Rafael Flores, Co-Chair
Rafael is a proud GAPIMNY Co-Chair! In his tenure, he plans to lead the organization in increasing fundraising and membership, and expanding the diversity of its programming to engage a broader audience of QAPIs. For his full-time job, Rafael works in Corporate Development at the Guggenheim Museum. He loves chocolate chip cookies and hopes to meet GAPIMNY members who share his passion.
Paul Lee, Co-Chair
Paul has been a member of GAPIMNY since 2015 and is a new Member-at-Large starting in 2016. With a strong interest in all things political and in organizing, he hopes to continue GAPIMNY’s strong legacy of community activism. Born and raised in Flushing, he is enthusiastic about all things New York and can often be found hanging out at The Strand bookstore.
Clem Chan, Communications Chair
Clem first moved to New York from Malaysia in the summer of 2014 to bridge the gap of a five-year long distance relationship—through marriage. New to the city and country, his first GAPIMNY activity was a fall retreat to the Catskills—a memory he treasures till now. In 2015, he joined the Steering Committee as the Communications Chair, taking charge of GAPIMNY’s website and newsletters. Clem is currently working on his Japanese in his spare time and towards his goal of a round-the-world trip.
Binh Hoang, Finance Chair
Binh went to his first GAPIMNY event, the highly popular Elixir happy hour, in December 2015. Fast forward a year, he is now GAPIMNY’s finance chair. Binh is an avid reader, anime enthusiast, film lover, and concert goer. He’s always on the lookout for good food and awesome friends. You can find him at most Elixirs.
Matt Huang, Marketing Chair
Matt joined GAPIMNY in 2016 and serves as the Marketing Chair. He works at Pivotal Labs as a Product Manager and enjoys traveling, running and good food.
Patrick Lee, Community Chair
Charles Lin, Social Media Chair/Gaysian Diaries Coordinator
Charles Lin was introduced to GAPIMNY while a student at NYU. In December 2015, he attended his first Steering Committee meeting to propose The Gaysian Diaries as a project for GAPIMNY. Professionally, he works in technology at NBCUniversal. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, Japanese food, and hanging-out with friends.
Richy Lou, Marketing Chair
Richy joined GAPINMY in 2013, co-organizing the 2013 NYC Heritage of Pride march. For his full-time job, Richy works in real estate development. He also serves on the Board of CUGALA, the LGBTQ alumni association for Cornell University. In his free time, he enjoys karaoke, Korean BBQ and indoor cycling.
Danny Taing, Membership Chair
Danny joined GAPIMNY shortly after moving to NYC in 2013 and served as Social Chair for 3 years. Determined to create more safe spaces for QAPI to connect in a casual setting, he revived Elixir Happy Hour in 2014. As Membership Chair this year, he hopes to create more intimate spaces for members to deeply bond with each other. Danny is also passionate about delicious food and Japanese culture, which led to him founding Bokksu and sharing his love of Japanese snacks with people everywhere!
Neil Wang, Social Chair
Neil Wang joined GAPIMNY in 2016. Neil is originally from China, and he moved to the U.S. to go to college at Ohio State, and then moved to NYC to work in the public accounting industry. Neil Wang is excited to plan events to help every GAPIMNY member meet new friends and have fun. In his spare time, Neil enjoys a good nap, some good food and some good friends’ company.
Jason Wu, Political Chair
Jason has been a member of GAPIMNY since 2010 when he returned to NY from Los Angeles. He was a member-at-large on the Steering Committee in 2015 and is the current political chair. He is excited to collaborate with GAPIMNY members in fighting for social justice and empowering our community.
Taimour Chaudri, Member-at-Large
Hyun Chong, Member-at-Large
Kevin Du, Member-at-Large
Kevin moved to New York for graduate school in 2013 and joined the GAPIMNY Steering Committee in 2015 as the Downetime Co-Chair. In 2016, he hopes to better support the Queer Asian community by strengthening communications between queer individuals and their families. Kevin works as a Product Manager at a tech startup and loves to get sweaty outdoors as well as stay in bed with his favorite books and talk shows.
Jason Kwong, Member-at-Large
Jason joined the Steering Committee in 2009 and has served as Co-Chair and Health and Communications Chairs. Before moving to New York, he worked with the queer API community at A&PI Wellness Center and Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) in San Francisco, CA. He works in public health conducting health care research and policy. He has been helping organize Poongmul Movement Builders, a queer API Korean drumming group, since 2012. He is also a part of Asian American Impact Fund, a New York giving circle. During the summer, you can find him around Flushing training with his dragon boat team.
Ryan Shen, Member-at-Large
Ryan Shen has served many years in leadership of queer Asian organizations — GAPIMNY, Q-WAVE, and national organization NQAPIA. He’s contributed to The Gaysian Diaries in hopes to raise trans Asian visibility and awareness. He also has many years of experience working in IT and is interested in chatting with members about careers in tech.