Machik Team
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DR. LOSANG RABGEY Co-founder & Executive Director of Machik Born in a Tibetan refugee settlement in India and raised in Canada, Dr Losang Rabgey holds a Ph.D. from the University of London in Gender Anthropology. She is the first Tibetan to become a Commonwealth Scholar and National Geographic Explorer. Dr. Rabgey is recognized for her innovative work in gender equity, bridging cultural divides through education and peace-building for Tibet. She is a frequent public speaker, including at Yale University, Harvard University, UC Santa Cruz, and University of London, and at the NobelPeace Forum. A feminist anthropologist specializing in contemporary Tibet and certified Mentorship Trainer, she has mentored hundreds. Rabgey explains, "Deep listening and a values-based approach are more vital now than ever." In 1998, Rabgey, her sister Dr. Tashi Rabgey, and their parents Pencho and Tsering Rabgey, co-founded Machik, a nonprofit whose mission is to grow a global community committed to a stronger future for Tibet. Rabgey notes, "Tibetan change-makers in Tibet, especially from the rural, have great strength, resilience and creativity in an uncertain context…they inspire me profoundly every day.” Machik also works to create a new connect Tibetans into a global social justice context. In 2018, Dr Rabgey and her sister received Harvard University's recognition as Women Inspiring Change, an honor also awarded to Stacey Abrams, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Dr Kimberle Crenshaw. Along with her family, she has received the Meritorious Service Cross from the Governor-General of Canada. |
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DR. TASHI RABGEY Research Professor, George Washington University Strategic Director & Co-founder, Machik Dr Tashi Rabgey is a Research Professor of International Affairs at the Elliott School, specializing in Tibet, China and the politics of statehood and governance. Through interdisciplinary research initiatives she has led on public policy and governance in Tibet, Professor Rabgey's work has enabled the development of new inquiries into the institutional structure and process of the People's Republic of China's policymaking in Tibet. She currently directs the Tibet Governance Lab and the Research Initiative on Multination States (RIMS) at George Washington University through which she has been developing comparative regional studies of the Basque Country, Kurdistan and other case studies of regional autonomy. Before joining the Elliott School, Tashi Rabgey was a lecturer in contemporary Tibetan studies at the University of Virginia where she was also co-director of the UVa Tibet Center. Committed life-long to community empowerment, she has traveled extensively to remote regions across Tibet over the past three decades. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in political and legal anthropology, as well as law degrees from Oxford and Cambridge where she studied as the first Tibetan Rhodes scholar. |
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TENZIN CHOKKI Machik Fest Chair Born in India, Tenzin Chokki spent her formative years studying in various TCV boarding schools before immigrating to the States with her family in 2009. While in Boston, she completed her undergraduate studies at Tufts majoring in Child Development & Community Health, and also spent a semester studying in Greece. During college, Chokki worked with various research and community-based organizations, such as the Disparities Research Unit and Tibetan Resettlement Stories: Voices of Boston. These experiences pushed her to seriously consider and develop her passion for conducting community-based participatory research work in the fields of migration, belonging, psychosocial health & wellbeing, traditional knowledge, and community resilience. Currently, Chokki is a Program Associate at Machik where she is harnessing her skills in program development, design, and communications. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cooking, music, photography, and the outdoors with loved ones. |
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TENZIN YANGKEY Machik Fest Community Co-Chair Tenzin Yangkey is a recent Duke University graduate who studied environmental engineering and Innovation & Entrepreneurship certificate. While at Duke, she co-founded Duke Machik Chapter with her friends to discuss social and environmental issues of Tibet. Currently, she interns with the Climate Planning team of Montgomery County in Maryland. Yangkey’s passion lies in pursuing interdisciplinary research on environmental and climate change issues using remote sensing, hydrology, and human geography concepts. Born and raised in India, she attended Tibetan schools there and studied A-Levels in the UK. |
VoLUNTEER COMMITTEE
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TENZIN CHONZY Machik Program Intern Tenzin Chonzy is a Tibetan-American born and raised in Chicago, IL. She is currently a senior at New York University studying Psychology with a minor in American Sign Language. She is a Program Intern at Machik as well as Music Coordinator for this year's Machik Fest. Passionate about women's rights and racial equality, Chonzy enjoys working with Machik's amazing team and is incredibly proud to contribute to the inspiring work and mission of Machik. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, singing and beating her friends and family in board games. |
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TENZIN DICKYI Facilitators Coordinator Tenzin Dickyi is a Tibetan-American born and raised in Connecticut. She recently graduated from Colgate University with a degree in Educational Studies and Women's Studies. Currently, she is living and working in New York City at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She was a Program Intern for Machik last summer and is passionate about gender equity and decolonizing education. In her free time she likes to dream about momos and spend time in nature. |
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ALEX FOOTE Outreach & Ticket Sales Coordinator Alex Foote grew up in Dallas, Texas, and first became interested in East Asia after a school trip to China in middle school. In high school, her passion for social justice grew through experiences teaching migrant workers’ children in China. She continued her studies of the region, majoring in East Asian Studies at Harvard University. Alex volunteered with Machik for the Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) in 2013 in Amdo, and she supported the development of the Tibet Governance and Practice Forum with the theme of environmental conservation. The experience in Amdo inspired her to focus on environmental justice in her undergraduate thesis and later in her master’s thesis at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In March, she joined the sustainability department at PepsiCo, focusing on sustainability reporting and business integration. Alex was also a guest speaker at MW 2013 and the Machik Gender Summit for 2020. In her spare time, Alex enjoys playing with dogs, watching psychological thrillers and traveling (pre-Covid). She is also a founding member of the National Association for Black Engagement with Asia (NABEA), an organization devoted to increasing diversity in US-Asia relations. |
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KIM KASTON Sponsorship Coordinator Born and residing in California, Kim had a dual-career in aerospace and entertainment. Kim was most recently a senior manager in communications, supporting enterprise supply chain for a leading aviation and aerospace company. She has extensive experience in supply chain processes, communications, knowledge management, and project management. Her responsibilities included supplier engagement communications and creative design and production execution of international and US-based strategic executive supplier engagements. Kim also had a concurrent career as a choreographer for The Walt Disney Company, DisneyParks Live Entertainment. Kim has non-profit experience, and has traveled extensively to over 60 countries in six continents. Kim has a BA in Sociology from UCLA; a Master in Communication Management [M.C.M.] from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC; and a certificate in Public Diplomacy from the Summer Institute, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, at the Annenberg School. Kim’s current focus is in cultural diplomacy and being part of the Machik global community that has created a space for dialogue, learning, understanding, and meaningful change. |
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KHAYING Audio/Visual Coordinator Khaying is a graduate of Northeastern University’s Master of Nonprofit management. Born and raised in Lhasa, she completed her undergraduate studies at Communication University of China majoring Public Relations with a minor in TV and Audio editing. |
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KUNCHOK KYID Machik Fellow Kunchok Kyid was born and raised in a Drokpa community from northeastern Tibet. She earned her MA degree in Childhood Studies at Rutgers University in this year of the global pandemic. |
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TARA CHÖKYI LANGRI Graphics Coordinator Tara Chökyi Langri is a student at McGill University in Montreal majoring in sociology and double minoring in political science and world religions. She is also currently working on the Chyssem Project, a grass-roots community effort to create a permanent archival record of the first Tibetan refugees' arrival in Canada in the 1970s. In her spare time, she enjoys sewing, drawing, and making youtube videos. |
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NORI LATIF Machik Program Intern Nori Latif was born in Queens, NY and grew up in Northern Virginia. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia with a major in English and minor in East Asian Studies. While there, she participated in cultural clubs (Japan Club) and volunteer organizations (Liberty in North Korea) as a member of their executive teams. She also has experience as a teaching consultant for VISAS (Volunteers with International Students, Staff & Scholars) in which she assisted international teaching assistants with improving their English language skills. In her free time, she enjoys discovering new music and attending concerts. |
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PHUNTSOK LHAMO Engagement Fair Coordinator Phuntsok Lhamo was born in Lithang Detsa, Tibet. She finished her high school at TCV Selakui and is currently pursuing her pre-medical course at Hunter College in New York. She has been serving underprivileged communities by helping them navigate new cultural and educational worlds since 2018. Serving communities gives her a sense of joy and purpose. She believes change can happen only with collective effort from individuals. |
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GREGORY SONAM MULLENS Saturday Program Emcee Gregory Sonam Mullens is a Tibetan of mixed heritage. He was born and raised in Canada, but his athletic talents brought him to New York where he played NCAA Division I Baseball for Columbia University. In 2005, Greg signed with the New York Mets, becoming the first professional baseball player of Tibetan ancestry. After earning Pitcher of the Year honors in his first year, Greg advanced within the Mets organization and pitched for two more years until an arm injury ended his career in 2008, leading him to later attend the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. After graduation, Greg was a prosecutor in New Jersey and tried over 20 cases, including those involving domestic violence, gun possession, assault and homicide. Greg is now in private practice and focuses on criminal defense and internal investigations. |
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REBECCA PARRY Rapporteur Coordinator Rebecca Parry is a student and organizer based in Tio’tia:ke (Montréal) and Tkaronto (Toronto). She is currently pursuing a BA in History at McGill University with a focus on contested sovereignties and community-led social innovation in Tibet and India. Rebecca first learned about the Tibetan movement during a visit to Dharamsala in winter 2018. She first became involved with Machik this past summer as a program intern. She is thrilled to be working alongside the brilliant and dedicated Machik team to launch this year’s reimagined and global Machik Fest. In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys cooking, hiking, making music with friends, and tending to her many herb plants. |
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TENZIN DAWA SAMPHEL Multimedia Coordinator Tenzin Samphel has been an animator for over 7 years from network television to corporate events around the US. He has participated in many forms of production from graphics for 2 presidential elections, multiple breaking news packages, and live corporate activations. His music group Indiginis with brother Ngawang Samphel has been a progressive force in contemporary Tibetan music fusing Electronic R&B and Hip-Hop having a total of 10 millions streams collectively on the internet. Dawa currently works at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in Washington DC where he has been remotely working for the past 6 months as a contractor for the federal government. |
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MAYA CHIME WALTER Registration Coordinator Maya Chime Walter is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College. Currently she teaches in the Cambridge Public School system and also works at Yayla Tribal Rugs. Maya's involvement with Machik began at the earliest stages with the early support and collaboration for Machik’s work for Tibet. Maya has travelled to the Chungba Primary School in Tibet several times and helped in the vital early years of establishing the innovative Summer Enrichment Program at which she taught English to many rural Tibetan students. |
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TENZIN WANGMO Sunday Program Emcee Tenzin Wangmo was born in Dharamsala, India and immigrated to Toronto, Canada in 2001 with her family. Currently Tenwang is a full-time political science student and an Equity Ambassador at Ontario Tech University where she is able to continuously engage in creating equity programs specifically focused on anti-racism programs and resources on campus. Tenwang is passionate about community building and impact, and continues to question, learn and unlearn the system and social issues both on a community and global scale. On a community level, Tenwang is also a part of Member of Parliament Mississauga-Lakeshore Sven Spengemann’s Youth council and also the founder of Nineteen59 a start-up youth organization encouraging youth about entrepreneurship design, and enriching development skills of youth through fashion, art and other learning resources. She also currently sits on the board of Canada Ontario Tibetan Association and Tibetan Cultural Community Centre as a board member specifically a Youth Coordinator. Tenwang strives to continue bridge gaps within various communities through her roles and positions with holistic approaches and work on various community projects with hopes to continue to serve her community. |
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TENZIN WODEN Moderators Coordinator Tenzin Woden is a graduate student at Northeastern University studying engineering and public policy while working with the MassDEP. Woden is passionate about the environment and specifically water resouces. She is a co-founder of Online Tibetan Education and an active member of the Tibetan Youth of Boston (TYB). |
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TENZIN YOUDON Outreach & Ticket Sales Coordinator Tenzin Youdon migrated to the US in 2010 with the hope to build a secure future for her parents and the upcoming generation. She recently graduated from Hunter College and is currently preparing for the Certification of Public Accountant (CPA). She has a keen interest in the field of IT Auditing and Non-profit and would like to eventually grow her career in similar industries. She is always looking for opportunities to better understand and learn about her culture from active organizations like MACHIK. She is also a strong believer in getting out of her comfort zone to outgrow her skills. Youdon is looking forward to connecting with the attendees. |