Support our Work
COMMUNITY SUPPORT KEEPS US STRONG
The Miss Taiwanese American is presented by the Taiwan Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the diversity, strength and resilience of extraordinary Asian women. We are committed to the personal and professional growth of young Asian women by creating spaces for community learning, connecting young professionals and aspiring leaders, and amplifying transformative ideas. Building a strong community of Asian women depends on your generous support.
You can support our mission in the following ways:
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Maternal & Child Health
I have been interested in the issue of maternal and child health in the United States since 4th grade when my teacher taught me how to knit. I never knew my passion for knitting and helping the community would merge to become such a rewarding accomplishment. Maternal and Child Health and the disparties within the topic continue to disadvantage those in lower socioeconomic communities. If you would like to take part in my passion project to progressing maternal and child health please contact me.
Madhatter
Knits
Madhatter Knits is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to supplying knit hats for premature babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Our goal is that critically ill infants and their families in the NICU will receive our love and support through their fragile beginnings.
Madhatter Knits has taught me so much about who I am as a person. I am raised primarily by female role models, including my mom, my aunt, and especially my grandmother, who have all played a huge role in my life. I discovered early on that women's healthcare specifically pregnancy is significantly understudied, even though every single one of us is a result of it. Women and infants, especially those in low-income communities, are often the victims of unjust systems. For the past 7 years, Madhatter Knits has allowed me to advocate for maternal and child health as I hope to break the barriers that society still places on women and infant healthcare. The most valuable part of running this organization during these last 7 years is the social entrepreneurship skills I acquired- adaptability, persistence, and hard work.
cause & motivation
Since the pandemic started, I have been searching for different ways I can volunteer to provide help and support for various organizations. My focus kept getting redirected to pregnant women, and after further research, I discovered the level of risk pregnant women, especially in low-income communities, are in for contracting COVID-19. Since April of 2020, I created and delivered Covid-19 Maternal Protection Care Kits to supply to pregnant women in hospitals and maternity clinics. My goal is to educate pregnant women on how important it is to provide protective measures in order to safeguard them and their babies against Covid-19. I have delivered more than 1,100 to local hospitals and maternity clinics around the Los Angeles area and spearheaded a campaign through testimonies, interviews, and personally made animation videos to raise awareness.
what is included?
where we donated:
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COVID-19 Newborn Face Shields
Over the summer, I engineered a newborn face shield with a student from Caltech to protect babies from contracting COVID in a high-risk environment. The design included a memory foam headband and flip-up shield mechanism for easy access to the baby's face when needed. Furthermore, the shield itself is detachable either for replacement or cleaning. I enjoy brainstorming and envisioning different ways I can use my artistic skills to benefit the greater community. It was amazing to see how receptive and excited mothers were from our face shield because other countries such as Thailand had created something similar, but the United States had no protective and safe face mask for the youngest members of our society. My development of the face shield allowed me to be interviewed and featured in Los Angeles Magazine as well as invited to be a guest speaker on various radio shows.
ABOUT
PODCAST
BORN TO BUMP IS A PODCAST SERIES I STARTED OVER THE SUMMER TO "BUMP" OUT THE BARRIERS OF WOMEN'S HEALTHCARE AND DISCUSS INCREDIBLE RECENT BREAKTHROUGHS IN NEONATOLOGY AND MATERNAL HEALTH THROUGH SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS.
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GUEST SPEAKERS
Mira Moufarrej
Mira Moufarrej is a graduate student in bioengineering from Stanford University who recently invented a blood test to predict preterm delivery up to two months before birth! Her invention is significant in the field of maternal and child health, especially for Black mothers who are disproportionately at a higher risk of preterm birth and more likely to experience difficulties during childbirth.
Dr. Ashiwini Lakshmanan
Dr. Ashwini Lakshmanan, MD MPH is an attending neonatologist in the Division of Neonatology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and is an assistant professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Dr. Lakshmanan’s research interests and goals are to address disparities in health care delivery in the field of perinatal-neonatal medicine