Summer Bulletin

Advancing Equity and Justice Krystal Ka‘ai ’10 leads the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacifc Islanders. Story by Christina Tatu I l lustrat ion by Neha Kavan It was 2006 when Krystal Ka‘ai ’10 left Hawaii, where she was born and raised, to study at Lehigh, an experience that would eventually lead her to Washington, D.C. and help fulfll her dream of working for the federal government. Ka‘ai, a political science major with a minor in business, was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021 to lead the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacifc Islanders. She is also head of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacifc Islanders. “It has been a whirlwind, and it’s been a lot of fun and a lot of work,” Ka‘ai said during a virtual presentation to the Lehigh Asian Alumni Network. “I think now more than ever this work is so critical, as the Asian American, NativeHawaiian and Pacifc Islander community faces a multitude of challenges that have been exacerbated over the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said. “Most concerning is the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.” The initiative, reinstated last year by Biden’s administration, is charged with coordinating a comprehensive federal response to the rise in anti-Asian bias and violence, as well as addressing the systemic lack of disaggregated data on the communities, expanding language assistance programs, and addressing obstacles to education. Before taking the role, Ka‘ai was executive director of the Congressional Asian Pacifc American Caucus, leading legislative, communications and outreach strategy for a bicameral caucus of more than 70 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. She worked to advance key priorities of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, including healthcare, immigration and education. Ka‘ai said the journey from high school to her career was unique. Most kids from Hawaii who go to college on the continental U.S. head to the West Coast, Ka‘ai said, but she knew she wanted to get out of her comfort zone and experience something diferent, so she headed to the East Coast—and Lehigh—to study political science and follow a career path in public service. “For me, as someone from Hawaii, but also of Asian American and Native Hawaiian descent, I really wanted to make sure my community had a voice at the national level where so many decisions are made,” Ka‘ai said. Coming to Lehigh was a culture shock. “When I was accepted to Lehigh, I want to say we had fve or six of us from Hawaii that year, but the student body was still predominantly white, so that was a big adjustment for me having grown up in one of the most diverse and multicultural states in the country,” she said. Still, Ka‘ai built relationships and experiences at Lehigh, which she credits with helping to advance her career. Jefrey D. Lau ’70, longtime president of the Lehigh University Alumni Club of Hawaii and senior director at the Ogawa, Lau, Nakamura & Jew law frm in Honolulu, facilitated Ka‘ai’s virtual presentation in March to the Lehigh community. Lau encouraged Ka‘ai and several of her high school classmates on the Kamehameha Schools Debate Team to apply to Lehigh. He said he hoped to bring more ethnic diversity to Lehigh and expose Native Hawaiian students to other parts of the country. In 2009, while still at Lehigh, Ka‘ai interned with the state of Hawaii’s Ofce of Hawaiian Afairs at its Washington, D.C. bureau. After graduating the following year, she was hired as a policy fellow. In the summer of 2011 she accepted an internship with Hawaii’s then-Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, a U.S. senator from 1990 to 2013. Akaka, now deceased, was chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Afairs, which has jurisdiction over Native Hawaiian issues. Later in 2011 she was hired for an entry-level position with the Congressional Asian Pacifc American Caucus. About two years in, when she was 25, Ka‘ai was promoted to the organization’s executive director position. “Even though there are a lot of young people working on Capitol Hill, I was often the youngest person in the room when I frst assumed my role as executive director of the caucus,” she said. The experience was thrilling for Ka‘ai, who said she was invited to meetings at the White House and involved in discussions with Congressional leadership. In 2020, the role opened up with the Biden/Harris administration to lead the White House Initiative. “It was a really competitive process to be able to get this 2 8 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N

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