ForumNation Podcast

Patricia Eng’s extensive career has included key leadership positions in the public, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Since September 2019, she has served as President & CEO of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), a national membership and philanthropic advocacy organization dedicated to expanding and mobilizing resources for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities to build a more just and equitable society. She previously served as Chief Service Officer of NYC Service under Mayor Bill de Blasio. Her past work also includes serving as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships/Programs at the New York Women’s Foundation, and she was the Founder and Executive Director of the New York Asian Women’s Center, which was first organization on the East Coast to address violence against immigrant Asian women. She spoke with David about the disturbing rise of hate and violence against AAPI communities due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how philanthropy can respond; how Asian Americans are often portrayed as the “model minority” while fear and racism are always simmering just below the surface; and how she views the current moment as being a potential “reset button” for philanthropy to think differently and bigger.

For more than three decades, Daranee Petsod has devoted her career to fighting for justice and equity for immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, working primarily in the philanthropic sector. She has worked for such philanthropic organizations as the Sophia Fund, the United Way of Metro Chicago and the Field Foundation of Illinois. Since 1998, she has served as President of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), an influential national network of funders dedicated to uplifting the contributions and addressing the needs of our country's immigrant and refugee populations. Daranee explains to Dave how her experience as a young immigrant from Thailand has shaped her career work as a bridge builder, what it's been like for GCIR to be thrust into the frontlines of our country's immigration debate, and how surfing has helped her manage the stresses of her work. Read a transcript of this episode.