Hello! I am Dr. Joanne L. Rondilla and I’m an honored to serve on the team that is organizing the AANHPI Ohana Center of Excellence. As a daughter of Filipino immigrants, I was born and raised on Guam. This project means the world to me because at a young age, someone dear to me suffered from depression and eventually took their own life. Growing up, I did not have the education or awareness of mental health issues, or how this experience would impact me well into adulthood. This is among many of the motivations behind participating in this work.

In addition to this project, I am an assistant professor of Asian American Studies and Sociology at San Jose State University. Recently, I served as a Public Voices fellow at The OpEd Project. An award-winning educator, I am the co-author of Is Lighter Better?: Skin Tone Discrimination Among Asian Americans and co-editor of Red & Yellow, Black & Brown: Decentering Whiteness in Mixed Race Studies. My research interests include colorism, popular culture, and media representations.