The Dallas Asian American Historical Society (DAAHS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to researching, preserving, and amplifying the legacy of Asian Americans in the Dallas area. DAAHS was founded in April 2022 by Stephanie Drenka and Denise Johnson to address the underrepresentation of Asian American narratives in mainstream historical accounts.
Meet the Team
Stephanie Drenka
Co-founder & Executive Director
Stephanie Drenka (she/her) is a Korean American adoptee writer/photographer. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Communication from DePaul University, with minors in Asian American Studies and Women’s Studies.
Stephanie previously served as Communications Director for Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation and is the Founding Editor of VISIBLE Magazine.
Stephanie’s photography and writing have been featured in Washington Post, HuffPost, Newsweek, and more. She was a 2019-2021 Public Voices Fellow and is now a facilitator/coach with The OpEd Project.
Denise Johnson
Co-founder & Program Director
Denise Johnson (she/her) was born and raised in the Philippines and immigrated to Texas at 17. She is a Jill of all trades— studied Secondary Education for Mathematics at UNT, spent several years in marketing, and enjoys being creative behind the camera.
She is currently a digital media designer for a performing arts marketing company, creating websites, commercials, ads, and handles social media for venues and tours.
Denise also serves on a DEI committee for a local non-profit organization, The Firehouse Theatre.
Amy Tran-Calhoun
Director of Community Engagement
Christina Hahn
Creative Director, Artist-in-Residence
Christina Hahn (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, independent curator, and creative consultant based in Dallas, Texas. She is the Creative Director of the Dallas Asian American Historical Society & Founder of the Dallas Asian American Art Collective.
Leili Arai Tavallaei
Artist-in-Residence
Leili Arai Tavallaei (she/her) is a Dallas based, interdisciplinary artist and independent curator of Persian-Japanese-American descent. She received a BFA in Animation with a Minor in Printmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and attended Osaka Gakuin University (OGU) in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
Tavallaei’s fine arts practice draws on globally sprawling, generational memories to create a living archive. Her practice blends print, video, mixed media, and found object collage to document the active loss and transformation of memory. Ultimately, Tavallaei aims to preserve her family history and translate it into a lexicon which exemplifies blended culture and a new normal.
Tavallaei has been recognized nationally in galleries and film festivals across the United States. At present she is an Artist in Residence at the Dallas Asian American Historical Society. She is a 2023-24 Cohort 4 alumni of Cedars Union in Dallas, TX and is a 2022 Islam & Print Fellow in Baltimore, MD. Notably her work has been shown at Erin Cluley Gallery, 400h Gallery, Black Rock Arts Center, Arts Fort Worth, TCC South Carillon Gallery, Lawndale Art Center, Silber Gallery, Black Artist Research Space, Current Space, and is in collections with NoMu NoMu and Islam & Print. Her video work has been screened at NASA Goddard, at the historic Parkway Theater Baltimore, at Downtown LA Independent Theater, and at The Cedars Union Boedeker.
Board of Directors
Arti Sharma
Arti Sharma is a professional grant and creative writer and the founder of Bespoke Writing Firm, which provides clients—from small business and nonprofits to online magazines and potential authors—a custom writing production experience. Arti’s experience and talents deliver tailor-made writing content that captures a client’s audience with relevant, impactful data and the art of narrative storytelling.
Arti has an expansive writing-related portfolio: legal writing, publishing online articles or posts on various subjects/people and personal pieces on her story as a South Asian child of immigrants, consulting for fundraisers, and crafting grant templates and fundraising content successfully used nationwide at a large nonprofit organization. As such, she is a writer with unique experience in various sectors that allows her to be a strong, versatile writer who creates compelling and relevant pieces for various audiences.
Arti has a Juris Doctorate and English (with an emphasis on creative writing) degree from Texas A&M University. She spent nearly a decade in nonprofit fundraising within the Foundation and Grants Sector at a large, national nonprofit where, in her last role, she co-built the strategy for– and helped lead–a high-eight-figure team fundraising goal. She is an active member of Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy in significant capacities including being on the WOC Book Club Steering Committee as well as a member of the Radiant Leadership Institute inaugural class. Arti is also an ambassador for The Op-Ed Project and has testified and advocated for changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Arti is a licensed Texas Attorney and scored--what is considered by sources--in the 90th percentile.
K.J. Roelke
K.J. Roelke (he/him) is a Korean adoptee and creative raised in Dallas, Texas. With an undergraduate degree in Worship Arts, he has spent the majority of his life exploring how technology and the arts can help build bridges and bring people together with a sense of awe and fun.
He is a multi-medium creator and podcast host who does his best to keep things humorous and approachable. His work focuses on intersectionality and “gray areas” that encourage audiences to grow in empathy and compassion for their fellow human being.
KJ's previous roles include Worship & Creative Director and Communications Director, and he is currently a full-time web developer with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
Jered Mabaquiao
Jered Mabaquiao (he/him) is a Filipino-American PhD student in English studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. Jered is also an instructor for First Year rhetoric and composition courses and always looks forward to balancing academic life and parenting his toddler son, Lucas.
Jered’s interests lie in the intersections between theories of psychoanalysis, postcolonialism, cultural and media studies. His current projects aim to lessen the mental health disparities among Asian American communities by emphasizing the importance of creative expression in multi/intermedia texts.
Jered advocates for the importance of cultural art, literature, and creative expression in all forms. He also believes that building curiosity is an essential part of living that drives us to greater heights and new horizons across all continents.