In a rehearsal room at the Sarasota Opera House, dozens of young artists raise their voices together in support of a young boy who is forced to work as a chimney sweep to support his injured father and is treated cruelly by his employer.

The cast of Sarasota Youth Opera's new production of Benjamin Britten's “The Little Sweep” sings with verve, encouraged by music director Jesse Martins, who conducts from a chair and observes the action among the young singers, ages 8 to 18.

Director Martha Collins, who is bringing the show to its fourth year since 2005, occasionally jumps into the scene to replace a missing cast member and makes sure everyone has a partner to play and sing with. During a run-through of a wordless prologue in which the cast builds a child's room with building blocks, a rocking chair, a bed and toy horses, she encourages the performers to remember who they are and why they are on stage.

Anjou Burkmier plays Sammy, the title character in Benjamin Britten’s “The Little Sweep” at the Sarasota Youth Opera.

“It's a wonderful story, and the prologue we created gives the children a lot of opportunities,” said Collins, a former opera singer who stages at least one main production for the Sarasota Opera each season.

Years ago, the company received permission from Britten's estate to move the action from 19th-century England to Boston. “We rewrote some of the Britishisms,” Collins said. “We thought the kids might not understand them.” The original production began with a lengthy “Let's Put on an Opera” designed to teach audience members music, and Sarasota Opera wrote its own prologue.

“We have created a pantomime that is magical for non-theatregoers. It is amazing to see the children see the set come together,” Collins said.

Collins and Martens are working with 67 young singers and four adult performers, which marks a return to some kind of normality for the youth opera. The last production in 2018 featured 70 singers.

From left: Gabriel Magowan, Anjou Burkmier, Ara Martinez and Isabella Maltese star in the Sarasota Youth Opera production of “The Little Sweep.”

COVID “decimated our program,” but “we're really growing again. We missed a few years of continuity to have Maestro Jesse help develop their voices, but we have a wonderful new group of singers. This is a wonderful piece to grow that,” Collins said.

Among the cast is Sofia Scheck, a student at the Manatee School for the Arts, who sings the role of nanny Rowan, who is persuaded by her charges to help the little cleaner named Sammy.

Scheck, who has performed in youth opera productions since “Rootabaga Country” in 2017, said that in “The Little Sweep,” “the music is much more challenging to play.”

Singing a role normally played by adults was an educational experience, Scheck said.

“They treat me like an equal,” she said. “It's so nice to be treated like that and to feel respected by them. Usually I'm the one who has to respect my elders.”

Martens said Scheck took on a role that “requires a much more demanding vocal range, and the dramatic requirement requires a more mature voice. Her voice has those qualities.”

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Sarasota’s 2023-24 season: For the 65th season of well-known and rare works, the Sarasota Opera shortens its fall production

From left: Ara Martinez, Anjou Burkmier and Isabella Maltese are among the stars of the Sarasota Youth Opera production of “The Little Sweep” by Benjamin Britten.

Collins said it helps that Scheck is also physically larger than some of the other children. “It makes it a little more believable that she could be a governess.”

Scheck said she has made many friends in the Sarasota Youth Opera over the years. “I like the atmosphere and the opportunity to bring something to the stage. I love giving a character personality and emotion and understanding what they are saying and what it means to be that character.”

Two different casts will perform the opera over the weekend. The adult singers include Paul Hill, Jake Stamatis, Sarahann Duffy and Virginia Mims.

Collins said the show lasts just over an hour. “Because it's short and action-packed, it's a great opera to see with the family. Young children are fascinated by the colorful lighting and music.”

“The little sweeper”

By Benjamin Britten. Jesse Martens, music director; Martha Collins, stage director. Nov. 4, 5 p.m. and Nov. 5, 12:30 p.m., Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. 941-328-1322; sarasotaopera.org

Follow Jay Handelman on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Contact him at jay.handelman@heraldtribune.com. And please support local journalism by subscribing to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Youth Opera sings inspiring story “The Little Sweep”

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Alon Nechushtan’s latest project, Moving Voices, is coming to the U.S. through the month of November! The New York based jazz pianist will be joined by his international quartet, comprised of François and Louis Moutin, two brothers from France, and Lisbon-born vocalist Sara Serpa.

Moving Voices, which consists of original compositions from Nechushtan, is aimed to amplify immigrant voices and other inspirational stories centered around ordinary people who make extraordinary voyages, moving to and from new homes. Juxtapositions between perspectives present the promise of hope and idealization of journeys to the US with the terror-inspiring survival stories of the French migrant camp known as “the Jungle” to serve as the impetus in this movingly ambitious project.

The compositions utilize excerpts from Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, African poet Lenrie Peters, Italian Jewish Primo Levi’s emotional poem ‘Voices’, and Ethiopian-born writer Alemayehu Gebrehiwot, to tell stories about emigrating, migrating, immigrating, seeking asylum, shelter, political refuge and a bit of love and compassion. For more info about the project, visit: https://www.movingvoicesnyc.com.

The U.S. tour of Moving Voices was made possible through FACE America/French Cultural grant for touring and the Brooklyn Music School, whose executive director, Brian Adamczyk, is a co-producer of this project. Following the U.S. tour, the ensemble will make its way to Paris in mid-November. For more info about FACE grants, visit: https://face-foundation.org/artistic-funds/jazz-new-music/current-grantees/.

Tour Schedule

Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 8pm

Brooklyn Music School, 126 St Felix St, Brooklyn, NY 11217

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moving-voices-voix-emouvantes-new-york-city-premiere-tickets-705546808497?aff=oddtdtcreator

Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 10pm

Lilypad Boston, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

https://www.lilypadinman.com/home/2023/11/9/alon-nechushtan-quartet-moving-voices-with-sara-serpa-and-moutin-brothers

Saturday, November 11, 2023 at 10pm

Jersey City Theater Center, 165 Newark Avenue (enter from Barrow St), Jersey City, NJ 07302

https://wl.seetickets.us/event/Global-MusicAlonNechushtanQuartetUS-Portugal-Israel-France/568852?afflky=JerseyCityTheaterCenter

Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 5pm

Charlottesville Jazz Society, 2027 Woodbrook Ct, Charlottesville, VA 22901

Welcome

Monday, November 13, 2023 at 7pm

Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20007

https://www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.artist&VenueID=3&artistid=25566

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 9pm

Baiser Salé, 58 Rue des Lombards, 75001 Paris, France

https://www.parisjazzclub.net/en/85128/concert/2023/11/15/alon-nechushtan-quartet-

About the Artists

François Moutin was born in Paris. At age 5, François began studying guitar, then piano by age 11. The acoustic bass became his most lasting passion as a teenager. Also studying mathematics and physics, François received a college degree in engineering and earned a doctorate in physics at the age of 24. Then he elected to become a professional musician.

Three years later, as a member of the legendary Martial Solal’s Trio, François was recognized as one of the finest young bass players in Europe. At 29, he began co-leading the Quintet Moutin with his twin brother Louis, a top echelon Jazz drummer. This project has evolved into the Moutin Reunion Quartet.

With this band, the brothers have toured extensively around Europe and the United States, working with the greatest musicians of this age: Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Antoine Herve, Daniel Humair, André Ceccarelli, Eric Lelann, Jean-Michel Pilc, Christian Escoude.

He has also performed with Peter Erskine, Randy Brecker, Niels Lan Doky, Mino Cinelu, Dave Liebman, John Abercrombie, Toots Thielemans, Didier Lockwood, Larry Schneider, Aldo Romano, James Moody, Terry Lyne Carrington, Richard Galliano, Bernard Lubat, Aaron Scott, George Brown, Sunny Murray, Michel Legrand, Archie Shepp, Claude Nougaro, Trilok Gurtu, Bob Berg, Birelli Lagrene, Wladimir Kosma, Marius Constant, Markus Stockhausen, L’ensemble Inter Contemporain. François has performed in every important European Jazz Festival, and he has toured in over 30 countries around the world.

In November 1997, François moved his base to New York where he has found steady work in live performance and studio sessions with the premier artists on the New York Jazz Scene. A partial list of their names reads like the yellow pages of Jazz: Franck Wess, Jimmy Heath, Monty Alexander, Benny Powell, Don Alias, Mike Stern, Lew Soloff, Steve Kuhn, Joe Locke, Billy Hart, Jeff Tain Watts, Victor Lewis, Billy Drummond, Richie Beirach, Dave Liebman, Oliver Lake, Harry Belafonte, Odean Pope, James Hurt, Ari Hoenig, Jean-Michel Pilc, Rick Margitza, Franck Kimbrough, Joel Frahm, Greg Tardy, Gene Jackson, Dave Binney, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Adam Rogers, David Gilmore, Ben Monder, John Hart, Billy Drews, Jamie Haddad, Steve Hass, and Bob James.

He is a familiar presence on the stages of such establishments as Sweet Rhythm, Jazz Standard, Birdland, Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Knitting Factory, Zinc Bar, Jazz Gallery, Tonic, Smoke, Lincoln Center, Town Hall, New York Symphony Space, Museum of Modern Art. François has also appeared in some major Jazz Festivals around the country like Newport JVC Jazz Festival, Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival in New York, Freihoffer Jazz Festival in Saratoga Spring, Detroit Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Series, or Kansas City Jazz Festival. https://moutin.com/

Born in Paris on Christmas Eve 1961, Louis Moutin developed an early passion for music, particularly jazz, in which he became immersed thanks to the family’s record collection. When he was seven years old, Louis began teaching himself to play piano. At age 20, he chose to become a jazz drummer.

At 24, after completing training as an engineer at the prestigious Ecole Centrale de Lyon and receiving a Masters Degree in Mathematics, Louis decided to abandon a career in technology and to pursue his musical interests. Within three years, he was a member of the very successful Machado Trio, and was already regarded as one of the best European Jazz drummers, performing frequently in the international Jazz Festival network.

At 29, Louis teamed with his twin brother François, a highly regarded upright bass player, to form their first group. This collaboration by the Moutin brothers drew praise from Jazz audiences and music professionals alike. In 1998, the Moutin brothers have created the Moutin Reunion Quartet. This quartet has released 5 albums and performed more than 450 concerts. In 2013 they come with a new band, the Moutin Factory Quintet, that gives its first concert at Jazz in Marciac and release a new album “Lucky People”.

Meanwhile Louis has pursued a steady career as sideman with such renowned artists as: Martial Solal, Jean Michel Pilc, Michel Legrand, Antoine Herve, Tigran Hamasyan, Michel Portal, Giovanni Mirabassi, François Jeanneau, Manuel Rocheman, Christian Escoude, Albert Mangelsdorff, Andy Emler, N’guyen Le, Eric Lelann, Laurent Dehors, Simon-Spang-Hanssen.

On various occasions, he has also performed with : Danilo Perez, Lew Soloff, John Abercrombie, Joe Locke, Lee Konitz, Flavio Boltro, Larry Schneider, Toots Thielemans, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Didier Lockwood, Markus Stockhausen, l’Ensemble Inter Contemporain, and Johnny Griffin. https://moutin.com/

A native from Lisboa, Portuguese Sara Serpa is a singer, composer, improviser, who through her practice and performance, explores the use of the voice as an instrument. Serpa has been working in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music, since moving to New York in 2008. Literature, film, visual arts, nature and history inspire Serpa in the creative process and development of her music.

Described by the New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by the JazzTimes magazine as “a master of wordless landscapes,” Serpa started her recording and performing career with jazz luminaries such as Grammy-nominated pianist, Danilo Perez, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow pianist, Ran Blake, and Greg Osby.

Serpa was voted 2020 NPR Jazz Vocalist, Rising Star-Female Vocalist 2019 by the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, and teaches at The New School and New Jersey City University. Currently Serpa is Artist-In-Residence at Park Avenue Armory, in New York and a recipient of New York City Women’s Fund 2020, Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant 2019, New Music USA 2019 Grant, 2021 USArtists Grant from Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts, and 2021 Herb Alpert/Ragdale Prize in Composition.

Serpa has been active in gender equity in music and is the co-founder (along with fellow musician Jen Shyu) of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³), an organization created to empower and elevate women and non-binary musicians.

Serpa has collaborated with an extensive array of musicians including Ingrid Laubrock, Erik Friedlander, John Zorn, Nicole Mitchell, André Matos, Okkyung Lee, Guillermo Klein, Linda May Han Oh, Kris Davis, Okkyung Lee, Sofía Rei, Chris Tordini, Caroline Davis, Angelica Sanchez, Thomas Morgan, Dan Weiss, Jacob Sacks, Malika Zarra, Erica Lindsay, Matt Mitchell, Zeena Parkins, Mark Turner, David Virelles, Tyshawn Sorey, Leo Genovese, Ben Street, Adam Cruz, Demian Cabaud, Fabian Almazan, Aya Nishina, Ashley Fure, Andreia Pinto Correia, Derek Bermel, Joseph C. Phillips Jr., among many others.

She has performed her own music in Europe, Australia, North and South America, singing at international festivals such as Bergamo Jazz Festival, Festa do Jazz, the Panama Jazz Festival, Festival de Jazz de Montevideo, Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Adelaide Festival, Sopot Jazz Festival or venues like Bimhuis, Casa da Música, Village Vanguard, Jazz Standard, The Stone, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, the Met Breuer, and the Kennedy Center for the Arts, among others. https://www.saraserpa.com/

About Alon Nechushtan

Described by DownBeat Magazine as “a talent to watch, with a surfeit of ideas, an unbridled spirit and bold, two-fisted sense of architecture,” composer and jazz pianist Alon Nechushtan’s musical adventures have brought him all over the world. Over the course of career, Nechushtan’s contemporary compositions have brought him to far corners such as the Yokohama Festival Japan, The Sao-Paolo Brazil Jewish Music Festival with his quintet, Talat, Toronto, Manila with his concerto for the Philippine Symphony Orchestra, and the Tel Aviv New Music Biennale. The Tel Aviv-born musician is a proud resident of New York City, and has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Central Park Summer Stage, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Blue Note Jazz Club and Joe’s Pub.

All About Jazz Magazine has called him “a fantastic pianist-composer with abundant chemistry and boundless eclecticism.” He has released solo recordings on various leading recording labels, including Enja (Germany), MGN (Netherlands), Tzadik (USA), BuckyBall (USA), Creative Sources (Portugal), Between the Lines (Netherland), and Ayler (Sweden). www.musicalon.com

About the Brooklyn Music School

The Brooklyn Music School (BMS) is a community school for the performing arts, founded in 1909 as the Brooklyn Music School Settlement. As a part of the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District, BMS is a long- standing member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. Today, BMS is committed to serving the community by providing high quality music and dance instruction without regard to income, age, previous experience or professional aspirations. Learn more at brooklynmusicschool.org.

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South by Southwest (SXSW) Sydney 2023 today announces the latest from the growing lineup of speakers from around the world attending the conference as part of the new futuristic event.

Alongside the Expo, networking parties, activations, music, games and film festivals, the SXSW Sydney Conference provides a platform for the world’s leading speakers in their fields and offers thought-provoking sessions at the multi-faceted event in Harbor City.

Today’s list includes leading speakers from the fields of advertising and marketing, Christian Juhl, Global CEO of the world’s leading media investment firm Group M; and marketing legend Roxy Young, Reddit’s Chief Marketing & Consumer Experience Officer.

“We are also joined by Ronald Akili, founder of Bali’s acclaimed Potato Head and leading thinkers in the generative AI and technology space,” said Fenella Kernebone, Head of Conference Programming at SXSW Sydney.

The conference will feature featured speakers from local and global creatives and pioneers, including:

• Christian Juhl (Global CEO, Group M): Passionate about making advertising work better for everyone and CEO of the world’s leading media investment firm.
• Genevieve Bell (ANU), renowned anthropologist, technologist, futurist and Director of the School of Cybernetics at the Australian National University and Vice President and Senior Fellow of Intel Corporation
• Jamila Gordon (Lumachain), a global technology executive, is on the BBC’s “100 Women” list, leading the way to “reinventing our society, culture and world”.
• Mikaela Jade (Founder and CEO, Indigital Edutech); proud Cabrogal woman and recognized technology leader
• Noelle Russell (Accenture), distinguished technologist and advocate for data and AI skills, Russell is Industry Lead for Global AI Solutions, Generative AI and LLM (Large Language Model) at Accenture, based in Miami
• Ronald Akili (Potato Head, Bali), Entrepreneur operating at the forefront of hospitality and creative industries, bringing Indonesian contemporary art, architecture and food to the global stage, with entertainment companies in Singapore, Jakarta and Bali
• Roxy Young (Reddit), Global Chief Marketing Officer, Reddit and the first Latinx woman to join San Francisco-based Reddit’s C-Suite

SXSW Sydney brings together Asia Pacific’s pre-eminent creative industries in a stacked week-long program across the thematic pillars of Technology & Innovation, Gaming, Music, Screen and Culture. ID is required to access the SXSW Sydney 2023 offer. SXSW Sydney 2023 Platinum and Industry badges are now available for purchase.

Previously Announced Keynote and Featured Speakers

In addition to the Session Select sessions announced last week, previously announced keynote and featured speakers include:

• Keynote Speaker and Futurist Amy Webb – SXSW 2023 speaks here
• Andrew Pask, Professor School of Biosciences University of Melbourne
• Ben Lamm, Founder and CEO Colossus – SXSW 2023 speaks here
• Chris Lee, Chief A&R Officer and Former CEO, SM Entertainment (Sung-su Lee)
• Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist, Canva
• Jack Reis, co-founder of Baidam Solutions
• Kyas Hepworth, Head of NSW Division
• Larissa Behrendt, Professor at the University of Technology Sydney
• Manal Al-Sharif, women’s rights activist
• Michael J. Biercuk, CEO and founder of Q-Ctrl
• Per Sundin, CEO of Pophouse Entertainment
• Que Minh Luu, Content Director Netflix (ANZ)
• Robyn Denholm, Chair of the Technology Council of Australia
• Rohit Bhargava, Founder of The Non-Obvious Company – SXSW 2023 speaks here
• Sam Barlow, game master and owner of Half Mermaid
• Sean Miyashiro, Founder and CEO 88 Rising
• Sheila Nguyen, Head of Sustainability AUS and NZL at the FIFA Women’s World Cup
• Sung-Eun Youn, film critic
• Tom Verrilli, Twitch Chief Product Officer
• Yiying Lu, Adobe Global Creative Ambassador
• Yoomin Yang, Co-Founder and CEO WOW POINT

More information on the previously announced line-up of speakers can be found here. The first Session Select sessions to attend the first SXSW conference in Sydney can be found here.

From Sunday 15 October to Sunday 22 October 2023, SXSW Sydney will bring together Asia Pacific’s pre-eminent creative industries in a stacked week-long program across the content pillars of Technology & Innovation, Gaming, Music, Screen and Culture.

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The consulting faculty spends much of their time listening patiently and carefully.

What CSU advisors want and need is that the administration listens to them.

“Counselors want to provide our students with quality services in a healthy work environment. The advisors enjoy working with the students. It’s very rewarding, but the environment we work in can lead to undue stress, exhaustion and burnout,” said Susan Chen, San Francisco State University Counselor, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Chair of the CFA Advisory Committee.

Chen, who speaks Mandarin Chinese, was hired on a permanent basis in 2010 to fill an urgent need as almost a third of the university’s students are Asian Pacific Islander and Desi-American (APIDA). She works with CFA members, fellow counselors, other faculty, students and staff to advocate for more counselors across CSU’s 23 locations. CSU needs to hire more counselors to reduce counselor workloads and increase student access to necessary psychological services. Campuses also need to hire more advisors who identify as Black, Chicanx/Latinx, Indigenous, Asia Pacific Islanders, and Desi-American and/or LGBTQIA+.

For example, after the death of a black student at Cal Poly Humboldt in 2017, the black student community has not had access to available counseling services because there are no black counselors on staff, Chen said. In order to foster a sense of cohesion and security, black consultants from San Francisco State and CSU Northridge had to be recruited.

“We believe all levels of administration, including the CSU Chancellery, can learn from the consultants’ unique insights into current mental health needs and emerging crises. Advisors can offer best practices for improving the mental health and wellbeing of students and the campus community from the perspective of frontline professionals. Counselors also certainly understand what it takes to work more effectively and efficiently, the impact on morale among counselors, what helps make the counseling agency a healthy place to work, and the myriad of ways in which job losses as tenure track Counselor has been for a period of at least seven years. This would have a negative impact on the stability of the CSU counseling centers,” Chen said. “Finally, beyond salary issues, why has it been so difficult to hire and retain Black, Indigenous and Colored (BIPOC) applicants when hiring consultants who meet racial, ethnic, language, sexual… and sexual aspects reflect “Gender diversity on our campus?”

Counselors provide direct services to students in the form of short one-on-one counseling sessions, as well as crisis counseling, groups, referrals to other resources, public relations and presentations, supervision for interns and unlicensed counselors, and counseling for faculty, staff, and administrators.

The goal is to build student performance and resilience by meeting student-clients where they are with their problems and working with them to address and achieve their goals. Advisors play an important role in retaining diverse students and helping them graduate.

“I feel so touched by the students. “It is a great privilege to witness so much pain, suffering, depression and anxiety that social and cultural stigma may have made it difficult for them to share with others,” Chen said. “At SF State, our advisors mentor many first-generation BIPOC students and students from marginalized communities. Each person has their own unique challenges or has been impacted by suffering such as oppression, trauma and bullying. We offer students a confidential, safe space to share their feelings and thoughts with a psychologist who can give them the guidance they deserve. We hear about their struggles as well as their successes as they work towards personal growth.”

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted students’ need for mental health services. New evidence suggests the pandemic will have serious long-term mental health implications.

“Everyone fights. I believe that everyone in this world deserves time and space to pay attention.”

– Susan Chen

“As consultants, we are trained to deal with uncertainty and to tolerate the unknown. COVID was the epitome of uncertainty. As the world dealt with COVID and everything shut down, counselors had to quickly switch and offer virtual services while paying attention to the physical and emotional safety of our students,” Chen said. “Students could now access services from the comfort and convenience of their homes, but home could also be a difficult and stressful place with compromised security and privacy. For example, students attended their virtual counseling sessions from places like their car, a bathroom, a closet, or walked around outside so their family didn’t know they were having a counseling session. Students still report suffering from the tremendous isolation experienced during the pandemic and coming onto campus has created major social fears of being around people again, and some students are struggling to adjust to these to get used to change.”

Part of the solution to increasing access to mental health is stable and permanent positions for counselors. A tenure track position is a position that offers permanence and job security and allows counselors to build a career not only by working in the counseling center but also by forging lasting, trusting connections with departments across campus and at the common one participate in governance.

For example, if the campus knows its advisors well, they are more likely to refer and consult with students who are of concern to them. However, most CSU counseling centers employ counselors on fixed-term, one-year contracts, and a great deal of time is often spent on repeated or failed counseling searches. Permanent positions – such as tenure track positions – stand out and attract qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds from around the world.

“Some CSU counseling centers are trying to find ways to serve more students by contracting with TimelyMD or other outside and unknown providers, which may seem like a good idea at first. However, we would like to advocate putting valuable resources into building stable and healthy advisory bodies with diverse advisors who really know our campus inside out, who are passionate about working with our students and who reflect the intersectional identities of our students”, said Chen.

“It takes so much strength for some students to finally seek support – at this critical moment, they are looking for empathy, connection and support, not being referred to outside services. I understand the reality of budget constraints, but wonder how many more students we could serve if we had more human capacity and weren’t so understaffed – don’t our predominantly BIPOC students across CSU deserve better?”

Public health advocacy

Chen has been a consultant at San Francisco State University for over 12 years. This is her third career after working in nutrition and public health, including homeless health and HIV programs. Chen recalls wanting a career that would allow her to work closely with people while also promoting social justice.

“The field of counseling and psychology is fascinating and has allowed me to better understand myself and the importance of approaching this work with cultural humility and in a culturally appealing way.” Working in clinical counseling has given me I’ve found meaningful work that I love,” Chen said.

Outside of consulting, her activism and community organizing also includes previous work with LGBTQ and Asian communities, women of color, Cuban solidarity groups and in more recent years Justice for Palestine. “For me, activism and solidarity work are the source of great feelings of love and connection with others. There is nothing better than that feeling and the beautiful and noble people I have met who are doing this work over the long term. Injustice affects a person’s ability to live and thrive and cannot be ignored,” she said.

Participation in CFA’s social justice activism came naturally.

Meeting other fellow Consultants has been incredibly helpful and over the years the CFA’s Advisory Board and network of Representative Representatives has grown. They meet primarily on a monthly and more frequent basis to network, share best practices, and provide support and advocacy on important issues that arise in our efforts to improve working conditions for counselors, said Chen, who also serves on the CFA San Francisco board of directors , served on the CFA’s Council for Affirmative Action (now Council for Racial & Social Justice) and co-chaired the CFA Caucus for Asian and Pacific Islanders (now APIDA).

“The opportunity to spend valuable time meeting other CFA members and working together on our committees has resulted in alliances, connections, and multiple lifelong friendships, which counteracts the challenges presented by counselors and other educators who are isolated under difficult circumstances conditions and with little support.” Chen mused. “Being involved in the union gives you valuable information about teachers’ rights, connects you with allies, and has numerous learning opportunities because CFA shares a variety of resources.”

Chen is grateful to those who listen to counselors’ voices and participate in the movement for social justice and access to quality mental health services.

“Everyone fights. I believe that everyone in this world deserves time and space to pay attention.”

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