By Ivory Sihashath, 2026 CLA Intern
Our hard work and preparation for the entire summer ended beautifully with the CAUSE Soiree event. Our culmination of meeting all the public officials and community leaders through the summer was manifested into our event.
A Powerful moment leading up to Soiree and the final meetup was our guest speaker Soukprida who really resonated with me not just as a Lao Queer American woman, but also with her experiences. The experience of being “the first Lao” shook me politically. I always felt the pressure of being “the first” in everything. Yet what I realized what I really wanted to do, was make a difference in people's lives in government, to make them feel represented.
An important takeaway I had in the ending weeks was how much more time I wish I had with my cohort. But I am glad CAUSE is giving us the chance to still be connected professionally.
An interesting discussion we had were the resume and mock interview workshops. They really put me on the spot to prepare me for future interviews. This is significant as I had recently graduated college, and was looking for a job after the CLA program. The mock interview questions were challenging but also showed me that I had a lot more to offer. This was very compelling to me as I could come up with answers on the spot and I didn’t know I knew morethan I know. For the questions I did not know how to answer, it was great to work with our mentors and my peers in receiving feedback.
In the end, the CLA program really fits into the broader conversation of civic engagement as young adult leaders were being developed that could serve our greater communities and areas. We were able to develop this summer as young professionals who will shape the future of California or wherever we will go as not just leaders, but as AAPI professionals and community leaders.