CelebrAsians - Asian Women for Health

On May 28th, more than 300 community members, supporters, partners, sponsors, volunteers, artists, and friends gathered in Cambridge, MA for CelebrAsians 2026: Thriving in Full Splendor.

Together, we celebrated the richness, resilience, and vibrancy of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities while honoring the individuals and organizations helping to build a healthier, more connected, and more equitable future.

The evening featured powerful performances, meaningful conversations, and the presentation of the 2026 Luminary Award to Abby Nguyen-Burke, whose leadership and commitment to community continue to inspire others to shine.

Most importantly, CelebrAsians reminded us of something we deeply believe at Asian Women for Health: our communities are more than the challenges they face. We are defined by our strengths, cultures, stories, relationships, and collective capacity to care for one another. Survival was never meant to be the destination – we are working toward a future where individuals, families, and communities can thrive in full splendor.

Thank you to our sponsors, donors, volunteers, performers, partners, and every guest who joined us. Your support helps make our work possible year-round – from Community Health Worker workforce development and health education to youth mental health initiatives and community-partnered research.

We invite you to revisit some of the evening’s special moments through our photo gallery below.

Thank you for being part of this community and for helping us build a future where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

We look forward to continuing this journey together and welcoming you back for CelebrAsians 2027.

With gratitude,

Colleen M. Nguyen, MPH
Executive Director
Asian Women for Health

Our Honoree

2026 Luminary Award Tribute: Abby Nguyen-Burke
Senior Vice President, Team Leader, Eastern Bank

On behalf of the entire Asian Women for Health community, we are honored to present Abby Nguyen-Burke with the 2026 Luminary Award.

The Luminary Award recognizes a community leader whose commitment to the Asian community shines so brightly that others are inspired to follow. Abby Nguyen-Burke exemplifies this distinction. Her light is unmistakable – steady, powerful, and grounded in clarity of purpose. She does not simply lead; she brings people with her, creating space for community, dialogue, and collective action to grow.

Abby leads like none other, with conviction and purpose. With a commanding presence rooted in generosity and resolve, she brings the full breadth of her experience and values into every space she enters – strengthening institutions, advancing dialogue, and uplifting AANHPI and other underserved communities in meaningful, lasting ways. Through her work, she has advanced economic opportunity and financial stability – foundational conditions that shape health, dignity, and long-term well-being. At the same time, her leadership as a community builder has strengthened the fabric of our community by uplifting AANHPI-led organizations, fostering cross-sector collaboration, and investing in collective capacity. Her unwavering dedication reflects empathetic guidance that is visible, grounded, and deeply connected to those she serves, lighting pathways toward a more just and inclusive future.

Within Asian Women for Health and beyond, Abby is known for showing up not for recognition, but for impact. She listens with care, speaks with clarity, and stands with communities in moments that matter. Her leadership reminds us that meaningful progress is never accidental — it grows when communities are supported and when a mosaic of voices helps shape the future, together.

Like the peacock – a symbol of resilience, strength, and full expression – Abby’s leadership embodies that same courage. The peacock does not diminish itself to blend in; it stands in full expression. Abby’s leadership empowers communities to claim space, voice, and visibility within systems where they have too often been overlooked. Her example stands as a testament to what becomes possible when people feel seen, valued, and supported to lead alongside one another.

Her leadership offers a powerful model for the next generation of AANHPI leaders seeking to align professional influence with community impact, and it lights the way toward a more just, inclusive, and community-centered future.

Our Emcee

Payal Kumar

Payal is a multidisciplinary cultural worker and abortion doula whose work is rooted in the in-betweens. Currently based on Massachusetts, Pawtucket, and Wampanoag territories, they invoke the power of intergenerational community building to construct tender new possibilities of being beyond borders, capital, and medical violence.

Their illustrations, zines, spoken word pieces, and workshops have found a home across Chinatown walls and grassroots protests, in gallery spaces like the Museum of Fine Arts and international TRANS* Future Archives, and through collaborative learning spaces like the Allied Media Conference and BIWOC Gathering Circle. They were a grant recipient of the 2024 Harvard Ed Portal Artist Pipeline program, culminating in a three month solo exhibition entitled “body of work” weaving together North Indian folk talismans and community conversations to explore care and medicalization. payal was also a recipient of the prestigious Boston LAB grant in 2021. They are an organizer with Subcontinental Drift Boston, a monthly multilingual open mic centering South Asian diasporic voices, and with transnational collectives fighting for labor, race, caste, and gender equity. Through creative strategies, they cultivate playful spaces that challenge the state’s monopoly on Imagination so that we may all fully unearth and activate our collective power.

Our Performers

Violin Viv

Vivian Luo (Violin Viiv) is a classically trained violinist that performs top 100 hits and mashups on her electric violin. She started violin lessons at the age of 8 and has now played the instrument for over 27 years. A few months after she moved to Boston, she started street performing with a friend who would DJ while she played electric violin, and soon playing covers of her favorite songs in Harvard Square or the MBTA stations became her favorite weekend hobby. A few videos of her performing in various MBTA stations and in downtown Boston went viral and her coworkers in her finance job nicknamed her the firm’s first “professional panhandler.”

Three years after moving to Boston, Vivian transitioned to playing violin as her full time career, performing for corporate events, private parties and weddings throughout Boston in addition to regularly busking at Faneuil Hall and across downtown Boston.

New England Bhangra Club

New England Bhangra Club is the one of the only all- female identifying, competitive Bhangra teams that represent the greater Boston area. We have competed and placed at some of the most prestigious competitions in the country and enjoy working together to promote Bhangra and to uphold the Punjabi tradition. With Bhangra being a primarily male-dominated dance form, NEBC works hard to shatter stereotypes about women in Bhangra and to raise the standards for form, energy, and style.

Brianna Li

Brianna Li is a junior studying at Longmeadow High School and has been a ballet dancer for 10 years at Hartford Universities Community Division, a Chinese Traditional Folk Dancer for 13 years at Huaxia Culture and Arts Center, and is a pianist of 13 years, studying under Galina Gertsenzon. A few achievements in her arts are:

– Two Next Star competitions both in 1st placement platinum

– Music-Fest’ 22-23 1st place Age (at Carnegie Hall)

– Young Artist 2022 4th place age division

– Young Artist 2023 3rd place age division

– Young Artist 2024 3rd place Length of Study

Ingrid Chiemi Schroffner

Ingrid Chiemi Schroffner is a local chanteuse originally from Hawaii, who has performed in various small venues and published 5 books of lyrics that benefit non-profits and are available at Newtonville Books & Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop.as well as Amazon.

Ingrid Chiemi Schroffner was born in Hawaii and lives with her family in Massachusetts. She has been writing songs for years, and you can access recordings of her current and new songs online. Her first publicly performed song was “Steps to Find” in 1988, when she conducted her high school class in a four-part harmony rendition of it at graduation. In college, she was graced with singing the part of the female angel in Haydn’s “The Heavens Are Telling” with the University Chorale at the Vatican. While in graduate school, she sang in an acapella group called “The Wandr’ng Mistrials. Ingrid also released a CD “Living on 2 Coasts” in 2005. The title track was the theme song for the Asian American Lawyers’ Legal Line Boston Neighborhood Network TV show, for which she was also a host. Ingrid Chiemi has performed professionally in many small venues, penned Chiemi’s Corner, a music/events column in The Somerville News, and hosted the Somerville News’ Music/Poetry Series. When the pandemic hit and she started working remotely for the first time, she integrated the music into her day with the commute time she was saving. She also started recording in her attic and posting songs with art and photos. which ultimately became books, “Karma Bank to Following By Listening,” “Odd Simple Beauty,” “World As Refuge” and “Something in That Space,” available on Amazon, Newtonville Books & Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop & benefit the Asian Community Development Corp., Asian Women For Health (AWFH), the Coalition for Anti-Racism and Equity (ethnic studies in K-12 education) and the Korematsu Institute. “What the Horizon Can Hold” about how imagination can take us beyond what we can see, and which benefits AWFH, is her most recent book. She has been profiled in The Boston Globe (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/04/06/metro/its-how-i-make-sense-world-newton-attorney-creates-book-her-song-writing/) as well as many local publications – see https://figcitynews.com/2023/09/world-as-refuge-celebrating-resilience-diversity/& https://figcitynews.com/2024/06/poetry-party-at-newtonville-books-aug-4/. She hopes that folks find beauty and joy in her work and believes that music should be a regular part of everyday life.