Ysa Le
Executive Director
Ysa began her art activism with VAALA since 2000, serving as VAALA’s Board as President from 2004-2008, and then as Executive Director from 2008 until now. She is one of the original co-founders of Viet Film Fest.
Prior to VAALA, Ysa was a radio host for the Viet Nam California Radio (VNCR), from 1995 to 2010. She hosted a weekly show called “Vòng Chân Trời Văn Học Nghệ Thuật” (“The Art Horizon”), which covered interviews with various artists and art events. Her show was syndicated for Voice of America (VOA), which broadcasted in Vietnam. In 2005, Ysa was chosen by the Orange County Register as one of the “30 Vietnamese Americans to Watch” in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Vietnamese American community in the United States. She received the Arts and Culture (In-Language) Award from New California Media in 2003 for her article on Mimi News, reporting the revival of the traditional performance art Cải Lương in the Vietnamese community. She was awarded with the “Service Award” from the USC (University of Southern California) Asian Pacific Alumni Association in 2012. Ysa received the inaugural VIMO Luminary Champion Award for her contribution in cultivating positive advancements for Vietnamese filmmaking.
Ysa received her Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1994. She currently works as a clinical pharmacist at St. Joseph Home Infusion Pharmacy in Anaheim.
Christine Tran
Managing Director
Christine Yen Tran-Phan is passionate about telling stories – whether they’re about businesses or the Vietnamese-American experience. Currently, she is a core organizer for commongroundoc, an open mic space organized by Viet progressives, where she helped pave its 2020 virtual workshop and open mic platform. Her poem and art piece, “Was It Dark?” was exhibited in VAALA’s Generations: 40 Hues between Black and White in 2015, pictured here. Christine volunteered with Viet Film Fest as its Events and Marketing Director since 2018. She’s interested in revealing stories and overarching themes of the human experience through the topic of food, and has done so as the Project Director for the Illuminated Recipes Project by VAALA.
Christine rebranded two technology networking companies and planned over 25 trade shows since 2012 as a digital marketing manager. She co-owned a small business in aquariums and tropical fish for five years. During that time, she volunteered for the World Pet Association to raise funds for the Pets in the Classroom grant at the America’s Pet Expo annually. As a copywriter lead for Forge54 for the last three years, she helped rebrand nonprofit organizations like Ocean Institute of Dana Point and DreamsforSchools within a 54-hour time frame.
Jennifer Pham
Webmaster
Born and raised in Little Saigon, Jennifer Pham had always been surrounded by Vietnamese food and people, but it wasn’t until she studied abroad in Vietnam that she started to appreciate Vietnamese culture. Since then, she has volunteered as a Vietnamese medical interpreter, teach English to Vietnamese adults, and mentor at-risk Vietnamese-American youth.
Jennifer Pham has a Bachelors degree in Public Health and Psychology from UC Berkeley. She currently works as a web developer and software engineer, where she finds her passion in designing beautiful and functional websites and applications and automating processes.
Quyên Nguyen-Le
Project Director, Project Foto
Quyên Nguyen-Le is a filmmaker and educator born and raised in southern California, whose work has been exhibited internationally in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., and Vietnam. After a brief time at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Quyên instead completed degrees in Comparative Literature and Philosophy/Politics/Law at USC; then moved to Santiago de Chile to study Spanish with an emphasis in politics. Quyên is also a proud graduate of the Los Angeles Inner-City Filmmakers program and the Emma L. Bowen Foundation’s three year fellowship at Focus Features/ NBCUniversal.
Uyen Hoang
Co-Program Director, Youth in Motion
Uyen Hoang is a Viet-American femme from Garden Grove, Orange County. She has a Masters in Arts in
Asian American Studies and a Masters in Public Health in Community Health Sciences. Her artwork curiously
explores the complexity within the intersections of identity, community and systems of power. She likes puppies, peonies,
and is not lactose intolerant, which is important because she lives for cheesy puns.
Tu Nguyen
Co-Program Director, Youth in Motion
Tu Nguyen was born in Binh Gia, Vietnam. She lived in Chicago from the age of nine and relocated to Southern California in 2011 where she pursued degrees in Art and Film. A sculpture, installation, and video artist, Nguyen is influenced by psychology and often create works that investigate the construction of perception, memory, identity, and personal and collective history. Nguyen refers to her sculptures as “performative objects” because they are usually site specific and durational works that deteriorate throughout the span of their exhibition. When not making art or editing videos, Nguyen enjoys collecting Japanese knives, appreciating her houseplants, stalking strangers’ dogs, incorrectly guessing people’s sun signs, and more.
Eric Nong
Artistic Director, Viet Film Fest 2021
Born and raised in Orange County, CA, Eric Nong is a self-taught classic film buff who, since 2012, maintains a blog dedicated to movie write-ups. In addition to his passion for film, he has served as a volunteer and writer for Viet Film Fest 2018. Eric was also a part of Viet Film Fest 2019’s Curatorial Committee and volunteered during the 3-day event. Eric has a BA in Political Science from UC Irvine (also attended UC Santa Cruz for the first two years of undergrad); MPP from UCI with a focus on education and poverty alleviation. In his spare time, Eric volunteers his time to teach English to Buddhist monks at Chùa Bát Nhã in Santa Ana, CA.
Tony Nguyen
Digital Director, Viet Film Fest 2021
Born in Des Moines and based in Dallas, Tony Nguyen received his BA in History at the University of Texas, Dallas. He previously worked at the Dallas International Film Festival as Programming Coordinator since 2018 and currently co-curates a queer film series, Pleasure Style Attitude (PSA), for Texas Theatre, a local art house theatre, showcasing motion pictures amplifying underrepresented voices and cultivating discussions of the intersections of queerness, politics, aesthetics, class, and race.
Viet Vu
Program Manager, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read 2021
Viet Vu received a B.S. in Biology at UC Riverside and an MLIS from San Jose State University. He’s worked at various branches within the Orange County Public Libraries 32-branch system, such as Palmdale City Library, Huntington Beach Public Library, and Palmdale City Library. His academic and research library experiences include Allergan Research and Development, CSU Fullerton Pollak Library, and Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) Dennis and Leslie Power Library. Viet lives with his three cats and has a new obsession with gardening, both byproducts of the Covid-19 pandemic. In his free time, Viet enjoys illustration and graphic design, and indulging in comic book art. Most recently, he took an online class in creating comics for risoprinting.
Janet Le
GBW - The Best We Could Do Project Director
Janet Le (she/her) is an urban planner/designer who is passionate about the power of the arts in creating more sustainable, equitable, and resilient places. She is committed to advocating and creating opportunities for Southern California’s next generation of young creatives. Janet holds a Masters in City Planning and a certificate in New Media from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in Political Science and Narrative Studies from the USC. In the past, she has worked with community-based organizations, arts education nonprofits, and museums throughout Los Angeles. She is the Gallery Beyond Walls Project Director for The Best We Could Do project in 2022.
Ysa began her art activism with VAALA since 2000, serving as VAALA’s Board as President from 2004-2008, and then as Executive Director from 2008 until now. She is one of the original co-founders of Viet Film Fest.
Prior to VAALA, Ysa was a radio host for the Viet Nam California Radio (VNCR), from 1995 to 2010. She hosted a weekly show called “Vòng Chân Trời Văn Học Nghệ Thuật” (“The Art Horizon”), which covered interviews with various artists and art events. Her show was syndicated for Voice of America (VOA), which broadcasted in Vietnam. In 2005, Ysa was chosen by the Orange County Register as one of the “30 Vietnamese Americans to Watch” in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Vietnamese American community in the United States. She received the Arts and Culture (In-Language) Award from New California Media in 2003 for her article on Mimi News, reporting the revival of the traditional performance art Cải Lương in the Vietnamese community. She was awarded with the “Service Award” from the USC (University of Southern California) Asian Pacific Alumni Association in 2012. Ysa received the inaugural VIMO Luminary Champion Award for her contribution in cultivating positive advancements for Vietnamese filmmaking.
Ysa received her Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1994. She currently works as a clinical pharmacist at St. Joseph Home Infusion Pharmacy in Anaheim.
Christine Yen Tran-Phan is passionate about telling stories – whether they’re about businesses or the Vietnamese-American experience. Currently, she is a core organizer for commongroundoc, an open mic space organized by Viet progressives, where she helped pave its 2020 virtual workshop and open mic platform. Her poem and art piece, “Was It Dark?” was exhibited in VAALA’s Generations: 40 Hues between Black and White in 2015, pictured here. Christine volunteered with Viet Film Fest as its Events and Marketing Director since 2018. She’s interested in revealing stories and overarching themes of the human experience through the topic of food, and has done so as the Project Director for the Illuminated Recipes Project by VAALA.
Christine rebranded two technology networking companies and planned over 25 trade shows since 2012 as a digital marketing manager. She co-owned a small business in aquariums and tropical fish for five years. During that time, she volunteered for the World Pet Association to raise funds for the Pets in the Classroom grant at the America’s Pet Expo annually. As a copywriter lead for Forge54 for the last three years, she helped rebrand nonprofit organizations like Ocean Institute of Dana Point and DreamsforSchools within a 54-hour time frame.
Born and raised in Little Saigon, Jennifer Pham had always been surrounded by Vietnamese food and people, but it wasn’t until she studied abroad in Vietnam that she started to appreciate Vietnamese culture. Since then, she has volunteered as a Vietnamese medical interpreter, teach English to Vietnamese adults, and mentor at-risk Vietnamese-American youth.
Jennifer Pham has a Bachelors degree in Public Health and Psychology from UC Berkeley. She currently works as a web developer and software engineer, where she finds her passion in designing beautiful and functional websites and applications and automating processes.
Quyên Nguyen-Le is a filmmaker and educator born and raised in southern California, whose work has been exhibited internationally in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., and Vietnam. After a brief time at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Quyên instead completed degrees in Comparative Literature and Philosophy/Politics/Law at USC; then moved to Santiago de Chile to study Spanish with an emphasis in politics. Quyên is also a proud graduate of the Los Angeles Inner-City Filmmakers program and the Emma L. Bowen Foundation’s three year fellowship at Focus Features/ NBCUniversal.
Uyen Hoang is a Viet-American femme from Garden Grove, Orange County. She has a Masters in Arts in
Asian American Studies and a Masters in Public Health in Community Health Sciences. Her artwork curiously
explores the complexity within the intersections of identity, community and systems of power. She likes puppies, peonies,
and is not lactose intolerant, which is important because she lives for cheesy puns.
Tu Nguyen was born in Binh Gia, Vietnam. She lived in Chicago from the age of nine and relocated to Southern California in 2011 where she pursued degrees in Art and Film. A sculpture, installation, and video artist, Nguyen is influenced by psychology and often create works that investigate the construction of perception, memory, identity, and personal and collective history. Nguyen refers to her sculptures as “performative objects” because they are usually site specific and durational works that deteriorate throughout the span of their exhibition. When not making art or editing videos, Nguyen enjoys collecting Japanese knives, appreciating her houseplants, stalking strangers’ dogs, incorrectly guessing people’s sun signs, and more.
Born and raised in Orange County, CA, Eric Nong is a self-taught classic film buff who, since 2012, maintains a blog dedicated to movie write-ups. In addition to his passion for film, he has served as a volunteer and writer for Viet Film Fest 2018. Eric was also a part of Viet Film Fest 2019’s Curatorial Committee and volunteered during the 3-day event. Eric has a BA in Political Science from UC Irvine (also attended UC Santa Cruz for the first two years of undergrad); MPP from UCI with a focus on education and poverty alleviation. In his spare time, Eric volunteers his time to teach English to Buddhist monks at Chùa Bát Nhã in Santa Ana, CA.
Born in Des Moines and based in Dallas, Tony Nguyen received his BA in History at the University of Texas, Dallas. He previously worked at the Dallas International Film Festival as Programming Coordinator since 2018 and currently co-curates a queer film series, Pleasure Style Attitude (PSA), for Texas Theatre, a local art house theatre, showcasing motion pictures amplifying underrepresented voices and cultivating discussions of the intersections of queerness, politics, aesthetics, class, and race.
Viet Vu received a B.S. in Biology at UC Riverside and an MLIS from San Jose State University. He’s worked at various branches within the Orange County Public Libraries 32-branch system, such as Palmdale City Library, Huntington Beach Public Library, and Palmdale City Library. His academic and research library experiences include Allergan Research and Development, CSU Fullerton Pollak Library, and Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) Dennis and Leslie Power Library. Viet lives with his three cats and has a new obsession with gardening, both byproducts of the Covid-19 pandemic. In his free time, Viet enjoys illustration and graphic design, and indulging in comic book art. Most recently, he took an online class in creating comics for risoprinting.
Janet Le (she/her) is an urban planner/designer who is passionate about the power of the arts in creating more sustainable, equitable, and resilient places. She is committed to advocating and creating opportunities for Southern California’s next generation of young creatives. Janet holds a Masters in City Planning and a certificate in New Media from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in Political Science and Narrative Studies from the USC. In the past, she has worked with community-based organizations, arts education nonprofits, and museums throughout Los Angeles. She is the Gallery Beyond Walls Project Director for The Best We Could Do project in 2022.