New Workshop Series!
〰️
New Workshop Series! 〰️
Did you know… Roughly 56% of Japanese Americans in the U.S. identify as Japanese in combination with other races? - Pew Research Center, 2025
Also, among U.S. Japanese Americans under 18, roughly around 80–85 % identify as Japanese in combination with one or more other races (i.e., as multiracial). - My Asian Voice, 2025
OVERVIEW
Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute and Kizuna Little Tokyo are excited to co-host a series of workshops and discussions focusing on mixed race identity within the Japanese American and broader AAPI communities. We believe that learning about one’s identity, relating to other’s lived experiences, and understanding our personal histories while supporting each others stories in a group setting will highlight the ever-changing landscape of these communities. With support from guest speakers and enriching hands-on activities, we look forward to connecting and growing together.
The program is open to 15-20 high school students, and you DO NOT need to identify as mixed race, Japanese American, or Asian American to participate.
Deadline to Register: Friday, March 27, 2026
LOCATION
Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute
Upstairs Classrooms 206, 207/208
SESSION DATES
Thursdays, April 9, 16, & 23 at 4-6 PM
NO COST (FREE!)
Our Team
Alan Takashi Riley
Programs Coordinator, Kizuna Little Tokyo
Program Manager, GVJCI
Stephanie Mayeda
Meet Your Guest Speakers
Maya Hernandez, Ph.D.
Dr. Maya Hernandez is a research scientist focused on teen and family wellbeing in the digital age, with an emphasis on on- and offline identity exploration and mental health of underrepresented communities. She takes a youth-centered approach and has reached schools, industry, and policymakers to encourage a balanced perspective on both the risks and opportunities social technologies, such as social media and AI, can afford young people. She has also consulted for Lego, Disney, Coalition for Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE), and volunteered with Asian Mental Health Collective.
Maya grew up moving around often. With her mother from Japan, a Mexican American father, and little brother, she’s lived in places like Okinawa, Michigan, Boston and more and attended over a dozen schools before graduating high school! She was raised speaking Japanese at home while eating Mexican food for dinners and visited her family in Japan often. She was not introduced to the Japanese American community until 2016 when she attended her first Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (NCCBF) parade in San Francisco. Maya was then encouraged to apply for the Queen Program and later became a part of the 2018 NCCBF Court. Ever since then, she has continued to grow into her mixed Japanese American identity through the history, resilience, and culture of the community. She moved back to Southern California for graduate school and remained actively engaged with all the Japantowns in California. Her first job post-doctorate was as the NextGen Initiatives Senior Manager at Go For Broke National Education Center, where she oversaw a national community building program for young adults across the country and a summer high school journalism program. She remains an active leader of the NCCBF Queen Program and is a current Board of Directors for Kizuna.
Born in Tokyo, Maya received her PhD and MA in Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine and her BA in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering in community, traveling, cooking and is also a certified floral designer.
Matthew Weisbly
Matthew Weisbly is a fourth- and fifth-generation Japanese, Chinese, and Jewish American who currently serves as the Education Programs Manager at the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) National in Los Angeles. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California, majoring in Japanese and Japanese American history with double minors in East Asian Languages and Cultures and Cinematic Arts. In 2024, he received his Master’s degree from the USC Rossier School of Education in Learning Design and Technology.
As an undergraduate, Weisbly was deeply involved in campus life. He served as President of the USC Nikkei Student Union, Vice President of the Mixed Race Student Community, and was a member of the collegiate taiko group Kazan Taiko. He also worked part-time for the university’s Asian Pacific American Student Services office.
Weisbly has been an active member of JACL for many years, holding multiple leadership positions. He previously served as the Youth Representative for the Arizona Chapter, the inaugural Ted T. Namba Fellow for the Pacific Southwest District, and the Daniel K. Inouye Policy Fellow for JACL National in Washington, D.C. Beyond his work with JACL, he is a member of Nikkei Rising, the young adult branch of JA Memorial Pilgrimages. He also spends much of his time with his friends and family, watching movies, playing games, or finding new places to eat.
From Guest Speaker, Maya Hernandez, Ph.D.
“Talking about your racial identity can be central to how you see and take in the world’s endless perspectives. I learned (and still continue to learn!) about my racial identities through continuous conversations with my family, in community, and even through a scientific lens in my research!”
“As our world becomes more diverse and each of us, especially our future generations, holds within us multiple identities, we need to be able to talk about how our identities shape who we are and how we interact with the world. We are the result of all these different identities, histories, and cultures coming together, and it can be confusing or even overwhelming to try to understand it all. But these identities are what make us unique and who we are.”
From Guest Speaker, Matthew Weisbly
