Monica Thammarath Senior Liaison, Minority Community Organizing & Partnerships, National Education Association

Monica Thammarath is a senior liaison in the Office of Minority Community Organizing & Partnerships (MCOP) at the National Education Association (NEA), where she works to connect NEA’s over 3 million members with the Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and to social justice issues like immigration, labor, and voting rights. Prior to the NEA, Ms. Thammarath was the education policy advocate for the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC). Ms. Thammarath’s work is grounded in her experience organizing as a college student and providing services locally around access to affordable and high quality education. In addition to her work at the NEA, Ms. Thammarath serves on the National Executive Board of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the National Governing Board of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF). Ms. Thammarath proudly represents APALA on the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) as co-chair of the Education Committee.

The daughter of refugees from Laos, Ms. Thammarath was born and raised in southeast San Diego and is a proud product of California’s public K-16 education system. She earned a Bachelors of Arts with honors in Political Science, a Bachelors of Arts in Social Welfare, and a minor in Asian American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She’s currently pursuing a Masters in Public Administration with a concentration in policy analysis at American University’s School of Public Affairs.