APASA Spotlight: Kimberly Phung

Why did you apply to APASA?

Coming from Monterey Park (aka like 70% Asian population), I never thought there was much significance to my identity or the struggles I faced once I left the San Gabriel Valley. My friends and I all had similar problems so why complain if you and your whole community face the same struggles right? Once I joined APASA’s intern program, I learned to understand why these struggles came about and how to combat them. I’ve learned to not shy away from my culture and be extremely excited about where I grew up and how that’s shaped me.

Favorite APASA memory so far:

We had a makeshift snowball fight during my intern year with leftover ice from Cultural Art Expo! All of the Eboarders and interns were throwing "snow" at each other even though it was literally midnight, so cold outside, and we were all tired from the event. We were doing this outside of Tommy Trojan and would throw snowballs at each other but also be on the lookout just in case random USC Security people were watching. After that, we had a very cute APASA girls late night eats at Zzamong and that was when I really started to become more comfortable with everyone. We tried having one this year with leftover ice, but the ice was definitely not fine enough so instead of it being playful, we were basically throwing cold rocks at each other. Not the best, but still very good times!

A significant cultural milestone for you:

The creation of Subtle Asian Traits! It was so crazy yet heartwarming to see how Asians from all over the world all experience very similar things. The jokes that were made about our parents and how we were raised, going to SAT prep classes, weird foods we avoided eating because they were "too hot", kpop/anime/gaming stereotypes, I loved it all! The fact that there are so many spin-offs too, like Subtle Viet Traits, Subtle Asian Cooking, Subtle Asian Mental Health. It's the first online community that I joined and thought was just absolutely entertaining.

What does being APA mean to you?

I've come to learn that being APA means finding solidarity with those who also identify as APA and connecting through our struggles and similarities. I think it means understanding and dealing with how my culture will play a role in almost everything I do, but also knowing that being APA gives me a unique perspective as well.

If you could plan any event at USC, what would it be?

I would bring cooking classes onto USC's campus! Each class would be on a different cooking technique and people could learn how to use that technique amongst any cuisine they wanted to cook.

What is your long-term goal for APASA? 

I'd love to see APASA grow in our programming events! Imagine Night Market, not in McCarthy Quad, but all down Trousdale. The street would be filled with actually street market type foods, with all cuisines and cultures represented, and people could walk down to play Tinikling with TroyPhi or Bầu cua cá cọp with VSA, while learning about APASA and our member orgs.

Thank you Kimberly!