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Sean Lim
(he/him)
Design Mentor
Sean Lim 林佳軒 (he/him) is a first-generation Malaysian Chinese American; the eldest child of immigrants, born and raised in Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota). Sean is a community organizer, artist, and mutual aid practitioner who has spent the past 8 years building community power — from electing historic candidates into office, to passing legislation, and winning monumental issue campaigns. His advocacy centers youth organizing, education, housing, & environmental / climate justice. As a steward of a local Art Collective & studio, his artwork in solidarity with movements helps facilitate rapid response to assist the messaging needs of local organizing efforts, in real time.
Sean Lim 林佳軒 (he/him) is a first-generation Malaysian Chinese American; the eldest child of immigrants, born and raised in Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota). Sean is a community organizer, artist, and mutual aid practitioner who has spent the past 8 years building community power — from electing historic candidates into office, to passing legislation, and winning monumental issue campaigns. His advocacy centers youth organizing, education, housing, & environmental / climate justice. As a steward of a local Art Collective & studio, his artwork in solidarity with movements helps facilitate rapid response to assist the messaging needs of local organizing efforts, in real time.
Rae Rowe
Writing Mentor
Rae Rowe is a co-founder of The Paper Lantern Project. Rae is a gender-fluid individual and uses no pronouns and is a child of a Vietnamese boat person refugee. Rae's upbringing informs how Rae builds community and does this work. Rae has several years of experience organizing within the AAPI community, focusing on immigrant rights and Reproductive Justice. Rae has attended Power-Up Leadership Training through the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and participated in the UnRestrict Coalition Rally, attended by 10,000 people sharing the stage with Governor Walz and Ilhan Omar, giving a speech about their abortion experience. In their time with The Paper Lantern Project, Rae has developed programming, including a 10-session cohort built to develop trust amongst AAPI people to learn how to share their Gender and Reproductive Justice stories, healing circles, a documentary screening, helped facilitate an AAPI Gender Marker and Name Change Clinic, and created We Protect Us: A Skill-Up Symposium on Rest and Resistance. Rae is also a marketing professional, noted writer, Periplus Fellow in fiction with K-Ming Chang and a Loft Literary Fellow in Creative Nonfiction with Taiyon Coleman and Anais Duplan and a winner of multiple MRAC grants.
Rae Rowe is a co-founder of The Paper Lantern Project. Rae is a gender-fluid individual and uses no pronouns and is a child of a Vietnamese boat person refugee. Rae's upbringing informs how Rae builds community and does this work. Rae has several years of experience organizing within the AAPI community, focusing on immigrant rights and Reproductive Justice. Rae has attended Power-Up Leadership Training through the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and participated in the UnRestrict Coalition Rally, attended by 10,000 people sharing the stage with Governor Walz and Ilhan Omar, giving a speech about their abortion experience. In their time with The Paper Lantern Project, Rae has developed programming, including a 10-session cohort built to develop trust amongst AAPI people to learn how to share their Gender and Reproductive Justice stories, healing circles, a documentary screening, helped facilitate an AAPI Gender Marker and Name Change Clinic, and created We Protect Us: A Skill-Up Symposium on Rest and Resistance. Rae is also a marketing professional, noted writer, Periplus Fellow in fiction with K-Ming Chang and a Loft Literary Fellow in Creative Nonfiction with Taiyon Coleman and Anais Duplan and a winner of multiple MRAC grants.
Damaly Keo
Graphic Designer
Damaly Keo is a multidisciplinary Cambodian American artist based in Minnesota. Born and raised in the Twin Cities, DK is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, where they cultivated a practice rooted in community engagement and visual storytelling. During their time in Chicago, they worked closely with Asian American and Artist communities— doing creative workshops with Elephant Rebellion Collective, DIY art shows with LoudArts, and advocacy/community engagement work with Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Chicago.
Now based in Minnesota, DK balances their role as an aviation professional with a lifelong creative practice rooted in graphic design, printmaking, and photography.
Their work is heavily influenced by street art and graffiti, Cambodian and Pop culture, and cartoons. Through playful visuals and layered narratives, DK explores themes of queerness and asian identity, memory, and belonging.
Rae Rowe is a co-founder of The Paper Lantern Project. Rae is a gender-fluid individual and uses no pronouns and is a child of a Vietnamese boat person refugee. Rae's upbringing informs how Rae builds community and does this work. Rae has several years of experience organizing within the AAPI community, focusing on immigrant rights and Reproductive Justice. Rae has attended Power-Up Leadership Training through the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and participated in the UnRestrict Coalition Rally, attended by 10,000 people sharing the stage with Governor Walz and Ilhan Omar, giving a speech about their abortion experience. In their time with The Paper Lantern Project, Rae has developed programming, including a 10-session cohort built to develop trust amongst AAPI people to learn how to share their Gender and Reproductive Justice stories, healing circles, a documentary screening, helped facilitate an AAPI Gender Marker and Name Change Clinic, and created We Protect Us: A Skill-Up Symposium on Rest and Resistance. Rae is also a marketing professional, noted writer, Periplus Fellow in fiction with K-Ming Chang and a Loft Literary Fellow in Creative Nonfiction with Taiyon Coleman and Anais Duplan and a winner of multiple MRAC grants.
TJ Lor
(they/them)
Photographer
When I look through the lens, I see more than the surface of the world—I see its soul. Photography, for me, is about preserving a feeling, a story, a moment that might otherwise be forgotten. My work is rooted in presence. I’ve learned to slow down, to notice the details that many overlook, reminding us that beauty exists everywhere if we take the time to look.
I am not simply a photographer, I am a storyteller. My stories are not written in words but in light and shadow. They speak of connection—to the world, to others, to myself. My photographs reflect my heart and my hope that others can also find peace in the stillness I see.
When I look through the lens, I see more than the surface of the world—I see its soul. Photography, for me, is about preserving a feeling, a story, a moment that might otherwise be forgotten. My work is rooted in presence. I’ve learned to slow down, to notice the details that many overlook, reminding us that beauty exists everywhere if we take the time to look.
I am not simply a photographer, I am a storyteller. My stories are not written in words but in light and shadow. They speak of connection—to the world, to others, to myself. My photographs reflect my heart and my hope that others can also find peace in the stillness I see.
Paper Lantern Project
Special Collaboration
Rooted in the frameworks of Gender and Reproductive Justice, we provide a beacon of hope to our AAPI community as we form new narratives through the arts and offering care-centered support through economic and cultural liberation.
CAMY will work with The Paper Lantern Project to connect with artists and writers for the SEA Write & Design LGBTQ+ Youth Circle's mentors.
More info will be announced soon.