2021 JET Career Development Workshop

Are you currently searching for a job, interested in making a career change, or trying to navigate pandemic hiring practices? Then this is the event for you! Attend JETAA Chicago’s 2021 JET Career Development Workshop on Sunday, February 28th at 2 pm to get guidance on building a path to career success.

Our keynote speaker for the 2021 Career Development Workshop will be Emily Frank, a fellow JET with over 10 years of experience in Career Counseling. Based on themes and topics suggested by our JETAA Chicago membership, Emily will be leading this workshop intended to give both advice and guidance on professional development to prepare for the post-pandemic world. The workshop will consist of multiple sessions based on these topics over the course of two hours.

RSVP required via Guestlist: Sign up here!

Follow our social media channels - Facebook & Instagram @jetaachicago - and check back in to the Guestlist for updates

Following the topic-based sessions, we are planning to open the floor to questions and conversation with Emily, facilitated by the JETAA Chicago Board. This will allow participants the ability to gain the most out of this event as possible.

Please join us for this free virtual workshop providing invaluable advice to help advance your career after JET!

*This event is for JET alumni only.

Questions? Contact us at info@jetaachicago.com

Meet the Speakers of Mixed Multitudes: A Discussion about Identity in the US-Japan Community

We are excited to highlight the speakers of Mixed Multitudes: A Discussion about Identity in the US-Japan Community! This is the second webinar in our 2021 series, J-Talks: Strengthening Ties Through Dialogue, which is centered around the themes of identity, cultural understanding and leadership, as experienced by JET alumni and individuals with meaningful connections to Japan.

Mixed Multitudes (Thursday, February 18th from 7pm-8:45pm CST) will aim to cultivate connections between the U.S. and Japan by bringing together multiracial Japanese American/Nikkei speakers to explore their different experiences and help the attendees understand and navigate the concept of mixed race identity in both the U.S. and Japan.

RSVP required via Guestlist: Sign up here

Space is limited, register today!

SPEAKERS

Dr. Mitzi Uehara Carter (she/her)

Mitzi (she/her) is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Anthropology and East Asian Studies and is the Director of Global Indigenous Forum at Florida International University in Miami, FL. She served as a Fellow with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in Okinawa Japan (2011-12) at the University of the Ryukyus. She researches ethnographic methodology of militarization in Okinawa and transnational understandings of Blackness and race in Japan.

She is working on her first book which will trace her mother’s journey from war torn Okinawa to a racially segregated US South as a lens for capturing Black Okinawan life (and afterlives) in the “Black Pacific." Carter received her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley.

Joan Ambo (she/her)

Joan (she/her) is the Manager of Programs & Special Events who works to build community through programs and events at JASC (Japanese American Service Committee).

Joan believes in the importance of coming together, and that a community is sustained through its ability to be flexible and open. Joan holds a BFA from UIC and is an American Montessori Society certified Montessori Teacher.

Cori Nakamura Lin (she/her)

Cori (she/her) is a Midwest-based Taiwanese/Japanese illustrator who specializes in portraiture, food illustration, and culture-centered storytelling. In 2018 In 2018 she illustrated the first Midwestern Lao-American children's book, When Everything Was Everything, by poet Saymoukda Vongsay. Her work has been featured in the LA Times, Eater Chicago, WBEZ Chicago, and in numerous grassroots campaigns in Chicago and Minneapolis.

She is a member of Nikkei Uprising in Chicago with whom she organizes for the collective liberation of all people. She is the recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board 2019 Cultural Community Partnership Grant, the Minnesota Regional Arts Council 2019 Community Arts Grant, 2018 Jerome Emerging Artist Tofte Lake Residency, and the CURA Artist Neighborhood Partnership Grant 2017-2018.

Jason Mattox (he/him)

Jason (he/him) is a Sansei Afro-Asian community person, waterfront Chicago native, tutor, first responder, and technician.

Jason is active in advocacy work as a Core Leader of the group A JUST CHI in Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Chicago. He is known for leading justice reform and action towards police accountability with organizations including Black Lives Matter Chicago. Jason has organized educational community defense programming, and also does work around Afro-Asian relations, and Asian anti-blackness in Chicago. Jason’s interests include international political economy, Afro-Asian relations, cultural studies, and the Black eastern diaspora.

Vinicius Taguchi (he/him)

Vinicius (he/him) is a shin-sansei with respect to when his grandfather moved from Sapporo, Japan to Brazil, but he is a shin-issei with respect to when he and his parents immigrated to North Carolina in 1996. Vinicius participated in the Kakehashi Project in 2015 and now serves on the executive board of the Twin Cities Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) chapter in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Recently, he organized and facilitated a series of virtual workshops challenging anti-Blackness in Japanese American communities, and is now broadening his chapter's collaborations with other community groups. Vinicius is also currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota where he studies Stormwater Management and Green Infrastructure. Through his research, Vinicius is working to ensure that environmentally-friendly cities are also socially sustainable by partnering with community organizations to prevent green gentrification.

MODERATOR

Lara (Zara) Espinoza (she/they)

Zara (she/they) is celebrating over a decade of active leadership and service to the Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program community, which includes eight years working with the Consulate-General of Japan as an Officer in the JETAA Chicago. Zara spearheads strategic people initiatives in US-Japan space and has partnered with JETAA USA, Black Lives Matter Kansai, Tsuru for Solidarity, and is active in the nikkei LGBTQ+ community, Okaeri.

As a multicultural Wonder Woman, 'Japorexican', and JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) Strategist, Zara is a known thought leader with her/their holistic approach to human resources that specializes in equitable design to guide systemic change in a variety of organizations, including Black Tech Jobs, Latinas in Tech, Built In, General Assembly, Ladies Get Paid, Blacks Excelling in Sales & Tech (BEST), LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Design Week PDX, Flatiron School, and University of Michigan. Zara has been recognized as a changemaker in the LGBTQ+ tech community as she/they were the first female non-binary person in the Chicago Leadership Team of the global LGBTQ+ technology non-profit Out in Tech.

RSVP required via Guestlist: Sign up here!

Follow our social media channels - Facebook & Instagram @jetaachicago for updates

This event is open to the public, including our fellow JET Alumni and our Friends of JET (FOJ). Thank you to the generous support of USJETAA and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA for sponsoring the first two webinars of the 2021 J-Talks: Strengthening Ties Through Dialogue, centered around the themes of identity, cultural understanding and leadership, as experienced by JET alumni and individuals with meaningful connections to Japan.

Questions? Contact us at info@jetaachicago.com

J-Talks: Mixed Multitudes Webinar - Official Poster Release

We are proud to debut our official poster of Mixed Multitudes: A Discussion about Identity in the US-Japan Community! This is the second webinar in our 2021 series, J-Talks: Strengthening Ties Through Dialogue, which is centered around the themes of identity, cultural understanding and leadership, as experienced by JET alumni and individuals with meaningful connections to Japan.

RSVP Required via Guestlist

Mixed Multitudes (Thursday, February 18th from 7pm-8:45pm CST) will aim to cultivate connections between the U.S. and Japan by bringing together multiracial Japanese American/Nikkei speakers to explore their different experiences and help the attendees understand and navigate the concept of mixed race identity in both the U.S. and Japan.

The webinar will have into two distinct parts, a presentation by Dr. Mitzi Uehara Carter that contextualize the discussion of multiracial identities. Using intersectionality as a framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social categorizations enable different modes of discrimination and privilege, concepts foundational to the discussion will be introduced, including an overview of hafu in Japan and nikkei in the U.S. Then there will be a panel discussion that will cover topics such as how the multicultural identities in the speakers' backgrounds affected their experiences in Japan and inform their relationships with the U.S.-Japan community, along with how different aspects of their identities impact cross-cultural relationships and understanding between Japan and the U.S.

The speakers are leaders, activists and educators with deep connections to Japan who have worked with and are advocating for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in organizations like Global Indigenous Forum, Twin Cities Japanese American Citizens League, Nikkei Uprising Chicago, Japanese American Service Committee, Out in Tech, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Chicago and Black Lives Matter Chicago.

RSVP required via Guestlist: Sign up here!

Please keep checking this Guestlist event page and follow our social media channels (Facebook & Instagram @jetaachicago) for updates and speaker bios to come!

This event is open to the public, including our fellow JET Alumni and our Friends of JET (FOJ). Thank you to the generous support of USJETAA and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA for sponsoring the first two webinars of the 2021 J-Talks: Strengthening Ties Through Dialogue, centered around the themes of identity, cultural understanding and leadership, as experienced by JET alumni and individuals with meaningful connections to Japan.

Questions? Contact us at info@jetaachicago.com