DONATE TODAY BY ATTENDING!

performers, speakers, dinner, drinks and a dance party!

Purchase tickets:

https://bit.ly/ASC6thGala

Event Address:

United Domestic Workers of America

4855 Seminole Dr. San Diego, CA 92115

Interested in sponsoring?

Support ASC by helping us reach our 2022 Fundraising Goals!

Asian Solidarity Collective's 2022 Fundraising Gala is a celebration of six years of rooted work towards collective liberation and our continued work of healing and transformation within the communities we serve.

The gala will be a formal elegant event held at the outdoor courtyard of the United Domestic Workers of America. There will also be an indoor hall for additional seating which will have doors wide open facing the courtyard to ensure there is fresh airflow coming in from outside.

Seating Arrangements

This is primarily open seating. You are welcome to sit with whom you feel most comfortable to be seated alongside. If you have a seating preference including preferred outdoor seating please contact us at least 2 weeks prior to the event.

Dinner and Refreshments

We are excited to provide dinner catered by Salud! Catering, a well known and historic San Diego Taco catering company in San Diego. Salud! will be serving delicious options of Carne Asada, Veggies and more. We will also have a bartender providing you with specialty drinks including soft drink beverages.

Weather

Since this event has an outdoor setting and will end promptly at 8:00 pm (with an afterparty till 9pm), you may want to bring a light jacket towards the end as the weather could possibly change as we approach the evening hours. While this event is in the early spring, the weather can be unpredictable so please prepare for a change of venue and/or postponement. The venue has 4 outdoor heaters ready for usage should the temperature drop drastically.

Hotel Accommodations

While we are a local grassroots organization located on Kumeyaay land (also known as San Diego, CA), many people and organizations from other cities informed us that they would like to attend our event. We are sharing a list of accommodations in San Diego on this page that are fair unionized hotels. We'll be working on getting a group rate at one of the hotels and will announce this soon. We're also working on including a list of places to visit should you wish to get acquainted with San Diego.

Covid-19 Safety & Disability Justice Values

The last two years have definitely been a challenge as we haven't had too many in-person events due to the global pandemic. We're excited to have a celebration with all of you in-person as we intend to continue to keep to our disability justice values by organizing an event that ensure the safety of all guests as much as possible with requests for all guests to wear masks, sanitize hands frequently, do a temperature check at the door and highly encouraged requests for guests to be fully vaccinated with boosters. Social distancing at this event will be highly encouraged. Stay home if you are unwell. Should there be an increase of covid-19 cases in San Diego, CA this event will transition to a virtual event and you will be contacted.

For food and accessibility accommodations please contact us. The entrance to the event is an accessible entryway which is on the side of the building by the parking lot.

Live ASL interpretation will be provided. This event will also be recorded and will provide captions for a later viewing for people who were not able to attend our event in-person.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

Schedule may be subject to change

4:00 pm - 4:30 pm

4:30 pm - 5:00 pm

5:00 pm - 5:10 pm

Doors Open

Featured DJ Miki Vale provides opening music

Welcome & Open Remarks by Co-Hosts Pebblz & Iman

Land Acknowledgement

Executive Director's Welcome - Dr. DJ Kuttin Kandi

Keynote Speaker, Kabzuag Vaj

Special Guest - Dr. Akilah Weber, Assemblymember, District 79

Asian Solidarity Collective's Core Board Remarks

Video Presentation

2022 New Membership Ceremony

Artist Performance by Geminelle

Artist Performance by CYPHERST8

Artist Performance by Ruby Ibarra

Message of Healing by David Tran

Acknowledgements & Closing

Dance & Party!

SPEAKERS & PERFORMANCE BIOS

Photo of Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Weber

Dr. Akilah Weber, Assemblymember, District 79

Dr. Akilah Weber was elected April 2021 to represent California's 79th Assembly District, which includes parts of Southeast San Diego, Bonita, Chula Vista, La Mesa, Lemon Grove and National City. Dr. Akilah Weber is a medical doctor, educator, City Councilmember, San Diego native, and mom to two young boys.

Dr. Weber is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist, and she is the founder and past director of the Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology Division at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. She also served as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at UCSD.

Dr. Weber has served on the La Mesa City Council where she’s worked to implement the city’s Climate Action Plan and championed the creation of both a Community Police Oversight Board and the La Mesa homelessness task force. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Dr. Weber has also been on the frontlines of the city’s efforts to protect public health. Her long record of community activism includes serving on the boards of La Mesa Conversations and the La Mesa-Foothills Democratic Club, and volunteering as the science coordinator for the Links to STEM program for children who are underrepresented in STEM fields.

Dr. Weber grew up in the Oak Park neighborhood of San Diego and graduated from Encanto Elementary School and Gompers Secondary School. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Xavier University of Louisiana and her Medical degree from the University of Rochester Medical School. Dr. Weber completed her residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Chicago Cook County Hospital and her fellowship in Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Weber, and her husband, Dennis, live in La Mesa, with their boys, Kadir and Jalil, and their rescue dog, Shaka. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and The Links, Incorporated.

CYPHERST8

We are a crew that values self expression, community, cultural integrity, carrying on tradition, continuous elevation, and rocking circles worldwide - the cypher never ends.

David Tran

David Tran (he/him) is Vietnamese-American, second generation. He is a co-pastor of Table San Diego, a small Christian congregation for BIPOC and LGBTQ people in Southeast San Diego. He's also a doctoral student at Boston University studying embodiment, anti-racism and decolonization.

David Tran will be providing a message of healing for the evening.

Geminelle

For San Diego born-and-bred R&B singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Geminelle, music and healing are one and the same. “I hope my music creates a space for others to be able to look at themselves with compassion and deep acceptance,” she shares. “I want people to feel comfortable with where they’re at in their journey.”

Keynote: Kabzuag Vaj

Kabzuag Vaj, Found & Co-Executive Director of Freedom, Inc. & Executive Director of Freedom Action Now, Inc.

Kabzuag is a Hmong refugee who was born in Laos and raised in Madison, WI. She has dedicated the majority of her life to ending gender-based violence. Her advocacy started when she was 16 years old, assisting and housing at-risk teens, and challenging abusive gender norms within her community.

She is a strong believer that those who are most deeply impacted must be at the forefront of the movement and must have opportunities and resources to advocate for themselves and tell their own stories.

In the past 20 years, Vaj has spent her life working to build collective power and social change within Southeast Asian and Black communities. She was recognized as a Champion of Change at the White House during Domestic Violence Awareness month in 2011, and was part of NOVO’s Move to End Violence 4th leadership cohort. In 2020 she was named one of "20 Women of Color in Politics to Watch in 2020" by She the People.

She is a co-founder of Building Our Future: A Community Campaign, a global feminist Hmong movement that works to change traditional practices, behaviors, and beliefs that contribute to gender-based violence within Hmong communities.

Kabzuag is also a co-owner/founder of RedGreen Rivers, a social enterprise that works with women and girl artisans from the Mekong Region in Southeast Asia. She helped to co-found Southeast Asian Freedom Network - SEAFN, national network of grassroots social justice organizations, co-founder of Viv Ncaus: A Hmong Women's Giving Circle, and a co-founder of Black and Brown Womyn of Color coalition.

Kabzuag is a daughter, mother, artist, and organizer. Her first love is the movement.

Featured DJ: Miki Vale

Miki Vale, is an international Hip Hop performing artist and cultural ambassador, Teaching Artist, Old Globe-commissioned playwright and founder and Artistic Director of SoulKiss Theater, an arts education organization for queer Black womxn. Her work serves to amplify community consciousness around relationships, wellness, and justice. Miki has performed and participated in panels at landmark venues and festivals in the US and internationally, from Hollywood and D.C. to Mumbai and Cairo. For her contributions to Hip Hop culture, Miki has earned a San Diego Hip Hop Honors Award, a Female Perspective Award, and the 2021 San Diego Music Award for Song of the Year. For her work within the LGBTQ community, Miki was awarded the 2017 Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Honor.

Miki is as dedicated to cause as she is to her craft. Using art as education, she fuses her experience in the worlds of Hip Hop and theatre to explore their impact on race, class, and gender. She facilitates Hip Hop and playwriting workshops for learners of all ages and demographics. Her experience ranges from teaching in classroom settings, performing at social justice events, and serving as a U.S. cultural Hip Hop ambassador for Next Level Egypt (funded by the U.S. State Department).

Ruby Ibarra

Ruby Ibarra is a rapper and spoken word artist from the Bay Area, CA. She released her debut album, CIRCA91 at the end of 2017 and has since toured across the United States at universities, empowerment conferences, music venues, and spaces such as - the National Mall in DC, The Getty Center, and the De Young Museum. Ruby has been featured on notable publications such as NPR, Huffington Post, South China Morning Post, Buzzfeed, XXL Magazine and was featured in a Grammys/MasterCard commercial and campaign with R&B singer SZA. Ruby’s music is available on all digital platforms and can be heard in several museum exhibits, films and television features.