The Bellevue Diversity Advisory Network is made up of a diverse group of 21 members who provide counsel to the city on how to better reach, serve, communicate and collaborate with Bellevue’s diverse communities.
Meeting monthly, with members appointed by the city manager, BDAN has the following duties:
- Offer input on matters brought forth by the city manager, city staff and departments
- Participate in initiatives that foster equity, inclusion and access
- Provide culturally responsive counsel on how to engage our various communities
- Support linguistically diverse communities to help disseminate pertinent information, receive feedback, understand needs and relay opportunities
- Act as a bridge and champion for diversity efforts happening throughout Bellevue
- Explore the opportunities and challenges in regard to diversity
Members must meet the following requirements:
- Work or live in Bellevue;
- Have cultural connections and knowledge of the city’s diverse population;
- Possess a willingness, curiosity and interest in bridging cultural gaps to strengthen community;
- Volunteer a minimum of six hours a month, including monthly meetings for general membership and subcommittees; and
- Be able and willing to serve a two-year term.
Members
Haruka Kojima, interim chair: From Tokyo, Haruka came to the United States to attend Yale School of Management and worked on Wall Street for over 10 years. She moved to Bellevue in 1998 and has volunteered in multiple roles in the Bellevue School District, most recently as a member of Equity Advisory and Advocacy Collaborative.
She advocates for students learning English and racial minorities in the school system. Haruka is also a 2017 graduate of Bellevue Essentials. She has been a board member of Open Doors for Multicultural Families, a nonprofit that supports families and individuals with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities across diverse communities, since 2017.
Anthony Tone Austin, interim vice chair: Anthony is committed to economic justice for underserved communities and households. With an MBA, he is a financial advisor and educator, and believes everyone should have a comprehensive plan. As an entrepreneur, he served as a business consultant with 10 years of analytical experience in strategy, marketing and management.
Anthony is passionate about volunteerism, and serves on the boards of multiple, nonprofits.
Phil Peterson, secretary: Since 2020 Phil has been lead pastor of Anthem Church in Bellevue, a multiethnic church start-up that meets Sundays at Crossroads Community Center.
When he is not at church, Phil is at home wrestling his twin boys, eating his wife’s Filipino pork adobo or gardening in the front yard.
Yvonne Adagala: Yvonne has called the greater Seattle area home for the last nine years and lives and works on the Eastside. She looks forward to helping foster belonging within the various communities who’ve chosen to make a life here, which will allow them to fully engage and thrive.
Yvonne is teaching herself Hangul (Korean) and learning how to roller skate, not necessarily at the same time.
Darya Anoshei: Darya is a multicultural and polyglot international educator with a background in immigration law. She works in the University of Washington's International and English Language programs. Passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, Darya serves on the UW Continuum College DEI Committee and Accessibility Subcommittee.
Laurren Chase: Laurren is the director of diversity at Eton School, where her daughter is a student. Having been a member of the Bellevue community for over eight years, she is passionate about working to ensure that all residents are seen, heard and valued.
Outside of work she enjoys seeing live music, crafting, finding beauty and humor in life’s radically complicated simplicity and binging a great show on Netflix.
Jie Chen: Jie Chen worked as a bilingual customer service specialist at Booking.com for six years. Contending with cultural differences, she learned how to be inclusive in a diverse environment. Jie has also volunteered in Bellevue schools and with the Bellevue Botanical Garden.
Angela Cheung: A business advisor and attorney, Angela has a long history of community involvement in Bellevue and beyond. She serves on Bellevue's Asian Pacific Islander Police Advisory Council and received a commendation from the Fire Department for her volunteer service to the City's Office of Emergency Management.
Angela holds a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and a master's degree in personnel/organizational psychology from New York University, along with a Juris Doctor degree from Seattle University School of Law.
Diala Ezzeddine: Diala is a mom, data scientist and educator. She has lived in Bellevue since 2014 and has dedicated herself to mentoring others to navigate difficult transitions.
Diala has a doctorate from Lumiere University in France in computer science, specializing in machine learning. She heads data science at Tao Media, a gig economy startup in the media industry. She also teaches computing and software systems at the University of Washington Bothell.
Mildred Jammer: Mildred is a Latina business entrepreneur whose company, Life On Cell Off, provides a platform that fosters relationships through conversations. She worked with a major technology company for 25 years, allowing her to work with global communities.
Mildred has been leading employee resource groups for women and Latinos, supporting them early in their careers and helping them achieve equity. She is a strong advocate for the YMCA, Hopelink and the Bellevue School Foundation.
James Lauinger: Jim is a seasoned participant of local nonprofit providers of human services including Hopelink, United Way, Real Change News, Eastside Human Service Forum and Pomegranate Center.
Earlier, while living and working in Kirkland, he served on the Kirkland Planning Commission and the Kirkland City Council, serving two terms as mayor. In his retirement, Jim works part time at the Bellevue Library where he is proud to witness and bring support to Bellevue’s rapidly diversifying population.
Elizabeth Lim-Zufferey: Elizabeth is an associate professor teaching undergraduate courses in the U.S. and abroad at the University of Maryland's global campus -- remotely from Bellevue. She previously taught at University of California Berkeley.
Elizabeth obtained her Master of Fine Art degree at the University of Pennsylvania, where she served on a cultural development council, advising senior administrators at the Ivy League school. Drawing from her experiences of living in South Korea and Switzerland, she is passionate about supporting the dynamic experiences of diverse
communities in Bellevue.
Rachel Nemhauser: Rachel is an active member of the local Jewish community and disability advocacy community. She is community and family support manager at The Arc of King County, and since 2015 has worked with hundreds of families as they advocate for their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Rachel is also the parent of an 18-year-old autistic son and feels strongly about the importance of amplifying the voices of marginalized and underserved people. She was born in New York and has lived in Bellevue since 2003.
Nicholas Ton: Professionally, Nicholas works for Microsoft as a risk and privacy manager, helping to ensure that Microsoft's products meet high regulatory standards and that customers are able to trust Microsoft as a steward of their information. He drove the Asian employee resource group at Microsoft to partner with local nonprofits, universities, community-based organizations and other tech companies. Nicholas is currently lead for the group's external engagement and relations.
Eloisa Tran: Eloisa is a data scientist and community organizer of the local tech nonprofits PyData by NumFOCUS and PyLadies Seattle, which support and promote open source scientific computing projects. She founded the Women in Data Science conference in Seattle.
As an active member of the Seattle tech community, Elo collaborates with multiple nonprofit tech organizations to promote diversity and inclusion for women and minorities in the field.
Liz Walsh: Liz has lived in Bellevue since 2010, is a 2018 alumna Bellevue Essentials and is currently an enterprise risk manager for Microsoft. Prior experience abroad (worked in Japan for a year, studied in China for three months) gave her a glimpse of how isolating it can be to move to a new community or country, especially when lacking local language fluency. Additionally, Liz has an invisible disability that makes her interested in physical accessibility in public spaces and other accessibility issues.
Liz is excited to be a learner on this journey with BDAN, and to contribute to Bellevue’s focus on being a diverse and inclusive city for all!
Lisa R. Weber: Born and raised in Western Washington, Lisa has lived in Chicago, Albuquerque and Bellevue. She is a member of the Samish nation, whose historical territory was the San Juan islands.
Lisa has been a speech and debate coach at Interlake High School since 2015. Even though she suffers from silent disabilities, due to having autoimmune diseases, Lisa loves working to make our community a welcoming place.
Karia Wong: Born and raised in Hong Kong, Karia had her high school and college education in Toronto, Canada. With the Chinese Information and Service Center for more than 20 years, Karia has been supporting and empowering immigrants to thrive. She provides technology training, one-on-one information and assistance, in-home care case management, life skills workshops and job fairs.
She would like to use her experience working with diverse populations to help make Bellevue a vibrant home for immigrants from all over of the world.
Past Members
Seema Bahl, Sapan Parekh, Quiana Ross, Nahyeli Mendivil, Angela De La Hoz, Guang-an Wu (GW), Liena Ugarova, Adnan Siddiquie
2019 – 2021
Aisha Kabani, Alaric Bien, Eloisa Tran, Jennifer Karls, Marguerite (Margie) Ye, Mohamed Bakr
2019 – 2021
Diane Li, Sarim Bhatti
Meetings
Meetings are now being held online via Zoom. Please contact diversity@bellevuewa.gov to join the meeting or submit public comment.
Captioning, American Sign Language and language interpreters are available upon request. Please phone at least 48 hours in advance 425-452-7886 (voice). If you are deaf or hard of hearing, dial 711 (TR). Assisted-listening devices are available upon request.