Center for Asian American Media
Staff
John Calvin Fong is the Marketing Manager of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Prior to working at the festival, he was a volunteer English teacher at the Guangzhou English Training Center for the Handicapped in Guangzhou, China. Recently, John has worked on numerous films including the upcoming documentary by Academy Award nominated director Sam Green “The Universal Language” and “The Princess of Nebraska” by acclaimed director Wayne Wang. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.
Stephen Gong is the Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media. Stephen joined CAAM after working for 18 years at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, most recently as Deputy Director. Previously, he held positions at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. He has been a lecturer in the Asian American Studies program at UC Berkeley, where he developed and taught a course on the history of Asian American media.
Taro Goto is the Festival Assistant Director of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, handling programming, marketing and administrative duties. He was previously the Festival Associate and Print Traffic Coordinator. In addition, he has worked as an interpreter, translator and subtitlist for Japanese cinema, as well as a production coordinator for Japanese television productions filming in the United States. He recently served as co-producer for Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki’s HBO documentary WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN, and as line producer for acclaimed director Wayne Wang’s latest feature, THE PRINCESS OF NEBRASKA. He has a B.A. in film studies and anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley.
Shelly Kim is the Member Services and Donations Manager for the Center for Asian American Media, where she oversees the CAAM membership program and member-related special events. Because of her previous work as CAAM’s Receptionist, Distribution Assistant and Office Manager, Shelly is often referred to as the CAAM Guru. You may also recognize her as the Voice of CAAM’s Automated Phone System. A Bay Area native, she holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication from UC Berkeley and is an avid Giants Fan. Shelly has mastered the five-star Sudoku puzzle and is working toward completing the Chronicle’s Saturday six-star puzzle.
Christine Kwon is Program and Publications Manager at the Center for Asian American Media. Born in San Francisco, Christine grew up in Fremont and attended Gomes Elementary where she majored in tetherball and foursquare. Christine also studied literature and film at UC San Diego and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The youngest of four, Christine is also the shortest in her family, a lifelong motif that many speculate led to her famous tagline, “I get no respect.” After trying her hand as a futbol player, a reporter and finally a barista, Christine was inspired by many friends and teachers to pursue positive political work through the arts.
Michella Rivera-Gravage is currently the Web Producer at the Center For Asian American Media. In 2006 she earned her MFA in Digital Art/New Media from the University of California, Santa Cruz, specializing in social and interactive media. Before coming to UC Santa Cruz, she earned a BA in Rhetoric and Women Studies at UC Berkeley. In addition to being a web producer, she is an artist that brings together both old and new media to tell personal and public stories. Her work has been exhibited in the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, the VC Filmfest in Los Angeles, the MIX Festival in New York, and the Santa Cruz Digital Arts New Media Festival. Her poetry is published in Babaylan: An Anthology of Filipina and Filipina American Writers, Screaming Monkeys: Critiques of Asian American Images, and the online journal “Babaylan Speaks.”
Pamela Matsuoka serves as the Educational Distribution Director for the Center for Asian American Media, overseeing the promotion and distribution of film and video programs to educational institutions, libraries, community groups, and government agencies nationally and abroad. She has been responsible for producing educational supplements and packaging of prominent and award-winning video programs such as the “Days of Waiting” (Steven Okazaki), “A Family Gathering” (Lise Yasui), “a.k.a. Don Bonus” (Spencer Nakasako), and “First Person Plural” (Deann Borshay). She has also presented films at various academic, educational and community conferences. Ms. Matsuoka has served as Distribution Director for seven years.Rina Mehta serves as Development Director for the Center for Asian American Media. She comes to the organization with over 10 years of experience fundraising for non-profits. She has worked to raise funds from foundations, corporations and individuals for several of the Bay Area’s leading health and arts non-profits. Most recently, she worked with the Chitresh Das Dance Company to establish their individual donor program, raising over $100,000 (20% of the organization’s budget) and bringing 170 new donors to the organization in one year. Rina has an avid interest in building sustainable funding structures for nonprofits and received her undergraduate and postgraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley.
Theresa Navarro is the Corporate Relations Manager for the Center for Asian American Media, where she works to develop strategic corporate partnerships that support CAAM’s world-renown programs. Theresa holds degrees in History and Comparative Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Riverside, and fondly recalls her time as Cultural Chair of the Filipino Student Union and co-director of the organization’s annual Philippine Culture Night. Since her return to the Bay Area, she has volunteered with the Asian American Theatre Company and currently serves on curatorial committees for Kearny Street Workshop’s APAture and CAAM’s own San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Theresa firmly believes in the transformative power of art in traditionally underrepresented communities and is proud to contribute to CAAM’s mission of broadcasting APA stories to the broadest audience possible.
Ellen Park is the Media Fund Associate for CAAM. She was born in Chicago, and lived in South Dakota and Ohio before moving to New Jersey, prompting her to wonder ever afterwards “why oh why oh why oh did I ever leave Ohio?” After attending Smith College in Massachusetts and living in New York, Ellen moved to San Francisco where she worked as a bartender, music promoter, and rape crisis counselor with SFWAR, a non-profit sexual assault advocacy group, before joining CAAM.
Sapana Sakya is Media Fund Director at the Center for Asian American Media where she manages CPB funding initiatives and supports independent filmmakers. Sapana’s background is in independent documentary and journalism. She produced and directed, “Daughters of Everest”, an award winning film about the first Nepali women’s Everest expedition. Her other works include “Oklahoma Home”, about two Filipino doctors living and working in rural Oklahoma, part of the series, “Searching for Asian America”. She also produced and directed, “Red White Blue November” a portrait of a Hmong American family from Fresno, California.
Karen Schiller serves as CAAM’s Director of Finance and Administration. Karen is also an independent consultant, providing financial management services to nonprofits, including setting up financial management systems, providing training for board and staff members, helping with audit and tax preparations, and creating monthly financial reports. Karen also currently teaches nonprofit management finance courses at Compass Point. Prior to this, she was the General Manager of Theater Artaud, a mid-size nonprofit arts organization where she was responsible for managing the organization’s fiscal resources, artist projects, box office, and youth education program.
Kar Yin Tham is Administrative & Operations Manager for the 26th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. For over a decade, Kar Yin worked in the field of youth development, developing programs and managing organizations. Three years ago, she began a journey towards independent filmmaking. Armed with a strong belief in “art as the soul of humanity,” she’s been writing, producing, and editing ever since. Kar Yin has worked on documentaries and narratives here and in her home country, Malaysia.
Nicole Tse is the Educational Distribution Associate for the Center for Asian American Media, managing the business operations, fulfillment, and outreach of educational films and documentaries to colleges/universities, K-12 schools, libraries, and community groups across the country and internationally. Nicole is passionate about increasing minority representation in the media and seeks to help accomplish CAAM’s main mission of spreading the stories and experiences of Asians/Asian Americans to the broadest audience possible. She holds an undergraduate degree in Sociology from UCLA and a graduate degree in Broadcasting from San Francisco State University; Nicole is also a filmmaker in her spare time and a huge music and concert enthusiast.
Chi-hui Yang is the Exhibition and Festival Director at the Center for Asian American Media, which produces the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Chi-hui is a graduate of Stanford University and the founder of the Stanford Asian American Performing Arts Series. He has written about culture, music and film for Spin, Giant Robot, and other magazines and on-line outlets and his curated film programs have been screened at venues and festivals nationwide, including the Seattle International Film Festival and Minneapolis’ Sound Unseen Festival.
Donald Young is Director of Programs for the Center for Asian American Media (formerly NAATA). Donald has supervised the national broadcasts of over 100 award-winning programs. Highlights include Academy Award-winner “Visas and Virtue,” Academy Award-nominated “Daughter From Danang,” and Emmy Award-winner “A.K.A. Don Bonus.” As a producer, Donald’s most recent production was “Searching for Asian America,” which aired nationally on PBS in May 2004. “Searching for Asian America” was called “Engaging, smart, and insightful… Grade A” by Entertainment Weekly and “Exceptional” by the Christian Science Monitor. Donald has taught film at the University of California, Davis and the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and serves on the Boards of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) and the California Council for the Humanities.
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