Jacqueline is a scholar activist and descendant of Chinese Vietnamese refugees with an extensive history in intersectional advocacy and leadership development. Her history is rooted in clinical training as a human rights and trauma informed advocate who brings expertise in culturally integrative community organizing and program development. 

A first-generation college graduate--she holds a B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Social Work and Global Health Administration and Policy Certification from the University of Chicago, and is currently a Doctoral candidate in Social Work at the University of Southern California. Her work has ranged from multilingual therapy, immigrant and human rights advocacy,  programmatic development and implementation with survivors of torture, houselessness, domestic violence, and human trafficking to migrant displacement trauma domestically and abroad. 

Nominated as New Orleans Gambits 2022 40 Under 40—she is currently the executive director of VAYLA New Orleans and leads strategic initiatives in achieving equal opportunity and justice through innovating pathways for Asian American Leadership and intersectional activism in New Orleans and the Gulf South.