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Interview with Gayle Isa
Interviewer: Rimki Barua; Myra Harit
Date of Interview: 5-5-2021
Gayle Isa is a fourth generation Japanese American woman who was born in Los Angeles. She has family roots in Hawaii, Japan, and Okinawa. She has previously worked in many non-profit organizations, including the Asian Arts Initiative. She is a care coordinator for the Auntie Sewing Squad.
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Interview with Laura Karlin
Interviewer: Lindsey Cowans; Sierra Shaver; Corinn Biglin
Date of Interview: 5-4-2021
Laura Karlin is the artistic director at Invertigo Dance Theatre, a nonprofit organization that she started in 2006 and is part of the Auntie Sewing Squad where she has worked up to be a Super Auntie, in charge of organizing masks campaigns for farmworker communities. She is passionate about her work at her studio, her newborn baby, Juniper, and being an Auntie by making and producing hand salves. Karlin is an example of a strong woman that does not quit when she puts her mind to something.
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Interview with Lisa Kawamura
Interviewer: Nancy Cornejo
Date of Interview: 11-25-2020
Lisa Kawamura grew up in San Gabriel, CA and received her bachelors and masters at San Francisco State University. She is a faculty in the Communications Department at California State University, San Luis Obispo. She is an activist who has served as a union representative and is a member of Tsuru for Solidarity.
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Interview with Katy Korkos
Interviewer: Jennifer Villa; Gioana Perez
Date of Interview: 11-16-2020
Katy Korkos is an artist, sewer, restaurant owner, and now blissfully retired. She is of Jewish descent, born and raised in the Bay Area of California but currently resides in New Mexico. From her early years of adolescence, Korkos was an activist with her family, fighting for people's civil rights and freedom, and doing anything possible to make this world a better place. She fights for what she believes in and continues to try and spread positivity. She spends her days reading up on latest issues and making masks for the people that need them. Korkos joined the Auntie Sewing Squad for their passion, dedication, and organization, and for those very reasons she chooses to stick with them till the very end. Korkos is a prime example that we should never stop learning, seeking answers to difficult questions, and never give up hope.
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Interview with Sylvia Kwon
Interviewer: Adrian Arredondo Gomez; Melissa Horta Gutierrez
Date of Interview: 11-21-2020
Sylvia Kwon has been living in California for 20 years but she grew up in the Midwest. Her parents are first generation Korean immigrants. She started sewing for her son's ballet studio and ever since then found interest in sewing, she’s very creative and learned how to sew on her own and started with very little basic things. Sylvia Kwon is very centered around her community; she not only helped sew costumes for her son's ballet studio but has also sent around face masks that she’s made. She’s made over 1000 face masks as well as sewn a quilt for a school fundraiser.
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Interview with Dana Lee
Interviewer: Jacqueline Mireles; Kelly Rivas
Date of Interview: 4-28-2021
Born in South Korea in 1984, Dana Lee is an attorney for the state of North Carolina. She lived in South Korea until college and came to the US for graduate school. She recently became a U.S citizen. She took up sewing for a little bit and when the pandemic started, she began sewing masks to donate. She joined the Auntie Sewing Squad in November 2021 as a Sewing Auntie.
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Interview with Linda Lee
Interviewer: Karen Koji; Delia Jimenez; Mhongzoong Yang
Date of Interview: 11-20-2020
Linda Lee is Korean American. Her parents immigrated here from Seoul, South Korea in the late 60’s. She was born in Las Vegas, grew up mostly in Orange County, went to school in San Diego, went to graduate school in New York City, and now she currently resides in Santa Monica, CA. Growing up, Lee’s parents owned a business in LA in the middle of Koreatown. Lee became an Optometrist & works at her family’s optical business with her mother and uncle. When she was 17 y/o, she and her friend volunteered for the Dikakis campaign in Orange County, and demonstrated with the pro-life movement. She has worked in the Biden campaign as part of a volunteer leader crew for phone banking to swing states. Lee sews Face Masks for marginalized, low-income, & people in need, and she discovered the Auntie Sewing Squad on Facebook.
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Interview with Sharyn Lieth
Interviewer: Giovanna Corona Lemus; Christabel Cortes
Date of Interview: 11-16-2020
Sharyn Lieth is a retired teacher, a mother and grandmother, and wife to a professor. She grew up in North Carolina, obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and currently resides in Davis, California. Since she was a young girl, she gave back to the community and continues to do her part to help those in need. From the beginning of the pandemic til now she has been sewing masks and she joined the Auntie Sewing Squad to provide masks for others.
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Interview with Kats Mendoza
Interviewer: Ivan Alejo; Tianna Cavanaugh
Date of Interview: 4-30-2021
Born in the Philippines, Dr. Katharina “Kats” Mendoza graduated from the University of the Philippines in Quezon City with a Bachelor of Arts in English, Creative Writing. In 1999 she immigrated to the United States of America to continue her pursuit of a higher education where she received a Master of Arts Degree in English Language and Literature from Virginia Tech. She then went on to receive a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies from the University of Iowa. She is now a valued member of the Auntie Sewing Squad, where she uses her sewing skills to make masks for overlooked communities that are in need.
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Interview with Kristine Murray
Interviewer: Jasmine Costanzo; Andrew Granado
Date of Interview: 11-18-2020
Kristine Murray is from Washington but she currently lives in Arizona. She teaches English to kids in China and in the Auntie Sewing Squad she is a mask maker. She was already making masks for local needs, but wanted to do more, so she joined the Auntie Sewing Squad.
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Interview with Sally Nemeth
Interviewer: Hailey Hopkins; Samantha Chevez Moscoso
Date of Interview: 4-29-2021
Sally Nemeth has a familial history of helping others through sewing. However, Nemeth’s profession is actually in writing and currently teaches screenwriting, among other things at Loyola Marymount University. She has lived in many different parts of the country, loving the big city of Chicago and California the most. After being involved in activism throughout her life, Sally Nemeth joined the Auntie Sewing Squad to help underprivileged communities suffering in the midst of a global pandemic.
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Interview with Wendy Ng
Interviewer: Cora Correia; Itzel Vargas
Date of Interview: 5-4-2021
Wendy Ng is a third-generation Japanese and Chinese American who grew up in Northern California. She has a professional career in higher education and is currently a Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences at California State University East Bay. She is also a sewist in the Auntie Sewing Squad.
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Interview with Joy Park-Thomas
Interviewer: Kaitlyn Link; Hailey Oyoque
Date of Interview: 12-3-2020
Joy Park-Thomas is a screenwriter and story producer in reality TV. She is a first generation Korean American born in Ohio and raised in Pennsylvania. She lives in Los Angeles, has an Ivy-League degree, and is a feminist and advocate for women.
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Interview with Martha Peck
Interviewer: Paloma Ronquillo; Victoria Bartindale-Guffrey
Date of Interview: 11-17-2020
Martha Peck grew up in a middle-class family in Connecticut during the 1960s. She is a retired clergywoman and now lives on the rural outskirts of Vermont with her husband. Peck joined the Auntie Sewing Squad through a friend in Los Angeles, California. She loves helping and advocating for individuals from sewing masks to standing up for her beliefs.
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Interview with Jo Pessin
Interviewer: Jacob Goller; Kaye-Celine Celestino
Date of Interview: 5-10-2021
Jo Pessin is a Filipina American who was born in Seattle, Washington. The youngest of four, her father migrated to the United States after joining the Navy and shortly after, her family moved to Oxnard, California, where she spent most of her life. She currently serves as the LA chapter lead of For Goodness Cakes, a non-profit organization that bakes birthday cakes for underprivileged youth and young adults. After the COVID-19 pandemic began, Pessin contributed to the supply van to Navajo Nation and joined the Auntie Sewing Squad. Shortly after, Pessin received a cancer diagnosis and found support in her community of Aunties. Today, Pessin still continues to make masks and provides support for the Auntie Sewing Squad.
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