We recently connected with Sara Lam and have shared our conversation below.
Sara, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
My journey to community organizing has been a combination of formal education, lived experience, and self-driven exploration. My academic background in psychology, gender studies, and nonprofit management provided foundational knowledge, but the most valuable lessons came from my own life. I connected and analyzed critical feminist, race, and disability theory to grappling with my own identities and growing up across the Midwest. I learned through trial and error, from planning workshops to running advocacy campaigns and from engaging with peers who had similar and different lived experiences.
Looking back, I wish I had access to more mentors in the social justice space who understood the lens through which I viewed the world. I often felt and feel alone with my thoughts and identities. Although I find homes in different communities and people, I wish more people could step into my world.
The most essential skills were adaptability, communication, and critical thinking. Adaptability allowed me to meet people where they were, especially for communities of color. White folks in the social justice sphere often write off family or community members as lost causes when it comes to differences in ideology or opinion. In immigrant, Black, and Brown communities, boundaries aren’t as clear. Communication and critical analysis push me to be patient with myself and others. As a queer Malay Muslim, I learned to be confident in myself while challenging others to question where their intolerance and inacceptance come from.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Sara Iliyana Lam (she/they), a community organizer and accomplice who is grounded in radical love, care work, and collective liberation. My journey into this field was driven by a deep-rooted commitment to supporting marginalized communities and addressing systemic inequalities. I attended the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities from 2021-2023 for a B.A. Psychology and minors in Gender, Women, Sexuality Studies and French Language and Culture. I am currently attending New York University for an M.P.A. in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy, specializing in Advocacy and Political Action.
My work began when I was a sophomore in high school, searching for volunteer opportunities to apply for the National Honors Society. Spoiler alert – I didn’t get in. A combination of inaccessibility and most accepted students gaining volunteer and leadership hours at Church worked against me. However, this was the catalyst for my work at Planned Parenthood Action Fund and for becoming a Generation Action intern. The summer after I graduated, I became a Healthy Community Organizer for Planned Parenthood North Central States. I learned the ins and outs of organizing software and strategies.
Throughout my shortlived undergraduate career, I was elected to five student organizations as a board member and dived into the immigrant justice sphere. I also completed internships at the City of Saint Paul, Seal Dwyer Counseling LLC., Gender Justice, and Vote Run Lead. From there, I entered political organizing, attending my first Minnesota Democratic-Farmer Labor Party caucus and convention for the 2024 election cycle.
Since moving to New York in August of 2024, I have been hired as Chief Financial Officer of Dear Asian Youth, Assistant Fellowship Director of Her Bold Move, and Communications Intern for the Progressive Caucus of New York City Council. I am eternally grateful for these opportunities and how welcomed I felt moving to New York. The strength of the community is completely unmatched and reminded me of my life growing up in Missouri with a Malay community.
My view of the world, work, education, and life is completely dialectal. These perspectives inform and fuel each other. I operate from a place of cultural humility and constantly challenge my own defenses. I hope that I can provide the guidance and mentorship that I never received to youth organizers and movement leaders.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Compassion, patience, and understanding the demographic of your team are essential for management and maintaining high morale. So many of us fall behind on work, timing, and collaboration because the world is set up to work against us and move forward without us, especially for disabled youth and youth of color. I have had my fair share of all-nighters and stress breakdowns since high school because living in a hyper-individualistic, careerist society only knocks us down. As a hustler and leader, intentionally leaving space for flexibility and adaptability improves the morale of the entire team. Prioritizing people over organizations, companies, and institutions is a part of the solution to overcome isolation and burnout.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn was that transformational change happens at an organizational level. I thought advocating for bills, passing legislation, voting, etc., was how we create effective change. Although these strategies are amazing in the short term, they occur within a system built on slavery and colonialism, so we are merely fighting to survive. Liberational change starts with you, your family, friends, and neighbors. Creating care webs and mutual aid networks sets the foundation for a new era led by the working class and the most marginalized, including youth, seniors, and disabled folks. Although I am proud of my work at the non-profit level, I am loyal to people and the community. I am not scared to leave or sunset an organization when the risk of harm exceeds support, or funding becomes more important than the work. I am fortunate to have backup upon backup plans in case I need to leave an organization or risk unemployment. I hope readers can start creating that safety net after reading my story.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @sarailiyana
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarailiyana/
