Mee Moua, who is principal of Interdependent Group, LLC, will deliver a keynote address on truth, racial healing and transformation (TRHT) as the 2023 Asian Heritage Lecture at Hope College on Monday, April 17, at 4 p.m. in the Maas Center auditorium.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Moua is passionate about democracy building, heart leadership and making visible the
interconnectedness among peoples, and is a recognized public speaker, leadership mentor
and
relationship weaver. Interdependent Group, LLC provides training, facilitation and
coaching support for
individuals and organizations in planning, leadership, and equity transformation.
Some of Moua’s clients
are local and state elected officials, community and national foundations, colleges
and universities, and
non-profit organizations undertaking equity-centered transformation.
Moua is currently a governance coach to a cohort of newly elected local and state officials and a consultant to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as a law and policy expert and a racial healing circle facilitator. She is the immediate past president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC, and the vice president for public policy and advocacy for the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, both of which are leading Asian American civil rights organizations based in Washington, D.C.
Prior to her work in Washington, D.C., she was an attorney and a member of the Minnesota State Senate. She was the first Hmong American to be elected to a state legislature in the United States, served three terms before retiring in 2010 and chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee in her final term.
Moua was born in Laos and came to the United States in 1978 as a refugee. She grew up in the Midwest, attended Brown University, received her MPA from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and earned her JD from the University of Minnesota Law School. She currently works and lives in Maryland with her husband and their three children.
The lecture is being presented by the college’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion in collaboration with Asian Student Union, the Office of Culture and Inclusive Excellence, and the GROW diversity council.
Audience members who need assistance to fully enjoy any event at Hope are encouraged to contact the college’s Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616-395-7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Updates related to events are posted when available in the individual listings at hope.edu/calendar
The Maas Center is located at 264 Columbia Ave., between 10th and 13th streets.