Objective: In “Under Siege: Be Ready, Stay Ready,” Dr. Dylan Rodriguez and Dr. Connie Wun discussed the current situation with ICE and protests happening across the country, the contributing factors that lead us to this situation, and exploring community organizing strategies for resistance. Following their conversation, Kalaya’an Mendoza will present on personal, community, and protest safety.
Vaelupe Ma’aele, LMFT (she/her/sis)
Vaelupe is a proud queer Samoan therapist with nearly a decade of experience supporting Pasifika, QTPI and BIPOC communities. Rooted in cultural healing and collective care, Vaelupe integrates trauma-informed and cultural practices to help folx navigate intergenerational trauma, identity, and belonging. Her work honors the wisdom of her ancestors while creating liberatory and affirming spaces for those living at the intersections of queerness, diaspora, and resilience.
Dr. Rod Penalosa (he/him)
Dr. Penalosa is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. He has been a mental health provider for 18 years. He has a private consulting and therapy practice in the Bay Area, and he is also a mindfulness meditation teacher certified through the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. He was formerly a psychotherapist at Kaiser Permanente, and the clinical director at Glide Foundation in San Francisco.
Born in Manila, Philippines, he immigrated with his family to the United States as an adolescent, and settled in San Francisco. In 2011, he moved back to the Philippines and practiced therapy for 5 years while doing his dissertation research on the impact of culture and religion on the self-identity of Filipino Catholic gay men. In 2015, he co-founded Circle of Hope, a non-government organization in Manila that provides free access to mental health services to adolescent cancer patients, and their families, at the Philippine General Hospital. Dr. Rod is deeply committed and passionate about working with BIPOCs, particularly the AAPI community, through a holistic and integral approach in exploring the whole self, and the intersections of culture, spirituality, identity, and wellbeing as integral parts of healing that is rooted in self-compassion.
Dr. Connie Wun
Connie is the Executive Director and co-founder of AAPI Women Lead. Connie has published in academic books, journals, and mainstream press, including Antiblackness, Critical Sociology and Elle magazine. She is a co-editor for the anthology, Abolition for the People, with Colin Kaepernick and Christopher Petrella. Dr. Wun has appeared on Democracy Now!, MSNBC, NPR, and a range of podcasts. She’s a former NSF Fellow; UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Fellow and more.
She is grateful that she was able to leave academia. She continues to lead and co-facilitate community-driven research projects on racial and gender violence, anti-Blackness, and carceral violence.
