Vivian Kuang

Vivian Kuang is a sophomore studying Political Economy (with a concentration in Inequality in the U.S.) and Data Science. She is the daughter of Chinese immigrants and was born and raised in the Bay Area. Growing up and seeing crises of injustice unfold that her generation would have to inherit, she became passionate about bringing her perspective to spaces that shape government policy and radically rethinking how government can serve people that have been historically neglected. She is most interested in criminal-legal reform and decarceration, immigration, and Asian American/Pacific Islander issues.

In the past, Vivian has worked as a policy intern with various advocacy nonprofits; she currently works at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland (EBC). At EBC, she conducts research for EBC’s co-sponsored legislation on issues such as parole and resentencing and supports its mail program with over 8,000 currently incarcerated Californians. Previously, she interned at One Fair Wage, where she tracked state legislation and U.S. Senator activity on ending the subminimum wage for tipped workers and created a database of fair wage employers for restaurant organizing. This summer, Vivian hopes to intern at an office that does policy research or advocacy that directly empowers historically marginalized communities and contributes to a more just California.