Yee Won Chong

Yee Won came to the United States about three decades ago, searching for asylum based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and political opinion. He uses this lived experience, community organizing background, and spiritual practice to galvanize collective power toward building a just society by embracing differences while surfacing commonalities among people.

His consulting practice focuses on advancing social, economic, and environmental justice. He helps leaders and teams sharpen their abilities and strategies to fulfill their mission-related work, create inclusive organizational cultures, and integrate racial and gender equity strategies into the core purpose of their organizations.

Yee Won is passionate about using story-based strategies to change hearts, minds, and actions. His TEDx Talk, “Beyond the Gender Binary,” is used widely by educators and trainers to spark conversations and discussions about gender.

As a board member of Forward Together, he actively expands the definition of family through the Strong Family Initiative. He has testified in front of Oregon state legislators, published “There’s More Than One Kind of Family—It’s Time Our Laws Include Everyone” in HuffPost, and was featured in the Associated Press’s “Growing Push For Paid Leave For Chosen Family.”. This is My Family highlighted his story in the national movement to strengthen and support working families with access to paid leave.

He is the co-filmmaker of “Trans Dudes with Lady Cancer,” a documentary highlighting his personal experience navigating the healthcare system as a transgender person of color. Yee Won and his co-filmmaker, Brooks Nelson, were recently recognized as one of the 25 Champions of Health Equity.

Yee Won is also the Racial Equity Senior Fellow at Western States Center. Before becoming an independent consultant, Yee Won held staff positions at Western States Center, United for a Fair Economy, and Haymarket People’s Fund.