At Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL), our work has always been rooted in both legacy and future.
For more than four decades, AJSOCAL has advanced social justice alongside immigrant communities, working families, survivors, youth, and those whose voices are too often left out of systems of power. That work has been shaped by advocates, public interest attorneys, organizers, and community leaders who understood that lasting change depends on preparing the next generation to carry the work forward.
This summer, AJSOCAL is proud to welcome our newest cohort of fellows and interns.
Together, they represent the future.
Honoring Legacy Through Fellowship
AJSOCAL is proud to announce the first-ever Mark Yoshida Public Interest Fellow and Kent Wong DREAM Fellow. These two public interest law fellowships are rooted in the legacies of two long-serving AAPI attorneys who helped shape immigrant justice within the community throughout Southern California.
Mark Yoshida Public Interest Fellowship
The Mark Yoshida Public Interest Fellowship is named in honor of Mark Yoshida, an esteemed immigration attorney who served at AJSOCAL and was beloved within the AAPI community for nearly 30 years. Under the guidance of AJSOCAL’s Immigration team, this two-year experience supports legal advocacy, immigration cases, and key projects that impact not only AAPIs but also the wider community.
Mark Yoshida Public Interest Fellow
Natasha Amonkar-Zazueta earned her Juris Doctor from California Western School of Law in San Diego, where she was active in the Family Law Society and Women’s Law Caucus. During law school, she gained extensive immigration law experience through both private practice and nonprofit legal work. Natasha, who speaks Hindi and Marathi, has been passionate about immigration law since her undergraduate years at UC Irvine. During her fellowship, Natasha will develop meaningful relationships with clients, conduct fact-finding efforts for their cases, and learn to consult legal doctrine when managing cases. She will also develop and assist in outreach events and clinics to connect with marginalized immigrants of the API community.
Kent Wong DREAM Fellowship
The Kent Wong DREAM Fellowship is named after one of AJSOCAL’s first attorneys, Kent Wong, who was also a widely respected and a cherished member of the AAPI community. His work was an anchor for the labor movement and immigrant worker rights. The fellowship, established last year, honors his legacy by training public interest attorneys committed to defending immigrants, advancing workers’ rights, and creating systemic change.
The first-ever Kent Wong DREAM Fellow is Jiyoon Park, a Juris Doctor Candidate at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. As the daughter of immigrants, Jiyoon’s commitment is shaped by her own family’s experience finding strength and support through the Asian American community. From her work at the Brennan Center for Justice, she brings extensive experience researching election security, disinformation, and political violence. During her fellowship, Jiyoon will focus on protecting the civil and constitutional rights of immigrants, while working at the intersection of litigation, advocacy, and community partnership.
“Mark Yoshida and Kent Wong helped shape not only AJSOCAL’s work, but the values behind it — a belief that justice must be rooted in community, sustained through relationships, and carried forward by people who willingly embrace the demanding work of justice. These fellowships honor their legacies by giving emerging public interest attorneys the opportunity to learn through service, deepen their commitment to immigrant and worker communities, and prepare to lead the next chapter of civil rights work,” says Dahni Tsuboi, CEO, AJSOCAL.
Welcoming Our Summer Interns
This summer, interns from colleges, universities, and law schools across the country will support work across all parts of the organization.
Our Impact Litigation interns getting ready to work on their civil rights projects.
Through hands-on experience, mentorship, and community-centered advocacy, interns will gain insight into how legal services, policy advocacy, litigation, community education, and nonprofit leadership address core issues crucial to the well-being of AAPIs.
Impact Litigation
Minji Oh, Pepperdine Law
Lydia Chun, UCLA Law
Grace Shin, UCI Law
Justin Fang, UCLA Law
Zachary Luu, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Programs
Josh Weiner, Yale University
Development
Jocelyn Cho, Pomona College
Brandon Dizon, Post-graduate
Christyn Leong, Post-graduate
Orange County Development
Alyssa Garcia, Cal State, Long Beach
Policy
Emily Wen, Georgetown
Kylea Lindelli, UC Davis
Health Access Program (HAP)
Kathleen Ha, Emory University
Dawn Tran, UC Irvine
Survivor and Family Empowerment (SAFE)
Yvonne Hoque, Loyola Law
Orange County Citizenship and Immigration
Chloe Jiang, Williams College
Leslie Yang, Post-graduate
Tomohiko Ueda, UC Irvine
Los Angeles Citizenship
Sophia Kennan, Pepperdine Law
Rachel Lee, Brown University
Los Angeles Immigration
Kailia Garfield, East Los Angeles College
Samantha Oey, UCLA
Administration
Laura Campos, Cal State, Long Beach
Kasey Lee, Wesleyan
Chelsea Thomas, University of San Diego
Building the Future of Justice
Across every department, our fellows and interns are stepping into work that is urgent, community-centered, and deeply connected to AJSOCAL’s mission.
This summer, they will gain more than professional experience. They will see what justice work looks like up close: the care it takes to support a client, the strategy behind litigation and policy change, the trust built through community education, and the behind-the-scenes work that keeps movements and organizations moving forward.
We believe nurturing future leaders is not separate from the work. It is part of how justice work continues.
# # #
