Saya is…

A multi-hyphenate creative

& joyful educator building

community & belonging

Welcome!

Born and raised in Silicon Valley, I always felt like a fish out of water as a kid who was more excited about musical theatre than high tech. These days, I’ve found ways to bridge these two worlds, both of which require creativity, collaboration, and innovative thinking.

I found that so many of the skills I learned from theatre world are broadly applicable soft skills: skills that help people communicate more effectively, build trust with collaborators, and create productive and collegial environments where creativity can thrive.

In a nutshell, I:

  • Develop and facilitate engaging workshops that allow teams to practice and embody the skills that creativity, storytelling, collaboration, and communication require

  • Teach theatre to people of all ages and backgrounds, from graduate acting students at NYU to UX engineers to Pre-K kiddos to partners at law firms (yes, really)

  • Research ways that theatre practices can make people’s lives better, from building belonging at organizations to using theatre to improve public health

Dinner on the coast

I help humans meaningfully connect in all types of settings, from classrooms to corporate events.

Workshops

I design and facilitate workshops for professionals looking to strengthen their communication, collaboration, and innovation.

As a lead facilitator with On Deck Workshops, I have led workshops for clients including Bloomberg, Google, Covington & Burling, Moloco, UC Berkeley, and more.

I also work with the Miranda Fellows at The Public Theater to train early-career theatre professionals from historically underrepresented backgrounds.

My workshops focus on:


Collaboration & Innovation


Personal Storytelling


Leadership Presence


Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging


Entertainment Booking


Teaching

I have taught theatre in PreK-12 classrooms, at the undergraduate and graduate level at New York University, and in many community settings, from after-school programs to adult education classes.

I strive to make my classrooms places where even the shyest student can gain the confidence to command their peers’ attention, and where all students feel that they belong.

Some of my favorite topics to teach include:


Applied Theatre


Theatrical Improvisation


Theatre of the Oppressed


Ethnodrama & Documentary Theatre


Musical Theatre


Academic Research

I am currently working on my dissertation as a PhD student in NYU’s Program in Educational Theatre. My research explores culturally responsive theatre pedagogy in Asian American communities. My work has been published in Teaching Artist Journal and ArtsPraxis.

I have also worked as a research assistant on projects exploring the use of theatre as a way to prevent discrimination in healthcare, a means of promoting democratic civil discourse, and as a way to investigate nonprofit organizations’ impact.

My research interests include:


Arts-Based Research


Qualitative Research


Asian American Theatre History


Culturally Responsive Teaching


Applied Theatre Interventions


New Play Development