OCA Intern Alum: Maria Manalac
Interview by Skyler Murao / Written by Skyler Murao and Kent Tong
MARIA MANALAC HAD JUST COMPLETED HER STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM in Thailand when she stumbled upon an Indeed listing promoting the OCA summer internship program. The internship would be in Washington, D.C., just a short commute from her home in Prince George County, Maryland. As a 1.5-generation Filipino American who moved to the U.S. when she was just nine years old, she was looking for an opportunity to learn about and immerse herself in the greater Asian American community. Through the internship, she experienced what her supervisor called her “APA Moment”—the moment she realized she was part of the broader AAPI community.
During her internship with OCA in the summer of 2011, Manalac supported both the communications and chapter and membership departments. One of her main assignments was creating the spring/summer issue of IMAGE Magazine, which included an interview with Representative Judy Chu—the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress—about a resolution she introduced for the U.S. to formally apologize for its past discriminatory laws against Chinese Americans, particularly the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Unlike her interview for this article, that year, Manalac was on the other side of the dynamic while working on the magazine—she was the one interviewing an intern alumnus, Brian Jung, to highlight his experience working in the Obama White House as the director of special projects for the Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. She was responsible for all aspects of the zine, from writing and editing, hiring a graphic designer, to printing. When the issue was printed in time for that year’s OCA National Convention, she couldn’t have been prouder. “I remember holding it and I was like, ‘Oh my God. It’s here,’” she says.
That year’s convention, hosted in New York City, also kept Manalac busy. She remembers reaching out to OCA chapters to get their updates to include in slides for OCA Chapter of the Year Awards, making last-minute updates to slides deep into the night, shadowing the convention photographer, and what seemed like "a million" other tasks. But despite how exhausting convention can be, she still considers it a highlight from that summer because she was able to be in community with other OCA members, meet many distinguished speakers, bond with her fellow interns, and “get dressed up and dance with everyone” at the gala that wrapped up the event.
Maria Manalac (front row, second from the left) with her OCA summer internship cohort
Manalac says the skills she gained from the internship have been invaluable throughout her career. Her experience with creating IMAGE gave her foundational hard skills like project management, interviewing, and writing. Working at OCA taught her how to work in an office, “which is not something that’s learnable in school,” she adds. “You learn about transparency, you learn how to work with other people who don't necessarily agree eye-to-eye with you.” She says these soft skills are important and necessary. “I think that really made an impression on my employers.”
After earning her bachelor's degree in Global Studies from Loyola University Maryland, Manalac spent a few years working in operations at the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts and in a grants role at Georgetown University Medical Center before going to law school at Washington University in St. Louis. After earning her J.D. in 2021, she was a judicial law clerk for the federal courts in Seattle. Currently, she is an assistant district counsel for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Maria Manalac (center) with members of the Filipino Lawyers of Washington during their 2024 Barrio Feista. Manalac serves on the board.
Today, Manalac couldn’t be happier with the life she’s been able to make for herself, from the education she’s received, the job she has, to her husband—whom she met when they were both OCA interns. As a child of immigrants, as an immigrant herself, she’s proud of how far she’s come. “The fact that I’m even here with a bachelor’s and a law degree and a license . . . it’s beyond my dreams,” she says. “It’s just so much more than I thought I’d be able to do.” This privilege has afforded her the ability to pay it forward, whether in her personal or professional capacity.
She’s an active member of the Filipino American community in Tacoma, Washington, and serves on the board of the Filipino Lawyers of Washington and the board of the Filipino American National Historical Society – Greater Puget Sound Chapter. As a law student, she participated in an externship with the Northwest Justice Project, which provides pro bono legal services to low-income people. Placed with a team working with tenants facing debt collection at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she engaged with a Filipino client who had limited English-speaking abilities. Under the supervision of a licensed attorney, she was able to speak to the client in Tagalog and help resolve his case. “To have someone there from your culture, who speaks your language, to say, ‘Trust me, we’re trying to help you,’ was really fulfilling,” she says. “It’s not something you can really learn in school. It’s an innate thing you would have . . . by virtue of being part of the Asian American community and, specifically, by virtue of me being part of the Filipino American community.”