Our Team

Staff

Liezel Longboan Liezel is a researcher, advocacy specialist and trainer who is passionate about voice, power and representation. Discovering her own voice as an indigenous, migrant woman in Britain, she tackles projects that strengthen the voice of marginalised groups in the UK and the Philippines.      In 2020, she founded Tinig UK, the first nonprofit news website for Filipinos in Britain, to meet the information needs of the community during the pandemic. She previously worked as a Training Officer at an international NGO where she helped develop its DEI policy. Liezel has extensive experience working with women, migrants, indigenous peoples and disaster-affected communities.

Sarah Ventura Sarah is a single mother with a deep passion for supporting women escaping abusive relationships. She is dedicated to combating injustice and contributing to communities that empower women to start a new and become the change they wish to see.

Trustees

Chair	Susan Cueva Treasurer Susan is one of the founders and currently a trustee at Kanlungan Filipino Consortium. She is also a Trustee at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and one of the founders and Directors of Alaga Kita CIC, a social enterprise set up by Filipino grassroots organisations. For many years Susan worked as a trade union officer, organising vulnerable migrants and refugees, in the UK and in the Philippines. She has a post-graduate degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.	Sarah Yeh Secretary Sarah is a multi-award winning Chinese/Vietnamese creative director. She has long advocated for the ESEA community, with Dimsum.co.uk, the award winning online community magazine for the Chinese diaspora, from 2000-2010. She features internationally, mostly recently in the BBC documentary ‘A Very British History – The British Chinese’. She has been a trustee for several ESEA organisations, including Yellow Earth Theatre, Min Quan, Hackney Chinese Community Centre and SEEAC.
Kimi Jolly Trustee Kimi is a community organiser and human rights campaigner. She is the founder and board director / project manager of East and Southeast Asian Scotland (ESA Scotland). She takes a human rights based approach to her race equality work and emphasises cultural sensitivity to achieve meaningful engagement with the community.	Yvette Mercado Trustee Yvette is a dedicated Filipina single mother, residing in the UK for nearly 16 years. She is deeply involved in volunteering, particularly with the Kanlungan Filipino Consortium, where she contributes her time to various projects and initiatives. She is also passionate about supporting fellow mothers, particularly those who are survivors of domestic violence, through my involvement in the Mumshie group, where she organises activities and provides support. She actively participates in projects and documentaries produced by migrant organisations , advocating for the rights and welfare of migrant communities.	Trà My Hickin Trustee Trà My works as a publisher and community organiser for the contemporary radical international literary press, Tilted Axis. She uses an intersectional and people-centred approaches to working with Vietnamese and other ESEA migrant communities, which she brings to her work with the An Việt Archives, Southeast and East Asian Women’s Association (SEEAWA), the Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC), and other human rights organisations. She was awarded a fellowship from Better Engagement Between East and Southeast Asia (BEBESEA). She is editing and translating a collection of life stories from Vietnamese refugees and migrants in Hong Kong.
Eileen Wada Willett Trustee Co-founder of Cucumber Clothing and Founder of the East Asian Girl Gang, Eileen was born in Vancouver to Japanese parents.She launched the East Asian Girl Gang during the pandemic, an informal sisterhood and supportive space to share experiences based on a common cultural and ethnic heritage. Eileen was Shortlisted for the 2020 Asian Woman of Achievement Awards, and is a regular speaker and runs events on female entrepreneurship/slow fashion/East Asian community and co-hosted i:entrepreneur’s Wednesday Lives series of interviews with entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds.	Mei-Yee Man Oram Trustee Mei is a London-born, first-generation immigrant to parents of Hong Kong / Chinese heritage, and is the Access and Inclusive Environments Lead at Arup. Her work includes designing spaces to be more inclusive for marginalised communities and to celebrate diversity, and engagement with communities to root design solutions in lived experiences.	Melissa Allada Trustee Melissa has a wealth of experience following a career in the fashion industry, the civil service, and community engagement projects. Currently, Melissa is an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion officer for a higher education institution, enhancing policies and co-ordinating campaigns to foster inclusivity across various communities. From mentoring underrepresented groups into employment in the creative industries to facilitating panel discussions and roundtable discussions, Melissa brings a depth of diverse experiences to the team.