Washington DC Community Catalyst Reception

National Queer API Alliance

Celebrate the Community Catalyst Awards, our 15th anniversary, and AANHPI Heritage Month

AT&T Forum

P﻿lease join the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, the country&#x27;s largest LGBTQ+API organization, for our first in-person DC social event of the decade as we finally celebrate the 2020 Community Catalyst honorees, launch our much delayed 15th anniversary events, and toast AANHPI Heritage Month!Our cocktail reception will feature fabulous food and drinks, a fireside chat and reading with honorees Sunu Chandy and Michael Dumlao, and remarks from special guests. Tickets are complimentary and limited, so we ask that you register at your earliest convenience. A﻿ttire is spring fabulous.O﻿UR HONOREES:

Sunu P. Chandy (she/her) is a social justice activist through her work as a civil rights attorney and a poet. Sunu started as the legal director at the National Women&#x27;s Law Center (NWLC) in August 2017, and in this role she provides strategies to create better outcomes for women and girls including in schools, workplaces, and the healthcare sector. She also supports the Center&#x27;s LGBTQI+ rights related work, and has provided Congressional testimony in support of the Equality Act. Sunu also serves on the board of the Transgender Law Center. Before joining NWLC, Sunu was the Deputy Director for the Civil Rights Division with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and before that, Sunu was the General Counsel of the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR). Previously, Sunu was a federal attorney with the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for 15 years. At EEOC, in addition to litigating civil rights cases, Sunu led several outreach initiatives including as a member of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAPPI) Regional Working Group. Sunu began her legal career as a law firm associate representing unions and individual workers in New York City. Sunu earned her B.A. in Peace and Global Studies/Women’s Studies from Earlham College, her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law and later, her MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Queens College/The City University of New York. Sunu’s book of poetry, My Dear Comrades, won the 2021 Terry J. Cox Prize, and was then published by Regal House in March, 2023. Sunu’s work can also be found in the Asian American Literary Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Poets on Adoption, Split this Rock’s online social justice database, The Quarry, and in anthologies including The Penguin Book of Indian Poets, The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood and This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation. Sunu was honored as one of the 2021 Queer Women of Washington and one of Go Magazine’s 100 Women We Love: Class Of 2019.

Michael Dumlao is an artist, author and activist equipped with more than 23 years of advancing diversity, equity and social justice through award-winning brand management, digital marketing and creative storytelling in corporate, federal, academic and non-profit environments. He offers a proven record of helping large organizations undergo transformations in their brand, creative direction, and marketing operations while continuously building the business of equality. A sought-after speaker on audacious authenticity, brand elevation, and equity, he is the author of the Amazon best-selling book “The Wisdom of Guncles: Thriving from a Queer Perspective” through New Degree Press. He currently serves as the Vice President of Global Marketing for Abt Associates, a consulting and research firm delivering solutions for equity, health, and the environment for a global portfolio of clients. Tasked with evolving Abt’s storied brand, he is responsible for the development and activation of the firm’s marketing vision and communications strategy. Prior to this he served as the Senior Brand and Diversity Advisor for senior leaders in Defense, Intelligence and Government at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he led their rebrand as their first Director of Brand. He oversaw market research, communications, and creative strategy. Recognitions for his work include the Gartner award for Corporate Brand, the Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil for Brand excellence, and the PRSA Bronze Anvil award for digital strategy having led digital transformation, research and creative marketing for Fortune 500s and federal government. His work in diversity, equity, and inclusion are recognized by the Society for Asian Scientist and Engineers Advocate of the Year, the Washington Business Journal Business of Pride Awards, and the NQAPIA Community Catalyst Award.Michael is a Kellogg University Executive Scholar, received his Masters in Communications, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University, his Bachelor in Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and training in digital design in the Sydney College of Art. Born in the Philippines and raised in Australia, he currently resides in Washington, DC with his Peruvian husband and America the dog.

Washington DC Community Catalyst Reception

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Washington DC Community Catalyst Reception

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