Stakeholders:
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Oakland Museum of California
UC Berkeley MOVE Fellowship
Black Cultural Zone
Oakland Chinatown Oral History Project
Background:
During my time as Program Manager at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, I took on the task of researching and producing the organization’s podcast, Let’s Talk, part of the Open E.A.R.S. for Change initiative aimed at building stronger allyship and co-conspiratorship among API audiences and local Black communities.
The Challenge:
The podcast aims to bring in new and diverse voices from the community to tackle pressing issues in Oakland, while engaging a broad range of audiences in multiple languages. I was tasked with producing the podcast end-to-end, from recruiting guests to researching and designing content, and overseeing our college fellow in the recording, transcription, and translation of the audio.
My Impact:
I worked closely with staff at Oakland Museum of California to produce a live gallery talk in the Black Power exhibition of the History Gallery for their 2023 Lunar New Year celebration, and recruited local leaders Carolyn Johnson, Executive Director of the Black Cultural Zone, and Roy Chan, Director of the Oakland Chinatown Oral History Project, to be panelists.
In addition to researching our panelist personas, designing discussion topics, and testing the information architecture of the conversation, I also moderated the live conversation, which focused on intersecting histories of Black and Asian Neighborhoods in Oakland, and had over 50 attendees. As an Oakland native and a lifelong activist, it was a pleasure for me to sit in conversation with two powerful community advocates sharing their stories of power and resilience.
In addition to moderating the panel, I recorded the audio from the event, which was ultimately released as Episode 7 of Let’s Talk.
Key Skills:
Co-creation Workshops
Persona Development
Information Architecture
Usability Testing
Content strategy
Facilitation and moderation
