KQTx National Advisory Council

Samuel Park (he/him) is a 2nd gen Korean American cis gay man born and raised on Ho-Chunk land (Madison, WI). His introduction to grassroots organizing and community power began through labor rights campaigns with Bangladeshi garment workers and college campus employees. Most recently, Sam organized with an anti-imperialist, solidarity group called Katarungan, advocating for people’s collective rights in the Philippines. His professional background has been in the LGBTQ nonprofit sector while on Piscataway lands, aka Washington, DC. For the next two years, Sam will be living in Sweden, Spain, and then the UK to pursue a master’s degree in Human Rights Policy and Practice. His current loves encompass baking profiteroles, watching Son Heung-min play soccer, and as always, drinking copious amounts of tea. Sam served on the 2020 and 2021 KQTx Steering Committees.

Mi Row (they/them) is a queer, genderqueer, 1.5 gen Korean American born in Seoul, raised in Cleveland suburbs, and currently residing on lands of the Council of Three Fires - the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa peoples. Mi believes in the power of individual connections and transformations to heal communities; they are currently pursuing an MSW to fulfill their dream of creating abundant mental health and wellness resources specifically for isolated QTPOC peoples in the midwest. Mi is a sports anime fiend, foodie, and crossword nerd; they like to spend most of their free time playing games with friends, reading manga, embroidering their newest project, or working on their spiritual practice.

Pauline (they/them) is a non-binary and 2nd generation Korean American living in Seattle, WA, where they have been since 2007. Pauline recently completed a Master of Social Work program at the University of Washington. They are passionate about health disparities for people of color, having previously worked in global health, especially mental health care utilization and resource-building for QTBIPOC communities. Pauline can talk for one million years about social justice, cats and animal welfare, kpop, Ghibli movies, TV shows, therapy, any of the previous topics as “therapy,” and also vegan food.

John Won (he/him) is a queer 2nd-generation Korean American cis man who lives on unceded Lisjan Ohlone land aka West Berkeley, California. For 25+ years, John has been an activist, advocate, facilitator, and leader in communities and movements addressing LGBTQ rights, racial justice, immigrant organizing, and HIV/AIDS/community health. Beginning in the 1990s, he worked in HIV/AIDS prevention for youth through peer education, activism, and direct action with ACT UP/NY. He was a member of early Korean LGBTQ groups in New York in the 1990s and 2000s including Chingusai and Iban/Queer Koreans of New York. In 2003, he joined the steering committee of Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY), during which time he co-founded the Dari Project which in 2012 published a book of bilingual stories by LGBT Koreans and their families. He co-founded the KQTx National Network which in 2018 convened a national gathering of 200+ LGBTQ Korean Americans, family members, and allies. He has served on the Board of Directors of multiple community non-profit organizations, including The Audre Lorde Project, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, and Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT).Professionally, John is a human-centered designer at IDEO, a global design and innovation company, and Program Co-Lead for the Last Mile Money, a 5-year initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a mission to advance financial access to the last mile for low-income people in emerging markets.

Mira Kim (she/her) resides in Chicago, IL, and is a 2nd-generation Queer Korean American trans woman. She has worked as part of the core leadership of Samcha Chicago, and became involved with the national network after meeting other organizers at the NQAPIA conference in 2019.  Mira is deeply invested in creating spaces of radical welcome and acceptance and spends her time to helping organize Queer and PoC communities while working for a global PR firm and counseling clients on Queer and trans issues.

Geoffrey Winder (he/him/his) is a queer black-Korean mixed race transnational adoptee.  He was born in Seoul and was adopted to the United States in the 1980s.  Geoffrey’s professional background is in trans & queer organizing, LGBTQ2S+ youth leadership & identity development, and he is the former co-executive director of the national GSA Network.  He grew up in Davis California with white parents and a Korean adoptee sister.  Geoffrey currently lives in Oakland and is a member of Sam Cha Bay Area and the KQTX Advisory Council.