Community Dinner 2021 🍴

APASA’s Community Dinner, as told from the perspective of APASA interns Evelyn Zhang and Charley Kim.  

What is Community Dinner?: 

On January 29th, APASA hosted its third annual Community Dinner! Traditionally, Community Dinner is an intimate networking event involving APIDA professionals and students over a lovely buffet dinner. With COVID-19 restrictions this year, circumstances were quite different and APASA got creative with a newly revamped Community Dinner event!  

MC Perspective/Preparation:

Led by our wonderful External Community Chair, Christopher Liu, our team was able to gather a board of accomplished professionals and eager students. As the event was starting, anticipation was in the air as guests began filing in from the breakout room. As per usual, APASA’s flagship song, Dynamite by BTS (live long Taio Cruz), was pumping in the background, instantly raising the team’s spirits. As the music died down, Chris began his introduction, and my lovely co-MC Angela Liu and I began to introduce our esteemed professionals.  

Audience Perspective:

Even though we were on Zoom (which unfortunately meant no buffet), Community Dinner was such a smooth and informative experience as a member of the audience. Thanks to the amazing direction of Chris, Evelyn, Angela, and everyone working behind the scenes, everything seemed to run without a hitch. I was thoroughly impressed with the amazing panel of fifteen guests raging from professionals in law, medicine, politics, public service, business — you name it, there was an extraordinary APIDA professional ready to help attendees learn more about their jobs and journeys. 

Highlights: 

After introductions, everyone was put into breakout rooms based on their professional interests as our guests rotated through the rooms in 20-minute intervals. In intimate groups of three or four people, conversations flowed naturally as we freely conversed about our lives, interests, and got the inside scoop on their careers. It was enlightening to hear about their roots, the diversity of their interests, and the twists and turns that defined their journeys. James Choi from USC’s beloved Dulce, for example, recounted his career switch from an accomplished accountant to a cafe owner and described his vision for Dulce going forward. On the opposite spectrum, Kim Tran, a Litigation Attorney, detailed the process of finding her place as a female, ethnically Asian lawyer and how she combatted stereotypes against her. Though both journeys were nothing alike, they were equally treacherous, rewarding, and inspirational, showing us that we have the means to pave our own paths.  

I know most of us students dread breakout rooms during lectures, but the rooms we were put into for Community Dinner were extremely insightful and I felt expertly matched to professionals who worked in fields I was interested in. As a prospective (read: very confused) pre-med student, I was able to talk to Dr. Henry Wu and Gabriel Sapalaran and hear about their journeys as members of the APIDA community in the medical field which gave me new perspectives into what my future career paths could look like. On the other hand, I was also able to talk to Steve Kang, the director of External Affairs at the Koreatown Youth and Community Center, who had gotten so far as to be accepted to medical school before turning his career around to work in policy and public service. It was definitely refreshing to hear from somebody who stood in my shoes in the uncertainty of deciding between future career paths. 

Closing: 

Finally, we finished the night by opening breakout rooms for all, allowing our audience to choose which speaker they would like to meet with in the last portion of the event. As we filed back from our breakout rooms and bid everyone farewell, our team (especially Chris) heaved a huge sigh of relief. 

Needless to say, Community Dinner was a huge success this year thanks to the amazing committee that put it all together. Both attendees and guest speakers alike were thoroughly impressed with Christopher’s aptness and professionalism, all exclaiming that he was “SO easy to work with!” Thank you so much for coming to APASA’s third Community Dinner this year, and we hope to see you again at next year’s event!

APASA team cheer following the conclusion of Community Dinner!