Jason Bayani

Co-Director

Jason Bayani grew up in the Bay Area and has a graduated from San Francisco State University and earned his MFA degree in Poetry at Saint Mary’s College of California. He spent nine years working for Larkin Street Youth Services and has worked as an educator, copy writer, and arts organizer. In recent years Jason has served on the editorial staff at Omnidawn Publishing and on the curatorial council for YBCA’s triennial, Bay Area Now 9. An accomplished poet and performer, Jason is the author of Locus (Omnidawn Publishing 2019, Norcal Book Award finalist) and Amulet (Write Bloody Publishing 2013) and is the recipient of the 2021 California Arts Council Established artist fellowship and is a featured artist for the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists Festival in 2022. He performs regularly around the country and debuted his solo theater show "Locus of Control" in 2016 with theatrical runs in San Francisco, New York, and Austin. 

Mihee Kim

Co-Director

Mihee Kim (she/they) is a visual artist, writer, and cultural organizer. She works intuitively across disciplines and traditions, foraying between writing, multi-modal collage, painting and craft forms. Her writing has been nominated for a Best of the Net, Pushcart Prize, and her poetry manuscript Nomenclature was named a finalist for the Bergman Prize.

She earned a B.A. from UC Berkeley and an MFA at California College of the Arts. Her background includes media studies, rhetoric, brand strategy, advertising, philanthropy, nonprofit admin and fundraising. She creates on Chochenyo Ohlone land, also known as beloved Oakland, California. See more of Mihee’s work here: https://www.miheekim.art/

Lehua M. Taitano

Community and Program Manager

Lehua M. Taitano is a queer CHamoru writer and interdisciplinary artist from Yigu, Guåhan (Guam) and co-founder of the artist collective Art 25: Art in the Twenty-fifth Century. She holds an M.F.A. from the University of Montana and is the author of two volumes of poetry—Inside Me an Island and A Bell Made of Stones. Her chapbook,  appalachiapacific, won the  Merriam-Frontier Award for short fiction. She has two chapbooks of poetry and visual art:  Sonoma and Capacity.

Her poetry, essays, and Pushcart Prize-nominated fiction have been published internationally. She regularly serves as a visiting writer/lecturer at colleges and universities and as a curatoral advisor for institutions like YBCA and the Smithsonian Institute's Asian Pacific American Center. Taitano's  work investigates modern Indigeneity, decolonization, and cultural identity in the context of diaspora.

Collaborating Artists

Interns

Board

Cristiana Baik, President

Cristiana Kyung-Hye Baik is the Deputy Director of Strategy and Growth at Everyday Impact Consulting, a racial and social justice-based consulting firm in Sacramento. She's also a writer who is currently working on her first novel. She lives in Oakland with her partner, son and two fur babies.

Irene Gutierrez, Secretary 

Irene Gutierrez is an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council who works to promote sustainable fishing practices, fight dirty energy development and climate change, and uphold workers' rights through litigation and policy advocacy. She is also an immigrant and a third culture kid. Her love for the arts began at a young age and never really stopped. She is excited about supporting the voices of API artists and social movement work through the arts.

Jenny Ton , Board Member

The Director of Student Development at Fusion Academy San Francisco. Prior to her current work in education, she was the CEO and Co-Founder of ACMIST and Co-Founder and Creative Director of Retrofit Republic. Jenny was also a marketing consultant and lead organizer for Kearny Street Workshop’s APAture and Celebrate Your Body, contractor and consultant for Oakland Museum of California, community co-chair of NAPAWF Bay Area, and a proud arts advocate and community leader for environmental, socio-economic, and political causes. Jenny has over a decade of experience in the nonprofit, education, and private sectors and is a History of Art graduate from UC Berkeley. 

Paul Ocampo, Board Member

The Development Manager at Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus. He remains committed to the work of social justice. In 2006, he assisted Maxine Hong Kingston in editing an anthology of writings by veterans titled Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. While attending graduate school in Arizona, he co-wrote a petition responding to SB 1070 and other anti-immigrant legislation and demanding universities in Arizona maintain the classroom as safe spaces for all students. He also co-directed a reading titled Out of Silence that featured Afghan women’s poems and essays found on the Afghan Women’s Writing Project. He comes to Kearny Street Workshop with a broad experience in education and the non-profit sector.

Nina Asay is currently the Sr. Director of Administration and Operations at The Arc San Francisco, overseeing HR, Technology, Operations and Administration. The Arc San Francisco strives to support the creation of an inclusive world in which all people with developmental disabilities can thrive. Nina was introduced to Kearny Street workshop through their Celebrate Your Body runway event. Thrilled by her passion for fat activism, fashion, and her roots as a 1st generation Filipinx she has found that event a catalyst for her return to the Arts. Before her work in non profits Nina is also a fashion designer and visual artist, showing her works around San Francisco in the early 2000’s. She is excited to join as a board member in further support of the mission of KSW. In addition to her day job Nina is also the lone parent of an amazing 3 year old who is already showing a passion for the arts (and being a boss baby).

A father, educator, and artist living in the East Bay. Joshua is an English teacher at an East Bay continuation High School. He was honored as the 2019/2020 Alameda County Teacher of the year. Joshua is a poet who has been published in numerous anthologies including [m]aganda Magazine and Tandem. He is a Slam Poetry National finalist as a member of team Berkeley in 2004 and the 2005 Oakland Grand Slam Champion. He is a founding member of the Filipino-American Spoken Word collective, Proletariat Bronze. He has performed poetry across the country and his work has been taught at San Francisco State University in the Asian American Studies Department. On a rare occasion, you can still catch him performing spoken word in the Bay Area.