OCA Intern Alum: Christina Bui
Written by Socheata Sun and Kent Tong
FROM HER COLLEGE DAYS as the East Coast Asian American Student Union Conference director and Korea-America Student Conference executive committee member, to now over 13 years of grassroots nonprofit work, Christina Bui has spent her entire career amplifying voices. Along the way, she has bridged communities across continents, shaping meaningful change wherever she goes.
Bui learned about OCA through her friend, Pang Dao Moua, a former OCA intern. When she became an OCA intern in the summer of 2012, she was placed at the Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund, now known as APIA Scholars, where she supported their communications team. She bonded with her peers from across the country through Sama Sama gatherings—weekly programming in which OCA interns come to the OCA National Center office to discuss issues and engage in workshops relevant to the AANHPI community—and the OCA National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The internship experience was her first foray into the professional world and nonprofit sector, which would eventually lead to over 13 years of experience in grassroots nonprofit work. “I learned how to network, in addition to getting an introduction to being AAPI and all the nuances and differences within the ‘AAPI’ umbrella,” she recalls.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree in public communication and international studies, followed by a master’s degree in strategic communications—both from American University—Bui spent seven years working abroad in Vietnam with the Pacific Links Foundation, eventually becoming their deputy program director. There, she trained frontline responders—law enforcement, government officials, social services, civil society organizations, and more—on supporting vulnerable Vietnamese migrants and victims of trafficking and worked closely with affected communities.
Christina Bui (fourth from the right) with her intern cohort in front of the White House
Bui spent four of those transformative years living in the Mekong Delta (about four hours outside of Ho Chi Minh City), with no family around. “Moving from the U.S. to Vietnam, and having to really learn to be fluent in another language, pushed my personal and professional growth in a way that would not have been possible in the U.S.” This taught her how to navigate Vietnamese bureaucracy and social norms and customs, to be independent, and to live outside of her comfort zone.
Today, Bui works in global development, supporting organizations in more than 40 countries to strengthen their capacity for sustainable impact. She is passionate about media literacy and combating misinformation, particularly among limited English-speaking AAPI community members who tend to get their news from in-language sources that tend to be less rigorous about fact-checking. “We need to start fighting back against the misinformation in the media and accurately inform our fellow community members,” she says, reflecting her commitment to civic engagement and protecting the vulnerable.