Sofia Stephens is a Japanese Greek American freelance journalist, writer, educator, and advocate based in Seattle, Washington. Her/their work has been featured in local and national publications including KUOW, The Stranger, Everyday Feminism, The Washington Post, and more. Sophia’s work primarily focuses on topics within popular culture, intersectional social justice, and personal identity.
Andrew Wexler is a freelance translator and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he studied Japanese and linguistics. He later received certification in Japanese to English translating from the same institution. He also studied abroad for 1 year at Sophia University in Japan.
Stephanie Ikeda is a fourth-generation Japanese/Chinese American originally from Orange County, California. Stephanie’s grandparents are from China on their mother’s side and Japan on their father’s side. Both her grandfathers were born in California to farming families but went to China and Japan respectively for their educations before marrying and starting families back in the U.S. Stephanie and her siblings grew up in a close-knit but small section of the Anaheim Japanese American community which influenced her involvement in the broader Nikkei community after moving to Seattle in 2012 to attend graduate school at University of Washington. She currently works as the Museum & Grants Manager at Japanese Cultural & Community Center (JCCCW), also known as Seattle Japanese Language School, and volunteers with the Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee.