Our program is highly selective and each member of our cohort is selected based on their leadership abilities, public service, and community involvement. Program fellows are identified by leading elected officials, select nonprofit partner organizations, CAUSE Board Members, and CAUSE Alumni.

Bilal Hammoud

Director of 501(c)(4) Development, APIA Vote Michigan

Bilal Hammoud is a lifelong resident of Michigan and former government official for the Michigan Department of State. Back in 2019, he was appointed by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson as the first Arab American to work in the Executive Office in Lansing. His efforts were centered around public education and statewide resource creation for ID and election accessibility. In addition to serving marginalized communities including housing insecure, returning citizens, and seniors, Hammoud chaired the Secretary of State’s Language Access Task Force, leading statewide initiatives to remove barriers for non-English speaking communities.

Beginning his career in academia, Hammoud earned two degrees in Public Health and Neuropsychology from Wayne State University. Continuing to serve as a data-driven advocate in Southeast Michigan, Hammoud received the Contributor of the Year award from the Michigan League of Conservation Voters for his environmental and public education work as well as the 30 under 30 award from Arab America. In his previous roles, Bilal has served as the Project Manager for the City of Cheboygan, Community Engagement Liaison with Forgotten Harvest, and Community Relations Manager with Communities First, Inc. Hammoud currently serves on several nonprofit boards including Reaching Our Children, United Humanitarian Foundation, Don’t Be Shai, and Eternal Light.

Hammoud recently ran for State Representative in the Dearborn area in the 2022 cycle. He has since founded a consulting firm that supports local organizations in the Midwest. Specializing in data, community outreach, multicultural media, and public education, Hammoud seeks to bridge the gap between government, non-profits, and the people they serve.

Peter P. Kim

Program Coordinator, The Smidt Foundation

Peter Kim is the Program Coordinator at The Smidt Foundation, the private charitable foundation inspired by Eric Smidt’s deep commitment to help open doors of opportunity. He is primarily responsible for the successful execution and operations of the foundation, and directly supports the Managing Director across strategic and program initiatives. Prior he briefly served as chief of staff to a family foundation and began his career in management consulting at Deloitte.

Peter is a proud second-generation Korean-American who grew up between the borders of Tennessee and Georgia. He is passionate about uplifting opportunities for underserved communities and looks forward to learning how to achieve this in the civic and political process through the CAUSE institute.

Ashley Mack

Executive Director, NAAAP

Ashley Mack has achieved several career breakthroughs in a short time. Graduating from Georgia State University in 2009 and earning an MBA cum laude from Texas A&M University, she pursued a career in accounting for over a decade until her true passion for leadership and the community lead her to a vastly different career path.

Ashley joined Southern Company as a Corporate Accountant in 2012. Her talent was quickly recognized as she earned 4 progressive promotions. At the age of 29, she became a manager of people, leading a team of 8 accountants responsible for $1B+ in annual billing revenue among six regulated and deregulated natural gas utilities. In June 2021, she earned the opportunity to lead field operations, making her the first AAPI field operations leader in Atlanta Gas Light’s rich, 165-year history.

Ashley is no stranger to the DEI space and promoting the AAPI community. In 2018, Ashley co-founded and served as Chairwoman of Soar, the first Asian ERG at Southern Company Gas. With a mission to recruit, retain and advance AAPI employees across the company and to support the AAPI communities Gas partners with and serves, Ashley was able to gain enterprise recognition for the ERG’s efforts.

Ashley is a true community servant. In 2011, she found NAAAP and was accepted as a board member of the local Atlanta chapter. In the 7 years she served on the board, her accomplishments were noticed by NAAAP National and in 2015, she was asked to become the organization's Chief Financial Officer.

In 2021, Ashley was appointed Executive Director by the national board of directors. She is the organization’s second Executive Director and the youngest to serve in this role. She is responsible for leading and executing the strategic plan for the organization as well as creating the culture of the organization with 30 individual chapters, a staff of 12 direct reports, 40+ indirect reports, thousands of active members and 25,000 stakeholders. Her responsibilities also include overseeing an organization budget of $1M+, fundraising, strategic partnerships and sustainability efforts, and marketing, technology, and programming functions.

Steven A. Nguyen

Admin Services Officer, Riverside County Assessor - County Clerk - Recorder

Steven currently serves as the Admin Services Officer for the Riverside County Assessor - County Clerk - Recorder overseeing the Communications unit. Before joining the County of Riverside, Steven worked for CA State Assemblymember Phillip Chen as his District Director overseeing a tri-county State Assembly district. While working for the State Assembly, Steven also served his hometown of Santa Ana as a Commissioner on the Historic Resources Commission. Steven has over a decade of experience working on political campaigns. He was elected in 2016 to the OCGOP Central Committee and served as the secretary of the OCGOP Executive committee from 2018-2020. Prior to serving on the OCGOP Central Committee, he interned for then Senate minority leader Bob Huff doing community outreach. Steven is the son of a Vietnamese American father and Mexican American mother.

Neil Park-McClintick

President, Cupertino for All

Neil serves in several leadership roles in my community—as a lead organizer for a prominent labor-based nonprofit in San Jose, as Executive Director of Cupertino for All—a small but emerging nonprofit, and as a board member for several Democratic party groups and nonprofits.

Neil entered the political and social justice world because of the meaningful relationships and solidarity he formed with fellow students at De Anza Community College. He wanted to use my skill set to ameliorate the pain in his friends’ lives. Neil became a student activist at his community college and later at UC Berkeley while also serving as the first ever transfer student director for its Associated Students Union.

He holds a B.A. Political Science and a minor in public policy from UC Berkeley, and an A.A from De Anza College, where he received a Certificate in Leadership and Social Change.

Neil is also a competitive gamer (mostly fighting games); he enjoys rollerblading, writing, drinking coffee with friends, running, and reading.

EMILY ANN RAMOS

Preservation and Protection Associate, Silicon Valley at Home

As Preservation and Protection Associate, Emily assists in the implementation of SV@Home’s approach to tenant protections, affordable housing preservation, and comprehensive anti‐displacement policy solutions, all undertaken in an equity framework.

Prior to joining SV@Home, Emily worked at a political consulting firm, where she had the opportunity to work on campaigns for Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Close the Gap California, an initiative to recruit progressive women to the State Legislature. From 2009 to 2017, she brought together technology startups and community groups for events at The Tech Museum of Innovation in Downtown San Jose. Outside of work, Emily volunteers as Vice Chair of the City of Mountain View's Rental Housing Committee, a board director of the Community Services Agency of Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, and with the League of Women Voters Los Altos - Mountain View Area's Housing Committee. In 2019, Emily was also elected as the Northern Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party Asian Pacific Islander Caucus. With these groups, she worked to increase civic engagement in the South Bay, especially for young people and those who are historically underrepresented.

Emily holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Maritime Academy. Born and raised in the Bay Area by Filipino immigrants, Emily is passionate about keeping Silicon Valley an innovative, inclusive and diverse community.

Dara Sounthong Smith

Director, Assessor’s Operations, Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office

Ms. Smith has been in public service for the County of Los Angeles for over 24 years, working her way through various audit, budget, employee relations, human resources, and operational positions. As Director, she oversees the Legal, Exemptions, Assessment, and Public Services (LEAPS) sub-department as well as Communications and Public Affairs.

Ms. Smith strives to make a positive impact through partnerships with business groups, community and labor organizations, municipal jurisdictions, and members of the public. She continues to advocate for improved transparency and expanded access to translation services in government communications to reach all of the diverse communities in Los Angeles County. Ms. Smith serves on the Los Angeles County Asian American Employees Association (LACAAEA) Executive Advisory Council.

Ms. Smith earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She also has an advanced certificate as a Property Tax Auditor-Appraiser issued by the California State Board of Equalization. Dara proudly celebrates the rich culture of her Chinese, Laotian and Thai heritage.

ALEC TSAI

Audit Senior, Ernst & Young

Alec Tsai is an Audit Senior at Ernst & Young, a leading professional services network, and is experienced in leading public and private audits in the technology and healthcare industry. He is passionate about D&I, volunteering, and wellbeing and is involved in numerous programs within the firm such as Campus Recruiting, the Wellbeing Champion Network, and the Pan Asian Professional Network (PAPN).

Alec is of Taiwanese American descent and graduated with a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Southern California. There, he was involved in Ascend, the largest Pan-Asian business professional organization in North America, and Beta Alpha Psi, an international honor society for accounting, finance, and information systems students, where he continues to serve as a professional mentor.

John Wie

National Marketing Director, Project by Project

John Wie is a Southern California native and an experienced communications and events professional. He currently serves as the content and marketing manager at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, a nonprofit that celebrates interactive entertainment as well as providing scholarships and mentorship programs. In addition, he serves as the National Marketing Director at Project by Project, a nonprofit that seeks to uplift AAPI leaders and support other AAPI nonprofits through pro bono consulting projects and fundraiser galas.

John is passionate about supporting digital literacy programs, mentorship opportunities, and local small businesses, especially in immigrant AAPI communities. He teaches as an adjunct lecturer at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), as well as a longtime alumni student mentor at the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication.

John received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at UCI, and his Master of Science/Master of Arts degrees in Global Media & Communications at the London School of Economics and USC.

During his free time, John loves to search for the best food and drinks as an 11+ year participant in the Yelp Elite program as well as discussions around entertainment, technology, and travel.

WILLIAM YEN

Department of Public Social Services, Eligibility Worker II

William Yen is a 2nd generation Chinese-American whose parents were raised in Taiwan and immigrated to U.S. in the 1970s.  As a proud son of immigrants who have achieved the American Dream, William hopes to follow in their footsteps and to use his experiences to help bridge the different cultures of his upbringing. Inspired to join government service by the examples of others, William hopes to gain more skills and contacts in order to help his community. 

William is part of the volunteer organization the Los Angeles County Asian American Employee Association, a 400 dues-paying members strong association of government employees. Highly committed to his local community, William wants to use his experiences and expertise to help in political activism, voter turnout, and supporting small businesses. LACAAEA sponsored his participation in CLI and William is excited for this opportunity to develop into a better future leader.

Shengxiao "Sole"Yu | 虞圣晓

Founder and Social Justice Educator, Nectar

Shengxiao Yu, often known by her nickname Sole, is a speaker, facilitator, writer, and social justice educator. She is the creator of Nectar, a space for life-affirming experiences for liberation. Sole combines her storytelling and facilitation experiences to ground her social justice education practice in transformative justice principles.

Sole has lived in Latin America and worked with community organizations in Peru and Costa Rica. She has worked in the global health field to build strategic partnerships with grassroots NGOs to shift traditionally hierarchical donor-recipient relationships. She has developed educational curricula and training materials to connect global health disparities to their root causes, including systemic racism, structural poverty, and colonization. Sole has also been an advocate for immigrant rights through providing legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America, Asia, and beyond.

As a generation 1.5 Asian American, Sole is also working to build community among her fellow Asian Americans in order to increase socio-political power and to lift up her lineage. Sole is inspired by BIPOC activists, grassroots community leaders, and all the intersectional movement ancestors who have paved the way.