In Conversation with Taiwanese American Professionals (TAP) – DC

By: Derek Mong

Established by the Taiwanese American Citizens League (TACL) in 2012, the TAP (Taiwanese-American Professionals) chapter in Washington, DC brings together Taiwanese American Professionals from across the metro area to enhance the Taiwanese-American community by connecting individuals interested in professional and career development. As a chapter still in its infancy at just over two years old, TAP-DC is already almost 2,000 members strong and is reaching new programmatic heights in 2014 as it strives to enhance the personal and collective experiences of Taiwanese American Professionals in Washington, DC, and beyond.

Recently, Asian Fortune sat down with President Jennifer (Jenny) Lin and Internal Vice President Justine Chen to talk about where the group is heading and how members of the community at-large can get involved.  Jenny is a naval architect for the Navy and originally grew up in New Jersey before attending Virginia Tech and receiving her Bachelor’s in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering as well as her Master’s in Ocean Engineering.  Justine is a policy analyst for a government contractor and was raised in Orange County, California before earning a BA in Political Science at UCLA and living in Taiwan and China for almost four years.

Let’s start with the basics. In your own words, what is TAP-DC, and what does the organization do?

Jennifer: TAP-DC is a non-profit, non-partisan organization established to provide Taiwanese American Professionals in the DC area with a means to develop as professionals, individuals, and as part of a community. We also organize events that celebrate Taiwanese and DC cultures.

Justine: We try to provide a community for Taiwanese Americans in the area to find each other in the context of a common Taiwanese culture, so we also offer cultural events.

What are some of the existing events and things TAP-DC members have to look forward to for the remainder of 2014 and into next year?

Justine: For the remainder of 2014, we are excited to be fielding a team for the Ragnar Relay in September. We’re still looking for members to join our amazing team! We are just doing it for fun as an opportunity to get to know new people and socialize, so you don’t need to be a marathon runner or triathlete. We also have our monthly happy hours, which we call TAP-py Hour, where you can meet board members, see if you want to get more involved, learn about upcoming events, and just meet other Taiwanese Americans.

We are also tentatively planning a series of panel discussions that will discuss current issues that are of importance to the Taiwanese American community as well as the greater APA community. These current issues include dealing with the bamboo ceiling (Fall 2014), APA representation in mainstream media (Winter 2015), mental health awareness and stigma against seeking treatment (Spring 2015), and APA voter participation (Fall 2015). Look for more details in the coming months!

Jennifer: TAP-DC is also working with several other APA organizations to establish a comprehensive Professional Development Series, held monthly by different partnering organizations.

If you had an unlimited budget and unlimited resources, what type of event or programming would you want to see TAP-DC do?

Justine: For me, the types of events and programming we would like to put on are the ones I mentioned previously – events that develop Taiwanese Americans’ political identity and advocacy and make us more relevant to the greater APA community. I am not-so-secretly hoping that someone in the local Taiwanese American community will read this article and donate some money or a nice venue so that we can put on these events and make them a great value for our members!

On my wishlist, however, is to bring in Tina Tchen and Elaine Chao for separate guest speaker events to discuss their rise to the highest levels of US government, particularly as women. I would love for them to speak about how their Taiwanese cultural identity influenced (or didn’t influence) their respective career trajectories.

Jennifer: If TAP-DC had unlimited budget and resources, I would want to establish a Taiwanese Culture Center in the heart of DC to use to host events like “TED talk” workshops and seminars that could be broadcasted to or from anywhere in the world. I would also want TAP-DC to have more of a presence online and in the media, from Taiwanese language lessons to interviews of Taiwanese Americans in leadership to reviews of the best place to find bubble tea; anything and everything which celebrates our culture.

If you could host a TAP-DC event and invite a panel of three judges to discuss an issue, who would you pick and what topic would you have them discuss/debate?

Justine: There are several issues for which I would like to set up panels to discuss in depth, but since we are a professional development organization located in DC and I can only choose one issue, I would love to invite writer/educator Eric Liu, US Representative Judy Chu, and FLOTUS Chief of Staff Tina Tchen to discuss the importance of voting in elections and being politically aware and active in general, as well as the consequences of not being politically active.

DC definitely has a very professionally-minded crowd; what is TAP-DC doing to engage that crowd? What resources is TAP-DC making available to those professionally-minded?

Justine: Our past professional development events include an information session on job opportunities at the CIA, a workshop on how to dress professionally, TAP-py Hours that people can utilize for networking, and industry dinners during Restaurant Week. (Jenny could probably add more to this.)

Jennifer: TAP-DC has also offered events such as Resume workshops, Networking 101, and Homebuying 101. Although some events are more popular than others, we’re looking to take advantage of the stellar events other APA organizations host as part of the comprehensive Professional Development series. By pulling our resources together, we can offer the best of the best for all of our members.
For more information on TAP-DC, check out their website at http://tap-dc.org.