EUNSOOK LEE
 
Executive Director
AAPI Civic Engagement Fund

EunSook has been with the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund since its establishment in 2013. She is the former Senior Deputy for Congress member Karen Bass. She has previously worked as the Executive Director of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and Executive Director of Korean American Women in Need (KAN-WIN) based in Chicago.


EunSook was born in HwaSun County, South Korea and immigrated to Canada at a young age. As a teenager, she co-founded Youth Against Apartheid (YAA) with other young activists and organized in solidarity with divestment and liberation movements in South Africa. In Canada, EunSook worked in alternative community radio as News Director and then Station Manager of CKLN radio. She came to the United States from Canada in 1993 and became active in the movement for democracy, reunification, and peace in Korea as a member of Young Koreans United of USA. She has written about her experiences in grassroots organizing and policy advocacy in several published essays including a chapter titled “Women Immigrants” in the Encyclopedia of Asian American Issues Today released in 2010 and a chapter co-written with Hahrie Han titled “Engaging Korean Americans in Civic Activism” in A Companion to Korean American Studies released in 2019.