our staff
Beverly Ho
何盈欣
OPERATIONS MANAGER
sHe/they
Beverly is a 2nd generation Han Chinese settler who grew up on Coast Salish lands. Her parents are from Guangzhou and Shanghai, with ancestral roots nearby. Her dad’s family first settled in the Chinatown community in the early ‘70s, running Fung’s Grocery on the corner of Georgia and Jackson. She has a background in the arts and community organizing against gentrification and the ongoing poisoned drug supply crisis in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside. Beverly enjoys crocheting and most hands-on activities, and is excited to continue to bring together different and intersecting marginalized communities like elders, sex workers, QTBIPOC, and people who use drugs together through her new role at Yarrow.
Rachel lau
劉可莉
programs manager
they/them
Rachel is queer non-binary Cantonese settler born and raised on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Having grown up in Vancouver's Chinatown, they have maintained their relationship with the neighbourhood and community through volunteering with Yarrow and now working as a staff member. Rachel often dreams of a world where intergenerational relationships flourish, police and prisons are abolished, and all marginalized peoples are liberated. Off the clock, they are a maker of many things including zines, cakes, photos, sound art, pickles, and poetry.
Minnie ng
伍可名
volunteer& Community engagement coordinator
sHe/they
Ho Ming is a 1.5 Generation Chinese settler from Hong Kong and currently resides on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil Waututh Nations. Ho Ming holds a BA in Psychology and a minor in Gender Race Social Justice from UBC. She enjoys community building, drawing, video games, volleyball, and film, especially animation.
celyne
祁皓而
GROCERY PROGRAM Coordinator
sHe/HER
Celyne is a queer Cantonese settler born on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. She moved to Hong Kong with her family at the age of 4 and moved back to Vancouver when she was 9 years old. She continues to carry deep sentiments of these two places and often questions what it means to call a city home. She cares about food security in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside, and wants to continue to support low-income seniors as the neighbourhood faces ongoing gentrification. Celyne holds a BA in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies from SFU. Being part Han Chinese and part Indian, she understands the complexity of identity and uses this understanding to navigate her queerness through poetry. She also enjoys writing short stories in Chinese that explore different themes.
CARVEn Li
李卓峰
OUTREACH WORKER
He/Him
Carven is Han Chinese Cantonese: his po-po's paternal roots west of the mouth of the Pearl River and his paternal roots directly the Pearl River Delta. He brings to Yarrow 15 years of customer service experience and close to a decade of grassroots mutual aid community-building experience, primarily in the 2SQTBIPOC community (Two Spirit, Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Colour). He enjoys Chinese and IBPOC creations of storytelling that explore themes of unconventional and single parenthood, patriarchy and citizenship, poverty, capitalism and freedom, migration and indigenous solidarity, motherhood, climate change, sex work and other stigmatized work as survival and more-than-survival strategies, sex positivity, queerness in old age and at the margins, food sovereignty and ancestral law. He loves an ocean beach!
sean cao
曹碩
chinese seniors hub coordinator
He/Him
Sean Cao is an immigrant settler from China and currently resides on Coast Salish lands. He comes to this work with a background in translation and arts & culture, particularly with a focus on community engagement. Sean is always reminded of the importance of collaborative efforts and mutual aid from the inspiring people of Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside he has met. Therefore, he believes in teamwork and collaboration in building a sustainable and anti-oppressive ecosystem that addresses service gaps and provides benefits for all in the neighbourhood. In his free time, you will find him grocery shopping, strolling and eating in Chinatown.
ying yao
姚瑩
chinese seniors hub coordinator
sHe/Her
Ying Yao grew up on an island in Guangzhou that was historically a colonial concession. With Hakka ancestral roots, branches of her familial lineages lived across Canton, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and North America. She holds a deep affinity with the place and community of Chinatown for its embodiment of the intricacy and multitude of identities, histories, and cultures. Previously, she co-managed a Chinese language bookstore and served the community in Boston's Chinatown. Ying holds a MA in Philosophy from UBC and has a background in psychology and the arts. Her work across approaches and practices strives to reorient human experience towards being creatively expressive of freedom, revealing of truth when removed of bias, and reforming of our social landscape to be protective of and conducive to human flourishing. In her free time, Ying enjoys taking long rhythmic walks while studying the mountains and cooking as if conducted by the ingredients into orchestrating a dish.