831: Make Bold Decisions With Daphne Kwok

Daphne Kwok is a champion for the AAPI community. In July 2013, Daphne Kwok was appointed as the Vice President, of AARP’s Multicultural Markets and Engagement. Daphne leads the AARP’s outreach to Asian Americans 50+. Daphne Kwok was appointed by President Barack Obama in July 2010 to serve as Chair of President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She has also served as the Executive Director of Asians & Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California (APIDC) for the last 5 years. Daphne has fought to break down the stigma in the AAPI community about disabilities and to provide technical assistance to organizations that want to effectively work with AAPIs with disabilities. Prior to her tenure at APIDC, Ms. Kwok served as the Executive Director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) in San Francisco from 2005-2007. Daphne is also a former Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), where she focused on increasing political participation of the APIA community and working with API elected officials from school board members to Members of Congress. Prior to her services at APAICS, Daphne served for 11 years as Executive Director of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), a non-profit, civil rights organization with more than 10,000 members. A graduate of Wesleyan University in East Asian Studies and Music, Daphne is the first Asian American to serve on its Board of Trustees.

Daphne shares her story about growing up in America during the 1970s and how having the courage to make bold decisions gave her the confidence to start and continue her work to help the advancement of the AAPI community.

Bio

Daphne Kwok is a champion for the AAPI community.

Cultural Background

Daphne is of Chinese American descent.

Favorite Self Confidence Quote

Just do it.

Definition of Self Confidence

Self confidence is about making bold moves and decisions.

Her Life Before the Discovery of Self Confidence

Daphne grew up as a quiet and meek girl.

The “AHA” Moment

When Daphne attended college and found more Asian American classmates. This gave her the confidence to start doing the work to help advance the AAPI community by joining an Asia American group during her college years.

Her Life After the Discovery of Self Confidence

Daphne has made so much progress to be a voice for Asian Americans and for people of color by serving as a leader in non-profit organizations and also being at the White House as an AAPI representative.