For AAPI heritage month Zapproved will be joined by community leaders Zhou Fang & Hazel Valdez as they share their stories navigating and debunking the model minority myth.

We will learn about how the model minority myth perpetuates a narrative in which Asian Americans are seen as a polite, a law-abiding group who have achieved a higher level of success than the general public through a combination of innate talent and hard work. We will answer the question:

What could be so bad about being part of a group that’s seen as successful?

Join Zapproved and our speakers for a candid conversation that speaks from the heart.

We invite you to submit questions and/or topics of discussion for our guests during your registration process.

Meet Our Guests

Zhou Fang
As a DEI practitioner, communicator, leader, public speaker, advisor, and advocate, I bring my multi-cultural background into the layered Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) space.

I believe that in order to make meaningful and enabling changes in communities, we must focus on intersectionality and use human-centered approaches to achieve the goals.

Hazel Valdez, Associate Director for the Oregon Bioscience Incubator(OBI) & OTRADI

Hazel works with the executive director on various initiatives including working with entrepreneurs and early-stage bioscience and digital health organizations on their facility and resource needs (equipment, mentors, events, education, funding, etc.) as well as OBI’s DEI initiatives. Prior to joining OBI, Hazel was the Operations Manager at PDXWIT and has been part of the tech community for over 11 years. Hazel is an ambassador for PDXWIT and sits on the board of directors as the board secretary for Saturday Academy. In her free time, she loves spending time with her wife Crystal, traveling, trying out new food items from around the world, cooking, boxing (she’s a USA Boxing official), and spending time with their cat Maple.

Register here.