Joanie is no stranger to pushing past her comfort zone to further dialogue around diversity; she uses her own (still growing) experience of cultural duality to bridge gaps in understanding. She was born in Queens, NY and raised in a Chinese & pan-Asian dominant neighbourhood. Because of this, she didn’t fully cherish her heritage until attending Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. She very quickly pivoted to become a lead within the Pac Asia club and a participant in conversations around embracing race & ethnicity on campus. Joanie is now co-chair of Anheuser-Busch’s US Pac-Asia employee resource group, a part of the company’s wide reaching D&I initiatives. The group’s mission is two-fold: to generate awareness of Asian American consumers to the larger organization by sharing their diverse experiences and to create an inclusive community for Asian & POC employees. The hope is that with more awareness comes more compassionate curiosity in engaging with different consumer bases. Externally, she has served as a lead within Asian American for Equality and the Museum of Chinese in America young professional groups, and volunteers with AALDEF to conduct the post-election poll survey in ethnic communities. Feel free to give her a ping if you’re looking for non-light beer pairings for Asian cuisines!