Joie Ha

As the child of refugees, Joie Ha (she/they) has always endeavored to do more good for more people. She has been an organizer for marginalized communities in Colorado for over 15 years. She has a B.A. in Anthropology and a M.A. in Development Practice with a focus on holistic methods of treating mental health for Vietnamese refugees. Joie has worked in Malaysia as a Community Development Officer and in Cambodia as a researcher regarding how hip-hop can create fictive kin for youth.  

In her community, she currently serves as Executive Director for Colorado Asian Pacific United (CAPU) which aims to preserve and elevate little known Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) histories, and is on path to opening the first AANHPI history and culture museum in the Rocky Mountain region. Under her leadership, CAPU advocated for and received an apology from Denver Mayor Michael Hancock for the mishandling of the 1880 Anti-Chinese Race Riot, the first apology of its kind outside of California and fifth in the nation. Her work explores multimodal storytelling and the intersection of art and activism- ranging from disciplines of visual art, documentaries, and exhibitions. Outside of her day job, she organizes surrounding global solidarity, justice and decolonization beyond just a metaphor, and the uncovering of suppressed narratives.