20 Asian American and Pacific Islander Women to Know

During May, in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we are recognizing and uplifting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women whose leadership, innovation and creativity have made and continue to make vast contributions to our history. Read on and learn the names and stories of 20 AAPI women to know and celebrate.

We use the term “women” in this blog and also acknowledge and validate the spectrum of gender identification and the breadth of language used by and among women/womyn/womxn/femmes.

Learn more about YWCA’s Racial Justice work and our Inc.lude Equity and Inclusion Consulting.

Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-born woman in space. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India, and a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas, and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado. Chawla served as the mission specialist for the Columbia shuttle. Sadly, on February 3, 2003, a piece of insulation broke and damaged the craft’s wing, causing the shuttle to break apart while reentering the atmosphere. All crew aboard the shuttle perished.

Akiko Fujimoto

Fujimoto joined the Minnesota Orchestra as assistant conductor in September 2017, and later went on to become the associate conductor in September 2018. She conducts the Young People’s Concerts and Symphonic Adventures for High Schools, among other programming. She was born in Japan and moved to the United States at 14.

Pahoua Yang Hoffman

Pahoua Yang Hoffman joined the Citizens League in May 2014 to lead all efforts related to developing and advancing policy recommendations with the League’s members and partners. In December 2017, she became the seventh executive director of the Citizens League. Prior to joining the Citizens League, Pahoua served as the manager of government affairs and content administration with Twin Cities Public Television (TPT). Pahoua holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas.

Yuri Kochiyama

Yuri Kochiyama was a lifelong activist. After the events at Pearl Harbor, she and her family and thousands of other Japanese Americans were forced to relocate to internment camps. She met her husband in relocation, and they moved to New York City after World War II, where she would hold weekly activist open houses at their apartment. A friendship with Malcolm X influenced her work. She and her husband were advocates for reparations and for a formal apology for the internment of Japanese Americans through the Civil Liberties Act. She dedicated her life to advocacy for civil rights for marginalized communities.

Erika Lee

Erika Lee is one of the nation’s leading immigration and Asian American historians. She is the author of the award-winning books At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943, Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America (co-authored with Judy Yung), and The Making of Asian America: A History, recently published to wide acclaim.

Miné Okubo

Miné Okubo was born June 12, 1912 in Riverside, California. She received a scholarship to the University of California – Berkeley and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in art in 1935. After that, she continued her studies at Berkeley and received a Master of Arts degree in art and anthropology in 1936. While living in the Tanforan Assembly Center internment camp, she created work that depicted daily living and her everyday experiences. Her most famous work, Citizen 13660, is a collection of 206 drawings and is noted as the first published account of the experiences of an internee. The number 13660 refers to a collective “family number” assigned to those interned.

Grace Lee Boggs

Grace Lee Boggs was a Chinese American author, philosopher and social activist. She received her Ph.D. in 1940 but was unable to secure a job due to her gender and race. She eventually relocated to Chicago where she was able to secure a low paying position in the philosophy library. In Chicago, she came in contact with the African American community for the first time and was able to see first hand what she read about and understood as “statistics.” In 1941, she participated in the March on Washington and led her to be active in the Civil Rights Movement.

Josefa Llanes Escoda

Josefa Llanes Escoda was born in the Philippines and known for her civil work, defending women’s suffrage and work with the resistance. She came to the United States to continue her study in social work during which she also represented the Philippines at the Women’s International League for Peace and the International House. When the Japanese occupation of the Philippines began in 1941, she taught members of the National Federation of Women’s Clubs (NFWC) how to set up emergency aid and prepare food. She used the network to gain information about prisoners of war and connect them to their families.

Kaohly Her

Kaohly Her currently serves the Minnesota House of Representatives for District 64A. She is a mother, wife, refugee and a member of the Minnesota Asian Pacific Caucus (MAP – Caucus). She has authored multiple bills including legislation to increase funding for English language learners.

Yuna Kim

Yuna Kim aka “Queen Yuna” is from South Korea and was named one of the world’s most influential people by Time Magazine in 2010. She became the first female figure skater to win the Olympics and is currently well known for her philanthropic work.

Amanda Koonjbeharry

Amanda Koonjbeharry is the director of Public Policy at Citizens League. In this role, she leads all efforts related to developing and advancing policy recommendations with the Citizens League’s members and partners. Amanda previously served as the director of No Wrong Door, Hennepin County’s anti-sex trafficking initiative. She oversaw the implementation of the county-wide six-point plan to end and prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth. Amanda has a bachelor’s degree in family social science from the University of Minnesota, a master’s of social work from the University of Minnesota’s School of Social Work, and a master’s of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. In 2018, she was a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal 40 Under 40 Honoree.

Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink

Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink is a Hawaiian born, third-generation Japanese American. After being denied the ability to take the bar due to being married and having a child (considered illegible then), then challenged the sexist statute and won. She passed the bar and opened her own office in Chicago in 1953 after completing law school.  She most notably ran for a seat in the House of Representatives and won becoming the first Japanese American (and WOC) to serve in the House in 1956.