Caroline Goon’s Post

While in the Twin Cities, our White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders team was able to participate in a very meaningful listening session with Asian Adoptees. Minnesota has more Korean-American adoptees per capital than any other state, and we got to hear from community leaders and voices of JaeRan Kim, Lindsay Pluger, Grace Newton, Mari Arneson, Rachel Koelzer, and the wonderful Kim Park Nelson, author of Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences, and Racial Exceptionalism - who led the conversation. This would not have happened without the leadership of Mia Ives-Rublee. I got to make new friends while learning about the Asian adoption history, discussed how we can better center Asian American adoptees in Asian American spaces, genetic testing, and the importance of mental health advocacy. And you know me, forcing everyone to take a group photo for memories! WORLD, YOU ARE WELCOME. #AsianAmericanAdoptees #KoreanAmericanAdoptees #InvisibleAsians #Leadership

Back on the road soon, looking forward to hitting the ground in St. Paul in a few short weeks! July 1-2: - Economic Summit in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration and National ACE - President’s Advisory Commission Meeting and Listening Session Register to let us know you’ll be there! 👇👇👇

Calling all friends and colleagues in the St. Paul, Minnesota area! We are headed to the Midwest - join us on July 2 for our 7th Economic Summit that will bring together federal agencies and local leaders to connect community members directly with federal leaders and resources. Breakout sessions that we are working on bringing you include: - Finding No-Cost Counseling and Training Resources for your Business  - Financially Fearless Training for Gen Z and Young Adult Entrepreneurs - Federal Agency Panel and Listening Session Special to this Summit will also be a President's Advisory Commission Listening Session -- click below to register...for it all! See you there, it's going to be a wild time! Any Qs, let me know :). #EconomicSummit #AANHPI White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders National ACE U.S. Small Business Administration

In the federal government, we roll really hard with our blacks, navy blues, muted tones, and appears that all but our Rachel Rabusa got the memo 😆. It’s not every day we get to spend quality time with leaders like U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, U.S. Ambassador to Belize Michelle Kwan ⛸️, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, Krystal Kaai, Erika Moritsugu …and to my colleagues and friends whom I look up to for endless reasons and seek out for hysterical laughter times Judith Teruya Kota Mizutani Philip Kim Anthony Reyes Some things are for locking into our CORE memories! ✅

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At our 25th Anniversary Celebration, we debuted a mini-documentary that our team, led by the amazing Andrew Peng, Rebecca Lee, & Jamie L. spent countless hours researching, and scripting. I am so moved and honored to be part of this lasting legacy and I hope that we can "continue to build bridges, open doors, and break down barriers" for generations to come. Take a look back, to see how far we've come -- and NGL I saw many many cameos of faces in this video :) - do you see yourself in it? Judith Teruya Vivek Murthy Dave Uejio Chuck Ng Victoria Huynh Kimberly S.G. Chang, MD, MPH Grace Huang Mia Ives-Rublee Smita N. Shah Viviane C. Kamal Kalsi Sonal Shah Ruth Kim Michelle Li Katherine Tai Acting Secretary Julie Su Erika Moritsugu Kota Mizutani Edward Chu Philip Kim Robert Underwood Teresita Batayola Kiran Ahuja Jacqueline Burgette, DMD, PhD Shamina Singh Tina Wei Smith Ajay Bhutoria #LastingLegacies #WHIAANHPI #AANHPI

It's been less than 24 hours since our White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders 25th Anniversary Celebration and one of my favorite highlights of the entire program was our "Healing and Connecting Through Music" segment. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy absolutely slayed on stage rockin' out with our amazing taiko drummers (and colleagues!) Kota Mizutani and Erika Ninoyu. We wanted to make sure our entire program was dynamic and that our senior leaders in the government could also showcase their talents and celebrate with us all! This was the result of ideating and bouncing around ideas behind the scenes, resulting in something that will now go down as memorable and iconic. This is a core memory for me, and so happy we could elevate our programming in this unique...and HISTORIC way :).

#AANHPIHM