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Naomi Mizushima
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Certified Peer Specialist,
NAMI Ending the Silence (ETS) Presenter, 2x Certified NAMI Family to Family, NAMI Japanese Speaking Group Volunteer, and a NAMI member since 2019.
Naomi is a bilingual/bicultural 2nd generation Japanese American born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. Because she is also a peer with lived experiences and a family member of a peer, after working and living in Japan for most of her professional life in investment real estate, upon retiring, she decided to apply her 35 years of entrepreneurial skills to build the much needed1000 Cranes for Recovery to better serve the Asian American community.

JR Kuo
Board Member, Deputy Director, Speaker and Trainer, Certified Mental Health First Aid Trainer
JR is a bilingual/bicultural1st generation Taiwanese American. JR is a professional mental health speaker and trainer with his own firm, Coffee With JR
As a 1st generation Taiwanese American immigrant, is a professional mental health speaker and trainer through his company, Coffee with JR
“For many years I have wanted to share my life story. Due to shame and fear, I lacked the bravery to do so. However, I realized Dr. Lisa Strober, my former therapist believed that my stories would inspire and change people’s lives, and at the same time free myself from my own traumas as I continue progressing on my path of recovery.” JR Kuo

Wendy Guo
Educator and Speaker
Certified Peer Specialist. Speaker, Educator, and NAMI Ending the Silence (ETS) Presenter
Wendy Guo is a peer, volunteer, and mental health advocate for the Asian American community. Her own experience with dysthymia growing up and diagnosis with Major Depressive Disorder introduced her to the world of mental health and advocacy.

Libby Hartigan
Board Member, Secretary, and Community Collaborator
Libby is the.Director of Training & Quality Assurance at SHARE! the Self-Help And Recovery Exchange Organization for peers.

Jason Garcia
Community Collaborator
Jason Garcia is the Training Manager at Project Return Peer Support Network. He brings six years of experience working as a Peer Mentor and Recovery-oriented Trainer. He has a BA in Social Science and a Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist Certificate.

Peter Murphy
Board Member and Community Collaborator
Peter currently works as the Outreach Manager for MHASF. He started there in 2015 as a coordinator on the San Francisco Peer-Run Warm Line.

Eutah Mizushima
Certified Peer Specialist, Mental Health Advocate, Speaker, Consultant and Web designer
Eutah is a bilingual bicultural Japanese American. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Waseda University, Japan. He currently works part-time as a facilitator for a support group at Little Tokyo Service Center.

Michelle Yang
Speaker and Mental Health Advocate
Michelle is a writer and advocate for Asian American mental health awareness. Visit her blog at www.livingwellhappily.com

Natalie Feng Lin
Speaker and Mental Health Advocate
After graduating from UCE, Natalie worked as a Digital Marketing Coordinator at Zappos.when the onset of her schizophrenia began. She is currently back in Taiwan, navigating her illness and working as a consultant.

Chiaki Ueki
Certified Peer Specialist, Speaker, Mental Health Advocate, and Trainer
Chiaki is a 1st generation Japanese family member of a peer. She is the founder and facilitator of the Japanese speaking support group at South Bay NAMI. Chiaki has been a facilitator for over 10 years.

"Shige" Shimomura
CFO and Mental Health Advocate
Shige has an extensive background as an accountant in the States for international firms. Shige is currently an active participant of Recovery International (RI). RI is one of our community organization collaborators for 1000 Cranes for CALM project.

Mike Ahn
&
Seol Young Lee
Speakers and Mental Health Advocates
Mike is the illustrator and Seol is the writer for a comic book series titled "Out of Order".
The comic book describes their profound story on the mental health challenges. Mike said that Seol just kept gently reaching out to him, even when he was pushing her and his friends away. He described how he didn’t want to burden people, and how as a Korean-American man, he felt ashamed of his mental health issues.

Carolina Ayala
Community Collaborator
Carolina is the founder and executive director of The Happier Life Project leads the organization as a trauma informed certified peer coach, facilitator, and advocate for the recovery community in Riverside County. Carolina’s unique approach combines her years of business administration experience with her direct experience as a justice involved woman in long term recovery.

Jamie Yan Faurot
Speaker
Jamie is a 1st generation Malaysian American, avid mental health and peer advocate in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has won several awards from Marin County for her tireless volunteer work in the mental health field to serve the Asian American community.
