LEADERSHIP TEAM
ARYANI ONG
Aryani Ong, AAMOVE Co-Founder, is an Indonesian-Chinese American civil rights attorney, community activist and nonprofit consultant. In her 30-year career focused on Asian American community issues, she has worked with all the leading national Asian American organizations, including The Asian American Foundation, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and AAAJ-Asian American Justice Center. The issues that Aryani has focused on have included hate crimes; the intersection of race and national security or education; diversity, equity & inclusion; the public narrative of Asian Americans; the landscape of Asian American organizations; immigrant integration; and, civic participation.
Aryani also has founded or led several nonprofits on the national and local levels. Among the local nonprofits include the Montgomery County Progressive Asian Pacific American Network (MoCoPAAN), Communities United Against Hate (CUAH), Asian Pacific American Student Achievement Action Group (APASAAG) under MCPS, and the Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (MCAEL). She has been named among Maryland's Top 100 Women.
Related to politics, Aryani was among the list of "1,100 Who’s Who of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to Endorse Biden/Harris." She
co-chaired the Chinese Americans for Biden affinity group under the AAPIs for Biden campaign, served as an advisor to the campaigns of Lily Qi for Maryland state delegate and Hoan Dang for Montgomery County Council and worked as a staff organizer for the California Democratic Party during the Clinton-Gore-Boxer-Feinstein coordinated campaign. She moderated candidates forums in previous Maryland gubernatorial and County Executive’s races, and served on the County Executive's transition team. Aryani is a board member of the Asian American Action Fund and the Asian American Political Alliance, a member of MoCoWoMen, and former member of United for Maryland.
TONIA BUI
Tonia Bui, AAMOVE Co-Founder, also is the founder of “Politics Within Politics,” a blog for Montgomery Community Media that explores the intersections between gender, race and politics. She has appeared in the Huffington Post, the blog Reappropriate, and the podcast Model Majority, discussing the need for more women of color to lead political campaigns. Her work has been cited in the Third Edition of Campaigns on the Cutting Edge and her commentary appeared in the 2014 Edition of the Harvard Asian American Policy Review.
Additionally, Tonia leads efforts to increase the political and civic engagement of Asian Americans at the local, state and federal level as a board member of the Asian American Political Alliance and the Maryland Democratic Party Asian American and Pacific Islanders Leadership Council. In 2017-2018, she served as the treasurer for the Hoan Dang for County Council (At-Large) campaign in Montgomery County, Maryland. Tonia's political experiences also include serving former Vice Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Xavier Becerra (CA-34) as a Member Outreach Assistant and former Virginia State Delegate candidate Hung Nguyen as a campaign communications director (District 67). Additionally, Tonia previously worked for the former offices of U.S. Senator Barack Obama (IL-13) and California Assembly Member Fiona Ma (CA-12).
Tonia holds a Master in Public Policy from American University and a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications and Gender & Women’s Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She currently resides with her husband in Silver Spring, Maryland.
JONATHON ROWLAND
Jonathon, AAMOVE Co-Founder, is Managing Partner of Fells Group. He brings over a decade of experience in paid canvass operations, strategic ballot initiatives, corporate grassroots advocacy, and PAC management. Jonathon began his political career in the battleground state of Iowa, where he served on Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and later his Inaugural Committee. After Obama’s successful re-election campaign, Jonathon implemented high-profile campaigns for clients such as Everytown for Gun Safety, Generation Forward PAC, Oregon Right to Know and Next Generation Climate Change. Jonathon has been credited with running Oregon’s largest ballot initiative in state history as well as being instrumental in several election wins in Iowa, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
HIEU TRUONG
Hieu Truong (pronouns: she/her) is a Maryland-born and raised Vietnamese American and part of the leadership team at AA MOVE. A proud resident of Baltimore City, she also works as the Baltimore Organizer for the Community Development Network of Maryland, working for policy changes at the city and state level that can help Baltimore's Black and Brown neighborhoods thrive. Her professional focuses include community development, environmental sustainability, and health equity--all with a focus on racial justice--which is reflected in her previous work at organizations such as NeighborWorks America, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development.
A long-time member of Baltimore Asian Solidarity in Resistance, her hobbies involve expanding her native plant gardens and exploring local parks and playgrounds with her family. Hieu has a Masters in Urban Planning from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. She has also earned a BA in American Studies and a BS in Geography and Environmental Systems from UMBC.
JANELLE WONG
Janelle Wong is Chinese American, and her family has resided in the U.S. for generations. She received her PhD in Political Science from Yale University after earning her undergraduate degree at UCLA. She has published four books on Asian Americans and politics. Outside of her work as a faculty member in Asian American Studies at the University of Southern California (2001-2012) and the University of Maryland (2012-present) she has been active in advocating for immigrant rights, civil rights, and racial justice through public presentations, research and writing. Janelle was born and raised in Yuba City, California and currently resides in Maryland