Charles Lin, Chair
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.
Kevin Chen, Communications Chair
Kevin joined GAPIMNY in 2016. He grew up in the good ol’ Hudson Valley before moving to the NYC area after college. He enjoys learning languages (10 and counting), weight lifting, and songwriting. He works at Squarespace as a software engineer.
Binh Hoang, Finance Chair
Ty Matsunaga, Marketing Co-Chair
Native New Yorker and Tokyoite, Ty sought out community in GAPIMNY after graduating from college. Touched by the safe, supportive, educational space GAPIMNY provides, he is thrilled to spread the word about the organization! He is a full-time marketing data strategist by day, and a vegan chef / skincare aficionado by night.
Daniel Chao, Marketing Co-Chair
Daniel moved to New York from Chicago in the summer of 2015, where he was first introduced to GAPIMNY through the Elixir happy hour. It took a couple of years, but after learning more about the organization and all that it does to empower the QAPI community in New York, Daniel got involved and is now serving as GAPIMNY’S Marketing Co-Chair, where he will be developing the marketing strategy used to promote the organization’ mission and causes. Daniel works at JPMorgan as an Associate and in his free time you can find him working out, traveling around Asia, or making a mess in the kitchen.
Patrick Lee, Community Chair
also works with the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance to plan training and educational programming, and he helps produce a monthly pan-Asian drag show in Brooklyn. Patrick is an avid tennis player and a terrible, but passionate, hip-hop dancer.
Jason Wu, Political Co-Chair
Jason has been part of GAPIMNY’s Steering Committee since 2015. He was born and raised in NY and previously lived in Los Angeles. He currently works in civil legal services fighting gentrification and displacement of low income communities of color, and is an active member of his union. He is excited to organize with GAPIMNY members towards collective liberation.
James McMaster, Political Co-Chair
James started attending GAPIMNY events in Summer 2017. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of Performance Studies at NYU writing a dissertation about performances of care in queer and feminist Asian America. An aquarius (libra rising, leo moon), James likes karaoke and hates racial capitalism.
Jacob Chen, Development Chair
Jacob Chen is a Partner at Dai & Associates, P.C., specializing in commercial litigation. He maintains a diverse caseload including real estate disputes, landlord & tenant cases, and employment discrimination. Jacob graduated from the New York University School of Law and the Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He is GAPIMNY’s Development Chair and as such plays a major role in GAPIMNY’s fundraising efforts and initiatives. In addition, he intends to expand GAPIMNY’s capacity for helping its members engage in professional networking and believes nothing empowers the Queer API community like having the resources to affect change. He got married in 2013 to Michael Rebolos at Oheka Castle in Huntington LI and the two have lived happily since in Downtown Brooklyn and only recently just this year, adopted a Yorkie named Louis.
Andrew Chou, Membership Chair
Andrew was born and raised in Texas, and worked in rural PA, NY, OK, KS, LA as an engineer before moving to NYC in 2016. In 2017, he joined GAPIMNY and is also a board member of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) as well as Co-President of NYU Stern’s LGBT group OutClass. Andrew is incredibly passionate about D&I in the workplace and advocating that everyone be comfortable enough to be their complete and authentic selves. In his spare time, Andrew enjoys creating craft cocktails and reading about LGBTQ history.
Christopher Routh, Social Chair
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.
Danny Taing, Member-at-Large
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. Danny is passionate about delicious food and Japanese culture, which led to him founding Bokksu and sharing his love of Japanese snacks with people everywhere!
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.
Simon Zheng, Member-at-Large
Simon joined GAPIMNY in 2015 when he moved back to New York City after graduating from Stanford. During college, he volunteered with the API Wellness Center‘s Mobile HIV Testing Clinic and was president of Stanford Queer and Questioning Asians and Pacific Islanders (Q&A). His first GAPIMNY event was the GAPIMNY Pride Sign Making event in 2014 and he decided to get more involved because he enjoyed both the social and activist aspects of GAPIMNY. Outside of GAPIMNY, Simon works as a software engineer. He is passionate about technology, education, languages, and volleyball and he hopes to use his skills make a difference in the world.