OCA Intern Alum: Lena Pham
Written by Kent Tong
A SECOND-GENERATION VIETNAMESE AMERICAN FROM ARKANSAS, Lena Pham has a personal connection to issues related to AAPI representation and inclusion in research. During her time in college, she realized the importance of data and research in helping to better advocate for the communities she cares about. It is because of these experiences that she has dedicated a career in research. “I believe in the potential of research to create positive social change for our communities,” she says.
After graduating from Hendrix College with a B.A. in anthropology and an Asian studies minor, Pham taught English as an assistant language teacher in Japan for two years through the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. While completing her master’s degree in anthropology at the University of North Texas, she was a data researcher with the Southeast Asian American Education Coalition, an applied research fellow at APIA Scholars, and an intern for Research for Action. In these roles, she analyzed, reviewed, and processed data from thousands of students and developed policy recommendations for issues impacting AAPI students, such as English learner support, college access, and school climate.
In collaboration with AALEAD, a nonprofit serving AAPI youths in the Greater Washington, D.C. Area, Pham’s master’s thesis focused on the impact of AAPI-focused educational programming on Asian American identity development—a project that was close to her heart. “My thesis is an homage to my heritage and identity, and represents my interest in research, my interest in serving the AAPI community, and what I wished I could have had for my younger self,” she reflects.
When she was a policy intern for OCA in the summer of 2018, Pham conducted research and wrote reports on education, immigration, and technology policy. She also organized the annual intern Advocacy Day, in which OCA interns broke into groups and advocated for AAPI causes to their respective members of Congress. Outside of work, one of her favorite aspects of the program was the close-knit community that formed among the interns. She fondly remembers the cohort participating in a “honey roast” towards the end of the program, in which the cohort showered one another with compliments (as opposed to a normal “roast” when people make fun of and insult each other). “Everyone said some incredibly sweet things, and it was an emotional moment for all of us,” Pham says. “It was so amazing to see the close bonds we had formed just over the course of one summer.”
Photobooth photo of Pham (front, third from the left) with her OCA summer internship cohort at the 2018 OCA National Convention in Washington, D.C.
Pham’s internship with OCA allowed her to clarify her interests and career direction. While researching policy recommendations, she was struck by the lack of AAPI-specific data and studies. “That realization motivated me to pursue research that addresses this gap,” she says. Now, as a database and research specialist at The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), she supports TAAF’s data and research projects, including projects ranging from examining the safety of AANHPI residents in Seattle to college student interest in Asian American studies.
While supporting her team in creating a website featuring AAPI lesson plans, Pham remembered OCA had a website dedicated to AANHPI curriculum because she was part of OCA’s volunteer K-12 AANHPI Curriculum Task Force and had helped review the lesson plans. She was able to foster a key partnership between TAAF and OCA—proof her internship with OCA continues to be foundational in both her personal and professional journey. (In fact, her OCA internship experience was how she first learned about APIA Scholars.)
Today, Pham resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her two cats. She is dedicated to seeing the ways data and research can continue to uplift and give voice to our communities.