About AAJANE

Founded in 1981, AAJA is a non-profit professional and educational organization with more than 2,000 members today. AAJA encourages Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) to enter the ranks of journalism, works for fair and accurate coverage of AAPIs, and promotes increasing the number of AAPI journalists and news managers in the industry.

AAJA New England chapter has provided resources to students and professional journalists and service to the community of New England’s 6 states — states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The New England chapter typically has about 70 members.

Co-presidents
Shirley Goh
Copy Editor, The Boston Globe
newengland.aaja@gmail.com
Shirley joined the Globe in the fall of 2005 and works on the night desk in News. She previously worked at The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., and at Newsday in New York. She is a former AAJA New York chapter member, and a graduate of Stony Brook University.

Shirley Leung
Assistant Managing Editor/Business, The Boston Globe
sleung@globe.com
Shirley has been an editor at The Boston Globe since 2004. She oversaw the Sunday business section and retail, travel, and consumer coverage before becoming the Globe’s Business Editor in May 2007. Previously, she was a reporter at the Wall Street Journal in Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Shirley is a member of the Globe’s Diversity Council and The New York Times Co.’s Diversity Council. She has also served on several AAJA boards and is a 2003 graduate of AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program.

Chapter Board Members:

Tara Eng Arden Goldsmith
National Board Representative
Editorial Consultant
tara.smith.aaja@gmail.com
Tara directs a consultancy specializing in nonfiction book development. She has been a member of AAJA’s Washington, New York, and New England chapters, and was elected to AAJA’s national governing board in 2001. She’s a devotee of East Coast newsrooms, having worked at The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe. Tara was named an AAJA National Scholar in 1995.

Cindy Atoji (Keene)
Secretary
Freelancer
atojic@gmail.com
Cindy is a Boston-based freelance writer, editor, and project manager who specializes in healthcare, technology, and business coverage. She is a veteran newspaper journalist, having served as magazine/supplements editor at the Boston Herald and assistant lifestyle editor at the Lowell Sun. She was managing editor for Science and Theology News, and has developed content for several online media companies, including BodiMojo.com and Owner IQ. Cindy currently blogs for the Boston Globe and is a freelance writer for numerous national and regional publications, newsletters, alumni magazines, and websites. Cindy has a B.S. in journalism from the University of Illinois and as a copy editor, was awarded the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Scholarship and Minority Internship.

Dolores Kong
Treasurer
Certified Financial Planner and personal finance journalist
doloreskong@yahoo.com
Dolores is a long-time treasurer of the AAJA New England chapter and is a Certified Financial Planner at Winslow, Evans & Crocker, Inc. Before becoming a financial planner, Dolores had a distinguished career as a reporter at the Boston Globe, winning the the George Polk Award. She was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist in public service. Dolores is also an avid hiker, co-authoring with her husband of two guides to Acadia National Park. The couple has been recognized by the Appalachian Mountain Club for hiking the 100 highest mountains of New England; Dolores is the first Asian American woman known to have climbed the 100 Highest.

Veronica Chao
Vice President of Professional Development and Student Programs
City Weekly Editor, The Boston Globe
vchao@globe.com
Veronica joined the Globe in the fall of 2007.  She previously was editor of the biweekly city magazine The Improper Bostonian for five years. She moved to Boston from Washington, D.C., where she was executive editor of the travel magazine Destinations. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, and is a board member of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, newsletter advisor to the nonprofit Asian Sisters Participating in Reaching Excellence (ASPIRE), and an ASPIRE mentor.

Brian Wong
Vice President of Membership
News Editor, ESPN
Brian.H.Wong@espn.com
Brian joined ESPN in 2003 as a News Editor after working 13 years in sports at the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was formerly the treasurer of San Diego’s AAJA chapter.

Tracy Jan
Vice President of Print
Education reporter, Boston Globe
tjan@globe.com
Tracy came to the Boston Globe in November 2004 from Portland, Ore, where she covered education for The Oregonian and served as treasurer and scholarship coordinator for the Portland AAJA chapter.

Stacy Wong
Vice President of Community Outreach and Fundraising
Public relations manager, Greater Boston Food Bank
Stacy was a business reporter at the Hartford Courant for more than a decade. Previously, she served as associate director of public relations at Simmons College.

Paul Niwa
Vice President of Multimedia
Emerson College professor
Paul is a former CNBC producer and now a professor at Emerson College.   He specializes in multimedia.

Sangita Lee Chandra
Board Member at Large
Producer, WCVB TV, Boston
schandra@hearst.com
Sangita Lee Chandra is an Emmy-winning producer-reporter for “Chronicle” and “CityLine” on WCVB TV Channel 5 (ABC). She is a general assignment journalist who especially enjoys producing people profile, travel, and science stories. She is an AAJA New England Board Member at Large, was New England Chapter president from 2002 to 2004, and was co-chair of the 2009 AAJA National Convention.

Mary Jo Pham
Student Board Member
MaryJo.Pham@gmail.com
Mary Jo Pham is a junior at Tufts University majoring in international relations, with a concentration in East and Southeast Asia. She’s a 2006 J Camp graduate, and spent the summer in Cambodia interning in the Public Affairs/Media Section at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh. She is studying the Fall 2009 semester in Hangzhou, China.

Hanah Fadrigalan
Student Board Member
hanah.fadrigalan@gmail.com
Hanah Fadrigalan is a student at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and president of The Filipino Club on campus. Hanah has helped organize AAJA student seminars, securing venues and speakers. She also helped coordinate the volunteer effort during the 2009 AAJA National Convention in Boston.

Website Administration:
Marie Shanahan
Senior Online Producer
ctnow.com / courant.com
The Hartford Courant
Hartford, Conn.
shanahan@courant.com

Daigo Fujiwara
Editorial Designer Graphics
Boston Globe
dfujiwara@globe.com