FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 18, 2010
CONTACT:
Yunhee Proffit, Co-Director
(718) 335-0419
nodutdol@nodutdol.org
NATIONAL LEADER IN ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER AND LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER COMMUNITIES TO BEGIN NEW ROLE IMMEDIATELY
Click here for the press release in 한글.
Click here for a high resolution photo.
New York, NY, March 18, 2010 – Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, today welcomed Andy Marra as the organization’s new Co-Director.
Marra will work alongside Nodutdol staff and its membership in key areas to support the organization’s development and growth. Marra will focus on and strengthen Nodutdol’s capacity in development, communications operations and administration. She will also play a key role in developing Nodutdol’s local, national and international programs.
“I am honored to contribute my skills and experiences to Nodutdol’s work that actively promotes and advocates for social, racial and economic justice,” Marra said. “I am also excited to play a role in the organization’s advocacy efforts for peacefully reunifying our homeland. I look forward to working within the Korean community and among our allies to make this shared vision a reality.”
Currently, Nodutdol provides Korean language classes in New York City as an on-going effort to bridge barriers by generation and language within the Korean community. Nodutdol also actively initiates and participates in grassroots coalitions including its current partnership with the National Campaign to End the Korean War, a national campaign advocating for the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to sign a peace treaty that would replace the current cease fire and end the Korean War. Nodutdol is also one of the only organizations in the country to offer exchange programs to both the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“For 11 years, Nodutdol has been the progressive Korean voice actively organizing for social, racial and economic justice and the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula,” said Nodutdol’s outgoing Co-Director Sarah Ahn. “We are delighted to welcome Andy as our new Co-Director who will support Nodutdol’s work to advance our mission. Her proven track record and vision will be strong assets as we develop and grow our work into the next decade.”
At 24, Marra will become one of the youngest leaders of a Korean organization in the country. She is a Korean American adoptee and an openly transgender woman that is nationally recognized for her work in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and Asian Pacific Islander communities.
She joins Nodutdol with nearly 10 years of experience in program development, communications, fundraising, organizing and advocacy. Previously, Marra served as the Senior Media Strategist for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) where she was responsible for leading work in states with high-level legal, legislative and political developments where long term and emergency public education and communications planning was crucial. She was also responsible for GLAAD’s work impacting gender identity, racial justice and international affairs. Marra began her work in the LGBT community at the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) where she played key roles in their student organizing, communications and local chapter development efforts.
Marra has previously held leadership positions on boards and advisory councils for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), the Funding Exchange, Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), Asian Pacific Islander Equality, New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy and GLSEN.
She is a past recipient of the GLSEN Pathfinder Award, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Creating Change Award and the Colin Higgins Foundation Courage Award and has been honored by the City of New York for her work in the community.
About Nodutdol
Nodutdol is a Korean grassroots organization based in New York City that seeks to bridge divisions created by war, nation, gender, sexual orientation, language, class, and generation among Koreans and to empower our community to address the injustices we and other people of color face here and abroad. Nodutdol works in collaboration with other progressive organizations locally, nationally and internationally as part of a larger movement for peace and social change. Nodutdol seeks to contribute to a global people’s struggle against war and militarism as part of a Korean struggle for national unification and democracy, and as part of a U.S.-based peoples struggle for racial, social and economic justice in New York City. In that spirit, we are building a broad base of NYC Koreans who struggle against war and militarism on these two fronts. For more information on Nodutdol and current programs, visit http://www.nodutdol.org and http://www.endthekoreanwar.org.
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