Who We Are

PRESIDENT

Atkinson started his community involvement while studying mechanical engineering at UCSD. During his college career, he volunteered with the Vietnamese American Youth Association (VAYA). Life later brought Atkinson to Houston where he worked with the Hope Initiative, a charity that fundraised to help children in Vietnam. The Bay Area called him back home where he got involved with VAR, VietAYA/ MAYS, Tet, and Golden Hearts which are all organizations he still supports. As VAR President and Boardmember, his focus is growing a strong foundation for VAR’s future. Professionally, Atkinson is an Account Manager at NMB.

TREASURER

Isabella Luong (she/her) has pushed for increased civic awareness among young Vietnamese Americans since serving as a high school VSA officer. Combining academic and activist perspectives, Isabella applies a structural lens to civic engagement work. Isabella is involved with multiple organizations carrying out different scopes of engagement: ICAN, a local CBO serving the Vietnamese community; VietUnity South Bay, a grassroots organization dedicated to social change and justice; and PIVOT– the Progressive Vietnamese American Organization. Isabella Luong graduated with a B.S. in Toxicology from UC Berkeley in 2019. She currently works in the nonprofit sector, doing community-based outreach and research.

SECRETARY

Linda Nguyen was born and raised in the Bay Area. She has worked in local government for over a decade advocating for marginalized populations (unhoused, farm workers, immigrant, and low-income) in the fields of utility, public health, social services, and environmental stewardship. She currently works in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion at a utility agency and was appointed to the Human Services Commission for the City of San José in 2021. She volunteers with various non-profits and causes, such as PIVOT, serving on the fundraising committee and assisting with social media efforts.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Master’s in Public Administration from San José State University. Her hobbies include live music, the arts, traveling, interior design and her cats (Teddy and Mocha).

BOARD MEMBER

Cindy became involved with her local Vietnamese community through her participation with the Vietnamese Student Association at her high school, where she held various officer positions. Her love for Vietnamese culture blossomed during her involvement in Miss Teen Vietnam of Northern California, where her experience led to other meaningful opportunities such as VAR, UVSA, and VietAYA. As a participant of VAR’s inaugural SEEDS program, Cindy’s contributions did not stop there, as she began to volunteer at many other VAR events such as the Black April Commemoration, Civic Engagement project, and VARoween. On top of volunteering with Vietnamese organizations, Cindy is an advocate for ensuring that all families in need receive basic necessities through her work with the American Red Cross and Second Harvest Food Bank of Silicon Valley.

Cindy is now a senior at UC Berkeley where she is pursuing a B.A. in Social Welfare and minors in Public Policy and Global Poverty & Practice. She hopes to work in the public sector, advocating for underrepresented and diverse populations. In her free time, Cindy enjoys watching sunsets and sipping on strawberry matcha lattes.

BOARD MEMBER

Alicia Luong is a fourth-year student at UC Berkeley who has taken on a variety of roles in the Vietnamese-American community and in the classroom. In addition to VAR, she volunteers with local non-profit and student organizations like Hoa Khôi Liên Trường, Cal Vietnamese Students Association, Cal VSA’s VISION mentorship program, and Vietnamese American Professional Women’s Association of Silicon Valley. Alicia was formerly a Youth Advisory Member for Allcove, where she outreached, collaborated with, and represented youth needs in the development of Allcove’s newly opened integrated mental health and primary care sites. As a budding psychologist, Alicia plans to intersect her dedication to the Vietnamese-American youth community with her foundation in academia. She is currently a research assistant in a clinical psychology lab at UC Berkeley, helping to advance research in interpersonal emotional regulation. She hopes to soon achieve her Bachelor’s and, eventually, Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D) degrees in order to practice clinical psychology in a community health care center in the near future.

BOARD MEMBER

Christina Johnson grew up in East San Jose and learned how to advocate at young age due to be a cultural and language translator for her single mother. She saw first hand how inequities impacted families in her community including her own, this motivated her to dedicate her life to social services. After graduating from UC Davis with a BA in Women & Gender Studies and Asian American Studies, Christina came back to San Jose to start her career in fundraising and development for various nonprofits in Silicon Valley. In 2020 she decided to leave her job as a staffer for Assemblymember Ash Kalra to be a stay at home mom.