Meet Our People
Dan Zhu (she/her) | Executive Director (Interim), CIRCLE
Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese, English
Favorite café in Seattle: Spicy Chongqing in Renton
Fun Fact: I am a mother of two little boys.
Ziyan Bai (she/her) | Assistant Director for Graduate Programs, CIRCLE
Languages spoken: English, Mandarin Chinese
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Tian Fu in Northgate
Fun Fact: My research area is graduate education, including access, student experience, finance, and education outcomes.
Hyerim Park (she/her) | Student Transitions Coordinator, CIRCLE
Languages spoken: Korean, English
Favorite café in Seattle: Café Canuc, Petit Pierre
Fun Fact: I met Macklemore at Le Fournil.
David Huang (he/him) | Unite UW Program Manager, CIRCLE
Languages Spoken: English, Mandarin Chinese
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Hong Kong Bistro in International District
Favorite book: Dune by Frank Herbert
Siya Nkosi (he/him) | Strategic Communications Coordinator, CIRCLE
Languages spoken: IsiZulu, English, SiSwati, Mandarin Chinese, Xhosa, Afrikaans.
Favorite café in Seattle: Broadcast Coffee
Favorite Book: Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Jason Matthew Cundrawijaya (he/him) | Peer Advisor for CIRCLE of Friends
Languages spoken: Indonesian, English
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Ramen Danbo in Capitol Hill and Molly Moon’s Ice Cream
Avgeek and Formula 1 fans. Favorite Movie: Top Gun Maverick. Favorite Music: Shooting Star – Owl City
Maja Kelly (she/her) |Student Success and Wellbeing Coordinator
Languages spoken: English, Serbo-Croatian, Russian, (some) French
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: HaiDiLao Hot Pot
My favorite movie of all time is The Sound of Music.
Elizabeth Dechasa (she/her) | Program Assistant
Languages spoken: English, some Spanish and French, beginner Amharic
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Retreat in Greenlake
Favorite Book: Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
Jiayu Xu (she/her) | Peer Advisor for CIRCLE of Friends
Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese, English, Korean (a bit)
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Pipa Mountain Hot Pot
Hobbies: Love Dance; Love Sunset by the Ocean
Mellot Samuel | Program Assistant
Languages spoken: English, Amaringya, Japanese, Ge’ez
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Ichi Bento
Fun Fact: With my team we won third in a National Hip Hop competition.
Haeyoon Choi (she/her) | CIRCLE Communication Student Assistant
Languages spoken: Korean, English
Favorite restaurant and café in Seattle: YGF MaLaTang and Leon Coffee House
Hobbies and Fun Fact: Dancing and Figure skating. I lived in U.S., Korea, and Vietnam.
Tan Solip Chea (she/her) | Peer Advisor for CIRCLE of Friends
Languages spoken: English, Khmer, Thai
Favorite café in Seattle: Seattle Best Tea
Fun Fact: I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under a minute.
Chenxi (Rita) Chen (she/her) | CIRCLE Communication Student Assistant
Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese, English
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Green House, Pipa Mountain Hot Pot
I love travel, art, drama, music and dance! Fun fact: I have a mole under my left eye lid.
Celia Malone (she/her) | Student Transitions Intern
Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese, English
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Green House, Pipa Mountain Hot Pot
Fun Fact: at age 9 I memorized over 200 digits of pi, but now I can only remember around 80.
Heidi Nguyen (she/her) | CIRCLE Program Transition Assistant
Languages spoken: English, Vietnamese
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: HaiDiLao Hot Pot
Fun fact: I have watched the full Marvel series 5 times.
Sam Lam (he/him) | CIRCLE Program Transition Assistant
Languages spoken: English, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Kong Tofu house
Fun fact: I like to travel a lot, I spend a year in Ireland before I came to US.
David Wang (he/him) | Unite UW Program Leader
Languages spoken: English, Mandarin Chinese
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Kin Len
Hobby: American sports (MLB, NBA, NFL), Fun fact: Used to play contact football.
Jason Guo (he/him) | Unite UW Program Leader
Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese, English
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Green House, Pipa Mountain Hot Pot
Fun fact: I have an Instagram food account @foodislife.seattle and I review restaurants there.
