Shayna
A first-generation Asian American woman, Shayna is the daughter of social worker Pooi Seong Koong and doctor Philip Karuman. She is a middle sister to Zara and Avisha karuman two incredibly smart and strong women. She has also been shaped by several incredible educators including Cathy Weber Schwartz, Rashonda Ross, and Hollie Mackey, learning additionally from numerous community leaders, storytellers, aunties, uncles, and especially friends. other communities she has been a part of include Boston, Pittsburgh, Carmel, Minot and Singapore and Ipoh, Malaysia. Moving frequently has played a large part in how Shayna connects with others as well as recognizing the opportunity to translate emotion and otherness into art and opportunity.
Inspired and Enraged by the rise in police brutality and asian american hate during and following Covid 19, during her bachelor's and master's degrees at North Dakota State University, shayna began to organize with other wonderful Asian American students and BIPOC youth to process and translate their shared realities into opportunities with the greater AAPI community. Co-Founder of the Asian Night Market alongside Hannah Flohr and Sacred Mauricio, Shayna enjoys furthering opportunities for AAPI entrepreneurs and organizations to connect with the Fargo Moorhead community. In the third year of its existence, the Asian night market has hosted about 30 different AAPI vendors across several industries growing from 500 to 1,400 attendees and is building an online community and database for AAPI entrepreneurship.
Themes such as identity and love are Shayna's main inspiration and story behind her art and community organizing. Studying architecture, shayna is encouraged by the application of design principles and processes throughout racial justice and civic engagement. In Shayna's free time, she enjoys volunteering with organizations aiding in food security,playing rugby and experimenting with photography, textile dyeing and portraiture. Participation in her community helps ground her beliefs and understanding of the way others navigate their goals and identity. Recently relocating from the Fargo, Moorhead Area Shayna is honored to continue organizing in both communities in an effort to connect and grow intersection context around the histories of AAPI Racial Justice and activism amongst the legacy of Hmong, Vietnamese, and Laotian organizing