Hanna Huang – Student Leader, Conference Organizer, and Baker

Austin, TX

Who are you?

I’m just a Taiwanese American girl who grew up in South Texas, has a voice and likes to use it! My hometowns are McAllen, TX and Feng Yuan, Taiwan. I grew up speaking (and being lectured by my parents in) Spanish, Taiwanese, and Mandarin. As an undergraduate senior at The University of Texas at Austin, I can truly say I found myself when I made the switch from being a business major to Asian American Studies. I’m also a mega book nerd and love exploring Austin (especially for food!) and beyond with my friends.

What do you do?

Besides being an active leader in the Taiwanese American Students Association (TASA) and the Asian American community on campus throughout my collegiate career, I am the conference director for the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association (ITASA) 2010 Midwest Conference. I’ve also been dubbed Mama Hanna for my culinary contributions to my friends’ waistlines as well as a proud cookie dough and brownie maker at Tiff’s Treats for the last 2.5 years. Currently, I am a student liaison for the Center of Asian American Studies at UT Austin.

Why are you proud to be of Taiwanese heritage?

As a 1.5 generation Taiwanese American, I grew up strongly influenced by my family’s endless supply of Taiwanese pride. I’m proud to be Taiwanese because we are truly a community of people who are never hesitant to lend a helping hand. Especially after organizing and planning the ITASA 2010 Midwest Conference: “Round Up” for about a year, I’ve really been able to connect with and meet so many supporters that have helped to make our first ever ITASA conference in Texas a success. Without all the helping hands and encouraging words, our conference team really would not have been able to reach out to as many people as we did. A big shout out to TaiwaneseAmerican.org for collaborating with us to have their first ever mini-board meeting in conjunction to the conference!

What does the future of Taiwanese America look like to you?

It looks amazing! I definitely plan on staying involved as much as possible with the Taiwanese American community. The future holds a lot for us in respect to seeing the efforts of things like the Taiwanese Census 2010 Campaign and more collaborations between 1st and 2nd generation organizations. With our growing network of Taiwanese Americans expanding even more so into politics, business, media, entertainment and more, I truly believe that collaboration is the key to our future.

Any additional information you would like to share?

The Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association is looking for students to join our 2010-2011 National Board! This is your chance to gain invaluable experience in the non-profit realm, applicable to fields ranging from education to public relations to finance and to management. You can be part of a national movement with a real chance of making an impact on people. Also, you can’t forget the lifelong friends and connections you will make as a part of ITASA’s National Board. Applications and more information can be found at http://itasa.org/content/view/311/371/. The deadline is June 1, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST