Photo by Iqx Azmi on Unsplash

---

Sook Jin Ong 
翁淑君

I am Sook Jin Ong (first name: Sook Jin; family name: Ong), and I come from the multicultural cosmopolitan city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I believe the complexity of my tanahair – homeland – in shaping my worldview. This foundation helps me grow in my own understanding of social justice issues locally and globally. I bring my curiosity and empathy in listening to the stories people carry with and within them. I love creating spaces for stories and people to blossom and thrive. 

I have the privilege of using these gifts in the many roles I hold in life: 

• a facilitator of courageous conversations, oftentimes on topics important and difficult;
• an educator/trainer on various topics ranging from human-centered design, leadership skills, diversity-equity-inclusion-justice, facilitation techniques, harvesting techniques, among others;
• a consultant on organizational change and systems change efforts; and
• a poet in the making, reclaiming my own stories and space. 

I have called Minnesota home since 2012. I am always a Malaysian at heart. 

I have a soft spot for the bumblebees who frequent my backyard. I play the fiddle at several traditional Irish music seisiún across the Twin Cities. I love poetry - both reading and writing them. I am obsessed with color-shifting, shimmering fountain pen inks. I am a food nerd at heart, especially stories of people and food. I grew up multilingual (English, Bahasa Melayu, and some Mandarin and Cantonese). I consider myself a city girl. 

A short, incomplete list of what I have been up to, in my career.

• Currently, I am one of the co-directors of Reclaiming Our Own Time (ROOT), an initiative centering the importance of rest for Black, Indigenous, and leaders of color. This work is currently housed at Nexus Community Partners. 
• Formerly, I was 1) the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Second Harvest Heartland, 2) Director of the Future Services Institute, University of Minnesota, 3) teaching graduate courses at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and 4) doing all sorts of fun corporate work back in Malaysia. (LinkedIn got you covered if you want details.) 
• You can now call me a Certified Professional Coach! I completed my coaching training with the Academy of Creative Coaching (as of February 2023) and am on my way to seek the ACC Certification with ICF.
• I love supporting my favorite nonprofits and community organizations as their board member (or in one case, advising aunt!): Propel Nonprofits, Route 1 Minnesota, Paper Lantern Project, and EquaSpace. 
• I completed my Masters in Public Policy at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota in 2014. I have since completed a graduate certificate in Integrated Food Systems Leadership (in 2020), also from the University of Minnesota. 

For a more complete snapshot of my career, please visit my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sookjinong/