Our Team

Board of Directors

President

Mang Shaper is based out from Philadelphia. Am married with two beautiful kids who keeps her busy.

Currently, she serves as the Director of Quality Management for Liberty Resources, Inc. They are the Center of Independent Living in Philadelphia. Mang's background is in Social Work and is passionate about policy and practice change in healthcare. Additionally, she serves as a Board Member for the Wyss Wellness Center in Philadelphia.

As a Board Member for United Hmong with Disabilities (UHD), Mang hope to bring her experience with disability services and healthcare advocacy. She looks forward to the day when UHD can serve as a voice of advocacy for our community.

In her free time, Mang loves to sew and make paj ntaub (cross stitch). She loves our Hmong textiles and working with fabric is very soothing and fun for her. In these busy times, sitting down to just focus on making art allows her time to reflect. Mang also feels more connected to our history when making paj ntaub.

Vice President

Mai Vang (she/her) currently working at Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division with the Department of Human Services as an ASL Social Security Advocacy and identities is Deaf and Hmong. She values her identities because she wants to represent herself and her identities are purposely to spread the awareness of who she is to the public. She recognized that not many Deaf people would identify themselves like she does. She is proud of her identities and that's who she is. Mai was born as hearing then became deaf at the age of one year old. She is the only deaf in her family. Her main communication method is using American Sign Language (ASL). She deals with communication barriers in her family regularly. She learned sign language when she was in Deaf and Hard of Hearing program at preschool. She was fortunate to attend the D/HH program from elementary to high school. She was in most mainstream classes during her middle and high school with an ASL interpreter.

Before joining DHS, Mai worked as a learner advocate at ThinkSelf Adult Education Advocacy where she was working with Deaf adults to guide them with their independent living skills and provide support in the community. She was a former Deaf Mentor for Deaf Mentor Family Program, where she teaches hearing parents with Deaf child/ren American Sign Language and Deaf culture.

Mai graduated from Metropolitan State University with a Bachelor of Human Services.

She wants to spread awareness of the Deaf in Hmong community. Deaf are an underserved population and often are left out especially being Hmong. She strongly supports her Deaf community and has invested her time in Deaf community compared to other cultures because Deaf is the only community she has known since day one. Her understanding is that Deaf community is welcome to diversity of disabilities but more often wants to be inclusive of others in Deaf community.

Her main reason was to represent herself as a Deaf person in the Board Member for UHD. She often firsthand sees that Deaf isn't inclusive of any Board member in any other organization. She believes in diversity and inclusiveness. She wants to share with the public that Deaf can be involved with any organization no matter what kind of disabilities they have. They deserve a chance to be part of it and invested in the organization. She is excited to make a network with the other Board members and be actively involved by sharing her thoughts as a Deaf person with disability. She wants to share her knowledge on communication accessibility, interpreter services, and many other resources. She hopes to gain by learning how Board members can work together as a team and support each other through this journey. Also, Mai hopes that Board members will listen to our disabilities' needs.

Secretary

Panou is a mother, wife, colleague and a community member. As a mother, I am a caregiver and a provider.

She has dedicated years and hard work to social service agencies through her years of practice as a Department Supervisor, 245D Program with their DD/IDD individuals and now expanded that skill to MI/CD and MI/D. She is a supervisor of 48 clients and 22 staff. In this role, she has learned to not ponder too much on issues yet, be the one to find solutions.

Panou finds that to make change, you have to be a part of it. If she wants to see the stigma of disabilities to be dismantled and to educate communities that their loved ones can live a happy and supported life is what she would like to share.

Her experience has been what I’ve lived with and experienced on a personal level but also the skills I have learned over the years from my professional work. From person centered language and approaches to using motivational interviewing with people who are living with manic depression and have been diagnosed with a mental health illness. There are resources that can be shared so we can compile a list of resources that can be shared. There can be training that can be provided to people and this can be a great way to help us work on dismantling the stigma of disabilities.

Panou has been appointed by the governor of MN to be a member of the mental health and developmental disabilities committee for the office of the Ombudsman.

Treasurer

Member

Mickie Lor is a recent graduate of the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (May ‘22), where he earned two Bachelor of Business Administration degrees: Finance, Investment, and Banking & Risk Management and Insurance. His studies emphasized the areas of Wealth Management and Financial Planning.

Positioned in the Twin-Cities, he’s currently an Analyst for Bank of America within their Wealth Management division in Merrill Lynch. His position focuses on servicing the firms’ clients in meeting their goals through a full set of investment management, brokerage, banking, and retirement solutions.

A Badger alumnus, he strives to embody the “Wisconsin Idea” - one of the longest and deepest traditions surrounding the University of Wisconsin, which signifies a general principle: that education should influence people’s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom. His ultimate goal is to serve the Hmong community through his background of the financial services industry, a service that’s been historically excluded from the Hmong community, and to ultimately empower Hmong individuals in pursuing their own goals.

As a Board Member for United Hmong with Disabilities (UHD), Mickie hopes to not only further explore his own intersectional identity as a Hmong individual with impaired hearing, but to also help create a future that is inclusive of Hmong people with disabilities. He looks forward to the day when UHD can serve as a platform to empower disabled Hmong individuals in pursuing their goals, hopes, and dreams.

In his free time, Mickie enjoys spending time with people - whether that’s simply making memorable connections with friends and family or getting to know someone new. He believes in the importance of making the lives of our community better through the power of every relationship.

Staff

Executive Director

Cynthia Yongvang is a Hmong woman with a disability, a graphic and textile artist, and a social justice and disability advocate. She is currently the Executive Director of the United Hmong with Disabilities, a national Hmong disability organization; the former executive director of the Hmong Association of WA; the current co-founder/CEO & President of the Hmong Impact Giving Network, a national Hmong philanthropic organization; and a business owner as the founder and CEO of the CYNTHIA YONGVANG™ brand in Washington state, a textile and fashion company inspired by art forms from her Hmong culture and other cultures around the world.

Cynthia has over 20+ years of experience in the nonprofit sector as the former executive director of an immigrant and refugee women and girls’ organization, the former Chair of the New American collaborative, a coalition of over 13 immigrant and refugee organizations, the former co-founder of the Hmong Women’s Giving Circle and served on several boards and commissions in MN before she moved to Washington state in 2008. She currently serves on the Empowering to Thrive’s Hmong Men/Boys Conference Planning Committee ‘23, HND Leadership Symposium ‘23 and the Disability Inclusion Fund’s Grantees Convening Planning Committee ‘24. Previously, she also served on the Regional Food System steering committee at the Northwest Agriculture Business Center (NABC) and on the board of the United Communities of Laos, a coalition of Hmong, Lao and Khmu organizations, and was a 2018 Fellow from the Community Leadership Institute at the Puget Sound Sage in Seattle.

project manager

Pa Nyia Vang (she/her/we) is a parent to six wonderful children with three having special healthcare needs, disabilities, and complex acute chronic medical needs. She is a community philanthropic advocate and individual freelance contractor developing platforms and contents where she focuses on providing direct assistance and justice works in the Special Healthcare Needs and Disabilities communities (Children Youth Special Healthcare Needs (CYSHN)) and Disability Service/Support Workers (DSWs).

As a parent with children with multiple visible and invisible special health care needs, she understands the complications of raising and navigating the systems of a child and youth with special health care needs, as well as how to navigate Hmong culture, traditions, beliefs and stereotypes. Pa Nyia directly identifies with having neurodivergent, treated depression, vision posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) of vision, and PTSD from traumatic experiences.

She has formally connected families to resources and assistance both inside and outside the community, hospital and school settings. Pa Nyia provided leadership and served on several community/organizations' boards, committees, councils, cohorts, and groups including the founding of a grassroots group called, Hmong Supporting Needs (HSN), for Hmong families in collaboration with several CYSHN organizations.

She received the 2015 Ramsey County, Minnesota Public Health Awards at the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners, the award was honored for exceptional contributions to improving the health of individuals, families and communities in the county.

Thank You to Committee Team 2021-2022 for your support and commitment

Sue Yang, Pa Nhue Vue, Cynthia Yongvang, Mai Thor, Mai Shoua Moua, Susun Xiong, Pang ChaXiong, Houa Moua, Melaine Yang, Nancy Yang, Chee Lor, Tsua Xiong, Cristy Yongvang, Tong Kou Lor, Youa Lee, and Fleurine Yang.

Committee Chair
Sue Yang (she/her) is a disability advocate from greater Minnesota. She lives with her parents, who are from the older generation that didn’t know about the needs of disability awareness and knowledge. She taught her parents about generalized disability consciousness that led her to become an activist to bring more disability awareness and education to our community.

Member
Pa Nhue Vue (she/her) is from WI and currently resides in MN. She received her Bachelor of Sciences in Rehabilitation Psychology with a certificate in Global Health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is passionate about doing equity work to amplify the voices and experiences of underrepresented populations. She has served the disability community for over three years with her latest experience being in disability advocacy services and outreach in the Hmong community.

Member
Nancy Yang (they/she) is a mad queer HMoob womxn and psychiatric survivor. Her personal experiences and intersectionality make her passionate about advancing disability justice, neurodiversity, and gender and racial justice. Nancy loves to spend their time doing whatever feels right in the moment. Currently, Nancy is the Education and Programs Assistant at Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network (AWN). Nancy is also working on her Masters of Arts in Disability Studies at the City University of New York School of Professional Studies.

A picture of a Southeast Asian person with short, teal hair with lavender highlights. They are smiling into the camera. They are wearing a white tank top, sunglasses, and long dangling earrings with Hmong paj ntaub cloth at the ends.

Member
Tong Kou Lor, pronouns are he/him/his, and identify as a first-generation Hmong male. He was born in Thailand and immigrated at the age of 2 to and grew up in Sacramento, California. He currently resides in Minnesota and he works as an Access Consultant at St. Catherine University located in St. Paul. His journey to Higher Education and Student Affairs started with personal experiences with his older brother, who is Deaf, and his familial culture. Deciding to attend school at the community college to learn American Sign Language (ASL) for better communication skills, resulted in an exposure to impactful stories from his sibling. His initial plan was to be an ASL teacher at the elementary level; however, those plans changed as he felt he was able to work better with college students than younger students. Tong looks forward to bringing more awareness of disability in the Hmong community.

Member
Youa Lee is an alumni from St. Catherine University with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a Health Educator concentration and a minor in Psychology. She is from MN. Youa is a Program Director at PICS - Partners in Community Supports, offering financial and technical support for individuals with disabilities and families who self-direct care. She worked with Hmong families on Consumer Support Grants (CSG) and Consumer Directed Community Supports (CDCS) to understand program policies and procedures and provide support while they keep their independence in their own home and communities. Youa have a passion for education, social responsibility, and community reach. I love to connect, learn, and bring awareness around disabilities.

Member
Pang Chaxiong is a co-founder of the Facebook group Supporting all Abilities Welcoming all Voices (SAWV) and is a graduate student in Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. Her work focuses on understanding Hmong families' experiences with autism and ways to improve autism identification and connection to services/supports.