Stephanie Nitahara is the Executive Director of Kizuna, a Nikkei youth organization with the mission of building a community for the next generation of leaders through education, empowerment and engagement. She was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs and following her passion for Nikkei community programming moved to Los Angeles in 2012 to work for the Japanese American Citizens League. She worked in the Pacific Southwest regional office for over five years and through her work built deep roots in the Little Tokyo community. Stephanie believes in inclusive community building and currently serves on the Little Tokyo Community Council’s board of directors as well as an organizing committee member of Okaeri: A Nikkei LGBTQ Gathering.

Daniel Yaguchi is the Marketing Assistant for Kizuna. From a young age, the Japanese American community had always been a significant part of his life. Daniel’s first experience with Kizuna had opened up many opportunities for him and gave him a stronger passion for being involved in the community. In 2017 he was a counselor for their summer camp program. It was so meaningful and fulfilling that he has continued to volunteer not only for Kizuna, but for Keiro, JACCC, and any other opportunities that came his way. Prior to working for Kizuna, Daniel worked as the development intern at JACCC. During his free time outside of work and school Daniel enjoys spending time with friends, family, and playing taiko. Daniel has been playing taiko for five years as part of the LA Taiko Ichiza performance group, performing at numerous events throughout the year.

Learn more about Kizuna at gokizuna.org.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guests: Stephanie Nitahara and Daniel Yaguchi
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Jonelle Strickland
Produced by: Public Podcasting