Blog — Asian Community Development Corporation

Christine Nguyen

Meet Nina Tsao - Philanthropist and ACDC Supporter, Community Volunteer, and Angel Investor

Photo courtesy of Nina Tsao.

Nina Tsao founded Onsett International Corporation, an innovative integrated technology and business management consulting firm focusing on strategic operation and transforming enterprise information infrastructure for Fortune 500 corporations. She advised C-level executives of large financial services organizations and held the Chief GlobalNetwork Architect position for Citigroup Global IT (CGIN) organization for years.

She also believes in mentoring and investing in young companies. Over the last ten years, Nina has been an active angel investor in several startup companies on the East and West coasts.

Currently retired, Nina has become more involved in philanthropy and intergenerational mentoring programs. Nina generously supports ACDC’s Retirement Matched Savings program. ACDC recently interviewed Nina, and we are excited to share more about her passion for supporting financial literacy.

How did you get involved with ACDC?

Knowing that so many low-wage workers do not have access to employer-sponsored retirement accounts, I wanted to create opportunities for people to learn about retirement planning and start saving for their retirement before it’s too late. When I told my friends about a Roth IRA matching program idea, a close friend recommended that ACDC may have shared interest, so I reached out to Angie.

ACDC already has a matched savings program to help first-time homebuyers dig deeper into financial literacy essentials like creating a savings plan, how to spend within a reasonable budget, and building credit. It was a natural fit for me to help them expand on that to create a retirement-focused financial literacy program.

I recently attended one of the workshops and had a chance to meet with the program participants. The participants asked me great questions such as, “When do you know when you have enough to retire?” While each individual’s unique situation and varying economic factors call for different measures, I shared with them a formula that I learned from an AARP article. Generally, an ideal goal is to live off of 3 - 4% per year of your total savings.

Why is financial literacy among the causes you champion?

My father is an economist and successful business manager who taught me the importance of financial and investment acumen. Financial management and investment knowledge is the key to building wealth and preparing for financial independence for retirement. Savings and social security income alone is not enough. Long-term investment with educated risk management helps build a robust retirement nest egg.

For most people, these are very complex subjects that you must seek out and learn about independently, assuming you know where to find such resources. So, imagine navigating this while having limited English skills and not being familiar with the financial systems in the US. It’s great that ACDC can offer this type of education in Chinese to help bridge language barriers and cultural differences in how money is discussed and managed.

How did you get involved in philanthropy?

Helping others is a personal value instilled in me since childhood from several environments - from home, from the Maryknoll nuns at my school, and in Girl Scouts. I always believe that hard work, integrity, and equity are the keys to success. It feels incredibly rewarding to help provide opportunities for economic mobility for people who don’t otherwise have access or means to these resources. I am very fortunate to have benefitted from the knowledge my father passed along to me. I hope that the people in ACDC’s Retirement Matched Savings program can now pass the skills they acquire onto their children to break the cycle of poverty and build generational wealth.

Thank you to Nina for supporting ACDC’s Retirement Matched Savings program and for sharing your story! To learn more about this program, visit https://asiancdc.org/financial-health. 

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Meet Abby and Calvin

Abby is a rising sophomore at Andover High School and Calvin is a rising junior at Quincy High School. This summer they participated in ACDC’s SLA program along with other youth in the Greater Boston area to learn about Asian communities and experiences.

About Abby and Calvin

What do you like to do in your free time?

Abby: I like to swim, go shopping, and hang out with my friends.

Calvin: I like to play video games and listen to music.

What is your favorite book, movie, or TV show?

Abby: My favorite movie is Another Cinderella Story with Selena Gomez.

Calvin: My favorite movie is CZ12.

What is your favorite traditional food from your culture?

Abby: I’m half Chinese, so from that side of my family I get to eat soup dumplings, which I love.

Calvin: My favorite traditional food from my culture is BBQ pork.

What are some of your favorite places in the city?

Abby: I like going to Quincy Market in Boston and eating at Ocean Prime nearby. That area is probably my favorite place to visit.

Calvin: My favorite places in the city would have to be B-Cafe and Yocha in Quincy.

SLA

How did you learn about SLA? What inspired you to apply to the program?

Abby: My mom learned about SLA through a family friend, and she encouraged me to sign up. I live in a town where kids are mostly white. Through SLA, I could learn more about my cultural background and history, and to meet more Asian people my age.

Calvin: I heard about SLA from my cousin, and my interest in racial justice inspired me to apply to the program.

What are you currently learning about or working on?

Abby: We recently learned about gentrification and community development, with guest speakers sharing their knowledge and insight on these topics. Jung Shen, an A-VOYCE youth alumni, showed us different parts of Chinatown, what Chinatown was like before it became gentrified, and the backstory on changes in the neighborhood. 

Before, I had no clue about what was going on in Chinatown because I just go there to hang out with family or friends, and I never knew the history of the neighborhood. I’m really grateful for learning all of this through SLA.

Calvin: I’m currently learning about how people are being oppressed in society.

What has been your favorite part of SLA so far?

Abby: The breakout rooms where we split up into smaller groups has been my favorite part. I love talking to the other kids about their experience and what they know about Boston.

Calvin: My favorite part of SLA is meeting new people from different places in Massachusetts that I would not have the opportunity to meet without SLA.

What have you learned or gained from collaborating with other SLA youth?

Abby: I learned that even though we don’t live near each other or come from the same families, we have similar experiences. We have similar stories to share. 

Calvin: I’ve learned a lot about why Asians are being targeted for attacks and how this situation should be counteracted.

Did you find that reflecting on your experiences and sharing them through various mediums was beneficial? Why or why not?

Abby: Reflecting on and sharing my experiences has been beneficial because I’m able to realize the depth in my story and expand on who I am as an Asian American.

Calvin: Yes, reflection definitely contributed to my opinions towards different issues.

How have books, movies, TV shows, social media or other forms of media shaped your identity?

Abby: I’m a teenager, so my life revolves around social media and it’s where I get most of my information about the world. Social media feels like a part of my identity because I use it a lot and everyone around me is so active in using it.

Calvin: Through these outlets, I learned what an oppressive society is and showed the big picture of it and long term impacts.

Part of this year’s SLA focus is building your capacity as a creative storyteller. What role do you think storytelling plays in activism?

Abby: I think storytelling informs us about diverse experiences and the human aspect of issues we’re fighting for. The stories we share and document can help us learn how to make positive changes for the community.

Calvin: Storytelling allows for informational and persuasive talk from personal experience.

Why should youth be involved in conversations about social issues? What makes the youth perspective important?

Abby: Youth are the future. Those who are adults now won’t be around as long as we will. Young people have a different perspective compared to older generations because what’s going on now will continue to impact us as we get older. We aren’t just watching from the margins - we have a stake in this fight, too.

Calvin: Young people should be involved in these conversations because they are the future generation that will shape how society will be. The youth perspective is unique because they have access to advanced technology, which makes sharing information easier.

Do you think some institutions have disadvantaged certain communities? If so, what can be done to address this?

Abby: I think some institutions definitely do give certain communities disadvantages. I think we should fight back, explain why, and just fight until the change happens because change doesn’t happen overnight.

Calvin: Yes, and sharing about this will increase awareness.

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Residence Lab Artist Profile - Ponnapa Prakkamakul

“Although art cannot solve the problems altogether, it raises awareness for the general public to pay attention and gain a better understanding of the issues, which can ultimately, hopefully lead to changes.”
— Ponnapa Prakkamakul
Photo by Matthew Arielly; courtesy of artist

Photo by Matthew Arielly; courtesy of artist

This week is the last week to check out the Residence Lab exhibit on display at 10 Hudson Street in Boston’s Chinatown! The closing event will be held this Friday! See more details here.

Our final Residence Lab artist interview is with Ponnapa Prakkamakul, a painter and a landscape architect based in Massachusetts. Growing up in an extended family of artists and musicians in Thailand has a strong influence on her artistic creativity. In watching her mother diligently make drawing paper from mulberry paper pulp, silk cocoon, and tree bark, Ponnapa learned that the making of the essence of art emerges before the white paper and continues to evolve beyond artist’s hands. This idea inspired her to use the Earth as a canvas and pursued a study in landscape architecture. Ponnapa started using soil as her main drawing media while earning her master’s degree in landscape architecture with honors from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Family and Background

Where did you grow up?

I am originally from Bangkok, Thailand, where I lived for 23 years. I came to the US by myself in 2009 to attend school in Providence, Rhode Island before relocating to the Greater Boston area in 2011. My brother came in 2017 and decided to stay in California but the rest of my family still live in Thailand.

Are any of your family members artists or musicians?

My father was a self-taught pianist and part-time DJ for a classical music radio station in Bangkok before he met my mother. His family has a print-making studio and a fabric factory, so when we had family gatherings, all the kids would sneak in to play in the studio and factory. My mother is a self-taught artist. Before having children, she he did mostly oil painting, and then changed to acrylic and watercolor because of the smell. She became a full-time artist when I was in junior high school.

Was creativity something supported by your family?

Definitely. It was part of our lifestyle, but not something we were forced or compelled to do seriously. My father used to play a violin to wake me, my sister, and my brother up in the morning for school. It is not like what you think, as he did not know how to play...so it was more like making us get up to stop him from playing! 

 

Inspiration/Process

What or who inspired you to make art and how did you get started?

My mother has a lot of influence on my artistic path. We did a lot of art related activities together since I was really young. My mother told me that there was one time she scolded me and my sister when she saw us tried to break all the oil pastels into small pieces. Then, she noticed that we were trying to make a model of a bridge from these pastel blocks. After that she never told us what to do or what not to do. She just let us explore whatever we wanted. During junior high school until freshman year, I was her studio assistant helping her prepare for solo exhibitions or art fairs doing things such as making labels, hanging work, and making reproduction work. Seeing my mother painting and making her own paper from mulberry pulp at home inspired me to pursue my study in landscape architecture.

What is your preferred medium and why?

Playful Perspective Hopscotch, 2017, a collaborative work between Ponnapa and the Rose Kennedy Greenway; image courtesy of the artist

Playful Perspective Hopscotch, 2017, a collaborative work between Ponnapa and the Rose Kennedy Greenway; image courtesy of the artist

Site is an important part of my work. For painting, I use found materials from the place that I paint, such as soil, plant materials, groundwater, and rust. I use the performative acts of searching, studying, and collecting painting materials to create connections with new places. The textures and colors from these materials also express the feelings and atmosphere of the place for the viewers to experience. For landscape architecture, existing geographical conditions of the site are as important as local materials and cultures.

Which artists or artworks inspire you?

There are a lot!! During summer in 2011, was a studio assistant for Ellen Driscoll, who was then the head of sculpture department at the Rhode Island School of Design. I really admire her work and work ethic, and Ellen was a wonderful mentor. It was a great learning experience working with Ellen and three other studio assistants; Dianne Hebbert, Rose Heydt, and Megan McLaughlin. This experience made me interested in public art and still has a strong impact on my thinking until now. I also admire Yayoi Kusama for her strong belief in what she was doing and how she created opportunities for herself. I really like Gerhard Richter’s work, the blurriness that creates a subtle movement in the paintings, and inspired by Roberto Burle Marx’s work on how he uses painting to inform his landscape architecture design.

What is one piece of advice that you want to share with an aspiring artist?

I actually consider myself an aspiring artist too, so I am not sure if I can provide any advice. However, I can share my personal philosophy which is: keep doing it, be true to what you believe in, and believe in yourself. That is what Ralph Waldo Emerson told Henry David Thoreau when Thoreau said he would like to be a writer: “Trust yourself.”

 

Community

When and why did you decide to highlight the Chinatown community in your art? How do you think art can play an important role in community organizing or activism?

Growing up with a strong connection to Chinatown in Bangkok, I always find Chinatown in any city an interesting place to visit and learn about urban anthropology. My aunt has a fabric store in Bangkok’s Chinatown and my mother used to live there for a while. She always brought me to Chinatown instead of malls when we needed to buy things, so I know the place inside out. I was fascinated by the diverse programs this space can accommodate from being a cultural icon for tourism, a center for social and religious gatherings, to a wholesale business center to import and export specific products. To me, there is a lot to observe and learn from. Therefore, when I travel, one of the places on my to-go list will always be the Chinatown neighborhood. 
Chinatown in Boston has a unique condition that interests me. With its role as a tourist destination and the fact that the area overlaps with a regional public open space (the Rose Kennedy Greenway), this reinforces public perception of Chinatown as a city’s public open space. This condition together with local cultural difference creates a little tension between outsiders feeling unwelcome and longtime residents having concerns regarding their privacy and safety. Then there is gentrification that’s impacting the community.
I have been participating in the Rose Kennedy Greenway’s Play Ambassador program at Chin Park in Chinatown since 2017, and did some collaborative design for hopscotch games on the Greenway. I think there are rooms to introduce more public art in Chinatown area. The best thing about art is that it is very broad with a vague boundary which allows space for personal interpretation and imagination. This creates a grey area where you can touch upon the issues that are sometimes forbidden or uncomfortable to talk about. Although art cannot solve the problems altogether, it raises awareness for the general public to pay attention and gain a better understanding of the issues, which can ultimately, hopefully lead to changes.

How do you want your work to impact the community?

For this project, I wanted to empower local community and make them realize that their collective actions can create changes in their community. I would like the residents to feel that they can also take action and make their viewpoints and visions known through the realm of public/private space. Art can give individuals a feeling of agency, particularly when it is created by and for the residents, or at least with their specific concerns in mind. I hope to see a ripple effect emerging from young generations and see they do the same things (or even bigger) that I did for their community. It is like you planted a seed and wait patiently to see that one day it will be a forest. 

Ponnapa’s Residence Lab installation, “Sampan”, mock up in Chin Park, working with Chinatown residents Warren, Henry (not pictured) and local children to test the layout. In Thai, sampan means a connection. Photo courtesy of the artist.

What was your favorite art project? Why?

I like all projects that I have done. However, this project for Residence Lab was very special to me as we had a lot of community engagement in the design and making process. I believe in the impact of the process as much as the final product and to be able to work on both in one project is ideal. I learned so much working with everyone; my teammates, participating artists and residents, ACDC and BCNC staff, the Chinatown community, my Sasaki Colleagues, and Sasaki Fabrication Studio. Although I am the leading artist, there are tremendous amount of input on both ideas and physical support from so many people who offered to help because they believe in community-based projects. One example is when I had a software technical issue with missing Braille fonts for some contractions in my laptop. Our translator, Amber Pearcy, was on her study abroad program so I did not want to trouble her during her traveling, but we also really needed to laser cut the Braille dots on the plywood within 2 days. I googled online for a translator and emailed Paul Hostovski whose name was the first result that came up. It was the weirdest email to me. However, Paul responded promptly with a clarification of all the missing contractions and really saved our tight working schedule. There are so many moments like this throughout the project that I felt so grateful for. I feel that it really takes the whole community (and its extended community) to have made this community project possible!

“...we had a lot of community engagement in the design and making process. I believe in the impact of the process as much as the final product and to be able to work on both in one project is ideal.”

A Chinatown resident tests out one of Ponnapa’s pieces for Sampan installation; photo courtesy of the artist

Why did you decide to be a part of ACDC’s residence lab?

Last summer I was inspired by the existing Chinese chess board paving pattern in front of the Chinatown gate and wanted to propose an oversize Chinese chess pieces for local people to play with tourists. However, the location is part of a fire lane so we cannot place anything there. Therefore, when ACDC contacted me about public art in Chinatown, I said yes right away. It started with this simple idea, then, when I realized how important this project is to the community and my working goal changed.

Chinatown residents, Warren (left) and Henry (right) were one of 8 Residence Lab residents who were part of the inaugural cohort. Here they stand proudly by a freshly painted component of Sampan in Chinatown; photo courtesy of the artist

Henry and Warren painting parts for the Sampan benches at Sasaki; photo courtesy of the artist

Residence Lab cohort of artists and Chinatown residents

How has the generation you are in impacted your lived experience as an artist?

I feel extremely lucky to be born in this generation where female and artists of color are more recognized than in the past. This really offers me opportunities to use my insights as a female artist of color to express a voice and create work to accommodate existing underserved communities. 

What are your future aspirations as an artist? How would you like for your artwork to grow?

I would like to make my work more interdisciplinary, inclusive, and accessible. I started to explore the idea with this project on small details such as including all generations in the interviews (both children and seniors), adding Chinese and Braille translation, and add a “Queen” piece into Chinese chess  so that players can choose a female representation, instead of simply using two Kings. Another intention is to incorporate sound with my visual work. I actually put some objects found in Chinatown inside the benches so that they would make sound when they rock. Although the implementation is not quite successful yet, I will continue to explore this idea in future projects.

Community members at the Residence Lab exhibition in Chinatown, which unveiled Ponnapa’s Sampan installation along with the other artist and resident teams’ pieces; photo by Katytarika Bartel

What is your favorite art medium and why?

Currently, my favorite painting medium is rust. It is so unpredictable how it reacts to the weather and environment. When I do a rust print using metals, even if I somehow know approximately that it might turn out a certain way, it often gives me a surprising pattern to work on. I found this process similar to landscape architecture that you have a given site with unique existing conditions to work in it is not a white paper. Like what Michelangelo said “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” Similarly, with paintings and landscape sites - especially community projects - the designer needs to coax out what the community actually needs or wants to say from within the urban fabric.

What is your inspiration behind your art? What drives your art?  Where do you imagine your art to take you in the future?

As I am also a practicing landscape architect, natural and cultural landscapes together with their relationships with people are always interesting and never fail to inspire me. I am always looking for inspiring landscapes to work on. Therefore, I imagine myself travelling to places with unique natural landscape that shapes the lifestyle of the community in the area. This will also help me reflect back and understand our lives in the city. I just finished my artist in residence at the C-Scape dune shack in Provincetown and will be at Atacama Desert this October. Please visit my kickstarter page to see my latest project! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ponnapa/beyond-the-planet-earth

Thank you, Ponnapa, for being part of Residence Lab and for sharing your story!

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Yu-Wen Wu’s WITH/OUT WATER Installation Brings Interactive Art to Hudson Street

Yu-Wen Wu’s WITH/OUT WATER outdoor art installation glowed on Chinatown’s Hudson Street this past Saturday.Photo by A-VOYCE youth, Lee-Daniel.

Yu-Wen Wu’s WITH/OUT WATER outdoor art installation glowed on Chinatown’s Hudson Street this past Saturday.

Photo by A-VOYCE youth, Lee-Daniel.

Five tents, symbolic of the housing struggle in Boston’s Chinatown, served as the canvas for projected images and words, layering anecdotes and imagery of housing and environmental concerns, as well as other community issues.

Yu-Wen (far left) at one of the weekly meetings with our Chinatown residents and youth

Yu-Wen (far left) at one of the weekly meetings with our Chinatown residents and youth

The installation is the result of weekly meetings that artist Yu-Wen had with ACDC’s 66 Hudson residents and A-VOYCE youth program participants. Facilitated discussions had the youth and residents learn about the history of displacement in Chinatown while exploring patterns of displacement in their own lives. The group also brainstormed how to foster intergenerational and multi-lingual communities through storytelling, learned about the history of resistance though art and culture, and shared with Yu-Wen their ideas and visions for the project.

Many community members came out to view the installation, including longtime and new Chinatown residents and passers by who were compelled to stop and learn more. Yu-Wen’s piece invited guests to be part of the installation by writing reflections of the art and thoughts on climate change on flags posted around the tents.

This installation embodies why ACDC believes in placemaking or as we like to call it, “placekeeping”. We not only want to engage residents and community members in participating in creative projects that advocate for community needs, but more importantly, we encourage and support them in leading the discussions and activities. As a result, these public installations invite others to join the conversation. The goal is not just to emphasize the urgency of the challenges and struggles within a neighborhood, but to also highlight the strength and resilience of a community working towards positive changes for their family, friends and neighbors.

We are excited to be unveiling our brand new ANCHOR initiative soon, which focuses on advocacy and cultivating leadership within the community through resident and youth-led creative placemaking projects.

Thank you to Yu-Wen, for being such a great collaborator to work with, to our community partner, BCNC’s Pao Arts Center and to the Union of Concerned Scientists, who provided funding for the installation.

If you’re interested in getting involved with projects like this in the future, click the button below to fill out a volunteer form and check “placemaking” as one of the activities.

Yu-Wen Wu is a visual artist based in Boston. Born in Taipei Taiwan, her family immigrated to the United States soon after the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Arriving at an early age, her experiences have shaped her work in areas of migration--examining issues of displacement, arrival, assimilation and the shape of identity in a new country. Working in drawing, video, sculpture and installation she pulls together the natural world and social movement on both a personal and global scale. She approaches her own experiences of immigration and other culturally specific happenings by presenting them as a series of natural occurrences, not dissimilar from the migrating bird, passing cloud or ocean tide. (Bio excerpt from Yu-Wen’s website)