Building My New Normal Pt 2 w/ Sina Sam

(S2, EP 13.2) For this week’s part 2 episode, I interviewed guest Sina Sam, a longtime Cambodian-American community leader from Washington State.  She became the first Cambodian American woman to serve as the Commissioner for the Asian Pacific American Affairs for Governor Inslee’s office in Washington State.  She is the co-founder of the Khmer Anti Deportation Group and is now serving as the Field Director for SEARAC otherwise known as Southeast Asia Resource Center.    For part 2, she talked about how her experience as a teen mom would lead her to be actively involved in reproductive justice rights, and eventually in Cambodian-American / Southeast Asian civic engagement.  She talked about the issues concerning deportations in the Southeast Asian American communities across the US and the group she co-founded to advocate against the deportations.

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Special thanks to my sponsor, Lawrence and Argyle, a Viet-American owned merchandise line representing immigrant empowerment.  Get yourself a pin, hoodie or t-shirt and show off your immigrant pride.  Visit them at www.lawrenceandargyle.com or on Instagram @lawrenceandargyle or on their Facebook page.

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Bio:

Sina Sam is a 1.5 generation Khmer American, born in a Thai refugee camp and raised in Seattle, WA. Before her appointment as the first Cambodian woman to serve on the Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA) of Washington State, Commissioner Sam has been an active organizer in the Khmer community for almost two decades. Co-founder of the Khmer Anti-deportation Advocacy Group (KhAAG) and an organizer with F.I.G.H.T, her advocacy work centers around addressing high rates of incarceration and deportation for Southeast Asian Americans (SEAAs), and other vulnerable populations. Currently, she is the Field Director in transition at the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), Chair of CAPAA's Civil Rights & Immigration Committee, and is the first woman to be elected to lead the API Caucus of WA State Democrats.

Understanding that hard work alone will not guarantee better opportunities, that there are structural barriers for some and not for others, much of Sina's personal, professional and community building work are guided by a passion towards intersectional and restorative justice, and trauma-informed healing