CHONG MOUA
Chong Moua’s passion for community activism manifested at age 12 when she founded “Stars of Hope,” an annual benefit for local leukemia patients. Later, Moua joined Shades of Yellow (SOY), the only Hmong LGBTQ organization in the world, as a volunteer and worked her way up to Programs Coordinator for the St. Paul, MN-based group. “With extremely strict cultural expectations, and no word in my native language for the word ‘gay,’ I struggled for a long time with my identity as a Hmong woman and as a bisexual,” Moua explains. “My journey has taught me that I don’t have to sacrifice parts of who I am, that I can exist wholesomely as one, being both Asian and queer.” In 2010, she was invited to attend the Pride Reception at the White House and just this spring, escorted two of SOY’s young members to the White House’s Queer API Youth Event. Moua strongly believes in paying it forward. “I want to encourage women of color to believe in the potential in themselves and [inspire] courage for other cultural communities that don’t have an organization like SOY.” –KL
