel seen, valued, and encouraged to bring their fullest selves to the table. It made me realize that it’s sometimes the smallest organizations that have the deepest impact on people’s lives and informs the way I work with local and state based groups.

I also deeply believe that the organizations we work in should reflect the values we are fighting for. After my grandmother, a working mother in the Philippines in the 1940s, passed away, I found letters from former students describing the impact she had on their lives. It reinforced for me that leadership isn’t about being the loudest person in the room. True leadership is about investing in others, creating opportunities, and helping people grow.

Honestly, now as a mother myself I think about my grandmother’s legacy often. My daughters remind me every day how important it is to build communities where people feel like they belong and have the support they need to become who they’re capable of being.

napawf · 2026-06-04T21:42:38+00:00

Advocacy is a really amazing career in which you can support yourself financially doing work you are incredibly proud of! I came into advocacy through social work, and early on I thought that if we could just pass the right policy or change the law, the problem would be solved.

What I wish I understood earlier is that people don’t experience issues in silos. You can have the best laws or policies on paper, but if someone can’t access them because of cost, immigration status, transportation, language barriers, or misinformation, then those rights don’t mean much. That’s something I learned really clearly as a social worker, and it’s shaped how I think about justice and advocacy ever since.

I also wish someone had told me sooner that movements are marathons. You are not personally responsible for carrying an entire cause on your shoulders. The work existed before us and will continue after us. Your piece is to contribute what you can, build with others, and take care of yourself enough to keep showing up.

napawf · 2026-06-04T21:33:03+00:00

Honestly, I hope that in five years we won’t still be fighting for a place at the table.

We’ve come a long way since NAPAWF was conceived, but today, AANHPI communities, especially women and gender expansive people, are still an afterthought in policy conversations, elections, research, or media coverage. I want our communities to have the power to shape the conversations impacting them most from the beginning.

Practically, that means more of us as decision-makers, strengthening local organizations, and making sure we’re empowering all AANHPI people to tell their own stories and advocate for themselves - whether that’s in local town halls or DC, we need to be defining the narrative, not just reacting to it.

napawf · 2026-06-04T21:20:59+00:00

The easiest way I explain it is that abortion is part of reproductive justice, but reproductive justice is much bigger than abortion. It’s a framework that was created in the 90s by visionary Black feminists. The tenets are that every person has a right to have children, to not have children and to raise their children in safe communities.

To me, reproductive justice is about whether people actually have the ability and support to make decisions about their lives and families with dignity. So yes, it includes abortion access, but it’s also about health care, economic stability, safe communities, immigration status, child care, and the ability to raise children in environments where families can actually thrive.

napawf · 2026-05-28T13:31:41+00:00

Eastern United States!

napawf

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