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EK: Hello, everyone. My name is Elaine, I am a UW intern for the Legacy Fund grant project. And I just wanted to say thank you all for being able to be here. Being able to be here with you all as well as learn more about Elaine is really an amazing opportunity and I'm just so grateful to be able to be a part of this. And, so, without... going forward, I just wanted to do a brief introduction of everybody here. And as well if you can share how you knew Elaine Akagi as well. So anybody would like to just go first, you're more than welcome to.

AL: I'll start. Actually, Elaine and I, she was this educator. And so actually, we, I'm not sure for how long, but we did work actually in the same workspace for a period of time, and I actually saw her. I think it's when our offices -- that Seattle district offices moved and they closed some and so we were consolidated, basically. So that's probably why. So it was actually really nice to see her, it seemed like almost every day or pretty frequently, because we could talk about JACL stuff and not just work. Because I didn't really -- our jobs didn't really intersect. But, of course our JACL lives did so, in our friendship too. But Elaine was... I think she really was the person -- maybe not right off the bat -- that maybe focused too, or kind of, she... I think she made me feel that I could be a leader and do important work for the chapter. I mean, a lot of people did that, too, but she kind of was very, I don't know if she was methodical but she was a very nice person. So she had very good intentions, but I did enjoy working with her and I would actually feel very comfortable always asking her questions because I always wanted to learn more and I think always wanted to do more in the chapter, as much as I felt I could. And I always felt I could go to her because she was like -- I mean there are plenty of good leaders in our chapter, but probably for me anyway, it was really, she was a good friend and a good... I learned a lot from her, probably being a good person, too. But JACL became a really important part of who I am today. And as a young person, I don't know how old I was when I started, but probably in my twenties. So maybe right after college, or maybe even during high school, maybe in my senior year, I'm not sure. But my parents were involved in JACL so I probably was somehow connected and met people, the amazing leaders that we had in our chapter. Yeah, I mean, I could maybe save some stuff for later, but yeah.

BT: Ann, I'm gonna just step in for just a second. That you very much, that was very touching. But, for the viewers, would you mind just introducing yourself a little bit?

AL: Oh, sorry.

BT: No, that's fine [Laughs]

AL: [Laughs] Elaine must have been talking through me again. So from, born and raised in Seattle, I grew up on Beacon Hill, up until I was like ten years old, then moved to Mercer Island. And so graduated from Mercer Island High School, went to the University of Washington, graduated in journalism. And then I was like a community journalist for the Asian Family Affair and the International Examiner, and that's where my career as a community volunteer started and lasted probably until 2014, or something, when I kind of decided I was ready to do that. What else... I'm married for thirty years and live in North Seattle now. And working from home, but JACL has always been a very important, pretty integral part of my life, really, because of all the people I know and still know. Is that better? [Laughs] Okay.

EK: Thank you, Ann.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2022 Seattle Chapter JACL. All Rights Reserved.